Friday November 18, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 2 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
With 23 months to steer the ship as BC’s 37th Premier ahead of the scheduled October 19, 2024 provincial election, David Eby started today with launching his theme of intending to have British Columbians see the benefits to them from the provincial government in real and immediate ways.
That started with the announcement of two cost-of-living credits in his inaugural speech today during his inaugural speech in Vancouver. A BC Hydro credit of $100 will be received by every ratepayer, and a low/middle income tax credit will be issued to everyone with an income under $150,051 (on a sliding scale basis).
In his speech at the podium, Eby identified what he called “massive challenges” as learned through the pandemic, including: access to health care (including having a family doctor), housing attainability (mentioning young adults and seniors), crime, and dealing with global economic headwinds.
He aims to provide a “strong and secure economy for all British Columbians”.
Session with media:
In his first session with media today in the role of premier, Eby said that today’s announcement of two cost-of-living credits “are just one way” of helping people, and that people will “see more”. But he said the $100 BC Hydro credit will “make a lot of difference for a lot of families across BC”, indicating in that his awareness of the real impacts of inflation on families in the province.
He told media he would still fulfill on the BC NDP’s platform to issue a $400 renter’s rebate (something not done while Horgan was premier).
“We will look at every opportunity”, said Eby, toward addressing economic challenges for people in BC. He mentioned a few times today that economic conditions are largely driven by “global challenges”.
Some housing legislation will be presented with in the BC Legislature on Monday (November 21), Eby said today. It will “open new rental housing” in the province. He noted the increasing population of BC that he attributes to “more people moving here” and “we need to build homes for them”.
As a way to improve the health care system in BC, he hopes to improve the certification process for professionals coming to Canada who are qualified to practice medicine or nursing in other countries but find it difficult to achieve licensing in BC.
Eby says the projected one million job openings by 2030 are looming as a result of retirement of the baby boom generation as well as “growth of the economy”, saying “we’ve really seen the headwinds coming”. About 80 percent of those jobs will require some form of post-secondary education.
“BC will be a world leader in so many fields,” said Eby, looking to the future for this province.
===== RELATED:
David Eby sworn in as 37th premier (November 18, 2022)
A million new job openings projected, most will need post-secondary training (February 7, 2022)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends covers news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island, as well as BC and issues of national impact on islanders.
The online news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca is an extension of a series of new publications that began in 2008
Island Social Trends editor is Mary P Brooke.