Six months into her term, Christy Clark’s performance has disappointed many who hoped
her “Families First” platform would mean action on the issues like health care, education, the economy, the environment, and equality.
On issues like long-term care, doctor shortages, surgery waitlists, and ER over-crowding, Clark has taken few steps to ensure families get health care where and when they need it.
Schools have been hammered by requirements to pay for carbon offsets while big polluters, like Encana, get a subsidy. B.C. school districts paid out over $6.3 million in carbon offsets, primarily to cover unavoidable emissions, like heating, while large emitters got a pass.
Under Clark, B.C.’s unemployment rate has been higher than the Canadian average five
months out of six. In August, B.C. lost 12,500 full-time jobs, only picking up half that amount in part-time jobs. TD Bank reports show B.C. residents are most vulnerable to economic shock. Our caucus has proposed a number of measures to improve this situation, including curtailing raw log exports, which rose 50 per cent last year, to keep mill jobs in B.C., and investing in education and skills training to build our labour force.
Clark’s environmental record is dismal: one of her first acts as premier was to ask the Prime Minister to reconsider the federal environmental assessment of the Taseko mine project that would have destroyed Fish Lake. She has failed to take steps to protect B.C. wilderness from the proposed Enbridge pipeline that will transport Alberta’s tar sands bitumen across countless fish-bearing rivers and streams.
With the gap between the rich and poor rising, Clark could have taken immediate steps to help lift working British Columbians out of poverty by implementing a targeted poverty reduction strategy. Instead, she decided to phase in an increase to the minimum wage (still currently still the lowest in Canada) which will not reach its $10.25 mark until 2012.
The legislature resumes October 3, and I look forward to raising these and other issues with the premier. Please let me know which issues and concerns you would most like addressed.
Raw log exports increased 50 per cent last year; exporting resources means giving jobs away to other jurisdictions.
Homelessness Action Week
October 10 –16
Homelessness Action Week is October 10 to 16 this year. Visit www.stophomelessness.ca for resources, information, and events you can participate in to raise awareness about homelessness in our community.
Learn why people are homeless and what you can do to help. Resources include posters,
banner ads, links to studies, a teaching guide for elementary school teachers and more.
Homelessness Action Week is an initiative of the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering
Committee on Homelessness (RSCH), a coalition of organizations committed to leading a co-ordinated response to homelessness in Greater Vancouver.
Find out more at www.metrovancouver.org/planning/homelessness/Pages/default.aspx
2012 Budget consultation and strata dispute resolution survey
The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services is accepting submissions to the 2012 BC Budget Consultation until Friday, October 14. Participate through an online questionnaire, by written or video submission, or by attending a public hearing. Further details at www.leg.bc.ca/budgetconsultations/ .
Also, the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Housing has launched an online survey to gather
public input that will help shape a new approach to resolving strata property disputes.
Many residents in Vancouver-Hastings live in strata lots or condominiums, and I have been contacted over the years regarding a wide variety of strata conflicts and disputes. Unfortunately, the provincial Strata Property Act does not currently permit government to intervene in the affairs of a strata corporation, or provide for the interpretation of the Act and Regulations, leaving many strata owners dependent on litigation to resolve issues as they arise.
This survey may be an excellent opportunity to provide feedback on a proposed strata dispute tribunal model that could help strata owners and other stakeholders avoid having to take strata disputes through the court system.
The survey is open to strata lot owners, renters, and strata professionals. Deadline to participate is October 31 at 4:30 pm. Survey available at www.housing.gov.bc.ca/strata/index.htm.
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