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Right after question period on Thursday of this week, the MLA for Abbotsford West (and the former House Leader when the BC Liberals were in Government) rose, pursuant to Standing Order 35, to seek leave from the Speaker to "make a motion for the adjournment of the House … for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance … ". Both the Government House Leader (Mike Farnworth) and I spoke against the need for the present emergency debate.

Today in the legislature I had the opportunity to rise once more in Question Period to question government further about the dubious economic justifications underpinning Alberta and Federal rhetoric supporting the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Yesterday in environment estimate debates I asked a number of questions concerning several species at risk. One of the purposes of my line of questioning was to attempt to unravel systemic inter-ministry jurisdictional red tape. I am pleased that the Minister reiterated his commitment to bringing in Species at Risk Legislation.

Yesterday in the legislature I had the opportunity to rise in Question Period to question government about the dubious economic justifications underpinning Alberta and Federal rhetoric supporting the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Yesterday in the Legislature we debated Bill 9: The Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2018 at Committee Stage and at third reading. It was a sad day in the BC Legislature as the BC Liberals played yet more petty games. I rose at third reading to outline why I felt the bill didn’t go far enough and why British Columbians should view the behaviour of the the BC Liberals as objectionable. Politics and BC Liberal games aside, I had extensive conversations with the Minister of Labour about the amendments. I feel very confident that 911 call dispatchers and receivers, as well as a couple of other professions, will be added imminently through regulation (Order in Council) as we work to protect all workers in British Columbia. Yesterday, the BC Liberals made it clear that they will be irrelevant in this further debate. Going forward, this incident has indicated to the BC Green Caucus that the BC Liberals have no interest in cooperation with anyone. As such, we will no longer coordinate our intent to stand and be recognized with them in estimates or in committee stage debates. We’ll let the speaker decide.

Today in the legislature the entire question period was once more focused on the Trans Mountain pipeline project. I was up third again sandwiched between several BC Liberal MLAs asking about the same topic. I took the opportunity to further question the Attorney General and the Premier as to what actions they plan to take regarding Alberta's recently introduced outrageous legislation in light of the Premier of Alberta's remarks suggesting that it was intended to give them the tools to target B.C.? I was delighted with the strong answers I received to both questions.

Bill 9: The Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2018 updates the Workers Compensation Act for eligible occupations (correction officer, an emergency medical assistant, a firefighter, a police officer, a sheriff or other as prescribed by regulation) who are exposed to one or more traumatic events over the course of their employment and are subsequently diagnosed with a mental disorder. The disorder will be presumed to have been caused by the nature of their work rather than having to prove that it was work-related. British Columbia is one of the last such jurisdictions in Canada to have such legislation. In speaking to this bill, I articulate why I'm convinced that it doesn't go far enough. I provide examples as to why I believe teachers, social workers, nurses, office workers, construction workers and others need to be included in the presumptive language.

Today in the legislature I rose during question period to ask the Premier about his recent meeting in Ottawa with Rachel Notley, Premier of Alberta and Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister. I rose third in Question Period between internally inconsistent questions that the BC Liberals also posed to the Premier. It seemed to me that the BC Liberals were more concerned about the interests of Albertans than they were about the protection of the BC economy and environment.

Today I released a media statement in response to the meeting in Ottawa between Rachel Notley, Justin Trudeau and John Horgan concerning the future of the Transmountain pipeline project.

Today I was afforded the opportunity to address delegates at the 69th annual convention of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities.

Yesterday I had the distinct honour of addressing delegates at the British Columbia Wildlife Federation (BCWF) Annual General Meeting & Convention in Kamloops. Prior to my speech, I offered a brief explanation of what motivated me to get into politics. I then spent a few minutes discussing our Confidence and Supply Agreement with the BC NDP and our role as an opposition party.

During committee stage of Bill 6 – Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2018, I asked the Minister of Labour whether or not new extended bereavement leave provisions would be applicable in the tragic examples of still birth or late term miscarriage. He made it clear that the extensions do not apply to existing provisions already in the act. Nevertheless, I got the distinct sense that he was open to consider exploring this in the future.

Yesterday in the BC Legislature we debated Bill 6 – Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2018 at second reading. This bill provides new, extended and more flexible maternity, parental and compassionate care leave provisions that would meet or beat standards set across Canada.

Today in the legislature we debated Bill 11: International Commercial Arbitration Amendment Act, 2018 at second reading.

Today we issued a press release calling out the political rhetoric surrounding the ongoing debate about the Trans Mountain pipeline. Earlier in the day I did an interview with Stephen Quinn on CBC Radio’s Early Edition show. In that I expand upon some of the rhetoric emanating from Ottawa. I also participated on CTV’s Powerplay with Don Martin and was interviewed by Vassy Kapelos well as CBC’s Power and Politics.

After a three week break, the 3rd session of the 41st parliament resumed today. I took the opportunity during question period to quiz the Premier as to how he could argue that British Columbia would meet its legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets while at the same time developing an LNG industry.

Earlier this month I was very critical, of the government's ill thought through attempts to curb speculation in the housing market. In fact, I was entirely unsure as to what outcomes the government was seeking with the introduction of their so-called "speculation tax". To the government's credit, the Minister of Finance declared that she was willing to listen to British Columbians and make adjustments to her proposed policies. This was the opening that we were looking for.

The BC government today outlined its proposed regulatory regime for LNG proponents such as LNG Canada. In particular, the BC government sent a letter on Monday to Mr. Andy Calitz, CEO of LNG Canada, providing specific details. Given that we believe in the importance of giving industry certainty as to our positions and intentions, we also sent Mr. Calitz a letter. Our firm position is that it is incumbent upon government to assess the LNG Canada project through the lens of meeting these greenhouse gas reduction targets and specifically identify a pathway to meet them.

A few weeks ago I met with youth working on the Transgender Tipping Point project. One of them raised the important notion that two key bills, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection Act did not protect gender identity and expression or contained gendered language that did not instill confidence in the transgender community concerning the interpretation of the act. I agreed and so worked with them, together with a legislative intern Kayla Phillips, to draft amendments to these bills.

On February 9, the BC government announced that in 2019, Family Day would move from the second to the third Monday in February. In fact, I had earlier introduced a Private Member's Bill in 2017 to do just this and so the BC Green caucus was thrilled that the BC NDP supported this BC Green initiative. But such an announcement needs to be coupled with either a legislative or regulatory change. In light of the fact that it is now over a month since the announcement was made and that the act had yet to be changed either way, I felt it was important to reintroduce the bill to remind government of its commitment.

Today in the BC Legislature I reintroduced a bill that would lower the voter age in British Columbia to 16. This is the third time I've introduced this bill.

Yesterday during committee stage of Bill 2: Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2018 I rose to ask the Minister of Finance why her ministry did not exempt zero emission vehicles from the PST surtax that they are now applying to higher end cars. As I note in the text and video exchange reproduced below, early adopters of new technology typically heavily subsidize the research and development (R and D) costs of such technology. These early adopters play a critical role in ensuring that new innovations ultimately become affordable for mainstream society. In my opinion, zero emission vehicles should have been exempted from this surtax.

Today in the BC Legislature we debated at second reading Bill 7: Miscellaneous Statues Amendment Act, 2018. Such miscellaneous statute amendment bills are considered house keeping bills that contain numerous minor changes to several existing pieces of legislation. Typically these changes emerge as clarifications prompted from questions that have arisen in interpreting existing legislation. Such bills are common. But what concerns me is that we are now half way through this legislative session and the government has yet to introduce any substantive new legislation. I was hoping for much more. The BC Greens would be thrilled to implement our ideas if the government is at a loss as to what should be done.

Today in Question Period I took the opportunity to see if I could get more details from the Minister of Finance on the BC NDP's so-called "Speculation Tax". I remain unconvinced that the BC NDP know what outcome they are trying to achieve with their tax measure. It's clear to me from the Minister's responses to my questions (reproduced in video and text below) that they don't understand the difference between a vacancy tax and a speculation tax. In fact, under the Vancouver Charter, that city have already imposed a vacancy tax.

In the legislature today, second reading of Bill 8 – 2018: Supply Act (No. 1), 2018 was up for debate. I took the second reading opportunity to outline how concerned my BC Green Caucus and I are with the lack of vision and legislative agenda these past 8 months. We are also profoundly troubled with the fact that the government has badly botched two recent tax measures which have created uncertainty and chaos in market.

Bill 4 — British Columbia Innovation Council Amendment represents further developments towards implementing an important initiative that formed a component of the BC Green economic plan in the last campaign. In my exchange with the Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology, I sought to explore his vision of Innovate BC. I was delighted with his thoughtful responses.

I remain perplexed as to why the Minister of Finance rushed into the Employers' Health Tax. In doing so, she has created a suite of unforeseen budgetary problems for schools, hospitals, municipalities and other large employers. In addition, she has ignored what the interim report from the MSP Task Force stated. The only conclusion one can reach is that the Minister of Finance either (a) read the MSP Task Force interim report but chose to ignore its key recommendations, or (b) rendered her decision to implement the employers health tax prior to the interim report actually being available.

Yesterday in the Legislature we debated Bill 4: British Columbia Innovation Council Amendment Act. This bill renames the BC Innovation Council as Innovate BC Act and expands its mandate. I spoke in support of this bill.

On November 2, 2017, the BC Government announced the establishment of an MSP Task Force. Imagine my surprise when BC Budget 2018 outlined the creation of an Employers' Health Tax to replace the MSP. It seemed very odd to me that government was making such an announcement prior to the Task Force producing their report. Exploring this was the subject of my exchange in Question Period with the Minister of Finance today.

Yesterday in the BC Legislature we debated Bill 2: Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2018 at second reading. This bill amends 21 other pieces of legislation in order to implement a number of the tax measures proposed in the BC Government's budget.

In November of last year, the BC Government released a very misleading press release entitled Province delivers on commitment to freeze BC Hydro rates. Well as expected, today the British Columbia Utilities Commission rejected the request for a rate freeze.

This week we rose each day during Question Period to ask the government about what, if anything, it was doing to protect wild salmon along the coast of British Columbia. Today we concluded our line of questioning by calling on the government to establish a secretariat responsible for wild salmon.

Today in the BC Legislature the Premier, Leader of the Official Opposition and I paid tribute to former NDP Premier Dave Barrett who passed away on February 2, 2018.

Over the last month there has been a flurry of media interest concerning whether or not British Columbia can meet it's legislated and promised greenhouse gas reduction targets while simultaneously developing an LNG industry. The short answer is no, it's impossible. I outline why this is so.

The BC Green Caucus is the midst of a series of questions prioritizing wild salmon and steelhead in BC. Today in question period I rose to ask the Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development about the government’s plans to address the ongoing issue of open net fish farms in the migratory […]

This week both Adam Olsen and I were up in Question Period asking the government what outcomes they were seeking from their housing plan that was announced in the BC Budget. We remain disappointed with the answers that we received and we continue to be underwhelmed by the BC Government's plan to deal with our out of control housing market.

In what can only be described as another frustrating experience during Question Period, my colleague, Adam Olsen, was once more stymied as he sought to explore government's serious lack of clarity about what they are trying to achieve with their housing plan. Is the plan to stabilize prices at present levels? Is the plan to stabilize the rate of growth in prices? Or, is the plan to create a tempered market correction?

I outline what my caucus colleagues and I support in the budget and what we think could have been done better. We are thrilled with the government's bold action in the area of childcare and early childhood education. However, we felt government's tepid response to the housing crisis could have been stronger. Overall I rate this budget as a B+ to an A–. The childcare plan gets an A+; the housing plan a C; the climate change mitigation plan a B.

Today in the legislature I rose during Question Period to ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing about the government's budgetary measures targetted at the demand side of our housing crisis. For months, we were told to wait for the comprehensive housing plan that the NDP promised was forthcoming. Their timid response to our call for bold action is simply not enough.

Today was Budget Day in the BC Legislature. This is the first full budget announced by the new BC NDP minority government. While we haven't had the time to fully digest all the details we are cautiously optimistic.

In the lead up to the budget which is to be delivered at 2PM today, my BC Green Caucus colleagues and I continued to pressure government during Question Period to crack down on speculation and dubious transactions in our out of control housing market.Today it was Sonia Furstenau's turn. She picked up on the very serious allegations identified in a Globe and Mail story this past weekend.

It's been a busy day in the BC Legislature. Right after Question Period, the Speaker presented the Auditor General's report entitled Managing Climate Change Risks. Not surprisingly, the Auditor General concludes that "government is not adequately managing the risks posed by climate change" and that "government has not taken adequate action to meet provincial emission reduction targets".

For the past two years I have been working to try and get a legislative framework in place to enable transportation network companies (also known as ridehailing or ridesharing companies) to operate in British Columbia. After extensive public consultations and committee deliberations, the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations completed its report which was released today.

Today the Federal Government announced the results of its Innovation Superclusters Initiative. I am absolutely thrilled that the B.C.-based Digital Technology Supercluster consortium was selected as one of five successful national programs to share a portion of $950 million in federal innovation funding. As noted in the BC government's announcement, more than $500 million in private sector funding has also been committed to the BC-based supercluser project.

Today in the Legislature I rose to speak to the first BC NDP Speech from the Throne. I am encouraged to see our shared values represented in the speech.

On February 10, the BC Green caucus called on the BC Government to take steps to promote the BC wine industry in light of Alberta’s recent petty announcement that it was initiating a boycott. We are delighted that the BC Government today announced a number of measures to support and promote the BC Wine Industry.

Today on the first day of debates after the opening of the 3rd session of the 41st parliament I rose in Question Period to ask what the government was doing to clamp down on questionable immigration, tax and real estate schemes.

The 3rd session of the 41st parliament opened today with the Speech from the Throne. I issued a media release outlining my initial reactions. I will be providing a more extensive analysis during the throne speech debates tomorrow.

Today we issued a media release calling on the BC Government to promote the BC wine industry in light of Alberta's recent petty announcement that it was initiating a boycott. On a slightly different note, readers who might think that the BC Liberals were good for the BC Wine industry might wish to think again. Their mismanagement of the BC Wine Institute VQA specialty licenses has led to NAFTA and WTO challenges by the US and Australia, respectively.

Today the BC government announced that in 2019, Family Day will move from the second to the third Monday in February. As noted in our press release, reproduced below, the BC Green Caucus wholeheartedly supports this change. In fact, I introduced a Private Member's Bill in 2017 to do just this. We are thrilled that the BC NDP have supported this BC Green initiative.

Today the British Columbia Fair Wages Commission released its first of two reports. The establishment of a Fair Wages was a key component of our Confidence and Supply Agreement with the BC NDP. We are very pleased with the recommendations of the Commission.

Today the BC government announced sweeping changes to the ICBC claim process. I am encouraged that the government is putting British Columbians’ health outcomes at the centre of these policy changes.

Today in Vancouver the BC Government announced the appointment of Dr. Alan Winter as the new Innovation Commissioner. The creation of an Innovation Commission as well as an Emerging Economy Task Force were key aspects of the strategy for the new economy component of our BC Green Party Platform in the 2017 Provincial Election. We were delighted that the BC NDP shared our vision and agreed to including both as key elements of our Confidence and Supply Agreement.

The affordability crisis is devastating communities across our province. In particular, despite significant evidence of the role of speculation in driving up prices, successive governments have failed to act on the demand side. Today we released a policy document entitled: Seeking Bold Action: Housing Priorities for Budget 2018. Our policy priorities place an emphasis on curbing speculation and the role of global capital in our housing market.

Today the BC Government announced its second phase of regulations to improve preparedness, response and recovery from potential spills. As part of this announcement, restrictions have been put in place to ensure that there will be no increased transport of diluted bitumen (dilbit) in British Columbia until the fate and behaviour of a dilbit spill is better understood scientifically and there is adequate ability to clean up such a spill.

In the face of great challenges, it is clear to me that we need a comprehensive science- and ecosystem-based approach to wildlife management. We simply cannot continue to perpetuate the slow, methodical extirpation of native species in B.C. Ecosystem-based management calls for natural resources, habitat, and species to be managed collectively, over a long time frame, rather than just looking at a single sector or single species. Cumulative impacts are assessed – an approach which B.C. urgently must follow because of the sweep of industrial development now taking place in many sectors of the province.

Western Economic Diversification Canada today announced a $787,115 investment in the Victoria-based Alacrity Foundation of B.C. to support the western clean technology sector. BC announced that it would supplement this funding with an additional $79,000. We are absolutely thrilled with this investment in Alacrity. The foundation has played a crucial role in incubating, nurturing and growing innovative local tech companies through to maturation.

At the end of the three days of public hearings on setting up the regulatory regime to bring ridehailing to British Columbia, my office released the press release reproduced below.

Today the BC Government announced a moratorium on the hunting of Grizzly bears in British Columbia. The BC Greens are delighted with the BC NDP announcement.

Yesterday the BC Government announced that it had decided not to issue an environmental assessment certificate to the KGHM Ajax Mining Project. This is a welcome decision in light of the ongoing controversy that had emerged over the project.

Today the BC NDP announced that they would proceed with the construction of Site C. Their justification for moving forward is distracting, irrelevant and unacceptable. Ultimately, the BC NDP made a choice. They chose to eliminate the tolls on the Port Mann and Gold Ears bridges instead of cancelling Site C.

Over the last few weeks Sonia Furstenau, Adam Olsen and I have tried to provide as much evidence as possible to make the case for cancelling the fiscally-reckless Site C megaproject. With the rising of the legislature last Thursday and ahead of an imminent decision regarding the fate of Site C, my caucus colleagues and I felt it was important to summarize our case against the project in an open letter that we sent to Premier Horgan.

On Thursday this week I rose in the Legislature to ask the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources once more about the outrageous taxpayer subsidies to companies that drill for gas in northeastern BC. I initially raised this issue two weeks ago during budget estimates for the Ministry. As I noted then, the province makes virtually no money on natural gas royalties. And we have an accumulated $3.2 billion dollar tax credit subsidy on the books for this industry.

Yesterday in the legislature we continued debate on a hoist motion put forward by the BC Liberals on Bill 6 – 2017: Electoral Reform Referendum 2018 Act. The motion was designed to kill the bill aimed at enabling a referendum on proportional representation in the fall of 2018. The entire debate on both sides, has boiled down to one question. That one question is this: do we trust the people of British Columbia to actually determine the outcome of how their democracy would like to be?

Today in the Legislature the government brought forward a motion to authorize the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations to examine, inquire into and make recommendations on ridesharing in British Columbia. As I noted late last week, the committee comprises MLAs from all three parties, will engage with expert witnesses, debate the issue and produce […]

Today in the legislature I rose to question the government about the unfortunate consequences of amendments to legislation that were passed in the spring of 2016. One company, Bardel Entertainment Inc, was affected to the tune of $5 million because of the retroactive application of these amendments to June 2015. This comes at a critical time when industry leaders are partnering with Okanagan College, UBC Okanagan, school district 23 , and the Vancouver Film School to develop a hands-on training program to position Kelowna as a leader in the new economy.

Today in the legislature I rose to table the private members' Bill M211: Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day Act. If enacted, this bill would establish the fourth Saturday in November as an official day of remembrance: Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day. Similar legislation has already been passed by the federal parliament, as well as by Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Yesterday my caucus colleagues and I sent a letter to BC Liberal House Leader Mike de Jong concerning our desire to collaborate with the BC liberals on improving legislation. The reason why we felt it was important to do so is that we have been blindsided by several amendments that the BC Liberals have brought forward at the last minute. It is very difficult to support amendments tabled this way as they have not gone through legislative drafters, and advance notice on the order papers has not been given to allow for thoughtful reflection upon, and stakeholder engagement in, the substance of the amendments.

Today I issued a media release noting that government will be introducing a debatable motion next week to move the issue of ride-hailing to an all-party committee. As noted in the release, reproduced below, the committee, comprises MLAs from all three parties, will engage with expert witnesses, debate the issue and produce a report to be released by February 15, 2018. The intention is to inform the development of subsequent ride-hailing legislation that will be brought forward next year.

Today in the legislature we passed Bill 3 – Election Amendment Act, 2017 which ends the wild west era of big money in BC politics. This is a major success for the BC Green Party as we campaigned extensively on this during the last provincial election. A number of our amendments were also included in the final legislation.

Anyone who has watched the documentary Running on Climate knows that I take the recent world scientists’ warning to humanity very seriously. It was ultimately the reason that I ran with the BC Greens in 2013. Today in the legislature I rose during Members' Statements to bring the message of these scientists directly to the BC Legislature.

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee addressed the BC Legislature today. He offered an inspirational message of how Washington is positioning itself as a leader in the emerging 21st century economy, while at the same time taking steps to aggressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As leader of the third party, I was entitled to deliver a brief response.

Today in the legislature I rose in Question Period to ask the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources about the escalating costs of Site C relative to the diminishing costs of renewables.

Today in the legislature I rose during budget estimate debates for the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to ask a number of questions concerning the natural gas industry in British Columbia. My questions were designed to explore whether or not the BC Government was going to continue giving away of our natural resources.

Today in the legislature the BC Government introduced a series of amendments designed to improve the Election Amendment Act, 2017. We were very pleased that the government tabled two of our proposed amendments.

In the last provincial election, the BC Greens were the only party to campaign on modernizing and strengthening British Columbia’s lobbying regulations to restrict undue influence from special interests. It was such an important issue to us that we ensured a commitment to lobbying reform was enshrined in the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) that we signed with the BC NDP.

Yesterday in the Legislature I had a very productive exchange with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing during committee stage of Bill 16: Tenancy Statutes Amendment Act, 2017. As noted in my second reading speech, I felt it was important to highlight some potential unforeseen consequences of passing this important piece of legislation. In particular, I focused on the issue of short, fixed-term leases that are sometimes used by landlords to protect not only landlords from bad renters but also other tenants (in the same building or suite) as well.

Yesterday in the BC Government issued a press release entitled Province delivers on commitment to freeze BC Hydro rates. You would be forgiven if you thought that this announcement meant that BC Hydro rates were not going to go up next year. So imagine our collective surprise during Budget Estimate debates for the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources when we found out that in fact this isn't yet in fact confirmed.

Today in the Legislature I rose in Question Period to question the Minister of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources about the need for Site C in light of a nonexistent LNG industry. I further questioned whether or not she would defend the interests of British Columbians and ensure a fair price for our natural gas assets by evoking a cancellation provision with the Progress Energy royalty agreement.

Today in the legislature I reintroduced the Right to Roam Act, a private members bill that I first introduced on February 27, 2017. After its initial introduction, my office received an endless stream of emails and phone calls from British Columbians who are struggling with this issue in their communities. It's clear that this right to access wilderness, especially on leased Crown land, is a debate that we need to have in British Columbia and that is precisely the reason why I felt it was important to reintroduce the bill.

Yesterday during budget estimate debates I took the opportunity to question the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources on a number of topics involving clean energy projects, the Columbia River Treaty Entitlement and the folly of proceeding with Site C. The line of questioning was designed to get the Minister to recognize that continuing to construct Site C is a fiscally reckless way forward. My questioning culminated with me asking the Minister directly: Why are you not making a decision today to terminate Site C?

Yesterday during budget estimate debates I took the opportunity to question the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources on her plans for rolling out EV charging infrastructure in British Columbia. Given that transportation is responsible for 40% of household greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia, and given the growing uptake of electric vehicles provincially, nationally and internationally, it's about time we work with industry to allow for charging stations to be installed throughout BC without relying on BC Hydro and public subsidizes.

Shirley Bond, the MLA for Prince George Valemont and I quizzed the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources about the delays involving approval of a permit expansion for Borealis GeoPower. As I have discussed numerous times in the past, British Columbia is the only jurisdiction throughout the entire Pacific Rim that isn’t using its geothermal resources.

In the legislature today Mike Farnworth, the government house leader, rose to deliver a Ministerial Statement on the tragic loss of Constable John Davidson. Constable Davidson was killed in the line of duty yesterday in Abbotsford. As Leader of the Third Party in the Legislature, I rose to respond.

In what can only be described as one of the most bizarre moments I've experienced since getting elected in 2013, today I witnessed Mike de Jong, the MLA for Abbotsford West, once more challenging the Speaker for ruling certain language unparliamentary.

Today I reintroduced a private member’s bill entitled Bill M208 — Endangered Species Act, 2017. This Act builds off the Ontario Endangered Species Act and the B.C. version of their legislation tabled by the BC NDP in 2011. We also incorporated language from the United States Federal Endangered Species Act to make it more effective and comprehensive. Of note is the addition of a section that mirrors the US Endangered Species Committee.

Bill 16 restricts the ability for landlords to use of a vacate clause with fixed term leases, except in specific circumstances that will be provided for by regulation; limit rent increases between fixed-term tenancy agreements with the same tenant to the maximum annual allowable amount; enable the residential tenancy branch to take stronger action to enforce tenancy laws with repeat violators.

Yesterday the government released very disturbing data that indicated a growing crisis in terms of offshore buying. Fully 5 percent of the homes in the Capital Regional District and Metro Vancouver, 10 percent in Burnaby and 11 percent in Richmond were purchased by foreign buyers in September alone.

Bill 14 amends the Sheriff Act to provide authority for sheriff services to conduct threat and risk assessments. Sheriffs in some specialized units already conduct threat and risk assessments, but they currently do not have the legislative authority to do so – a gap that this bill closes.

Bill 12 makes two changes: 1) It amends the Offence Act to allow for e-ticketing of drivers; 2) It amends the Motor Vehicle Act to require a peace officer to impound the car a person was driving at the time that person was given a notice of a 30-day or 90-day driving prohibition as a result of a roadside alcohol test.

Bill 13 removes the requirement for full print publication of new multilateral pension agreements, but still requires the date be included in the Gazette.

Inspired by the discussion on Monday with Stephanie Cadieux, the MLA for Surrey South, during Private Members statements, I reintroduced a Private Members' bill to protect Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) and Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) from creditors.

The long awaited British Columbia Utilities Commission Inquiry Respecting Site C was released today. I am absolutely thrilled with its content as it has reaffirmed the position that the BC Greens and I have taken on this project for the last five years.

The issue of BC Hydro's two-tier billing is beginning to make the news again and I'm pleased that the new government has committed to looking into it.

Today the BC government tabled legislation that would ban union and corporate donations for school board, municipal and regional district elections. An individual donation limit of $1200 was also introduced. The BC Green Caucus is thrilled to support this new bill. We have been pushing for this for a number of years and we welcome its introduction today. Below I reproduce the press release that we issued in response to this announcement.

Today one of the BC Liberal leadership candidates, Mike de Jong, MLA for Abbotsford West, announced a platform plank wherein he committed to bring in optional kindergarten for 4 year olds. I released a media statement welcoming his announcement today as it follows in the footsteps of the B.C. Green Party platform which proposed to provide free early childhood education to three and four year olds. Below I reproduce the statement.

In the legislature today during Private Members statements Stephanie Cadieux, the MLA for Surrey South, and I had a productive exchange on the topic of Registered Disability Savings Plans.

On Wednesday, and continuing to Thursday, we debated at second reading Bill 6 – 2017: Electoral Reform Referendum 2018 Act. This is the act the enables a referendum to occur in the Fall of 2018 on proportional representation.

Today in the Legislature we were in Committee Stage for Bill 2: Budget Measures Implementation Act 2017. This is a bill that implements the various initiatives discussed in the BC government's most recent budget update. One of the sections in the Bill dealt with shutting down the International Business Activity Program.

Today in the Legislature we were in Committee Stage for Bill 2: Budget Measures Implementation Act 2017. One of the questions I asked the Minister of Finance concerned the application of BC's carbon tax to marine gas oil. I am thrilled with the response I received from the Finance Minister who stated that she is very open to examining this further.