Powell River - Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons says he’s expecting a change in tone will evolve at the B.C. legislature as the parties settle into their new roles.
The NDP minority government, backed by the legislature’s three Green MLAs, delivered a throne speech Sept. 8, followed by a budget update on Sept. 11.
The opening days of the budget debate, and the first question periods with the B.C. Liberals in opposition, were every bit as contentious as they typically are in B.C. politics. But in an interview with Coast Reporter, Simons said he thinks there will be a change, in part because of the need for more cooperation among all three parties. “My initial evaluation is that it’s going to be ‘snippy’ – that’s what we see in the legislature,” Simons said. “[The Liberals] are finding their feet as an opposition and my cabinet colleagues are finding their feet having to answer questions. I think that we’ll see an evolution of the tone. I don’t think it’s always going to stay like this… What happens during question period is an anomaly.”
Simons also said he’s hoping constituents will appreciate that the NDP is moving as quickly as it can on key campaign promises, although he acknowledges he’d like to have seen reductions in ferry fares happen faster.
He said there are a lot of “social deficits” to deal with, and he touched on one in his speech in support of the budget last Thursday.
Talking about plans for a long-awaited homeless shelter on the Sunshine Coast, Simons criticized the previous government for inaction on the issue.
“We are about to construct a 40-bed shelter on the Sunshine Coast, where eight years ago you would have had trouble identifying who was homeless,” he said. “There were people, perhaps, living in tents. A few, maybe, living in a car somewhere, but we didn’t have homeless people looking for a place to be safe on the Sunshine Coast. It’s the impact of years and years of neglect that have resulted in the need to address the social deficit that exists in this province.”
Following the budget update, Green leader Andrew Weaver caused a stir by suggesting that campaign promises are not as relevant given the make-up of the legislature in the wake of the May 9 election. Simons said he doesn’t think that signals a rough road ahead when it comes to implementing the NDP platform.
“I think that we’ll just have more discussion before we get to some solutions on some of the promises that we made,” he said. “The Green caucus isn’t necessarily all united in the same perspective on all of these issues. I look forward to the discussion.”
Simons also said he doesn’t think being on the government side of the house puts him under extra pressure to influence government decisions.
“I’m not at the table where those policy decision are made… My advocacy might be more effective, but I can’t tell government what to do and what order to do it in,” he said.
The NDP government started its second full week at the legislature by tabling a bill to change the way political parties raise money.
The Election Amendment Act ends corporate and union donations and limits individual contributions to $1,200. It would also impose a ban on out-of-province donations and cap contributions to third-party election advertisers and reduce the campaign spending limits by about 25 per cent.
One of the more controversial provisions in the bill provides for a government subsidy “to assist in transitioning” set at $2.50 per vote gained in the 2017 election, dropping to $1.75 for 2022.
“We have fulfilled our commitment to get big money out of politics,” Simons said in a follow-up to his interview with Coast Reporter. “The legislation we have proposed calls for an end to practices that have made B.C.’s election-financing system a bad joke. A temporary transition period gives new and old political parties a chance to adapt to the new system, and money raised under the old system will not be allowed to be used on future elections.”
