VICTORIA, B.C. – B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver responded today to the Speech from the Throne.
“I am encouraged to see our shared values represented in today’s Throne Speech,” said Weaver.
“The focus on housing and child care and early childhood education represent policies that we have heard are top priorities for British Columbians across the province.
“However, we await details in next week’s budget as to how these values will be implemented in government policy. British Columbians are facing an affordability crisis and they deserve to see a strong vision and bold action from this government.
“I am glad to hear the government acknowledge that the first step to solving the housing crisis must be to address demand and speculation, both foreign and domestic. What’s critical is that these measures are bold enough to make a difference for British Columbians. Our caucus has long maintained that taking strong demand-side action is critical to improving housing affordability. Houses should be for homes for people to live in, not commodities for speculation. I hope to see significant demand-side action in the budget next week.
“While it’s positive to see a focus on childcare, going forward we hope to see far more emphasis on the importance of high quality early childhood education. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide the next generation of British Columbians with the best possible head start - and well paid, high quality educators must be at the centre of this transformation. Sonia Furstenau, our spokesperson on this issue, will continue to advocate for an evidence-based approach to early childhood education so that our children can succeed in our fast-changing world.
“While I appreciate the government reiterating its commitment to take steps to meet our climate target, we must get beyond rhetoric. Our caucus’ role is to ensure that the days of politicians vowing to take action on climate and then doing nothing must end. Actions, not words, are what are required to meet our responsibility to the next generation. I look forward to working with Minister Heyman to enact a climate action strategy to meet our targets so that we can become leaders in climate action once again.”
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