Conservative Party of BC leader Lorne Doerkson visited Chilliwack to discuss mills, healthcare and infrastructure projects in a brief campaign meet-and-greet on Monday (Oct. 19).<\/p>\n
\u00c1\u2019a:l\u00edya Warbus, MLA candidate for Chilliwack-Cultus Lake, and Heather Maahs, MLA candidate for Chilliwack North, were both present at the event but did not speak alongside Doerkson.<\/p>\n
Doerkson did not take questions from the media.<\/p>\n
The event was held at the Serene Stay & Play Cafe. <\/p>\n
Doerkson said that the \u201cdamage that\u2019s been done to British Columbia in the last decade is shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had just come from a Maple Ridge press conference, where he said he could see frustrations about the forestry industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come from a place where we have six or seven milling operations within the boundaries of our city, so trust me when I say this: There is no one that isn\u2019t afraid right now (of) what\u2019s happening in our industry and we have to fix it, we absolutely have to fix it and I\u2019m committed to that,\u201d Doerkson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning we announced that we will get to 45 million cubic meters,\u201d Doerkson said, referring to the industry\u2019s goal for annual timber harvest, but noted that industry isn\u2019t on track to achieve half of that amount.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not because a forester hasn\u2019t said it was sustainable. In fact, that\u2019s exactly what they said. They said that we can do that sustainably in this province, but because of an absolutely disastrous policy around permitting and other things in this province, it is costing us all so much, and I am absolutely committed to a better path forward for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also discussed increasing LNG production in the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an industry in British Columbia that when you speak to the representatives of this business they talk through trillions of dollars in income, and what we need in British Columbia is billions. And that is what the problem is in this province,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cWe have an industry that is sitting there and they will not capitalize on it. And it is shocking to me because the opportunity is massive. Five years, 10 years ago, we could have had three or four of these plants up and running. And why is that good? It\u2019s not just good for British Columbians, frankly it\u2019s good for the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a cleaner opportunity for other countries to capitalize on a cleaner resource than they are currently using to generate power and other things in their countries. This is a massive opportunity for British Columbia, and when I say massive, I mean billions of dollars. I also mean that that can happen almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that it is not about \u201cwhat might happen if we double LNG output in this province in 2032,\u201d but is also about \u201cbuilding and creating GDP\u201d and jobs that have been lost in the province.<\/p>\n
\u201c42,000 people in this province have lost a full-time job and that is shocking. It\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cWe absolutely need to build British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says there have been more than 40 new taxes introduced in British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor heaven\u2019s sake, we cannot continue to tax our residents at the rate that we\u2019re taxing it, and you can\u2019t build a province on taxation. You have to build the economy. You have to create a reason to create that taxation,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cThat means when we work, when we have a job, we spend our money right? We buy a car, we buy a house, we buy all the things that we do normally tax as a regular part of our business, and that is why it is so incredibly important.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, and throughout this campaign, we\u2019ve been announcing zero increases and no new taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then spoke about seniors, mentioning changes to the Province of British Columbia Property Tax Deferment Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what just occurred a few months back, where senior citizens had the ability to defer their property taxes and that was taken away just a few months back where seniors used to borrow at prime minus two,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cNow, the government introduced in their budget prime plus two, and so now it\u2019s getting very expensive to do that very thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I can assure you that somebody like my mom can use every single dime that she\u2019s getting, which by the way is not very much and the government still wants more taxation from her. We will reverse that immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doerkson said that, if elected, he will temporarily reduce taxation on alcohol made in B.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason is that this is an industry in the province that is $3.6 billion. That\u2019s a big whack of money, but we absolutely have to do this for the 20,000 people that work in this industry and would like to continue to do it. We are absolutely committed to supporting the industry, but unlike my competitor David Eby, we are looking, every chance we get, at both sides of the ledger,\u201d Doerkson said.<\/p>\n
He says the pause on taxation will cost the province between $280 million and $300 million, but that it would provide an opportunity to grow business in British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is that? Because craft producers have been asking for two years to get on the shelves in British Columbia, and that hasn\u2019t happened for all of them. There is a massive opportunity to celebrate these \u2018Made in British Columbia\u2019 products and sell the heck out of them to the world, to the rest of Canada and, of course, to British Columbia, and I fully intend to capitalize on that in every single way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doerkson described B.C.\u2019s healthcare system as \u201cshocking.\u201d He said he would issue $50 million to \u201chelp bolster the support of the frontlines, but also will provide security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nurses that are not working in the system because they don\u2019t feel safe or they won\u2019t come back, and the reality is we have to change that,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cWe have nurses sitting a block away from a closed hospital \u2026 We need to grow our forces there and we need to support the frontline, but we absolute have to create a safe place for our nurses to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he has spoken to nurses who say they have \u201cnot been served by this province.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to commit to our healthcare workers. We will fully fund healthcare every single year. It will be the very first thing we do if I\u2019m elected and I actually think that\u2019s going to happen now,\u201d Doerkson said.<\/p>\n
Returning to seniors and long-term care, Doerkson said his party would restart the \u201cseven projects that we\u2019ve had the BC NDP cancel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are seven long-term care facilities and we are committed to building them as soon as we possibly can,\u201d Doerkson said.<\/p>\n
Doerkson then spoke about infrastructure projects in B.C., saying that the \u201cmismanagement when it comes to our capital projects is staggering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we take a look at our Massey Tunnel, that has now cost residents about $600 million. Nine years in the making and it still does not have an environmental permit to go forth. What in the hell is actually happening here? I can appreciate that David Eby is pushing back on that, but the reality is that we\u2019re going to build a bridge. We\u2019re going to build it for $6 billion. We\u2019re going to build it in five years,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cThat\u2019s not me saying it, and in case you haven\u2019t noticed, it\u2019s not me that\u2019s going to build this bridge, it\u2019s British Columbians.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd with the money that is left over from our savings, we have announced a hospital in Surrey that would be for children and women.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says B.C. should be excited for the planned hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys, we are completely committed to making a better path forward for British Columbia. We are completely committed to all of you, and I want you to know that I mean that from the bottom of my heart,\u201d Doerkson said. \u201cI am a pretty simple guy. I come from Williams Lake. I\u2019ve got two daughters and a granddaughter, and I love them more than anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I love British Columbia and we cannot stay on the path that we are on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doerkson then met with audience members, shaking hands and posing for pictures.<\/p>\n
Provincial election day is Oct. 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative Party of BC leader Lorne Doerkson visited Chilliwack to discuss mills, healthcare and infrastructure projects in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-939598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}