 This is a serious podium. Thanks everybody for joining us, it's been a very eventful day already and excited to take your questions and to begin a new relationship with you as the Premier of British Columbia. So let's go. Congratulations, I just want to know we just experienced here the first ever First Nations hosted swearing in. What was that like for you and what are you signaling to both Indigenous people and the population at large in terms of reconciliation and where your government will go? Well the scheduling challenges we had with Government House created the possibility of hosting the swearing in ceremony somewhere other than the usual location and it made a lot of sense to me that we would do the swearing in in my home community where my family is, where our friends are, where I've served for almost a decade as MLA and of course it's Musqueam territory and my call was to the office to reach out to the Chief. Chief Sparrow was receptive and we had a wonderful meeting. For me this is a couple of things. First of all it's an important symbol of continuation of tradition of emerging of traditions of the British colonial Commonwealth tradition represented by the Lieutenant Governor and First Nations traditions cultural practices and recognition of our partnership as governments working together to deliver for British Columbians. I thought it was just a remarkably moving ceremony and I was so grateful that Musqueam agreed to do this. Next we'll go to Justine Hunter, Globe and Mail. Hi Premier Abie, your predecessor John Horgan recently said in an interview that the really big challenging issues are going to be with us for years. You can't realistically fix the housing crisis or the healthcare crisis in any any short period of time so how do we measure your success around the goals that you set and outline today? For the priorities that I've set out that are coming to us from British Columbians across the province around housing, healthcare, public safety and a sustainable clean economy. What I want to deliver, what I want our team to deliver over the next 18 months to two years for British Columbians are real concrete things that they can see that they can touch that show them the direction that we're going. We're not going to solve all of these huge challenges most of which are global overnight. It's going to take work together with multiple levels of government, with business, with labour, with non-profit organisations, community members and this government is going to signal the direction we're going, we're going to establish those changes that people can see in their communities to earn that trust every single day so that we can work together to solve them. Justine, did you have a follow-up? Next we'll go to Alec Lazenby from BC Today. Hi Premier, I just wanted to ask piggybacking off Justine's question about crime, you're due to make a big announcement on Sunday. I was just wondering can you give us any more of an indication of how you'll be working with communities to address that crisis again which is so large and intractable and seems you know hard to address with one policy. So I think that the big opportunity here for us to make progress on the issue of public safety and the concerns that people have about the safety of their neighbours who are living on the streets that are struggling with mental health and addiction and the feeling that they have that their downtown courts are not as safe as they were before the pandemic, their communities are not as safe and the very real phenomenon we're seeing in Vancouver of stranger attacks are alarming a lot of people. To make progress on this we need everybody to work together and to recognize the root causes of some of what we're seeing the mental health and addiction challenges that lots of people are struggling with. So what it will involve is police and prosecutors and nonprofit service organizations, healthcare workers working together in a coordinated way to address this issue. No one agency, no one department is able to resolve these things and it's the same with housing and it's the same with healthcare. It's all hands on deck and that's what you're going to see in in that announcement and the theme of our government working forward is how do we bring people together to address these issues. And in regards to next week you said in the past that you'll be introducing a couple bills but that most of what you hope to accomplish won't require legislation. What is your game plan given that most of your first 100 days will be without session until the house comes back in a session in February? British Columbians want us to to keep working to deliver on these issues that they're facing and and you're going to see our government hit the ground running on Monday with new bills related to housing, opening up housing that should be available right now for rent but isn't and making sure that we're delivering that housing supply that we need and and whether it's housing or healthcare or public safety or a clean economy you will see us moving quickly to show the direction we're going how we're going to deliver for people. Next we'll go to Richard Sussman, Global News. Congratulations Premier. The credit from BC Hydro will go only a small way for many families. The previous government was criticized when the ICBC rebate came in that only covered a very small part of gas price inflation. So how far do you hope this credit goes and what do you say to people who are just struggling every day to get by and are asking for more help from government? So there are two credits for British Columbians that I announced today and one of the things that it's really important to recognize is well lots of people are doing well in our province the people who are struggling are really struggling you know deciding about whether to pay rent or by groceries, seeing the costs of essentials going up as we're seeing around the world and in British Columbia we're in a position that we can provide additional support it's not going to be the full answer it's going to be helping people with the cost of everyday life and you're going to see our work to drive down costs for British Columbians. This bill credit for BC Hydro is just one way and one of the two credits that we're announced today and you're going to see more from our government on this issue. Talking about credits there's a $400 renters rebate that has been sitting in a platform since 2017 that hasn't been put in place. Is it something that people should expect Premier Evie will finally bring into place? We ran on a platform for British Columbians commitments to them that we would deliver for their community among them was the renters rebate. We are going to deliver on our platform commitments for British Columbians including the renters rebates and I look forward to that. Next we'll go to Rob Shaw, check news. Just to build off Richard's question the Hydro credit was already announced by John Horgan the number is new today so so what else is in your you know quiver of arrows on affordability what are you looking at more tax credits reductions from crown corporations just sketch out for us what that basket looks like. The the first credit announced today was the BC Hydro credit $100 on the bills to credit every rate pair in the province. It's not going to solve everybody's problems but it will make a difference for a lot of families around British Columbia. The second was for low and middle income British Columbians a cost of living credit to support families distributed through the carbon tax credit system that we have so that we can get that money out quickly to British Columbians who are low and middle income who are seeing their costs go up. We will as with every issue be looking at every opportunity we have to deliver for British Columbians to drive down the cost of everyday life. It's not going to be the solution to all of the global challenges we face but British Columbians have someone in their corner on this issue in our government. Can you tell us more about your housing bills on Monday I think there's a technical review panel that had some recommendations on fast-tracking housing is that part of this what what else is is going to be part of this legislation. I really look forward to the housing bills we'll be introducing on Monday. People will know my passion around the housing issue that every British Columbian deserves the opportunity for a decent home one they can afford one that's attainable for them and their families. It's a remarkable thing that by passing law we can open up new rental housing for people we're going to do that and we also have to plan ahead. Our population is growing incredibly quickly. A lot of people are moving to British Columbia because they're excited about what's happening here. We're setting records for the number of people moving to British Columbia. We need to build homes for them and we need good partnerships with municipalities and I look forward to announcing more about this legislation and how we're going to do that come next week. Next we'll go to Katie D'Rosa. Thank you for your son. Congratulations Premier. You'd also mentioned initiative on healthcare to make sure that doctors or people in healthcare aren't sitting on the sidelines. Is that something relating to internationally trained doctors and can you give us a hint of what that is? Sure. I was in Chilliwack during the leadership campaign. I was hosted at a home of a couple and she was a dentist and he is a surgeon and both of them work for the local school board. It's important work that they do at the school board in Chilliwack. It's critical work but both of them are trained healthcare professionals and neither of them are working in their field because they came to British Columbia from Pakistan 15 years ago and the idea that people with healthcare training that could help alleviate the crisis in our healthcare system are on the sidelines when families need support is one that cannot continue and so ensuring that we're recognizing the credentials of people who come to British Columbia who were encouraging to come to British Columbia to help make our province stronger that they're actually able to work and put to work those skills not just in healthcare but in so many areas where we need them to be working. You saw Minister Dix's work around fast-tracking nurses for recognition. We need to expand that work and I'm very excited about what we're going to do there. And also further to the healthcare issue the Prime Minister has said he is reluctant to give healthcare cash when provinces are giving rebates to taxpayers so with this rebate through the hydro and through the new credit does that risk Trudeau saying well BC must be so cash flesh that we don't need to give them more healthcare cash? Healthcare is a partnership through the federal government and provincial government delivering services to British Columbians. We need the federal government to be a strong partner with us on healthcare. Premier Horgan led the Council of Federation to really bring that issue to Ottawa and say we need you to do more. We need you to step up. Our populations are growing. The demand on our healthcare system coming out of the pandemic has profounded. Our workers in the healthcare system are feeling the strain and the stress coming out of the pandemic. They need support from the province and also from the federal government. That message will be the same under our government. With my leadership as it was under Johns we'll work with all the provinces to make sure that the federal government holds up their end. Next we'll go to Francis Blurt Radio Canada. Congratulations Premier. First question just about your priorities. You mentioned four of them this morning. Housing, public safety, healthcare and the last one climate change. On the environmental front any announcement plan in the coming weeks as well on top of the two priorities you stated part? On all of the priorities that I laid out in my remarks today that I talked about on the during the leadership campaign that have been a cornerstone of why I'm involved in politics, why I think that government can can play a really important role in delivering for British Columbians. British Columbians are going to see announcements from us on all these issues. Climate change is one that is an issue that for British Columbians has become very immediate. We've seen the floods, we've seen the fires, we've smelled the smoke in the air and we used to say what about we need to be concerned for our children's future? What kind of future are they going to have? Now we're talking about well what kind of impacts are we going to see next summer in British Columbia? What kind of floods are we going to see this rainy season? What kind of impacts are we going to see during the fresh it on communities? And so making sure that we're prepared for that, making sure that we can identify the risks that are knowable from the impacts of climate change is going to be critically important. You'll see important work from our government on that, but also maintaining our leadership role, making clean BC, implementing that plan, making it real for everybody, and delivering on an economy that is both a strong and secure economy for British Columbians facing the headwinds of the global economy, but also that delivers positive impacts on climate change and shows the way forward of how we can build a clean economy without increasing carbon pollution. This is vital and something I'm really excited about. A question. On October 21st you mentioned that within your first 100 dates as premier you would put an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Is this still the intention? British Columbians know that we can't continue to subsidize fossil fuels and expect the clean energy future that we need to just show up. We need to be supporting that clean energy future. Our government has already eliminated one of the largest fossil fuel subsidies, the Deepwell Credit program. It's resulted in improvements in revenue to government, which we can put into programs to support British Columbians, support our clean energy future. This is the direction that we have to go. It's the direction the whole world has to go. There's a conference of global leaders right now talking about how important that shift is and how we need to accelerate it, and British Columbia will be a leader in that. Next we go to Martin McMahon from City News. Congratulations, Premier. You're obviously inheriting a province with some serious challenges, whether it's a teacher shortage or the hospital wait times. There seems to be a decaying confidence in public institutions in this province. What are your plans to address that? One of the things that I know from my work starting as a as a baby lawyer, all the way working in the downtown East Side delivering legal services, they're all the way through to this moment today, which is a remarkable day, frankly, that I was not one that I thought on a position I thought I would be in. Let me say, trust has to be earned every day. If we want people to believe that government can be a force for good, that government can deliver for them, that trust has to be earned through every single action that is done by government. And when we lose track of the priorities that people of British Columbia, when we lose that trust, then the whole thing is over. And so I am committed to, first of all, working on the priorities that British Columbians told me about, that were their priorities when I was touring the province, and showing real and concrete progress on these issues. I don't think people expect us to solve every issue, but they expect us to take those issues seriously, make concrete steps in the right direction that they can see so they know where we're going, and that we're with them and fighting with them to deliver for them. And that's how we earn trust. And frankly, I think that is the answer to the loss of trust that many people have in governments around the world right now. You have less than two years until the next election, and there are some major transformative things that need to happen to, I think, restore some of that trust, I would suggest. Is this a bit of a poison chalice you've been given here? Well, I think that British Columbians are very supportive of the work that our government has done. You know, when I talk to British Columbians or say, you've done a good job, you did a good job on COVID, you know, we like the child care, we like you took the tolls off the bridge, but there's so much more, and it's not enough. We need you to deal with these other issues, too. That is, I would say that has probably always been the case in government, that there are issues that are pressing for community that need to be addressed, and the test of government is whether or not they deliver on those issues. And my commitment to British Columbians is that we will deliver on those issues. We'll work hard on those issues. In the first week of the legislature, you'll see us working hard, putting in the hours to make sure that the commitments around housing and health care and public safety and a clean economy are delivered for them, and we'll learn that trust every day. Next we'll go to Andy Chow, AM 1320. Good afternoon, Premier Yubi. First of all, congratulations. I got a question. You mentioned about, in quite some years ago, you point out Chinese buying a lot of real estate and maybe bringing up the cost of housing increase, and then you point out that Chinese money coming to the casino and then cost money laundering issues. I know you're not targeting an entire Chinese community, which is impossible, but may I know how could you outreach to the Chinese community that probably might have the wrong idea? They might think you're targeting the Chinese population, and how to outreach to them, how to tell them, no, you're not tackling everyone. Yeah, I couldn't disagree more. You know, my work for many, many years has been a fight against racism and discrimination in all its forms in our province, and I've worked closely with many different communities, including the Chinese community, to deliver on that commitment. Most recently, worked with my parliamentary secretary, Ratchas Singh, on Anti-Racism Data Act, and very excited about how that is going to transform how government services are delivered for all communities. And you're going to see under my leadership a really increased emphasis on speaking to people in ways that are available to them and accessible to them, including in languages that are available and accessible to them, not just to the Chinese community, but to so many different groups across our province. This government is for everybody in our province, and people need to be able to hear and understand what we're doing in the places where they already are. They shouldn't have to come to government to hear about it. So you'll see outreach from us to different groups, making sure that we're delivering for them, but also that every British Columbian, regardless of where they started life, I started life in Kitchener, Ontario, is welcome and is enthusiastically supported here. We are an open and welcome place. That's why I'm here. That's why so many British Columbians are here who chose this as their home, and I'm really excited about that. So I believe you have 18 months to years to complete that outreach. But it seems like your way to rush, like you're making policy announcement before you're finishing your Swannin ceremony. So what is the rush? Are we looking at slap election? Maybe you're not telling people that, oh, you're bringing in some reason, and then we have a quick snap election. It seems like pretty quick. One day we're hearing three policy announcements on the day before you're finishing all the signing and Swannin ceremony. I make absolutely no apologies for being in a hurry to deliver for British Columbians on the priorities that they care about. I feel the urgency of families that are struggling with the cost of living, they can't find housing that need health care that are worried about public safety, and they are going to see quick movement from me. It sounds like a long time to people sometimes two years, but in government time, it's like that. And so I've got two years with my team to deliver for British Columbians, to show them that we're fighting for them, that we're moving forward on their priorities. And I wasn't going to waste a moment, including my swearing in speech to announce how we're going to do that. And you'll see that this weekend and you'll see it on Monday and you'll see it in the legislature. And I've committed many times, I'll do it again. We are going to keep to the fixed election date. And I'm excited about that. I don't know what the name of the party is, we'll be running against, but whatever it is, we will demonstrate through our commitment that we are the party that fights for and delivers for British Columbians. Next, we've got a Justin Wong from Singtao. Congratulations. Yeah, the first question is, a few years ago, you mentioned that the busy house price was increased and affordable because of the Chinese buyer effort or the debt people say, but how do you improve the relationship in the future with the Chinese communities? Because a lot of Chinese people in here, they think about your image is negative. So how do you improve and change your image in the Chinese communities? Okay, thank you. Yeah, again, I couldn't disagree more with this framing of my history with the Chinese community. I am incredibly proud of the anti-racist work I've done as Attorney General. Bringing back the human rights commissioner, fighting against hate crimes, making sure that people have access to official government responses. We had a serious issue in our housing market of international money from all around the world coming into our housing market, 20% of some of the real estate markets in the lower mainland. The previous government refused to acknowledge that. And we had to bring in key initiatives including the speculation and vacancy tax to address that issue. And it is vital that we protect British Columbians from speculators in our housing market. This is not an issue in any one community. Every single community needs available, affordable, accessible housing. And people who are building our province together. And I remain 100% committed to that. I also remain 100% committed to fighting racism and discrimination. Our advantage in British Columbia is that we're open to the world. And if we lose that advantage, it is at our peril. Around the world, people are building walls and isolating themselves. British Columbia has the chance to say, hey, we're a place in the world that is welcoming, where you can come and build a decent life for yourself and your families. And we want you to be a part of what's happening here. Do you have a follow-up? Yes. Sorry. The other question is, for example, now the Chinese government, they control the election in Canada. But the relationship between Canada and China is not good now. So how do you think about this relationship in the future? Yeah. And the Hong Kong issue, you know, because a lot of Hong Kong people, they moved to Vancouver and BC now. So how do you think about this issue? Thank you. Yeah. I think for British Columbians, regardless of their background, they're watching the geopolitical events of the war in Ukraine and discussions with between countries that are incredibly tense, discussions of war, rising prices, shortages. It causes them huge concern. And what I want to reassure all British Columbians is in these times of international turmoil, my commitment, the commitment of our government, is to make sure that this is a secure place for you, that we have your back, that we are going to make sure that British Columbia is a place where all families can build a decent life. And we're going to prepare for the risks we can prepare for, for climate change impacts. We're going to show our leadership role in the world stage around reducing carbon pollution. We're going to engage and diversify our trade markets to make sure that we're as secure as we can possibly be economically. We're going to use our resources to transition to the clean economy, the critical minerals. They're going to help us with that transition. There's so much important work to do. British Columbia will be a world leader on so many files. And our first priority will be making sure that British Columbians have a safe and secure home. Next, we'll go to Graham Wood, Glacier Media. Hi, Premier. You somewhat followed that, one of my first questions. Would you contemplate higher taxations for corporations and higher income earners at this point? So we're in a remarkable place coming out of the pandemic. British Columbia is a leader in Canada in recovering economically coming out of the pandemic, a very low unemployment rate. The big challenge we have for many employers is finding the workers to do the jobs that are available. We have a million job openings coming up that we need to fill because partially because of retirements of the baby boomers, but partially because it's just the growth of our economy and the success that we've enjoyed. But we also know that really significant headwinds are coming. And so making sure that our people are trained up, that they have the skills that they need to fill those jobs and take advantage of those opportunities is absolutely critical. And it's a part of how we're going to respond to that challenge. That's what I see is our big economic challenge. It's linked to housing, it's linked to skills training, and I'm excited about what we're going to do. Do you have a follow-up? If you're not going to commit to higher taxation for wealthier people, you're talking a lot about social programs, an erosion of trusting institutions, big problems. How are we going to pay for that? Do you plan on raising deficits or raising the debt, running deficits? Where is this revenue coming from? Sure, yeah. The revenue for our province is coming from growing our economy, from building a strong economy that works for everybody, from people moving here, starting businesses, from the responsible development of our natural resources, from our growing biotechnology sector. We've done really well as a province, and Premier Horgan's leadership has taken us through the pandemic in a very good economic place. And so we have the ability to support British Columbians, and this is the moment when they're feeling this strain. We have a strong financial background. We can provide that support to British Columbians, and we will. Because what is government for, if not to support people when they're struggling to get them through, to give them that hand up to be able to be successful. And we have the financial, you'll see the Q2 financial report coming. We have the financial positioning to be able to do that. We're very fortunate to be in that situation, and we're going to continue that work to grow our economy. We have time for one last question. That's going to go to Dirk Meisner from CP. Hi, Premier. God, thanks for doing this. You said earlier, the big things you're taking on is going to take probably 18, 24 months for us to see it. I'm just wondering if that's how long it's going to take to, or you think it's going to take to get rid of it or not, to clean up the downtown East Side, move the tents off Hastings Street? Yeah, so the challenges that we face in the downtown East Side are profound, and people will know they're generational. The downtown East Side has been a really difficult, the people of the downtown East Side have been a real difficult position for a long time. I see our response to the downtown East Side as being the provincial government taking a leadership role in the short term to address the encampments on Hastings Street, to support the people who are living in tents on the sidewalk right now to get them into decent housing, to get them the supports they need, and in the medium and long term to address the issues of the residential hotels that are aging and falling apart that are not adequate housing that people don't live in during the summer because you can't. You can't live in a windowless room that's 90 degrees during the summer, and so people live outside with bugs and not enough electricity and no hot water. This is not an acceptable state of affairs in the city of Vancouver, and so the medium to long term will be around working with a community to address that issue. I was around when the Vancouver Agreement was a thing. The three levels of government came together and they had a plan for how they were going to work together on the downtown East Side. That plan is long gone and forgotten, but that approach, I haven't forgotten, and we're going to do that partnership work to turn that neighbourhood around. It's not going to be overnight, but people will see the direction we're going. Like so many other issues, they'll see the direction how we're delivering, and my hope is that they will give us the mandate to finish that work in 2024. Dirk, do you have a follow-up? Thank you everybody. Thanks everybody.