New Democrats hold Liberals to account, work for positive change in spring legislative session
VICTORIA – New Democrat leader Adrian Dix is celebrating a successful spring session, saying he is proud that New Democrats kept their promise to work hard and respectfully to bring positive change for all British Columbians while holding the B.C. Liberal government to account.
“I’m proud of the work our caucus has done this spring,” said Dix. “The Liberal government continues to show they are unwilling or unable to address the real issues facing British Columbians, while New Democrats are stepping up to make positive change now.”
Dix made his comments as the spring legislative session came to a close on Thursday evening. The Liberal government used time allocation, or closure, to limit debate and ram through 13 bills in the last two days of the session.
“Our caucus was successful in holding the Liberals to account on a number of key issues. We pushed for improvements in post-secondary education and skills training. We successfully drove changes to legislation, introduced our own legislation like the Cosmetic Use of Pesticides Control Act. And we challenged the government’s direction on a number of other important issues,” said Dix.
“We made a formal submission to the joint review panel into the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. While the Liberal government has failed to take a stand or submit evidence to the hearings, New Democrats showed we share British Columbians’ concerns about risks to our environment and our economy by stating our clear opposition to the project,” said Dix.
“We also proposed joint action with the Liberals to send a strong, united message to Ottawa that British Columbia won’t stand for the reduction of coast guard services, and to lobby for the protection of highly skilled jobs in the aviation industry."
Dix noted New Democrats provided a strong voice on important economic issues like raw log exports and federal government downloading of costs onto the province through legislation like the omnibus crime bill and a wide range of cuts that the province will have to make up for.
New Democrats also challenged the Liberals’ plans to balance the budget by a short-sighted public asset fire sale that will include the Liquor Distribution Branch, despite having no business case that shows it will provide any long-term savings to the province. And we challenged the Liberals’ failures in energy policy, particularly in light of their decision to interfere with the B.C. Utilities Commission’s ability to set rates and probe the long term plans at B.C. Hydro.
“The highlight of the spring session, of course, was welcoming two great new MLAs to our caucus. In the April 19 by-elections, voters chose to send more New Democrats to Victoria: Gwen O’Mahony now represents Chilliwack-Hope, and Joe Trasolini represents Port Moody-Coquitlam, and I couldn’t be prouder,” said Dix.
Adrian Dix and B.C.’s New Democrats will continue to work for positive change for British Columbia and hold the tired B.C. Liberal government to account.
