Finance Minister Selina Robinson introduced an interim supply bill in the provincial legislature on Thursday to ensure government spending continues during the period in April that the NDP’s new budget will be debated and voted on.
The province’s fiscal year ends on March 31st, and Robinson says next month the NDP will introduce a new budget that will continue to be responsive to the needs of people, businesses and communities during the pandemic and afterward.
BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau, the MLA for Cowichan Valley, hopes the upcoming budget supports families “impacted by COVID-19, a recognition of the unequal impacts of the pandemic, a recognition of growing inequality and the need for concrete steps to address that inequality,”
Furstenau says there is also a need for more investment in child care and education.
One key issue the Green Party is pushing the NDP on is having mental health care covered by the medical health services plan to ensure it is accessible to everybody in BC regardless of their income.
Furstenau says another area of concern is keeping the ongoing work to deal with global warming in focus, “the pandemic has not slowed down the march of climate change” the impacts of the environment.”
She says in the coming weeks the BC Green Party will be releasing its own budget recommendations.
