B.C. Greens: Government must ensure well-being of people, communities, and environment are at centre of decision-making

SONIA Furstenau, Leader of the B.C. Green Party, in response to the Speech from the Throne on Monday said in a statement: “While it presents a slightly more honest assessment of the challenges people in B.C. are facing, today’s Throne Speech was more of a reflection on what the BC NDP says it has accomplished than a vision for the challenging road ahead. It feels like deja vu. Unless they start defining and measuring the outcomes, we are all striving for, we will continue to see no transformative change.

“What we needed to hear from the BC NDP government is how they are going to measure success. It’s not about measuring construction starts, but how many fewer people are homeless or precariously housed. It’s not about how much money it has invested in healthcare, but how many more people are attached to a family doctor.”

Furstenau said: “I’m happy to hear that the government is committed to building housing near public transit hubs. While we support government-subsidized housing, providing homes to middle-class families shouldn’t come at the expense of lower-income earners.

“This government has taken a strong stance against privatization of healthcare. From all the work that we’ve done we agree and are going to hold them to that. We will continue to advocate for community health centres as a way to get primary care to all British Columbians.

“When it comes to climate, the NDP’s highlighting of EV charging stations in condos fails to recognize that climate action needs to be transformative. We are in a climate emergency; we need to see that reality reflected in their priorities. This means ending subsidies for fossil fuel companies, supporting innovation in the clean energy economy, investing in a robust public transit network across the province, and investing in conservation financing and the restoration of ecosystems.”

Furstenau said that this government must ensure that the well-being of people, communities, and the environment are at the centre of their decision-making.