Throne speech sounds optimistic note
Horgan charts post-pandemic vision for province as third wave of virus worsens
The NDP government has pivoted to looking ahead to a post-pandemic world, even as B.C. remains mired in the third wave of COVID-19.
Monday's throne speech promised government-funded rental housing, the hiring of thousands more long-term care workers to fix “the cracks COVID-19 has exposed,” and working with local governments to address homelessness and mental health.
Despite Premier John Horgan's attempts to chart a post-pandemic vision for the province, the public may have trouble sharing in that optimism as British Columbians are in the midst of a worsening third wave with the announcement Monday that a record 121 people are in intensive care units. Opposition MLAs called the speech a “disappointment” and mere “tinkering” around the edges.
The throne speech, read Monday afternoon by Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin to open the second session of the 42nd parliament, said B.C. is “at a turning point in our fight to end the pandemic.”
While the speech acknowledged “the threat of new variants means we cannot relax,” it boasted that B.C.'s agebased vaccine rollout is ahead of schedule.
“More than a million British Columbians have already received their first dose,” the speech read. “If vaccine supplies
are delivered as scheduled, everyone in B.C. will be able to receive one by the end of June.”
However, the speech implored people to not let their guard down, “not when we are this close to the end.”
The speech noted that since the pandemic began, more
than 1,400 British Columbians have died from COVID-19 and more than 1,800 people have died from drug toxicity as the overdose continues.
While short on specifics, the speech laid out some of the things that will be in the 2021 budget, which will be unveiled April 20. That will
include funding for thousands of “missing middle” rental homes built across B.C. and spending on supportive housing and mental-health programs to help people living in encampments.
The government wants to help coastal communities through a “made-in-B.C. shipbuilding strategy” that will aim to win back federal contracts for polar icebreakers that were lost by B.C. shipyards. The budget will also include spending on infrastructure that, when combined with workplace training programs, will spur job creation and boost the economy, the government said. Arts and culture groups barred from performing by public health orders will also get support.
The government promised to pass anti-racism legislation in the face of rising anti-Asian hate crimes. However, with months scheduled for public consultation, legislation likely won't be presented until the fall. The New Democrats will also provide “targeted supports” for people of colour, women, young people and those working in front-line jobs and in the gig economy, all of whom have been hardhit by the economic fallout of the pandemic.
The budget is expected to report a $13-billion deficit, created by the emergency spending needed to prop up businesses and individuals hard-hit by the pandemic. The government pledged a return to balanced budgets as the economy recovers after the pandemic.
Legislation will be introduced this session to create the InBC Investment Corp., a fund aimed at helping B.C. companies create jobs and attract investment.
There is also a plan to create more $10-a-day childcare spaces, although critics say it falls short of the NDP's 2017 election promise of universal $10-a-day daycare. About 2,500 parents in B.C. pay $10a-day under a pilot project announced in 2018.