 is going to be able to solve these problems. In fact, no one level of government. We require the cooperation support of the municipalities, the provincial government and the federal government on this very important issue. Nikki Sharma brings to the table experience as a lawyer advocating for residential school survivors. She has done extensive work in her career advocating for people and delivering. She has shown remarkable leadership working with the nonprofit sector in her previous role. And I have every confidence that she'll be part of that core team to address one of my key priorities, because it's a key priority of British Columbians, which is public safety in our province. Yes, I'd like to ask you also about the new ministry for climate readiness, where Bo and Ma will be taking over. Is that a nod also in part to the new members of the NDP that we saw during the leadership race? And what's your message to the folks outside who are protesting against fracking? Well, the issue of climate is a generational challenge, not just here in British Columbia, but around the world. We just saw an international conference in Egypt with global leaders coming together to try to find ways to move forward on this. British Columbia is not waiting. We're moving ahead on the issue of climate. We have climate targets legislated for 2030 and 2050 that we're committed to. You'll see a mixture of experience and new leadership in our executive council on the important issue of environment and climate. But also that the issue of climate change goes through all the mandate letters. Every single minister has a role to play in addressing emissions. For the new ministry, it's a recognition of the fact that BC seems to have been hit harder than many other places in Canada by climate change. We've seen historic forest fires, smoky summers. We had the pine beetle very early on, ocean acidification, and floods in Abitford. And so prioritizing our readiness, identifying issues across the province where we know climate change is going to have an impact, making sure that we're ready to go, is a key responsibility of this ministry, both to prevent harms wherever we can from climate-related disasters, as well as the risks that we always face, seismic issues, tsunamis, or earthquakes, making sure that we're ready for those emergencies, that we're learning the lessons from past emergencies, that when a disaster hits, the communities recover quickly, will be the focus of this new ministry. And the challenge with this issue is that it goes across, again, so many ministries. So having a dedicated minister who's able to coordinate our efforts across government to be ready to prepare and to minimize harm where we can, it's an important job, I'm very excited that Bowen's agreed to take it on. Our next question is coming from Katie DeRosa, Vancouver Sun. Thank you, Premier. Can you give an insight as to your decision around finance? Minister Conroy, moving into finance, and it seems like it's a bit of a demotion for Minister Robinson from finance to her now portfolio. Can you give an explanation of why you made that decision? So a couple of pieces. Minister Robinson has responsibility for a critical role in our province. I think all British Columbians are aware that our economy is growing quickly. A lot of employers are looking to hire, and they are finding that they're struggling to find employees with the skills needed to fill roles. And that is in government. That's in the private sector, the nonprofit sector. Finding people with skills that are needed is a big challenge across our province. Selina's experience working with business, working in the nonprofit sector. As finance minister, she's going to take that dedication and that enthusiasm for the role to this important piece of work, which is making sure that our colleges, our universities that are ready for the challenge that they're delivering, people graduating with the skills that we need. But also, the British Columbians have the opportunity to upgrade their skills, to learn new skills, to fill those jobs that are available. We've got a big challenge. We've got more than a million new jobs coming online. In our province, we need people who are skilled and ready to go. And Minister Robinson has a huge responsibility there. I have huge confidence in her. And that's why she has that role. For Minister Conroy, I'm really excited that she's agreed to take on this role. She brings to the Ministry of Finance role extensive experience across government. I've worked with her for almost a decade now since I was first elected. I've seen her at work. She is rural tough. And British Columbians, British Columbians want someone like her on their side. She is a great compliment to me in the sense that she comes from a smaller community in the province. She has that rural lens on things. And also, I know that she has the values that British Columbians do, the priorities that British Columbians do around delivering on healthcare, on housing, on public safety and building a strong economy. I'm really excited that she's taken this on and I'm sure she's going to do a great job. Follow up, Kitty? Yes, please. With the new housing ministry, what tasks do you want to see in perhaps the first 100 days from Minister Callan? So I am really pleased that Ravi agreed to take on this critical role. For so many British Columbians, the issue of housing is top of mind, whether because we're seeing people living on the streets and sidewalks and they're in their downtown quarries or in parks, or because they have reasonable salary, they have a decent job and they just can't find a place to rent or that they could even imagine that they could afford to buy. This is a critical role and there are huge initiatives in Mr. Callan's mandate letter. He is going to, pardon the pun, he's going to build the foundation of our government's move into an area where we haven't been for many years, which is delivering affordable, attainable middle-class housing. This is something that the federal government used to be very involved in, but they've moved back from that, but now they're back at the table on housing and so are we. And we're going to deliver on this commitment. Minister Callan's record speaks for itself in delivering on the priorities of British Columbians and I'm very enthusiastic about him building this portfolio, building homes to support British Columbians. Next question is coming from Richard Zussman, Global News. You're surrounded around those in your cabinet. There are some that are out. Can you explain the decision to remove Nicholas Simons and George Chow from cabinet? I'm really grateful to George Chow and Nick Simons for their work in cabinet, for their leadership and they are going to continue to assist in responding to the challenges that British Columbians face. I am looking to Minister Chow in particular to support the work that we have to do in the downtown East side and in Chinatown in Vancouver and making sure that we're responding to the needs of both the community in Chinatown but also the downtown East side. He's me taking a leadership role there. Minister Simons is going to have a key leadership role in our caucus. We have a big caucus. We have people from all across the province making sure that everybody is working together in partnership to deliver for British Columbians is a huge job and Nick will provide a critical support in that. So I'm very grateful to them for their work and for their continued leadership. Follow up Richard. The cabinet change marks some generational shift. Can you speak to the youth that you've injected here but also what message it sends that in the finance portfolio, Katrina Conroy has served for a long time. She's not part of that generational change. Why not have a younger finance minister? Sorry, Cat. What I've tried to achieve here with this cabinet is a real mix of the voices of experience, the people who have been there through many governments and seen how things work and can bring that experience and knowledge to the table and new voices, making sure that younger members of our caucus have an opportunity to bring their views forward so that around the table we have a mix of voices that represent not just the diversity of our province in terms of the geography or the people but also the life experiences that people have. So having that diversity of voice around the table is absolutely critical and I think that that's what you see in this group behind me. Next question comes from Rob Shah, check news. Thank you. Thank you very much, Jimmy. George. Could you explain, Premier, to parents of autistic children why you did not make a change in your children's ministry given you have reversed the most significant change in that ministry over the last year that the current minister has spent time defending and now is no longer in place? Yeah, I'm really glad to see Minister Mitzi Dean taking on what is a very challenging portfolio. Mitzi delivered historic legislation, recognizing the authority, the jurisdiction, the ability of First Nations across our province to support their own kids. And this is a transformational shift in how the ministry works. It was a massive undertaking involving nations and indigenous leadership across the province and she delivered it. She also delivered significant reforms to the children in care system, especially around kids aging out of care, supporting them so that they don't end up on that super highway to homelessness as it's been described that they're supported well into young adulthood so that they can have a good strong start. The issue, the specific issue that she went headlong at and fearlessly at of the fact that there are a group, a significant group of kids and families in our province that are not getting the supports that they need because they don't have that autism diagnosis. She went at that courageously and is working to address that issue. The issue of individualized autism funding and the anxiety that families felt that their kids would not be able to maintain their relationship with their support team that families had painstakingly built, that was interfering with our ability to work together to address what everybody agrees is the core issue, which is these group of kids and families that are not getting the supports they need right now. So by taking that issue off the table, Minister Dean will be able to deliver just like she did in so many other areas of her portfolio for parents of kids with autism for those families and also and importantly for the parents and families that aren't getting supports right now because they don't have that diagnosis. Fulagra. Just back on the budget issue, changing the finance minister in December, could you talk to us a bit about the budget? Is it done? Like typically it's done by now for February. Were you able to craft the budget that you wanted and just changing the minister right now, impact that? Are you still making changes to it or just sort of sketch out where that's at? Sure, in making decisions around government, especially around changes in government, one of the important balancing considerations is wanting to move quickly and address issues quickly for British Columbians that they see that are front of mind right now and knowing that when you have somebody taking on a new portfolio, there's always a learning curve, there's always time spent coming up to speed. So trying to balance that in the cabinet, you'll see people who are continuing in their old roles, but you'll see some people shifted to new roles and as far as the budget goes, Minister Robinson has laid a strong foundation for the budget. We've been working ever since I was, since I became leader of the party to make sure that the budget includes the key priorities of British Columbians and Minister Conroy is going to continue that work. The budget is not finished, it's an ongoing piece of work and British Columbians will see the budget as planned and as scheduled. And I look forward very much to releasing that budget because it will reflect their priorities around making sure they have a decent place to live, their communities are safe, that healthcare is there for them when they need it, and that we're building a strong economy with some of the global threats we're seeing out there right now. Next question from Fran Yainour from Northern B. Thanks. My premier. My question is about Minister Whiteside. Just wondering with her move from education to mental health and addictions, whether that means the government is going to be beefing up the other three pillars to the strategy, including education. So one of the reasons why I'm excited that Minister Whiteside took on this challenge of the portfolio of mental health and addictions, it's a really challenging portfolio. Working with families who have lost loved ones, hearing tragic stories of the impact of the toxic drug supply in British Columbians, it is an awesome responsibility and there are a lot of expectations and high pressure to deliver on what has proven to be a very challenging area for us. And so Minister Whiteside brings a couple of key pieces to the table that I think will be of great assistance and I want to recognize and thank Minister Malcomson's work in this area. Minister Whiteside, Jennifer, brings experience in the healthcare sector. Working with health authorities, understanding how to ensure that our healthcare system is part of our response to the toxic drug crisis. You'll see that in our public safety announcement. The new model we're working on with St. Paul's of seamless triage from the emergency room to detox to treatment to housing to help people deal with addiction. When they have that moment of clarity, when they wake up in the emergency room after having overdosed that we can divert people. So you'll see a real increase in emphasis on that healthcare response and that treatment response and certainly coming from the Ministry of Education, understanding how important it is to reach kids, to get the message out about the risks of our toxic drug supply is another critical piece that she brings to this portfolio as well. It's a huge challenge and I'm glad she's taking it on. Follow up question, Fran? Yes. Question on the rural, urban representation in your cabinet. Obviously you have many fewer members from rural areas and a larger population to represent in the urban areas. But rural already people often don't feel themselves reflected in this government. How, what message do you have for them in terms of the limited rural representation? I think it's critical that the British Columbians see in our government team themselves reflected. Their concerns and their priorities reflected both in the cabinet and in the government as a whole. So for rural British Columbians, they're seeing a new finance minister who is, who really to my mind represents the best of rural life with the background in agriculture. She's a hunter and she is tough. And I am really excited that she is going to complement and bring that perspective in a very high profile and significant role to our team. The message to rural British Columbians is the same as to British Columbians all across our province, which is that we are going to deliver for you, no matter where you live. Your perspectives and priorities are represented around this table and we're gonna make sure that we address those priorities. Next question come from Les Lane, Times columnist. Oh, thanks. Premier, I'm under the impression that your housing changes announced recently, specifically to the strata council rules and regulations and laws have started a real groundswell of concern and it's getting bigger. It's not going away. Do you agree with that assessment? And Minister Collins job, what is it in regards to that? Is he gonna have to placate a lot of these people who are pointing out potential unintended consequences or is this gonna get done one way or the other? So I think with respect to housing policy, any significant changes in housing policy are going to cause anxiety when we're talking with municipalities about the need to deliver more housing. People raise concerns. Well, what about parking? What about shadows? What about making sure that our communities are livable? We talked to stratets about the fact that we can't have people that can't find a place to rent while condos are sitting empty. Say, well, what if we get a bad renter? How are we gonna be able to respond to that problem? We are going to make sure that when we make these changes that we are monitoring them closely and we're providing the support that is needed to address any issues that come up. So certainly I wanna provide assurance to people who live in stratets among whom I am one that we're gonna make sure that your buildings and communities remain livable. But part of ensuring buildings and communities remain livable is recognizing the fact that we are in a really serious housing crisis and we can't leave any housing on the table. So Minister Calan has a challenging job. When we address the housing issue, it means changes. It means changes in the approach we've taken to housing. And anytime you make changes, there will be anxiety but I wanna reassure people of two things. One is we believe there is a housing crisis. We are taking action on it. And the second is we will monitor the changes we're putting in place to respond to any issues that arise from those changes. And if they're not delivering what we want, then we're gonna address that. That's what leadership is and that's what this team behind me is all about. With those changes, sorry. The changes, some people are speculating increasing the rental pool in a strata council can make significant changes in insurance rates which have already escalated over the past few years. Is that one of the things that you would be open to consider the ramifications? Well strata insurance is a significant issue for many British Columbians and among other things an area where we've seen rising costs. We're gonna continue our work to address those issues. I think it's important to recognize too though the scope of the issue. So since 2010, no strata building has been allowed to have rental restrictions in place. So we've had more than a decade of time of new strata is built without rental restrictions and those strata buildings are functioning just fine. And so I do understand there's some anxiety about the changes, we'll monitor them closely. But I also wanna point out the fact that for a long time in British Columbia rental restrictions haven't been permitted. We're in the middle of a housing crisis. People are searching Craigslist for rental units. There are empty condos that are sitting there. We know there's at least 2,900 but there's probably significantly more in areas where we don't have data and we need them to be able to be rented out to people who want to rent them. Next question coming from Francis Pleud. That's your Canada. Hi, Premier. So the Bank of Canada announced today a new increase in their interest rate. Can we expect new measures to help British Columbians who struggle to make end meets? And if so, what kind of measures? Well, I think one of the frustrations I have about some of the interest rate increases that we've seen is that I know that they hit families that are just scraping by most significantly. And also that the discussion that somehow this is gonna improve housing affordability because the price of housing is either stable or coming down, that's not actually true for families because they still have to qualify for a mortgage and their payments are the same or increasing. And so if we really wanna go at the housing issue, making sure that we are actively out there supporting municipalities, supporting the private sector, the nonprofit sector in building affordable attainable housing for people very actively as a provincial government is how we're going to go at this issue. The Bank of Canada will make the decisions that they make and will have impacts on families. We'll be there to support families. But it's also important to note that that's not improving housing affordability for British Columbians. What's gonna improve housing affordability for British Columbians is us out there building that housing that we need. We saw massive population increase last year we're seeing another massive increase this year. We need to get that housing built. Follow up question. The Greens announced yesterday that they were preparing for an early election, potentially this spring with the opening of their nomination process. Should British Columbians prepare for that prospect as well? You know, I don't know how many times I can say it. I am committed to a fixed election date for British Columbia. And the reason is quite straightforward. I was all across the province. I didn't hear one British Columbians say, gosh, you know what I really hope happens now is a provincial election. They said, deal with public safety. They said, deal with housing, deal with healthcare. Make sure our economy is strong in the face of global headwinds. And that's what we're gonna do. We have two years. We have a mandate from British Columbians to deliver. And I don't, and I know my colleagues behind me and myself, we didn't get into politics to run elections. We got into politics to deliver for British Columbians. We have an opportunity to do that and we're going to do it. Next question. Andrew McLeod, Tai. Thanks again, George. You've said that you would like the old-growth strategy to be accelerated. I'm wondering why Bruce Ralston is the right person to do that and what your instructions are to him. Well, Mr. Ralston is the ideal minister for this role for a couple of reasons. He shared with me that he has personal employment history in a mill as a young man. But beyond that, he is coming to the job from focus on innovation, on industry, and on trade. He's our Minister for the Consular Corps. And if we are going to ensure a sustainable forest industry for British Columbians for generations to come, we need to get more value out of the wood that we're harvesting. That means using innovation to make sure we're creating jobs. That means increasing our trade networks around the world as we lobby against and push against those unfairer software tariffs in the United States, finding other trading partners that are going to treat us fairly on that issue, finding markets for BC timber. And finally, Minister Ralston, in his previous job in Energy and Minds, had to work very closely with Indigenous leadership to deliver projects across the province. And the same is going to be true in the forestry sector. They're a sustainable forestry industry. Going forward in the province is going to involve the partnership with First Nations across the province as well. He's incredibly well suited to take on this job and I'm glad he did. Follow up, Andrew? Sure, please. Of the four priority areas you set out, you had fairly high profile announcements on three of them. I think many would say it's been more muted on climate and environment. And I'm wondering if there's a reason for that and how you would respond to the suggestion, the obligation. I set out my commitment to British Columbians, a 100 day plan, where I would be making major announcements, setting out the foundation of how I'm going to earn their trust by delivering on what their priorities are every day. This team behind me is part of that process as we put the pieces in place to deliver on those priorities of healthcare, of public safety, of housing, and of course, a clean, sustainable economy that works for everybody. We're going to take on that global challenge of climate change and lead again as we have in British Columbia with our clean BC plan. And I'm really excited about the work that's going on. And British Columbians will see action from our governments on that important file as well as their other priorities. Next question coming from Rob Buffam, CTV Vancouver Island. Hi, Premier. People had observed that the last cabinet was disproportionately island based under an island premier. There's actually now an additional member of cabinet from the island. Did you give any consideration to, I don't know, changing the geography or the layout of those choices? There's a couple shifts that you'll see in this cabinet behind you. And one of the pieces that I'm particularly proud of is the presence of MLAs from the Fraser Valley and our Executive Council, our Minister of Agriculture, Minister of State for Transportation and Workforce Readiness. Strong MLAs from the Fraser Valley to ensure that that voice is well represented at the table. You see leadership from Surrey. Fast growing, fast growing community in British Columbia right now. Our new Minister of Education, Rashna Singh, coming from that community, making sure that we're delivering for education for parents and kids in fast growing communities like Surrey. It's going to be her priority. So you'll see leadership from all across the province in this Executive Council and ensuring that British Columbians can see themselves and this group of cabinet ministers was critically important to me. Follow up, Rob? Yeah, I'm just wondering if you could kind of spell out what the rationale was for moving to the island MLAs, Sheila Melcomson. I guess Sheila in particular, I'm wondering well, but also Lana Popham. What were your thoughts there? So we have a really important piece of work to do. Around our tourism, arts and culture sector. Coming out of the pandemic, obviously tourism was the industry that was the hardest hit and the impacts on tourism providers across the province was huge. So Lana in her work in the Fraser Valley responding to the impacts of the flood on farmers, she has the ability to work with stakeholders to support people coming out of disastrous impacts on their businesses. She's going to show real leadership there. We also have major sporting events happening from 2024, 25, 26 and 27. There's really fun and exciting things happening in British Columbia and making sure that we get the maximum benefit out of those events for our economy, for British Columbians that everybody has a good time but also that we see lasting jobs and impacts in our tourism sector. Lana, her work in agriculture demonstrates her expertise in that. She's going to bring that expertise to tourism as well. With respect to Minister Malcomson, she did a really significant amount of work building that framework around mental health and addictions across the province, really challenging and demanding work on an emotionally demanding portfolio. She is going to be able to leverage her relationships across the nonprofit sector, across community leadership and indigenous communities that base that she built in her previous ministry in the Ministry of Poverty Reduction and continuing our work to drive down poverty rates in the province, implementing our poverty reduction plan and also supporting the Minister of Housing and the all of government approach to deal with the homelessness that we're seeing in many communities. It's an important piece of work and I'm excited that she's agreed to take it on. Next question from Lisa Yusta, City News 1130. Just one question, you've picked your team. Now I'm wondering about what your management style is going to be. What fingers do you still want? What pies do you still want your fingers in? When are you going to stand back, especially the Attorney General? That was your last job and you have someone new in there. So I'm wondering how you're going to manage all this. Are you going to micromanage? This is the provincial government of the province of BC is a massive enterprise. It requires leadership from every single one of our elected MLAs and certainly of the cabinet ministers. They will have to drive their portfolios. They have been given very clear mandate letters that set out the objectives of government that they need to deliver on. I have confidence in every one of them to deliver that. My role will be in supporting them in those challenging issues that cross ministries. One of the challenges of government is always the possibility that people would operate in a silo. So making sure that we're working on the most challenging issues we face involve two or three ministries at a minimum. And so for the Premier's office, for my management style, I'll be coordinating and making sure that we're addressing those priority issues that British Columbians have in a coordinated way across the provincial government. We have time for one more question. It'll be coming from Mary Brooke Island social trends. Hi, thank you. On the housing file, you're going to have to escalate construction. And I'm just wondering what portion of that are how you're going to target purpose built rental because that's part of the equation as you've already stated. And then a shortage of workers in the construction industry seems to be part of the problem there. So I'm just wondering any direction you might be giving to post secondary to put more direct more people into the trades. And also, would there be any redirection within immigration to look for trades coming from international sources? Thanks, great question. So on the issue of housing, there are two components to it. Obviously we have really fast growing communities. We need to build that housing. It includes purpose built rental housing to make sure that people are looking for a place to rent can actually find a place to rent, but also attainable housing to own to give people a chance to get into the housing market and set down roots in a community. This is very challenging work. And so Minister Calon has a number of initiatives set out in his mandate letter, which include things like so protecting the rental housing that we have, setting up a fund that will assist nonprofits in buying existing rental housing to make sure that it's protected. Every person that's rented can imagine the feeling that you would get when you wake up in the morning and you realize the building that you live in has been put up for sale. What does this mean? Does this mean that I'm gonna be evicted? Does this mean that my rents are gonna be hiked and so on? To know that there's a possibility and a fund set up to buy that lower cost rental housing that people are living in, especially seniors, to make sure that they're protected from eviction and that if the property's redeveloped it's done in a way that they're able to move back into a new suite with the rent that they can afford. This is absolutely critical. So protecting the rental housing we have is significant. The other piece is building new rental housing. And we do have a challenge around skilled workforce. Minister Robinson is gonna take that head on in her new role. And beyond that, we will be looking to leverage opportunities around modular construction and other ways of approaching housing construction to make sure that we can drive down the cost of housing while ensuring quality and ensuring the ability for British families to find that housing that they need. All up there. Yeah, BC based food production is a problem that we've seen in the province. There's still vulnerability in the Fraser Valley area after the floods, but that's not a situation that's resolved anytime soon, that all the dykes need to be short up and maybe redirection to the river at some point. And there's also a shortfall of food production on Vancouver Island. So what is your vision for how food security is going to be enhanced in BC? Many British Columbians, it may not be obvious to them, but agriculture is a huge economic driver in our province. And I see a really significant potential for us to expand what we're doing around agricultural production and processing that increases, not just the opportunity for jobs in BC, which is really positive, but also food security that we have food production and processing within the borders, British Columbia. So if the roads are washed out to Alberta or if the border closes to Washington state, that we are able to make sure we're delivering food for British Columbians that they need. It provides the possibility of lower prices for food because the food is produced and processed in British Columbia doesn't have to be shipped so far reducing the cost of gas. And also it creates the possibility of export markets for our agricultural products. Foods that are growing and processed here, British Columbia has a reputation around the world for clean and safe food, which is really significant in a lot of communities. So driving those opportunities for food export to grow our economy and make it more secure in the face of the headwinds we're facing globally as jurisdictions like California reduce their food output. This is a big economic opportunity for British Columbians. Having a minister of agriculture who not only lives in the Fraser Valley, but is a former local leader at the municipal level in the Fraser Valley that has experience with agriculture that has those relationships and she will be supported by our former minister of agriculture, Lana Popham, to leverage those relationships that Lana built over the last five years. I'm really excited about the possibility of agriculture to be a core piece of growing our economy, reducing emissions, increasing food security, the potentials endless. That's all the time we have. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks very much.