THE BC Liberals on Monday noted that it’s been one year since Premier John Horgan said he needed a majority government and British Columbians are still asking why.

“John Horgan told British Columbians that he needed to call a snap election last year, in the middle of a global pandemic, to secure a majority to get urgent things done for people. One year and countless failures later, we’ve seen no real action on his key election promises,” said Interim Leader of the Official Opposition Shirley Bond.

“Despite calling the Legislature back for a fall session, the NDP have failed to provide an agenda for debate, resorting instead to debating last spring’s Speech from the Throne rather than tackling any of the issues John Horgan promised to take action on during the campaign.”

The BC Liberals said that since Horgan’s pandemic power grab, the province has experienced three of the four waves of COVID-19, a devastating wildfire season, which saw an entire B.C. community destroyed, and a truly horrific heatwave that claimed the lives of 570 British Columbians. The first seven months of 2021 alone have seen 1,204 British Columbians die of an opioid overdose.

Bond said: “John Horgan broke his word calling a snap election saying the most critical issue was the opioid crisis and the need for a safe care act. A year later, it’s been nothing but vague promises that action will be taken. He’s even rejected requests from both parties to work jointly together.”

Now, 365 days later, British Columbians are still waiting on the NDP to deliver on a long list of promises including 114,000 new affordable housing units, 24,000 new childcare spaces, a $400 renters rebate, the hiring of 7,000 new frontline healthcare workers, and a long-term economic strategy to keep B.C. competitive going forward. the BC Liberals said.

Bond said: “John Horgan keeps saying his government is the most transparent in North America but nothing could be further from the truth. The NDP have kept vital COVID-19 data from the public throughout the pandemic, buried a report about long-term care deaths, blacked out public health documents, and have continually denied the public the critical information they need. The introduction of fees for government information requests is just another example of the NDP trying to frustrate legitimate inquiries and keep journalists, the Opposition, and British Columbians in the dark.

“Today marks one full year since the NDP won a majority and with no substantive legislation or vision for the future of our province, John Horgan still hasn’t demonstrated to British Columbians why he needed to call his pandemic election in the first place.”