Image Credit: Flickr / Province of BC

By Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Will NDP budget support local priorities?

Feb 3, 2022 | 10:57 AM

WHEN MLAs RETURN TO THE LEGISLATURE next week for the spring session, our BC Liberal team will have a new leader at the helm. After an exciting campaign that saw seven candidates share their vision for a better B.C., we will face the new session with a sense of renewal and with new ideas and perspectives with which to challenge the NDP government.

Our interim leader Shirley Bond has done an exceptional job up to this point, squaring off against the premier in question period and leading a cohesive group of MLAs. It has been a pleasure to work closely with her in my role as Opposition House Leader. Her experience and sharp skills will continue to be a benefit to our team and we thank her for her many contributions.

The spring sitting of the legislature is particularly important because the government will deliver its Throne Speech which lays out its priorities and its budget which will tell us how it intends to pay for those programs and initiatives.

We will be very interested in the NDP’s budget plans as we work to ensure their priorities match the needs of British Columbians. Knowing that fire-, heat dome- and flood-affected farmers and ranchers haven’t had an easy time accessing relief funds, we will be looking to the budget for disaster recovery dollars to help them get back on their feet as soon as possible. These delays are also hurting the people of Lytton, who have seen little progress to rebuild their village following last summer’s devastating wildfire that destroyed most of their homes, infrastructure and livelihoods.

There are a number of local projects that my colleague Todd Stone and I will be looking to the government to help fund. For example, where is the cancer centre the NDP promised to the people of Kamloops? What will the budget for the Interior Health Authority look like, and will it do anything to help resolve the issues we are seeing with staff burnout and depleted health resources?

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What about a complex care housing facility to help our city’s most vulnerable? Minister David Eby has said Kamloops is a priority area for one of these sites, yet we’ve only seen funding announced for facilities on the Lower Mainland. We have been highlighting inadequate supports at existing supportive housing for years, so complex care is necessary to fill the gaps created by the NDP.

Will there be funding for school capital projects? The Kamloops-Thompson School District is looking to build at least five new schools to cope with growing demand and has an even longer list of expansions, enhancements, playground upgrades and carbon emission reduction projects it would like to get done. Will they get that support and if so, how many years will it take to achieve these goals?

And what about transportation? As work gets underway to repair East Shuswap Road, what will the scope and timeline of the project look like? Will it be a three-year window? A five-year window? These are the types of answers we will be seeking about the progress of upgrades to this important thoroughfare.

Yes, the NDP government has had COVID to contend with, but there are numerous projects across our province that require attention and funding. If we want British Columbia to recover well from the impacts of the pandemic, we need to ensure we have the infrastructure, supports, innovation and competitiveness to drive us forward.

As your MLA and as a member of the Official Opposition, I will continue to monitor the progress of these local projects and challenge the NDP to complete them in a timely and cost-effective manner.

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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.