Monday February 19, 2024 | LANGLEY, BC [Updated 7:43 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The salient points of the next BC NDP government budget were gently released by Premier David Eby in a livestreamed conversation with a handful of community leaders last week.
On February 15 Eby chatted with a pastor, a parent PAC rep, and a community organization rep from Baby Go Round, at a studio hotspot in Langley.
No surprises as to content. There was an overall theme of affordability and helping people as well as highlighting housing and touching on the importance of health care and schools in the context of keeping up with population growth.
Throne Speech and Budget:
BC Budget 2024 will be released on Thursday February 22, to be delivered Finance Minister Katrine Conroy.
Prior to that, on Tuesday February 20 the government’s Throne Speech will be delivered by the Lieutenant Governor, after which government house leader Ravi Kahlon will take media questions.
This is a provincial election year, making this budget particularly strategic for the BC-NDP’s hopes at re-electing a majority government.
At the community level:
Premier Eby said the job of premier is “almost designed” to insulate the premier from what’s going on in communities. There’s a whole layer of staff and security in between.
Hence the visit to communities like Langley to discuss issues directly with various community leaders.
Housing first:
To build a good life in BC means having a home, Eby pointed out at the start of the one-hour session. “A decent life” also means “you have access to health care, a doctor when you go to the hospital, that you get the care that you need when you need it.
In his overview, the premier said that a good life in BC means that “communities are safe” including “parks and downtown”, and that “people who are struggling are also safe”.
Last session was really focussed on housing. Short term rentals – but a situation where people were converting strata buildings into hotels. Construction needs to increase to keep up with population growth. “Our province is growing so quickly to meet the demand that’s out there. Give people options with their homes. If you own a home and you’re a senior and you want to split it and have a few family members move in, that would be a legal thing to do — a secondary suite that you can rent out.” More affordable housing is the overall goal, he said.
“Having housing is not just a safe place to live but also having access to everything you need,” said the rep from the Baby Go Round family support service.
Eby mentioned BC Builds a few times — a program that was announced last week that will build “more affordable middle-income housing” on publicly-owned land. He said the program “will take pressure off affordable housing”.
Child care and supporting seniors:
He itemized the importance of providing child care so families can work and that seniors “who built this country are looked after”.
The BC population is aging quickly — not that it should be a surprise, but a lot of socioeconomic components of society have not kept up… such as aspects of appropriate housing for seniors as well as the availability of aging-in-place options so that the health-care system — specifically hospitals — is not unduly overloaded.
“There are a lot of seniors out there who are hurting,” said Eby, in one of his more pointed mentions of the reality for seniors with regard to housing and appropriate health-care supports.
Affordability programs:
Eby said that affordability programs have focussed on families with school-age kids, including school food programs and free transit for kids age 11 and under.
The BC Government has given $20 million to each school district in the province to help out families. He said that the Feeding Futures in-school food program will continue in the year ahead.
He also notes the preschool phase… child care, medicine, diapers, food. This is an opportunity for us to do more work. Household stress is a key factor in a child’s readiness for school as well as health outcomes. “By supporting the parents we can ensure the success of the entire family,” said Eby.
Debt and dealing with inflation:
Families are carrying debt. “Renewing mortgages at the interest rates is hard on families.”
Eby took another swipe at the Bank of Canada’s decision to have rapidly increased interest rates over the past two years. The additional cost of mortgages and interest impacting the cost of nearly everything “eats up a lot of available income”.
“Inflation in BC is so driven by housing costs,” said Eby, and the Bank of Canada’s decision around raising interest rates to get inflation under control actually makes housing more expensive in British Columbia. It’s very frustrating for me; the impact on families is so real,” the premier said.
Spring session at the legislature:
That’s something you’re really going to see reflected in what’s going forward in the legislature in the spring session –your priorities reflected through our government in the laws that we’re bringing forward.
Eby joked that the BC Legislative spring session comes after the Golden Globes, Grammys, and SuperBowl.
“In the session coming up we’ve got about 20 different laws all related to the key priority areas that we all share,” said Eby last Thursday.
Eby says he realizes that the work of the legislature “can feel a little abstract” when you get down to the community level.
