Fixed election dates, as we have in BC, are supposed to take the political gamesmanship out of the Parliamentary system in the run up to the election. Instead of a government waiting for the stars to be aligned before calling an election, one is held every four years and the exact date is fixed.

Unfortunately, to the BC Liberals, the fixed date has been seen as an opportunity for the government to manipulate the Legislature as a campaign tool. The throne speech, with its 30 year fantasy for liquefied natural gas, the bogus budget which failed to balance, the legislation on seniors, on law and order, on forestry are all set pieces for the BC Liberals to go into the election.

Our job in opposition is to hold the government to account, to question it and to raise concerns of our constituents about legislation, and its defects. There have been a number of bills passed in the Legislature this week, our last of this truncated session, in which there is no corresponding line in the budget to pay for them. There’s no money identified to implement a bill which is supposed to deal with the crisis in the justice system; there are questions over money with moves to integrate the ambulance service with emergency room provision; and there continues to be questions on how other legislation will be paid for.

The BC Liberals brought in a hurried bill to establish a seniors representative but under this new law s/he will report to a government minister. The NDP have again tabled legislation that would create a fully independent officer who could advocate on behalf of seniors in the way that the Children’s representative is independent of the Legislature. I spoke on the bill that expands the mandate of the Representative of Children and Youth, bringing in changes to allow her to advocate for a wider group of young people, changes that were initially promised 15 months ago.

There is the general scepticism, justified with what happened after the last election, that what the government does and says before an election will be very different from what it will do after an election. After all, this time four years ago, the HST was not on anyone’s horizon.

This scepticism slips towards cynicism when people see that not only is the BC Liberal government using the Legislature as the place in which it is launching its election platform, but that it continues to spend $17m public, taxpayers’, money to advertise their campaign manoeuvres. We continued to raise this in Question Period through the week, as well as continuing to challenge the government over a dubious land deal made in Prince George.

Then there is the corrupt “quick win” strategy to try to gain votes in ethnic communities. The report into this covert campaign run from the Premier’s office was released on the last day of the legislative session. It is damning, detailing an arrogant abuse of ethical and legal standards through manipulation of the public service and taxpayers money with political operatives being paid by public funds. A minister has been forced to resign. So have very senior members of Premier Clark’s staff. As columnist Vaughn Palmer wrote, “the culture of crass, partisan evasion remains very much on display in the Clark administration, starting with the person at the very top of the chain”.

And yet the BC Liberals have still not explained how they can pull $1 million out of literacy projects which benefit all our communities; they have not been able to say how they will restore forest health when the Ministry responsible has had almost $40 m taken out of it; they have not been able to answer questions about apprenticeships when they are cutting money to training.

As critic for the Ministry of Children and Family Development, I talked about changes to legislation intended to increase the ability to provide protection for children in cases of domestic violence. This springs from two reports of the Children’s Representative into the deaths of children where there was domestic violence. I did, however, voice concern that this legislation might in fact deter women fleeing abuse from accessing help through transition houses because of the fear their children might be apprehended.

I also raised concerns about the Community Safety Act, which could undermine civil liberties. It uses a civil law approach to deal with what could be criminal issues and relies on neighbours to report on other neighbours.

I joined our ferries critic at a meeting with chairs, or their deputies, of coastal regional districts. We discussed the need for a long-term vision for our ferries, the need to integrate them back into the highways system and the need to tackle the punitive level of fares. I had the opportunity to recognise those directors from the North Island when the House resumed its session.

I was also able to celebrate the Centenary of Rotary by telling the Legislature about the good work done by our North Island Rotary Clubs.

This was our final week in the Legislature before the election. I will be around the constituency for the coming weeks and can always be reached at claire.trevena.mla@leg.bc.ca, by phone at 250 287 5100 in Campbell River or 250 949 9473 in Port Hardy, or friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @clairetrevena.

Best regards
Claire


 

It was another tumultuous week in BC politics, with the government continuing to try to explain away scandals. As this short session of the Legislature draws to a close, the BC Liberals are still trying to stem the damage from the Premier’s crass, political ethnic vote strategy and are also trying to explain which minister knew what, on land deals for a signature project in Prince George. Further, there is the sad situation, revealed by the Privacy Commissioner and the scandal over government’s ethnic vote strategy, where the government has been caught using private emails and verbal conversations to avoid public scrutiny. These tactics deliberately end run Freedom of Information rules so no paper trail of government decisions and policy development can be accessed.

The passing of the budget was hardly a victory for the battered government benches. The BC Liberals still have a strong enough majority to win votes in the Legislature and as this was a confidence motion - which would have led to an early election if the government were defeated - it was not surprising that it went through.

However, everything this government is doing now is fundamentally rooted in politics, and what it hopes will be “quick wins” for the BC Liberals. We continue to challenge them.

With just another four days of the Legislature sitting before we are expected to stop ahead of the May 14th election, the government has been jamming through its legislation: some of it is little more than window dressing, and some very important. On Thursday, we debated the Health Authority Amendment Act, which expands the definition of who is a nurse, to include licensed practical nurses (LPNs). It goes without saying that all health care workers - nurses, LPNs, care aides, technicians - should be respected and valued in our fragile public health care system. However that respect requires consultation and this government failed to consult on this bill: neither with the HEU, one of the unions affected, nor with the health authorities. In my speech I argued that thorough consultation is the foundation for sound public policy.

On the fragility of health care, I talked about ongoing overcrowding at the Campbell River Hospital and the need for our new hospitals to have an adequate number of beds. I also called on the Minister of Health to release the business plan on which the hospital project is predicated; I argued that with $600m public money being spent on the hospitals - 40 percent of which is coming directly from local taxpayers - we have a right and a duty to examine the plans for our hospitals to make sure they are able to provide the care we expect.

There are a number of bills in front of us about legal changes. I spoke on Bill 11, which allows for free criminal record checks for volunteers who work with children and vulnerable adults; I did voice concern that there is no matching budget line in the government’s deficit budget. The Justice Reform and Transparency Act establishes a Justice and Public Safety Council to examine and suggest improvements to the functioning of the justice and public safety sector. This too could be good, but again is being established with no funding earmarked in the budget. So it is too could be dismissed as a pre-election piece.

And there was the Community Safety Act, which I mentioned in my report last week, which concerns me for its potential impacts on civil liberties. It is setting up a civil investigation system to do the work that, on the surface, should be done by the police.

Earlier in the week we passed the legislation that changes the boundaries for Elk Falls Provincial Park, which will allow work to proceed on the John Hart Dam. I asked a number of questions about this, to find out how much land would be taken out and how much Hydro would contribute as a replacement. I also asked some questions about the creation of a new park on Denman Island and drew parallels with the ongoing work to link the Small Inlet and Wyatt Bay Parks on Quadra Island.

I marked Social Work Week with a statement to the Legislature talking about the pressures, because of workload, on many of the front line workers on whom the systems depends.

It was a pleasure to be able to welcome a school party from the North Island’s Avalon Adventist Academy, when a group of grade 5 to 7 came on a tour of the Legislature.

One of the issues which was not addressed in the Legislature was the announcement of another round of ferry fare increases - just a day after the first report on last autumn’s fall consultation was issued and showed the overwhelming view of ferry dependent communities that fares are too high and the system needs to be reintegrated into the highways infrastructure. In my view, the increase is outrageous.

I will be around the North Island this weekend and then back to Victoria for a final week of the Legislature. You can always reach me at claire.trevena.mla@leg.bc.ca, by phone at 250 287 5100 in Campbell River or 250 949 9473 in Port Hardy, or friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter @clairetrevena.

Best regards
Claire