B.C. Premier John Horgan’s throne speech read by Lt. Gov. Janet Austin on Feb. 12 consisted of promises to hold down ferry and electricity costs, as well regulating event ticket sales, payday lenders and addressing high cellphone bills.
“The throne speech had nothing in it for rural British Columbia, absolutely nothing,” said Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett. “There were a few additions. They are going to monitor cell phone costs. The CRTC monitors all communications as we know in Canada. We would like to have cell phones in our region and a lot of places don’t.”
According to the speech, some changes in that regard would be improving “billing transparency” and the NDP government doing another round of consultations. However, the wireless industry is more so governed by federal law.
“Your government will give consumers the tools they need to get the least expensive possible service and encourage the federal government to deliver more affordable cellphone options for people,” the speech says.
Barnett also mentioned the speech had no mention of help for the forestry industry, economics, no inclination for relaxation in taxes for businesses.
“In essence at the end of the day, it’s all about free bridges, free daycare, free homes, free this and free that and not a word about the economy which generates the funds to build these things and operates them. I’m very disappointed,” said Barnett.
The speech also promised to take action on the advancement of the LNG Canada project, but first, the government and the chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in Northwest B.C. have to resolve their differences. The NDP also aims to remove the liquefied natural gas income tax the previous B.C. Liberal government put in place.
Barnett mentioned there might be a veto on resource industry projects and that the consultation process will be interesting to see.
“A lot of our First Nations are very interested in moving forward with economic development so I sincerely hope this helps us move forward with our first nations but in essence, there is no consultation out there. I’m getting more and more letters from citizens that this government is not consulting on anything they are doing regarding anything they are doing on the land base,” said Barnett.
According to the speech, the government hopes to establish Class A provincial parks, a Chinese-Canadian museum, and an upgrade to the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria. Purchased land on Vancouver Island, the Okanagan, Kootenays and the Sunshine Coast will also be given the highest park protect from the province.