File Photo (Image Credit: The Canadian Press)

By Amna Shah, MLA for Surrey City Centre

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SOUND OFF: BC NDP Year in Review

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AS WE REFLECT ON 2025 and prepare to welcome 2026, one thing has been clear: British Columbians and Canadians have come together shoulder-to-shoulder and supported each other through threats to our sovereignty and the effects from Donald Trump’s unjust tariffs. 

Despite the economic pressures people are feeling from global inflation and tariffs affecting B.C.’s key industries, we have rallied together to ‘Buy BC,’ to celebrate each other, and when necessary, to mourn together. 

Now more than ever, B.C. needs strong leadership focused on helping us stand on our own feet and as we look forward to the new year, I reflect on what our government has been able to accomplish in 2025, despite the barriers we’ve faced. 

As a government, one of our biggest focuses this year was creating good jobs in the face of the challenges brought on by Trump’s tariffs, and we’ve been laying the groundwork for B.C. to become the economic engine of Canada.

This included launching our Look West jobs plan to deliver major projects, create good jobs and strengthen B.C.’s economy. 

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Actions like passing legislation to speed up projects like the North Coast Transmission Line and supporting Cedar LNG will create tens of thousands reliable jobs for people in our province. We’ve also supported BC Hydro’s first Call to Power, which will attract billions of dollars in investment, support thousands of jobs and add enough clean energy to power half a million homes. We’re going to keep investing in projects that will create sustainable jobs for British Columbians while prioritizing a cleaner economy. 

This year, we also saw major infrastructure projects in B.C. that our government brought forward be completed, like new hospitals in Terrace and Fort St James and the new stal̕əw̓asəm (stah-lo-awesome) / Riverview Bridge which will have traffic on it by the end of the year. Additionally, we’ve opened and committed to more schools and more child care on school grounds this year to support families in growing communities across B.C. 

I know that for my constituents, health care is a huge priority, and this year we’ve really started to see the positive results of the work we’ve been putting in recruiting more healthcare professionals. Since May, we have received more than 1,800 job applications from qualified U.S. health professionals with more than 174 healthcare workers accepting job offers. Additionally, thousands more people have been connected to family doctors and nurse practitioners through the BC Health Connect Registry. 

We’re also working to train more healthcare workers at home, launching SFU’s new medical school, which is beginning its first class of new doctors in August 2026, right here in Surrey. All these efforts are building on our investments to upgrade hospitals across the province, like building a new hospital in Cloverdale, a new acute-care tower in Richmond and new B.C. Cancer Care facilities in Surrey, Kamloops and Nanaimo.

We opened Surrey Memorial Hospital’s new cardiac catheterization lab, which brings urgent, life-saving care and treatment for heart conditions, reducing the need for transfers. We completed the renal hemodialysis facility at Surrey Memorial this year and have a new acute tower for Surrey Memorial moving ahead. We also hit the milestone of building the Guru Nanak Diversity Village, a new 125-bed long-term care facility.

One thing I know my constituents are excited about is seeing progress on the Surrey-Langley Skytrain, which will change the game for commuters and visitors between the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.

Health care isn’t the only sector where we are seeing significant progress — work that’s been put in to increase housing supply and reduce crime is paying off with an 8.5 per cent decrease in asking rents since November 2023, and a 7 per cent fall in crime rates this year. 

I’m also proud of legislation we passed this year to hold tobacco companies to account on their marketing of e-cigarettes and vaping products, and bills that help strengthen supports for victims and increase penalties for perpetrators of sharing people’s intimate images. 

As we head off to enjoy the holidays with our families and friends, we are once again dealing with weather emergencies and floods in the Fraser Valley and on highways across B.C. I know that we’ve been here before and we’ll all come together again to support our friends and neighbours who had to change travel plans, be evacuated, or had damage to their properties and homes. 

We know there are more challenges ahead in 2026, and we’ll do everything we can to support British Columbians through whatever comes our way. 

I’m wishing everyone in Surrey, and in British Columbia, very happy holidays and a happy New Year.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.