Tuesday's speech from the throne was about the Liberal government reaffirming previously stated priorities, with a heavy focus on jobs, training and limiting spending.
"I think what we did today was lay out for British Columbians our plan to grow a strong economy," said Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond.
The speech opening the first sitting of the B.C. legislature since last summer, as read by Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon, outlined a plan that includes the reliance on the forecasted lucrative liquified natural gas (LNG) projects as well as developing resource and technology industries.
"And while LNG presents British Columbia with a unique opportunity and a unique challenge - skills training is a Canadian issue," Guichon said. "As a nation, we need to do a better job of preparing the next generation for the jobs that will meet them."
In order to do that, the government announced a 10-year skills training action plan for youth and older workers looking to retrain.
"It's a very ambitious piece of work I am leading in partnership with the ministers of education and advanced education," said Bond, who heads the jobs, tourism and skills training portfolio.
"What's critical here is that there is a seamless approach to this - that we're talking to young people much earlier in their lives about making choices around the possibility of technical or trades training," said Bond, noting a forthcoming heavy demand. "It is aligning the funding that we have in place in the post-secondary institutions and the industry training authority to the labour demands that we actually require."
Approaching the issue from a national perspective is also key, said Bond.
In their 2014 budget released Tuesday, the federal government announced the imminent launch of last year's promised Canada Job Grant and renewal of the Labour Market Agreements with the provinces and territories. The grant requires matching from employers as well as provincial and territorial governments towards training at eligible institutions.
"When we look at completion rates and the ability to attract employers to take on apprentices, those are not issues unique to British Columbia, those are national issues," said Bond. "So I'm very heartened by the fact that both the federal government and provincial government are actually making this a critical agenda item for both of them."
Also mentioned in the speech were the government's intention to bring in legislation formalizing the recommendations on changes to the province's liquor laws and groundwater protection, formally apologize for historical wrongs to the Chinese community, develop a 10-year transportation plan as well as a long-term labour agreement with educators.
Bond said she was also pleased to see the inclusion of a strategy to address domestic violence and action on missing and murdered women. As the former attorney general and justice minister, Bond said there was work borne out of the Highway of Tears investigations yet to be built upon.
"Obviously we know that in northern British Columbia it is a personal and a very emotional issue for many families that have experienced violence in their families," she said. "I think it's an important step and I look forward to supporting the current attorney general in her work as she continues the initiatives that we started, particularly around the missing women's inquiry."
Opposition head Adrian Dix characterized Tuesday's speech as one "particularly lacking in vision or substance."
"Usually people say there was nothing in the throne speech. This time you can say literally there was nothing in the throne speech," said the B.C. NDP leader to the Vancouver Sun. "And it's not like there aren't challenges facing people in B.C."
Speaking to media in Victoria, Dix said the remarks failed to address issues of child poverty and declining employment in forestry, but instead the Liberals appear to "want to simply get through their political problem."
"In fact, for all the optimism the government tries to display in its rhetoric, this is pessimism to the core," he said. "This is a government that doesn't believe it can address problems. So they try and get by by ignoring them."
On Feb. 18, the provincial government will hand down their 2014 budget, which Guichon and Bond indicated will follow in the vein of the 2013 financial plan.
"British Columbians have to prioritize, make choices, and balance their own budgets," said Guichon. "They expect no less from their government."
Controlling spending is "absolutely essential" to keeping commitments the Liberals made, said Bond. "We said we were going to balance our budget and that will be a promise made and a promise kept next week."
-- with files from The Vancouver Sun
