By ROB BOTTERELL
MLA, Saanich north and the islands
Not a day goes by without a new disturbing and polarizing Trump Truth Social post. How I pine for those years when his policies didn’t dominate the news.
We are not immune to polarization in B.C. Even in a time of Trump tariffs and staggering provincial budget deficits, there is much we can do to maintain social cohesion and work across party lines.
For example, health care.
I am supporting the efforts of Shoreline Clinic to open a third primary care clinic to help ensure that the remaining 14,500 Peninsula residents without a doctor or nurse practitioner can access one.
At my invitation, the Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, visited Salt Spring and Pender islands earlier this month. The minister heard about community-driven solutions to the healthcare challenges facing Salt Spring, and learned why healthcare funding cuts on Pender and other Southern Gulf Islands need to be reversed.
In this work, I am supported by community individuals with extensive professional and lived healthcare experience. Amongst the many lending expertise, I particularly want to thank Bruce Waygood on Pender Island for his tireless advocacy.
Another area of focus is affordable housing.
Whether you are a senior living on a fixed income, or you’re a worker struggling to make ends meet, you have the right to safe, healthy and affordable housing in your community. A recent survey found that 44 per cent of B.C. residents are $200 or less away from covering their bills. Most shocking? Nearly one in five British Columbians are delaying or skipping medical, dental or prescription care and nearly three in 10 state they are eating less in order to make ends meet.
This is unacceptable: nobody should be homeless, relying on food banks, or having to make the choice between turning on the lights or eating.
The simple fact is that we need much more housing that is actually affordable. Success will depend on supporting non-profit housing societies to acquire land at low or no cost and ensuring construction and renovation costs are reasonable. We need to reduce red tape, subsidize rent levels where warranted and partner with all levels of government — Capital Regional District (CRD), Islands Trust, municipalities, provincial and federal governments — to make this happen. Tackling the affordable housing crisis is truly an “all hands on deck” moment.
Recently, I spent a day with the new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, Christine Boyle, during which we began the work of collaborating on made-in-Saanich North and the Islands solutions to the affordable housing crisis. Once again, it was the involvement of community members, this time with extensive professional and lived experience in the area of housing, that provided the necessary creative spark. Amongst the many lending expertise, I particularly want to thank Erin Price Lindstrom for her wisdom and insights.
These housing and health examples are just two areas where the strength that comes from working together as a community, with all levels of government, can find solutions to seemingly intractable problems. In doing so, we reinforce social cohesion, not social dissension. This is the path forward and the path I hope our southern neighbours will eventually choose.