(On December 10, former B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson delivered the following speech in connection with Bill 3, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2020, which delays the introduction of the next provincial budget until April. This is a draft from Hansard.)

First of all, I should be giving recognition to the three individuals who have taken on the role of Speaker—obviously, the member for Burnaby-Edmonds as the Speaker himself, the member for Vancouver–West End as the Deputy Speaker and you [Norm Letnick] as the Assistant Deputy Speaker. We thank you for taking on the task, and we look forward to your wise and reasonable governance of the House.

Now, all of us owe many thanks to the volunteers and supporters who made our election possible, especially those who are newly elected to the House. We congratulate every one of them, of course, for joining those of us who've served in the House previously.

It's an onerous task. It carries responsibilities, not just to the people who elected you in the riding but also to the wider five million people in British Columbia. We take on these roles because we seek to be part of the governance of the province. Those who are fortunate enough to be on the winning side in the election form government, and they choose the executive council.

But the caucus on each side is critically important to provide guidance to members of the executive council and to serve in this House as the wider conscience, as the vehicle, as the conduit for ideas and information from the entire province of British Columbia to the governing executive council, commonly known as cabinet.

So we have to examine why we're here today and why we're debating this bill. The government was successful in the election. We all know that. They have formed a majority government.

With the majority, comes an onerous obligation to use the majority wisely—not to use it in a self-serving manner, not to use it in a way that is going to be onerous for the people of British Columbia but in a way that serves the public interest of all of British Columbia. That is the task this government must take on now.

Yet we find ourselves summoned to Victoria, some of us doing it from our residences or offices on this hybrid mode, to debate a bill that is purely self-serving for this government. It has no benefit for the people of British Columbia whatsoever. There has been no effort whatsoever on the part of the executive council to demonstrate why this would help the people of British Columbia, and sadly, very sadly, we see the members opposite—the private members, the NDP caucus members—who are ashamed to stand up and speak to this bill.

Whether they've been told not to stand up or whether they simply feel that they are too intimidated to stand up is an open question. But the fact remains that their inability to speak to this bill in any way whatsoever is a source of some shame to the rest of us, because we are summoned to this chamber to serve the interests of the people of British Columbia. We do not see this happening with this bill in any way, by any member of the NDP caucus.

Government is about building and earning trust. It's about maintaining the trust of the public. We saw that prior to the election, where our party decided, in March, that we would adopt the concept that we would fight the virus and not each other.

We cooperated with this government for six solid months. We did not carp on about testing rates. We did not get into debates about regional opening and closing. We did not go on about school closures and about the need for disclosure of information in schools. That did not come up, because we decided that it was our responsibility to the people of British Columbia to work with the government for the betterment of the people of British Columbia during this COVID pandemic.

We saw the Green Party do it in their own way. They had their confidence and supply agreement. That was their way of cooperating with the NDP minority government to make it possible to govern British Columbia effectively. We can disagree about the contents of the CASA agreement and we can disagree about the results, but the fact remains that it was about building trust between the Greens and the NDP.

Yet, sadly, we saw the trust that we had invested in the NDP minority government in September, and the trust that the Green Party had invested in the NDP minority for three years, tossed to the wind in September. It was a complete abrogation of the public trust in the middle of a pandemic which has threatened British Columbia and the rest of the world in ways that have never been contemplated before.

This was a start of a pathway to cynicism—a self-serving pathway, a pathway that means that the NDP have now decided that they will serve their own interests. The Legislature can be written off, basically, as a vehicle, because their own private members aren't prepared to stand up and speak. It's a muzzling of the democracy of British Columbia that's happening this week and next. We will do our part to fight it by standing up and speaking proudly on behalf of the public interest of British Columbians.

That takes us, sadly, back to the last era of NDP majority government, where the financial credibility of this province was torn to shreds—the fudget budgets, the unreliable budget dates, the budgets that bore no correlation to actual government spending. This record was reflected in British Columbia's bond ratings. It was reflected in British Columbia's borrowing costs. It was reflected in our credibility. It was also reflected in our economic performance, as British Columbia literally went from first to last in Canada, with the highest marginal tax rates in the country, by the time that the NDP were defeated in 2001.

There was then a concerted effort, a major initiative, to re-establish credibility with the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. It was a critical piece of legislation that provided that the officials in the Ministry of Finance would provide uniform, reliable reporting to everyone—to the citizens of B.C., to the institutions that lend us money when we need it and to the Legislature of British Columbia. It was part of an overall package, fixed election dates, fixed budget dates, taking away the arbitrary decision-making power of the Premier of the day.

What do we see this week? We see a return. We see a return to that high-handed, arrogant, self-serving behaviour of NDP majority governments. We can only hope that this is a flash in the pan, a spurt of bad judgment, a small window of bad faith that is being exhibited by this executive council under this Premier.

Accomplishing the credibility of things like fixed election dates and fixed budgets with highly reliable budgetary information is no small task. Yet we see it being slowly corroded and now accelerated by this government. There are no initiatives on the table. We're in the biggest crisis since World War II in our province, and yet we have seen no real initiatives to deal with it, other than deferring to public health officials, which has generally been appropriate. But in terms of the function of the other 20 ministries in this government, in terms of the function of this House and in terms of the function of the economy of British Columbia, we see exactly that—nothing to show to the people of British Columbia. There has been no fiscal update. There has been a secretive approach to the finances of this province, which is completely inappropriate and has no real basis in necessity. It is simply a politically expedient now that the NDP have a majority government.

The purpose of this bill? To delay introducing the next budget. There was already a month delay that the NDP granted themselves last summer, and now we see that they're trying to extend it. This will mean that we have over a year between the last budget in February of 2020 and the next budget in the summer of 2021. It will limit government transparency. It will delay the needed supports going out to our sectors in the community and in our business sectors that are desperately in need of some government guidance.

The people of British Columbia are entitled to know what the plan is. Let's not forget that last summer economic recovery plans were put out in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta by mid-July. We still have nothing, nothing at all to guide the people of British Columbia as to where their future lies.

We'll fight the virus, but we'll be holding this government to account on how they fight the virus from now on because we no longer trust this government at all. We will also have to be very scrupulous in examining the behaviour of this government on financial matters, given this complete betrayal of the public trust that's demonstrated in this piece of legislation. All we have so far from this government, in terms of that economic recovery, is some vague expectation it'll happen next year. That does precious little, does nothing, for the tens of thousands of people who have lost their jobs.

Employment rates have recovered somewhat because, as shown in the newspaper the other day, the person who used to be a flight attendant on WestJet is now working at Amazon or driving an Uber car. Those are not things to be ashamed of. It's good, hard work, but it doesn't pay as much as their prior employment. COVID has knocked the stuffing out of so many sectors in our economy. Tourism. Hospitality. Airlines. Restaurants.

We all know the fate of these businesses that are struggling to stay alive, struggling to keep credit, struggling to keep any employment at all going in their sectors. What are they relying upon? Federal support programs. Because in the province of British Columbia, there has been nothing under this NDP, and there will be nothing under this NDP majority government until there's a new budget. That now, apparently, is five months away.

We are going to see a wave of bankruptcies roll through our communities this winter. There's an article that has come out in the Vancouver Sun this afternoon about the west side of Vancouver. The reporter, very appropriately, interviewed both me and the Attorney General, who represents Vancouver–Point Grey. The essence of the story is what has happened that has generated waves of business closures down Broadway, 10th Avenue, Dunbar Street and elsewhere, in one of the most prosperous parts of Canada. Why are all these businesses going broke? It's a long story in terms of population change, online shopping, a change in the number of children around and an older population group that purchases less as they build out their home life.

Property taxes are a major feature, and we have put forward proposals repeatedly for split assessment on business taxes so that they're not paying for the air space above their single-storey building. That has been ignored by this government. But the thing that has turned the corner is COVID. It has driven so much revenue out of those businesses that the community fabric is starting to unravel.

There are numerous businesses going broke in my riding and the Attorney General's riding as we speak. Storefronts shuttering, the brown paper going up behind the glass, and no sign of return to employment. This is gutting the communities we live in, in what, as I said, is one of the most prosperous corners of this country.

That tells us a lot about the lack of response from this government. Perhaps this government, in a kind of ruthless hard-nosed ironically right-wing way, is saying: "Oh, well, that's Darwinism and business." That these places were designed to fail anyway. That is not what government is for. Government's job is to assist businesses like this to weather the storm and make sure they can return to prosperity after COVID.

There is a horizon now for COVID to come to an end, now that vaccines are being deployed. We all know it's going to be long journey, probably into August or September before there's any kind of return to normalcy. It could be as long as a year from now, or even more, depending on the efficacy of the vaccine and the willingness of people to take it.

But the point remains. We cannot just write off hundreds of thousands of people in the province of British Columbia by saying: "Too bad, nothing could be done." Many things can be done, and many things were discussed during the election and were also raised by the Premier's economic recovery team, which was constituted last May.

In frustration, the three major agencies that were part of that Premier's team put out their own reports at the end of July because they were getting no response from this NDP government. They have had no response since then. The Business Council of British Columbia put out an extensive report on July 29 which pointed out dozens of things that could be done, and yet nothing has happened.

Just a few examples: Accelerate private sector investment to kick-start the economic recovery. Extend tax remittance deferrals for businesses significantly affected by the pandemic. Quickly find additional spaces for child care. Make B.C. a top tier location for investment in the forest sector. Introduce Nexus-style regulatory approval systems for qualified operators. Protect the industrial land base in Metro Vancouver. Support rapid re-skilling—that is critically important and needs to happen now. Address uncompetitive personal taxes. Boost investment to strategic digital infrastructure. Encourage the growth of technology-focused small and medium-sized firms.

The list goes on and on and on, and nothing has been done by this NDP majority government. Not even a signal that things will happen. Which means that these organizations lose face. Why were they encouraged to participate and advise the Premier if he was just going to ignore them? It was a stalling tactic. It was a way to buy time. It was a way to open a window for a snap election so this government could form its NDP majority.

But think about it: What's the goal of getting elected if you're not going to do anything? The goal of elected office is to act in the public interest, to do things that are exciting, to make British Columbia a better place for everyone. To put a smile on people's faces. Why are we here for this two-week legislative sitting? None of that is happening.

What is happening is that the NDP majority are seeming to cement themselves into office in a condescending, and essentially abusive, fashion to the democratic process. By dismantling the structure of what became the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. By getting rid of fixed election dates. By getting rid of fixed budget dates. What does that do for the thousands upon thousands of people who are looking forward to bleakest Christmas that they can remember? It does nothing for them, except delay the prospect of hope.

We also know that the government members on the other side—that is the backbenchers, many of whom are newly-elected—have been cowed into silence. We just have to look around the legislative chamber and see dozens and dozens of NDP members doing nothing. They've been told they're not to speak to this bill. Perhaps some of them even made their own decision not to speak to this bill because they can recognize a power grab when they see it. They can recognize a misuse of the democratic process. They must be saying to themselves on the screen, in the chamber: "Why did I take this job on if it's just to grab power and protect the few people in the executive council? Do I have no autonomy, no agency, no ability to represent the public interest?"

Do those NDP members have no ability whatsoever to stand up and make their own decisions? Perhaps they've been cowed into silence in their caucus meeting, because this is part of the master plan to build out the power and authority of this NDP majority and do exactly what they did in the 1990s, which is to protect their own interest at the expense of the public interest.

But think about this. This is no ordinary time. We're in a pandemic. We as legislators have an overwhelming obligation to the public good. That's why we worked with the government for six months to try and make sure that we were protecting the well-being of British Columbians during this dreadful epidemic. This bill does nothing for the people of British Columbia, yet we can see that the NDP are hoping that no one will notice. We're in the middle of the pandemic, there's a lot of news about the vaccine coming out, and this bill will hopefully escape public notice. It will not escape public notice because we're already getting the feedback on what a high-handed, arrogant, controlling government we now have sitting in Victoria under the NDP.

There's the excuse that is being trotted out that the civil service couldn't be ready in time after an election to put together a budget on the normal schedule, and has…. I think I am the only person in this chamber who has served as both a deputy minister and as an elected member. I went through five budget cycles as a deputy minister. The deadline is mid-December for all submissions. Those were prepared months ago and would have been tweaked according to the election outcome.

But let's remember that this is a continuation of an NDP government, so very little in those budgets will have actually changed by now. There is simply no excuse whatsoever for delaying this budget date into April. It should be in the middle of February, as it was required under the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act, which is now being gutted by the NDP in what is clearly a naked power grab.

Let's look at the government budgets. The Ministry of Health spends close to $3 million an hour, every day, every week, every month, all year. That goes into health services, which are delivered in British Columbia to everyone. The Ministry of Education spends about $30 million for every instructional day in the classroom. All of those amounts are preset and won't be changing. Those are the baseline expenditures of government, and those two ministries amount to more than half of government spending, just the two of them.

So what needs to be changed? What needs to be tweaked? What can't be adjusted by the regular budget date? The answer is the NDP simply want more power, more authority, more control, and the public interest and transparency be damned. This is not the way a democracy should be functioning. This is not a new government. This government should be in control of its budgetary circumstances and know where it's going. Either there is no plan, which appears to be the case, since it's now four months overdue at least, and we still see nothing in terms of a plan for tourism, for hospitality, and for the restaurant trade…. These businesses are imploding, as I said earlier, and yet what we see is nothing coming from Victoria in terms of any kind of credible plan until April.

It'll be far too late for thousands of family businesses which will have failed by then. That is a huge and structural and fundamental abuse of the public trust.

With a budget of $60 billion, this government should be in a position to provide guidance to all those businesses as to what they can expect so they can plan, so they can know where they're going, so they can know if help is on the way or if they should, perhaps, pack it in or at least figure out how much money they're going to have to have to survive. Instead, there is nothing.

The tourism industry rightly asked for $600 million of support back in the summer. What they got instead was a consultation process, and they are starving. We saw on the news last night that the Capilano Suspension Bridge fully had decorated itself for Christmas, fully employed all the students and part-timers who were going to be working there over Christmas. Now they're shut down. What can they expect from this government? They don't know. So clearly the answer is nothing.

This abuse of the public trust is fundamental. It comes in terms of torn up agreements like the CASA agreement with the Green Party. It comes with the false hope that was given to the tourism sector earlier this year when they were engaging in their efforts to convince the government to do something immediately for the summer tourism session, which was completely written off. The lack of trust extends to election dates, which have now been twice changed, first in the bill which gave the NDP an extra six months till November 2021 and then in terms of the NDP just calling the snap election in a power grab.

We now have budget dates being changed. All of this is designed to retain and expand the power of the government of the day, the NDP majority that sits in the chamber today. Government requires trust. The reason Canada functions so well is that people respect the law. They respect their hunting license restrictions. They respect the fishing limits. They respect the ways they're asked to behave and conduct themselves by the public health officials. This is a high-trust environment, which is what makes it such a successful nation. Yet when we see the leadership of our nation, of our province, acting in a high-handed, self-serving way, it means that trust is being abused.

We saw it even in the election campaign, where the NDP sought to divide British Columbians into what was so crudely described as "us" and "them." The good people and the bad people.

[S. Chandra Herbert in the chair.]

That does not build trust. That defines the enemies of the government of the day, and that is wrong, because everyone in British Columbia has to feel that they are trusted, that they are represented by their government and that they can trust the leadership in their society. When we see the degradation of that trust in a bill like this in a completely unnecessary legislative sitting that accomplishes nothing for the people of British Columbia, that public trust fades away.

All of us have to remember, constantly, that we can only govern with the consent of the governed. We do that with elections, but they are not just a once-in-four-years window in public opinion. They are a crystallization of four years of acquired public trust and four years of consent of the governed. You cannot just blow these things past the electorate and hope they won't notice because there was a vaccine announcement yesterday.

It is not acceptable for this government to hide, to suppress the truth and to pretend to be transparent, when in fact, this government is doing nothing more than leading the public down the path toward the kind of arrogant, high-handed, inept government that occurred under the last NDP majority government.

The members elected to this House should be serving with pride, and it's hard to see how any of the private members on the government side, the backbenchers, can be proud of what's going on in this legislature in these two weeks. It's an attempt to suppress transparency, to avoid the truth, to pretend that the civil service isn't ready for a budget and to fail in that duty that is owed to the public.

It's fair to say, and it goes without saying for the most part, that leadership is defined by the ability to govern fairly. High-handed behaviour, arrogance, is a sign of weakness. It is not a sign of strength. Sadly, in this first sitting of the Legislature since the election, we are seeing a government show its weakness.

In our society, which depends on trust, we cannot allow this government to unravel that public trust with this kind of completely unjustified approach to changing budget dates, to changing the approach to governance and to dismissing the public interest in favour of the interests of the NDP majority. It is time for this Legislature, this parliament, to start serving the public in the midst of the deepest crisis it's faced since World War II. We implore this government to wake up and start to serve the public interest rather than their own.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank the House for the time I've been granted and thank you for indulging me without interruption.