Trevor Halford

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/14/2025

Bill 15 — Infrastructure Projects Act

Yes. I’ll be brief with my comments. I do believe that this amendment is coming in good faith. I believe that it will expand upon and give clarity to “qualified professionals.” We’ve seen this before. We’ve seen some of the confusion. I’ll use Bill 13 as an example — actually, I think, the minister’s background is as an engineer — and the importance of protecting it. I’ll give an example of protecting the title of professional engineer. I believe that it’s really important to define “qualified professionals.” Also, the minister did speak a little while ago about collaboration and how we could find ways to amend. I think this is something. If the minister had added professionals that she would want to list on this amendment, I think that would be welcome.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good evening. I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, back to order.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good evening. I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, back to order.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good evening, Members. I call Committee on the Whole for Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, back to order. We are currently on clause 75. An amendment has been proposed by the member for Peace River South. I’d like to invite the member to speak to the proposed amendment.

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Susie Chant

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendments Act, 2025, back to order.

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Susie Chant

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025. Recognizing the member for Fraser-Nicola.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

This goes back to, again…. How will local election officials ensure that the ballot endorsement name matches the name, abbreviation or acronym recorded in Election B.C.’s electoral organization register, particularly in light of the short-form provisions amended elsewhere in Bill 13?

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good afternoon, Members. I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025. We are on clause 12.

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Mable Elmore

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025

Bill 13 has been read a third time and has been passed.

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Mable Elmore

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025

The question is third reading of Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025

Section C reports Bill 13 complete without amendment.

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Hon. Mike Farnworth

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, 2025 (continued)

In this chamber, I call continued debate on Bill 14. In the Douglas Fir Room, I call continued estimates for the Ministry of the Attorney General. In the Birch Room, continued committee stage debate on Bill 13.

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Hon. Mike Farnworth

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 15 — Infrastructure Projects Act

In this chamber, I call second reading debate on Bill 15. In the Douglas Fir Room, Section A, I call continued estimates debate for the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and after that, Ministry of Attorney General estimates. Committee stage to be called on Bill 13 in the tiny House, Section C, the Birch Room.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good morning, Members. I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, to order.

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Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act (continued)

Section C reports progress on Bill 13 and asks leave to sit again.

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Hon. Mike Farnworth

BC NDP

5/13/2025

Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act (continued)

In this chamber, I call continued second reading on Bill 14. In the Douglas Fir Room, continued estimates on the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In the tiny House, Birch Room, continued committee stage on Bill 13.

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Bill 13 — Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025

Good afternoon, Members. I call Committee of the Whole on Bill 13, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, to order.

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Bill M202 — Eligibility to Hold Public Office Act (continued)

Section C reports progress on Bill 13 and requests leave to sit again.

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Hon. Mike Farnworth

BC NDP

5/12/2025

Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, 2025 (continued)

In this chamber, I call continued debate, second reading, Bill 14. In the Douglas Fir Room, Section A, the estimates for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In the Birch Room, Section C, committee stage, Bill 13.

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Hon. Ravi Parmar

BC NDP

5/8/2025

Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act (continued)

I don’t know if that means that I get those extra ten seconds. The clock certainly doesn’t reflect that, but that’s okay. I guess that’s not the rule. What a pleasure to be able to rise in the House and speak to Bill 14, the renewable energy projects. It’s always an honour to be able to follow the member from across the way, the member for Peace River South. I got a chance to be able to catch a little bit of the end of his speech. I didn’t catch if he’s going to be supporting this legislation or not. It doesn’t look like he is. That’s too bad. We’ll talk a bit about why that is, and how bizarre it is that we’re in this position. I want to begin, first of all, by giving a huge shout-out to the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions. Here you have a guy who has represented his community, coming on almost two decades, in this place. Actually, yeah, 2025. It’s 20 years he’s been representing the good people of Vancouver-Kingsway. He showed leadership in this House as a minister, tackling one of the biggest challenges that our province has ever faced, the pandemic, and now he’s been given the task by the Premier to help build British Columbia, to ensure that we can become an energy superpower. I think the Minister of Energy is going to be remembered for a long time as one of the most competent ministers to ever serve in the executive council. I think he’s also going to be remembered as one minister who did an awful lot for British Columbians in every corner of this province. It’s important to recognize that work, because this is very important legislation. We, in introducing Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, are doing so at a time where our sovereignty as a country is under attack, our sovereignty as Canadians is under attack by a President who is showing very little to no respect for Canada, for our role as a peacekeeping nation that has done our part for decades, for centuries, protecting this world and playing a very critical part in providing resources to this entire world. It’s so important that with this legislation we position ourselves to ensure that we can become that clean energy superpower that we envision, and we have envisioned for some time, to be. I think back to previous governments that made investments and put in the work. I think this is something that, I would argue, is non-partisan in nature and provides an opportunity for us to really do the work needed to position British Columbia, given the context of Donald Trump’s threats against so much of what we are as Canadians — our sovereignty, threatening to make us the 51st state, threatening our resources. I think of my work as the Minister of Forests, referring to our softwood lumber as a national security risk. This is just absolutely ludicrous. It’s why it’s so important, in the work we’re doing in this place, that we take an opportunity to be able to debate important legislation like Bill 14 and recognize the global instability that has occurred over the course of the last 110, 120 days since President Trump was sworn in, and the growing external threats that we face not just here in British Columbia and Canada but around the world. That is really why we are in this House debating Bill 14. It’s about building clean electricity projects. It’s about doing so faster, recognizing the time we live in. When I am back in my constituency, in Langford-Highlands, I hear about this. I hear about the need to do more. There’s a recognition that there has been a lot done, but it’s clear we have to do more, and we have to do it faster. That’s what Bill 14 is all about. It’s about ensuring that we are able to secure our future as a province. I know this is work not just happening here in British Columbia but across the country. I was chatting with my counterpart, the Minister of Natural Resources in Ontario, Mike Harris. I work with a lot of Mike Harrises, I realize. I ran against Mike Harris. Now I’m working with Mike Harris from Ontario. He is the son of the Mike Harris from Ontario too. It’s great to see the family connection continuing. We were chatting about the work that we collectively need to do as a country to move projects forward and to do so in a way that protects and secures our future against geopolitical instability, trade threats from the President of the United States and other foreign political risks as well. We live in a very tense time, and I know that British Columbians — not just in Langford-Highlands but across this beautiful province that I’ve had an honour and privilege of visiting over the course of the last number of months since I became the Minister of Forests — have raised with me, time and time again, that this is front and centre for British Columbians. We have to be honest about the world we live in today. These are very challenging times. The President of the United States has taken a relationship built on cooperation, built on partnership, and he has tarnished that in his words. He showed a level of respect and, I would say, decorum to our new Prime Minister earlier this week that I think was welcome. Putting partisanship aside, it doesn’t matter who the Prime Minister is; you have to show a level of respect to another foreign leader. It was good to see that. Let’s be crystal clear that that relationship, that cooperation, has been broken forever, and we can no longer put B.C. in a position where we are reliant on our American friends. We will certainly continue to provide them softwood lumber, because they need it just as much as we need them. Here is an opportunity for us to be able to build the resources we need in our province and to do so in a way that respects Indigenous peoples, respects the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, respects the work that’s happening in communities all across the province and protects the environment. That’s what we are doing with this legislation and the projects that the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions has brought forward. Again, it’s important to recognize that the president’s tariffs have destabilized global trade all across this world. It was just a few weeks ago — this is like a joke — that he put countries on boards, and people were literally taking pictures of those boards and posting them online to find out if they made the list. That’s the world we live in today. All of us were on the Twittersphere — or X, or whatever you call it — and looking at that, but President Trump has changed the world in terms of that. He is punishing Canadian industry and its workers. We want to be very clear on this side of the House: we are not going to let Donald Trump destroy our energy sector, our forestry sector, the natural resource sectors that built this province. We are not going to let Donald Trump or Americans take away paycheques from our workers. That’s why we’re doing this critical work. In recent months, we’ve seen American isolationism spill over into trade, technology and energy policy that is impacting not just British Columbia and Canada but other parts of the world as well. When we talk about the work that my colleague the Minister of Energy is doing about energy in British Columbia, we have to recognize the work that has occurred over the course of the last number of weeks and months. We have to talk about the importance of this legislation that we are debating in this House today. We’re not just talking about the electricity grid of our province. We’re talking about defending our values, defending our people, defending our workers each and every day. That’s why this legislation is so important. That’s why I struggle listening to an opposition that doesn’t support this type of legislation. I struggle with that. I’m looking forward to hearing more debate and discussion on this legislation, but I do struggle with that. We have experience in this House of some mixed signals over the course of the last number of weeks, where some opposition members get up and just completely trash a bill. They completely trashed Bill 13 yesterday, but then you have mixed signals, where some of them are talking in favour of it. It’s going to be interesting when we get to the end of this legislation, Bill 14, and really get a clearer picture of whether they support building British Columbia, whether they support ensuring that British Columbia can become the clean energy superpower that it ought to be and whether they support the work that nations are doing on the ground with incredible companies that are leading the way. That’s what this legislation is all about. Bill 14, and why I support it, is about enabling British Columbia to build clean energy projects faster, smarter and more securely. That’s why we’re bringing this legislation forward in the times we live in. It will remove unnecessary delays and allow renewable energy to be developed faster through the B.C. Energy Regulator, an organization that has proven, time and time again, that it gets what its mandate is: to streamline projects while still ensuring that their reliable and important oversight continues to exist on safety, as the member for Surrey–White Rock talked about yesterday, on environmental standards and on that important engagement with First Nations peoples. Again, we can take the work of the Energy Regulator and translate it to work in other organizations that make up the government of British Columbia to talk about the incredible work that our public servants do in all of our ministries. I think of the folks in the forest service that do this work every single day, focused on safety, focused on people, focused on meeting the needs, focused on the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which we stand proudly for on this side of the House. This was the government that introduced this legislation. This is foundational in our work as legislators. We know that there are other members of the House that don’t support that legislation, and that’s okay. They’ve made their position known very clear, but let it be known very clear that we stand by DRIPA. We stand by the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. That work will not stop. That’s why we continue to invest in that work each and every day, not just as ministers, not just as MLAs, but as an entire public service, an entire government approach, and that does not stop with Bill 14. British Columbians want to know that they will be able to access the energy they need in their homes and in projects all across this province, because when it comes to getting electricity built, speed is not a luxury. We talk about this in the context of housing, but we have to talk about this in the context of other types of projects as well. It’s a strategic necessity. The reason we’re debating this legislation again is we are under threat from Donald Trump’s protectionist United States, and we have to stand up on our own two feet and fight. We have to build, have to create jobs, and we have to protect workers each and every day. That’s what we’re doing on this side of the House. I welcome every member of this House — the opposition, the Green Party, the independent members — to join us in this effort. We are creating jobs in their communities, in every part of this province. These are projects that have, in many cases — I think the majority of cases — majority participation from First Nations peoples. You have First Nations communities who I’ve met along the way in my travels that are excited about these projects. They’ve been dreaming about the opportunity to be able to create wealth for their people, wealth in their community, and we are not going to let red tape get in the way. We’re not going to let Donald Trump, as I said previously, take this opportunity away from those communities. We’re not going to let Donald Trump and Americans take this opportunity away from our workers. We are talking about thousands of jobs being created in every corner of our province. Why is the opposition against that? Why are they against job creation? That’s what this legislation is. Simple as that. This is job creation. This is an opportunity to put more money in the pockets of families in rural communities, many who have been struggling with the different impacts in our forestry sector and other sectors of our economy. That’s what we are for. We’re putting money in the pockets of families. Clearly, that’s what they’re against with this legislation, when they vote against it. Clean power is the foundation of a stronger economy here in British Columbia, and ensuring energy sovereignty for our economy. British Columbians want to know that their homes will be powered by clean electricity, that their businesses will be competitive and that we can attract investors from all around the world to come and build the mines, build the biomass facilities, build the jobs — the investments that we need in every corner of this province. Let me be very clear that our province will not be held hostage by supply shocks, by one President of the United States or anyone. We’re going to stand on our own two feet, and we’re going to stand as one united Canada fighting this battle. The U.S. signals of protectionism and deregulation make it so much more urgent for us as a government, for us as a Legislature, to ensure that we can do everything in our power every single day to secure our energy independence. That is what Bill 14 is accomplishing. It’s supporting projects. We are talking about clean energy projects that are good for the environment. We are replacing gas. We are replacing it with the work that we are doing on CleanBC, with clean energy. That is important as we look to our long-term growth as a province in order to be able to meet our climate targets in the future as well. This is good news for British Columbia; this is welcome news. This is billions of dollars being invested to create jobs and opportunity and helps position us so that the people that are elected in these spots 100 years from now can talk about a strong, powered British Columbia, strong powered on clean electricity, ready to compete for the jobs of tomorrow. That is what industry is going to be looking at. That is what I heard from industry and forestry. That’s what I’ve heard from all facets of the economy. We have Mining Day here in British Columbia. They are looking for the clean energy. We know that here in British Columbia mining plays a critical role in our economy. There is an opportunity through the work that the minister is doing with Bill 14 to help position British Columbia as the mining superpower of the world. That is only possible with the approval and passage of this legislation, because we can’t get stuck in long, outdated permitting systems. We have to do everything in our power. Donald Trump isn’t paying attention to us and the debates in this Legislature. I sure wish he would because I would have an awful lot of things to say to him — an awful lot of things. But let me be very clear. We have to move fast. We can’t wait for Donald Trump to make an announcement. We can’t wait for him to drop another tariff. He had a great meeting with the Prime Minister earlier this week, public-facing in the White House, in the Oval Office, but we don’t know what happened in the back room, necessarily. We understand that it went quite well. But we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We don’t know, in the over 15 minutes that I’ve been speaking — boy, does time go by quickly — that he hasn’t sent out another tweet announcing a threat of another tariff. It was earlier this week when we saw him attacking our film industry here in British Columbia and around the world. Again, we have to move quickly. That is the importance of this legislation. It’s about delaying the approvals of wind projects, of solar projects. I think of my former community — I still consider it my community — of Sooke, and I remember going with my predecessor to visit the T’Sou-ke Nation. The Minister of Energy will remember, because he was a part of that work years ago, in highlighting it. The T’Sou-ke Nation have been incredible leaders in this province, in North America, in clean energy and setting up solar projects. When I think of Chief Gordon Planes, this is exactly what he has been building his entire life around. The T’Sou-ke Nation recognizes the importance of these types of projects, and they want to ensure that we are building the energy sovereignty we need and that we are building good, sustainable jobs for British Columbians, for their members. They started this work a number of years ago before solar panels were cool. Now we are taking this work and quadrupling it. There’s no comparison. I want to give a huge shout-out to my friend Chief Gordon Planes, who’s done phenomenal work in this area. I know he would be very proud of this legislation that we’re bringing forward. This is exactly the type of leadership that he thought, because he wants us to think seven generations ahead. He doesn’t want us to think in four-year election cycles. He doesn’t want us to think ten years ahead. He wants us to think 100-plus years ahead. He wants us to think about the future that our British Columbians are going to have. That’s the work that we’re doing on this side of the House. Again, when the vision isn’t clear, in the path from conception to permitting to construction to operation, everything stagnates. We want to get shovels in the ground in these projects. We want to put people to work in every corner of this province. That’s why it’s so important, and I look to the members opposite to support this legislation. This legislation creates jobs in every community across this province. This legislation creates opportunity for people. It ensures that we are standing on our own two feet. We are cutting red tape. This bill is one more tool that we’re building on this side of the House, through the legislation we’ve been passing this session and we’ve been doing ever since we formed government in 2017, to create economic opportunity in every part of this province. I have spent more time in rural British Columbia, off the Island, in the constituencies of the members opposite, because those people matter to us. We recognize that we weren’t represented in the government caucus by those communities. That’s why we have to put in the work of going into those communities, listening to local government leaders, listening to job creators, listening to the workers. They support this legislation. I’ve talked to people, talked to workers in those communities. They want us, through the work that we’re doing, through the work that the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions is doing, to inject confidence in our future, to set a clear vision for what we can do as a province, to build for the future. That is what we’re doing here. It’s the projects like the North Coast transmission line. We need wind power projects. We need solar projects. We need all of these quickly, and we have to do more. It’s why the minister, earlier this week, announced a second call for power. This is historic. We are moving at a faster pace than any government has ever moved. We are leading the way, but it’s not good enough. All you have to do is go back to your communities, which we are going to do tomorrow — well, later today. We’re going to go talk to our constituents, and we’re going to say that we are standing on our two feet. And they are going to tell us: “We need you to do more. We need you to build faster. We need you to get the energy we need to be able to power our homes, power our vehicles.” To power the work that my colleague the Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals is doing on creating this mining superpower, the work that we’re doing in our biomass industry here in British Columbia, our pulp and paper sector…. We have an opportunity, through the work that we’re doing on this side of the House, to be able to create thousands of construction jobs, thousands of good-paying jobs. Again, we are not going to let Americans take away paycheques from hard-working British Columbians. We are going to create every opportunity we can for young British Columbians, British Columbians of all ages, to be able to compete for good-paying jobs, to be able to bring food to their tables. We know things are challenging out there, but here is an opportunity for us to do this work together. I plead with the opposition that this is good legislation. This is the type of legislation that, I think, in the past, the Conservatives ought to support. I hope they’re not supporting this just because it’s a confidence matter. It’s clear to us, as we heard earlier today, that they want an election. That’s okay. You guys can go pull out your signs, wash them, get them ready. Usually you have to get people to show up in order for that to happen, and that hasn’t been a strong suit of this opposition. When people don’t show up, that’s unfortunate. It happens — no big deal. But we don’t want an election. British Columbians don’t want an election. They just had a federal election, where the mandate was clear. They elected MPs from every part of this province to go to Ottawa to get stuff done, to build our province, to build our country. I think here is an opportunity for us to work together to pass good legislation, to send the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions the message he needs to be able to go and tell industry, to tell the First Nations that are equity partners in this work, that we are ready to get to work. We are ready to streamline. We are ready to be more efficient than ever. We’re ready to build. It is very clear that on this side of the House, we are working every day to build projects. We are working every day to create jobs and opportunities for British Columbians in every part of the province, not just in urban parts of British Columbia but in rural parts of British Columbia, because those communities matter to us. You have an opposition that is clearly divided. You have an opposition that clearly doesn’t have a vision, and you have an opposition that is saying no to everything. That’s unfortunate. British Columbians will know, and they will remember, that it was the B.C. NDP government, led by our Premier, that met the moment, that stood up against all odds, against a President of the United States that challenged our sovereignty, that challenged us in every way. They’re going to remember this Premier, that minister and this government standing up for them each and every day. That’s what makes me proud to be the MLA for Langford-Highlands. That’s what makes me proud to be the Minister of Forests. This is the work we’re doing each and every day. We’re going to build British Columbia. We’re not going to say no.

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