Advertisement 1

Throne speech sounds optimistic note, even as B.C. faces a worsening pandemic

Premier John Horgan's post-pandemic vision for includes spending on rental housing, a made-in-B.C. shipbuilding strategy and funding to address homelessness and mental health

Get the latest from Katie DeRosa straight to your inbox

Article content

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 of more long-term care workers to fix “the cracks COVID-19 has exposed,” and working with local governments to address homelessness and mental health.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

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. 

Article content

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 that “the threat of new variants means we cannot relax,” it boasted that B.C.’s age-based 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 not to 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.

Article content
Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

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 hard-hit by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

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.

There are signs the economy is rebounding from last year’s shutdown, with 35,000 jobs added in B.C. in March. However, the province’s unemployment rate remains higher than pre-pandemic, at 6.9 per cent compared to 5.1 per cent before March 2020.

Legislation will be introduced this session to create the InBC Investment Corporation, a fund aimed at helping B.C. companies create jobs, keep talent and attract investment.

There is also a plan to create more $10-a-day child care spaces, although critics say it falls short of the NDP’s 2017 election promise of universal $10-a-day daycare. Currently, about 2,500 parents in B.C. pay $10-a-day if their child attends one of 53 prototype sites identified through a pilot project announced in 2018 and funded through $60-million in federal money.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

Shirley Bond, interim leader for the B.C. Liberals, called the throne speech is “disappointment” that offers “virtually no help, no support” to British Columbians a few hundred dollars away from not making their bills or businesses struggling to hang on.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said she was “taken aback” by the government’s “status quo, tinker-around-the-edges” speech that fails to set out a comprehensive vision or acknowledge the overlapping crises of the pandemic, housing affordability, toxic drug crisis and climate change.

For many British Columbians, the throne speech will be overshadowed by news over the weekend from Dr. Penny Ballem, who heads the province’s vaccination rollout, that B.C.’s vaccine supply will dip by about 25,000 fewer doses of Pfizer a week between mid-April and mid-May. The province’s vaccination rollout has been beset by unpredictable supply from the federal government and an announcement in March that B.C. would suspend the use of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine for people 55 and younger due to rare, but sometimes fatal, blood clots in Europe.

Advertisement 6
Story continues below
Article content

Even though B.C. has vaccinated about 25 per cent of the adult population, the vaccination rollout hasn’t been enough to slow the rise of highly contagious variants of concern — particularly the P. 1 variant first identified in Brazil which has infected at least 197 people in Whistler, prompting a mass vaccination campaign starting Monday. With a total of 877 cases of P. 1 confirmed as of last week, B.C. has the highest number of the variant outside of Brazil.

The provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said last week that B.C. is about a month behind Ontario in terms of the spread of variants of concern. Ontario had 4,401 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and that province shut down schools following last week’s stay-at-home order.

The throne speech presented a strong indication that B.C. has no plans to suspend in-class instruction as Henry and Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside have repeatedly stressed that there hasn’t been widespread transmission of the virus in schools.

The speech outlined the emotional turmoil of last spring’s in-class school closures felt by students cut off from their social networks and parents struggling to juggle work and their child’s online learning.

“This is why your government prioritized quickly and safely reopening schools — and ensuring they could stay open,” the speech read.

The speech touted the $290 million spent by the province and the federal government to fund personal protective equipment, hand-sanitizing stations, and hundreds of new front-line staff in B.C. schools and promised continued investments to keep schools safe.

kderosa@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/katiederosayyj

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers