Latest / Political Capital with Rob Shaw / The legislature returns! | Political Capital Daily

Transcript

The legislature returns! | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily is brought to you by the BC
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Tech Association. With thirty years of helping turn startups into
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: scale ups, the Bctech Association is generously helping start up
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: this show as well. Today every company is a tech company.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Visit WERBC tech dot com for more on helping bccompanies grow.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily is also brought to you by Helijet.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Helijet is your connection between Victoria, Vancouver and Andaimo and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the world now with Aeroplan earn Aeroplan points with your
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: scheduled or charter flights on top of Helojet's premium service
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and amenities. For more, visit helojet dot com to book
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: your flight now onto the show. It's Tuesday, May nineteenth,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, and this is Political Capital Daily. Well,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: good morning, welcome to a truncated work week in BC politics.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Monday was a holiday. Sorry to miss you on Monday.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: But it's Tuesday now and there is a lot going
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: on that I want to bring you up to speed
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: on what to expect today. The legislature returns. There is
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a bunch going on there. I'll walk you through in
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a moment, but we're expecting Premier David Ebee and Energy
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Minister Adrian Nix up today with an announcement about investments
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to help with energy efficiency. Dix has talked in the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: past about conservation being a key part of meeting BC's
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: rising energy demands. Not just new projects like wind and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: solar and even potentially new hydroelectric dam projects, but conserving
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the existing power key to BC's goal. So we'll see
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: what they have in mind there. With the legislature back
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: in session, we will see the budget estimates resuming for
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the Ministries of Jobs, Ministries of Post Safety, and the Ministries
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of Transportation. As we get closer to the end of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the session, which is the end of next week, you
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: can expect to see the big ministry, the Office of
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the Premier, up for a debate, which is always a
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: highlight of the spring session of the legislature. Also two
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: controversial First Nations treaties which many First Nations, including the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Union of BC Indian Chiefs, have called on government to
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: pause due to overlapping territorial claims. They are expected to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: be up as early as today for second stage speeches
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: in the legislature. Will they be ratified this session? Amidst
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: all the pushback We're watching to see if government decides
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to do that. It could be a very bumpy ride
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: for those treaties. Also today, Bill nine, the FOI Act,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: up for committee stage debate after passing. You might remember
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: that all night filibuster vote the other week in the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: BC Legislature. The Government's indicated it has some amendments to
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: put to this bill on the floor during committee stage,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: but critics say those don't go far enough to address
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: what will be changes that let government arbitrarily refuse to
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: disclose public records if it considers doing so to be
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: too much work. That would interfere in the business of government.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: That's a very controversial bill, so we'll watch to see
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: what changes and what doesn't during committee stage. Also today,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Mark Carney up in Quebec for an announcement
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: his office. Bill says an important initiative to build a stronger,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: more resilient economy. I expect he will also be facing
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: questions about his memorandum of understanding latest agreement with Alberta
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: on oil pipelines. I'm sure Premier eb will be facing
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: those questions as well. So we'll watch both of those
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: press conferences to get more information on where the governments
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: stand there. Also on Tuesday, members of the Federal Conservative Party,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: specifically members of its Property Rights Caucus, will be holding
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a the news conference following a stakeholder round table in
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Metro Vancouver on property rights who have the chair of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: this new property rights Caucus, Taco Van Popta from Langley Township,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: will be there, plus Conservative House Leader Andrew Sheer, amongst others.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: That's happening in Metro Vancouver at eleven thirty am this morning.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: And to round it up, because there's a lot going
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: on here, we'll be watching the BC Conservative Party as
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: it basically kind of pushes through one of its last
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: days on voter verification for people who want to vote
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: in the BC Conservative leadership race before that cuts off
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night. So there'll be a lot of the five
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: remaining camps talking about voter verification today and that's what
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you need to know for today. Here for a sponsor,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: this episode is brought to you by drivewise BC. For
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: fifty years, Drivewise has helped British Columbians become safer, more
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: confident drivers with its ICBC approved courses, online learning and
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: behind the wheel training across the province. Learn more at
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: DRIVEWISEBC dot com. All right, let's bring it up to
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: speed on what happened over the weekend, just so you
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: perhaps were enjoying your long weekend festivities, didn't keep an
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: eye on the news agenda. That's okay, I've got you
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: on that. We talked last week about the haunt virus
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: case in British Columbia. There were four people brought to
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: this province from an overseas cruise ship where there had
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: been a number of breakouts of this very virulent strain
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of haunter virus that three people had died with. Well,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: four folks arrived in British Columbia and over the weekend
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: one developed symptoms and doctor Bonnie Henry came out to
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: say that that is in fact a case of the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Hanta virus. It was later confirmed by Canada's Public Health agency.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: That is, the person affected is one of a couple
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: in their seventies who are visiting British Columbia from the Yukon.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Because BC is taking care of this on behalf of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the Yukon. The Yukons didn't have the healthcare facilities, so
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the second person in that couple was put into hospital
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: as a precaution and a third person in town is
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: also in hospital in a precaution. So that means BC's
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: big hospitals in Metro Victoria here Royal Jubilee and Victoria
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: General both have folks in and around. In one case
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: confirmed with the haunt of virus isolating in hospital. Once again,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: there are three deaths linked to this strain of the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Hanta virus. Actually, a man in Colorado died of a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: different strain of the Haunter virus over the weekend. There
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: is no cure or treatment for this. We have more
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: weekend reaction from the Prime Minister's pipeline announcement Friday. We
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: didn't touch on it on the show because it was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: so late in the week, but the Prime Minister and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Alberta Premier Daniel Smith announcing a new carbon pricing structure
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of one hundred and thirty dollars per ton by twenty forty,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: mainly to ease the economics of a new pipeline to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: BC's coast. Smith saying at her joint press conference that
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: she will get a proposal on the desk of the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister with proponents in a route by July first.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Carney confirmed in this new agreement that he could declare
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: this a project of national interest by October first, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: then potentially construction could start on this new Alberta BC
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: oil pipeline by September first, twenty twenty seven. Premier David
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: eb said in a response to that late Friday, that
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: is a country. It's time to stop rewarding bad behavior.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: It cannot be the case that the projects that get
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: prioritized in Canada are those where a premier threatens to
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: leave the country. Energy Minister and Dick Smith the weekend
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: making the rounds to media saying that BC has real
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: projects being ignored and mining electricity and LLENNG, whereas the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Alberta pipeline is not a real project according to British Columbia.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: But increasingly it looks like BC is misreading that situation
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and the Alberta pipeline is getting very close to real.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Over the weekend, Daniel Smith told CTV's Vashy Capellos that
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: there are five routes under consideration from her office. That
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: includes a southern route which would let the pipeline avoid
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: a clash with coastal First Nations overlifting a federal oil
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: tanker moratorium on the West coast on the north. Here
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: is some of Smith and Capellos on CTV's question period
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: on the weekend.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Are all the five routes under consideration to the northern
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: part of the West coast or is one of them?
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: There's a long TNX, Yeah, there's a southern route, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: there's also northern roots.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're open to all of that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we'll we'll, as I said, I'll be getting
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the briefing on the weekend about what the different trade
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: offs are, what the economics are, what the different impact is.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I've been pretty clear that I like the idea of
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: a northern route. It gets us to the Asian markets
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: a few days faster, It is less congestion and less
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to navigate with the islands when you go further north
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: as well. But I'm open minded about what the Roberts
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Bank proposal might look like. That was the other one
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: that we were looking at.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Certainly a preference of the BC government to do the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: southern route, although it's overall position on this pipeline is
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: no a southern route could follow the TMX route that
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: exists right now. We'll see if Alberta's premier ends up
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: deciding that is the route to put forward as her
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: project proponent and route on July the first. Some other
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: news here, BC officials are talking with Washington State after
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a yellow legged hornet was discovered about a cargo ship
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: in Washington State. A Great inspector found the insect on
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: April thirtieth, but it was announced last week. The hornets
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: are native to Asia Y'ah, considered invasive and can devastate
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: honeybee population. This is not the so called murder hornets
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that sparked a panic a few years ago in British Columbia.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: It actually we declared ourselves free of the Northern giant
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: hornets in twenty twenty four. This is another giant hornet.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: None of those giant hornets are good. Let's just put
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: it that way. I'm not a big fan of wasps
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: or hornets. I hate wasps in fact, so that's why
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I've put this in here. I have seen the so
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: called murder hornet up close courtesy of Agriculture Minster Lana Popam,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: and they are frightening. So BC making sure and watching
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: to see that these large yellow legged hornets don't show
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: up in the province. And finally, just to highlight some
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: reporting here from the CBC's Emily Fagan. Over the weekend,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: some grim new numbers on homelessness in British Columbia, specifically
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: new data from the BC Corners Service that shows five
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: hundred and seven people died in twenty twenty four while
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: experiencing homelessness. That is more than triple the number from
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: just four years ago. The vast majority, more than three quarters,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: died from toxic drugs. About half of those were living
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: in unsheltered conditions, another thirty percent were in temporary housing situations.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Most were men, Most were between the age of thirty
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and fifty nine. The trend worsening almost everywhere in the province,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: but Vancouver Island recorded the highest death rate in BC.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: We often talk about the impact of the ongoing toxic
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: drug crisis and the public health emergency that's now a
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: decade old on that and the impact that it is having,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: but not a lot of discussion about the ongoing crisis
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of homelessness and the death toll associated with that. So
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: some sobering numbers there on homelessness in British Columbia. Thank
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: you so much for listening to Political Capital Daily. We'll
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: be back tomorrow with all the latest INBC politics. We'll
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: see you then take care.