Action on Affordability

There are many things I love about serving my community as an MLA, but topping the list is when I meet people whose lives have been positively impacted by the work of our government.

This happened recently when I met Gordon, who lives in my constituency of Esquimalt-Metchosin. Gordon is on a CPP disability pension, and told me he had been struggling to make ends meet and was at risk of going blind because he couldn’t afford his prescription glaucoma treatment. He told me that our government had made a real difference in his life.

On day two of taking office, we raised income and disability assistance by $100 per month, a nearly 10% increase for those on disability assistance, and long overdue.

For many people like Gordon, this meant that he was able to apply for a top-up. Along with the new transportation supplement, it added about $218 per month to his income. For Gordon, this made a huge difference.

He was now also eligible for extended health and dental coverage and was able to get a badly needed hearing aid, prescriptions, and dental work.

I was so pleased for Gordon, and for so many others I have heard from who are finding life more affordable thanks to our government’s policies.

In fact, people like Gordon were one of the main reasons I decided to run for office in the first place. As executive director of Pacific Centre Family Services Association in Colwood, I saw individuals, families, and seniors every day who were struggling to make ends meet and get the supports they desperately needed. Non-profit associations weren’t able to fill the gap left by meagre government supports, and it was clear a change was needed at the top.

Addressing affordability challenges has been at the heart of our government’s work, and nothing demonstrates this more than our historic investments in affordable housing. Housing is often the number one expense for people, and under the last government housing prices and rents skyrocketed, meaning more and more of our household budgets were taken up by the cost of the roof over our heads.

Certainly, for people like Gordon, housing costs were taking up so much of his monthly budget he couldn’t afford other necessities, like medications.

We have a long way to go to ensure everyone can afford a safe place to live, but I’m proud of the progress we’ve made so far. In only two years, we have more than 22,000 homes completed or underway in communities throughout BC. To put that number in perspective, that’s close to what the BC Liberals built in 16 years.

We’re moving at a remarkable pace, and we’re well on our way to delivering 114,000 new affordable homes by 2028. And along with the other measures in our 10-year housing plan – from stabilizing the real estate market to limiting annual rent increases – I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to get the housing crisis under control and make a real difference for people.

And we’re taking other measures to make life more affordable for people in BC, from eliminating MSP premiums, to working towards a universal, affordable child care system, to expanding Pharmacare coverage. The list of what we’re doing on affordability is too long to share in this post – something I’m very proud of – and you can find it here.

They say a rising tide lifts all boats, but this presumes that everyone has a boat in the first place. In a province as wealthy as British Columbia, it’s unacceptable that anyone should have to live in poverty, and New Democrats believe that the government has a responsibility to help those who are struggling and need a safety net.

We still have a lot of work to do to make up for 16 years of neglect by the previous BC Liberal government, whose policies left too many people behind. Our government is going to continue to work hard to make life more affordable and ensure our economy works for all British Columbians. It’s what people expect, and it’s what we all deserve.