 Good morning everyone. I want to begin by recognizing we're on the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt people and thank them for the ability to meet on their land today. And a warm welcome to all of you who are here. I'm really pleased to be able to present the government's third budget, Budget 2020, which is all about the work we've done together to build a stronger British Columbia for everyone. Budgets are about choices. And Budget 2020 is a balanced plan. It continues to advance the fundamental changes our government has been making for the people of British Columbia, different choices than the past government. We're repairing the damage that their choice has created and we're fixing the problems facing families today. The changes we've made are all about making people's lives better today and creating opportunities that will last a lifetime, opportunities to put down roots, to contribute to your community, and to have a job that provides you with a good quality of life. Those are the things that drive us and my family is no exception. As a young single parent with two children, my mom enrolled in Teachers College, which at the time was about two and a half hours away from our family home in Saskatchewan. During the week, my grandparents would take care of us while my mom put herself through school. I look back and think about those experiences and think about the barriers my mom faced as a young single parent with two young girls living in a small prairie town. I also recognize that access to education creates opportunities that span generations It has the power to change a family forever. Had the door to opportunity remain closed for my mom, I have no doubt that my life would have looked very different. These personal experiences also reflect what I hear from British Columbians all the time. People want to do for themselves, but sometimes they need a door to open for that to happen. And as Finance Minister, it's my job to make sure that the benefits of BC's strong economy are felt by everyone, not just those at the top. And that continues to be the theme for this budget. Budget 2020 is focused on making life more affordable, improving the services that people count on, and creating good jobs and opportunity in every corner of British Columbia. We can't afford to turn back. We know there's more to do, but we also recognize that life is getting better in British Columbia each and every day. So now we'll move on to the budget presentation. I'll start off with the current fiscal year before we get into the details around budget 2020. As you can see with a month and a half left in the fiscal year, we are forecasting a modest surplus of $203 million, which is $55 million higher than Q2 that you will remember. There are a number of changes that have brought forward that $55 million. We've seen higher tax revenue, forecasts come in, mainly in income tax, and we've seen lower spending for refundable tax credits, mainly in the film tax credit area. And you will remember from previous discussions that we've seen a lot of ups and downs when it comes to film tax credits, when they're claimed, when we're able to count them in budget. And so we've begun some work with the industry over this past year, which will really help us give better certainty on the timing to be able to look at those tax credits and ensure that they're claimed within a period of time. So that gives us the ability to be able to forecast in the budget. Those improvements were offset partly by an increase in contingencies allocation to deal with growing demand, whether it's education growth, increased enrollment in education, whether it's child care and more parents taking the opportunity to be able to access child care or public safety. That's about $150 million that was offset. Statutory spending in fire management and other emergency preparedness, including grants to communities. Statutory spending as well for the signed agreements under the Sustainable Services Negotiating Mandate. All of you will remember we have that money allocated in the budget already there, but as agreements are signed off, we're able to move it into statutory spending and pass it on to the ministries as agreements are reached and as they're signed. So that gives certainty again around cost. Forecast allowance, again in third quarter, the forecast allowance is $300 million, $200 million less than in second quarter again because we're getting near the end of the year and there's more certainty around the budget. And the forecast for ICBC remains unchanged from second quarterly, continuing to be a loss of $91 million. That forecast reflects higher than expected costs of bodily injury claims from prior years. You remember I'm sure you've heard the the attorney speak about that and also the impact of the Supreme Court's decision. We obviously are bringing in, as you know, changes, legislative measures that will again help offset those pressures. Next slide. So the economic outlook, budget 2020's estimate for real GDP growth of 1.8 percent in 2019 is slightly higher than the 1.7 that was forecast in the first quarterly report. And just looking at some of their just to run through for you, a couple of the indicators that speak to that. Employment once again, British Columbia in 2019 has seen a very strong labour market. We've seen employment grow by 2.6 percent in 2019, 65,400 net new jobs created, and 45,700 of those jobs were in the private sector. So again, we're leading when it comes to employment growth across the country over this last year. And again, for the fourth consecutive year, British Columbia's unemployment rate remained the lowest in Canada, 4.7 percent in 2019. Housing again, just a reminder we're looking at at the 2019 year. Housing market again has performed better than some estimates, with certainly some moderation occurring over this past year. We've seen home sales down about 1.5 percent in 2019, and average home sale prices fall by about 1.6 percent last year. That was after a modest increase of 0.4 percent in 2018. So we are again seeing the kind of moderation that we're looking for. And home construction and momentum in home construction continues. We've seen housing starts in 2019 totaling 44,932 units, which is the highest annual level on record. So again, very strong housing starts as we talked about during the year. Consumer spending, we are seeing a decline in consumer spending. Again, we believe related to more cautious consumers right now when you talk about the moderation in the economy. That certainly has an impact on consumers and consumer spending. And we're seeing that in the 2019 year. Retail sales grew by 0.5, so a very modest growth, but growth over the same period from 2018 to 2019 as well. Exports, and again this speaks to the challenges that we're seeing right now in the economy globally. We really see continued trade tensions across the globe. Commodity prices declining as well. That obviously has a big impact on BC's export sector. We saw the value of BC's merchandise exports fall by 6.4 percent in 2019. And certainly I think it'd be no surprise to anyone here. The forestry and mining were two of the areas that were the hardest hit. So looking ahead, a forecast for 2020 to 2024. Again, BC's economy is forecast to be stable, and the resiliency really is showing as you take a look at the forecasts that are moving ahead. Projections for 2021 and 2020 and 2021 remain relatively high. But again, we built imprudence, and I think this is important and I'll note this as we go through the 2020 budget details that we have continued to build imprudence. And in fact, a larger amount of prudence in 2020 and 2021. Again, because of the impacts of the uncertainty right now that's out there. Although we see the private forecasters certainly higher in their forecast, we expect that could shift over the year depending on what's happening globally as well. Next slide. So again, speaking to the resiliency of our economy, although I talk about the moderation and it's certainly important to note in our economy, BC once again leads the country. Private sector forecasters expect us to be at the top of their provincial rankings in 2020 and among the top in 2021. And as you can see from the slide, well above other provinces. Scotiabank, for example, noted that they continue and I quote, to anticipate that BC will top the provincial growth table in 2020. The outlook for capital expenditures outside of the LNG sector is also buoyant. TD Bank has said and I quote, BC's economy continues to show resiliency. British Columbia's economic prospects remain constructive in light of a bounce back in the housing market and buoyant labour markets. However, both of those forecasters certainly caution about slowing down in the global economy and that that obviously with a small open economy in British Columbia could have an impact on our budget as well, which is wise. You'll see as we go through that we built in those levels of prudence to make sure that we have that support for any shifts that may occur. So moving on to the highlights for this budget. Next slide. Budget 2020, as I mentioned already, really builds on the progress that we've made. We had a plan when we were elected government to make sure that we made life more affordable for families, that we improve the services that people count on and that we build a long term sustainable economy with good jobs for people in all parts of our province. And that's really the focus of this budget. We're continuing on in 2020 to build on the actions that we laid out in budget 2018 to improve access to affordable housing and childcare to build the homes that people need. You'll remember in 2018 we fast tracked our investments in the K-12 schools and classrooms and budget 2020 has even more resources. That includes children with diversibilities getting more support and providing additional investments that are needed. Again strengthening the healthcare system. You know that we've tackled everything from wait times for surgeries, increasing access to MRIs and taking better care of our loved ones. We're seeing real results and again this budget builds on those pieces that we put in place in 2018. Over the next 10 years in British Columbia we're going to see more than 860,000 job openings in the areas of healthcare, early childhood education, skilled trades, tech and much more. And so again this budget looks at how we provide opportunities for people to take that advantage, to be able to have those doors open. When we're looking at college and universities you'll see some specifics there and you'll see some specifics around infrastructure and jobs as well. So we'll start with the big picture. Next slide. Fiscal plan is balanced. Surpluses of 227 million, 179 million and 374 million over the three years. Several levels of prudence as I mentioned built in. We have forecast allowance of 300 million in each year of the fiscal plan and contingencies built in 600 million in 2021 recognizing the economic storm winds outside our province and 400 million in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The plan makes sure that we prioritize record level of investment for people and I'll speak about those specifics as we go on. And you'll also see our debt matrix. Remains at affordable levels, debt to GDP near 17% over the fiscal plan and debt to revenue at below 95%. So once again this budget is balanced fiscally and balanced in its approach. Next slide. So opportunities and let's get into the specifics. As announced in budget 2019 starting this fall we will implement the BC Child Opportunity Benefit which makes sure that every child has the opportunity to thrive. This benefit provides a monthly tax-free payment putting more dollars directly in the pockets of low and middle-income families. Benefits are as high as $1,600 a year for the first child and the benefits increase as you can see from the slide as the children increase. The difference between this benefit and the early childhood tax benefit that was in place before is that that tax benefit the previous benefit ended when your child turned six. This benefit continues until your child is 18 because we all know the cost don't end when your child turns seven. So this will be a transformational support for families when we all know the pressures that people are facing around affordability. Next slide. Childcare BC again launched in 2018. Our governments plan to bring affordable accessible and quality childcare to families across the province and in less than two years government has funded more than 10,400 new licensed childcare spaces. 28,000 children are receiving $10 a day or less childcare. Thousands of dollars have been provided to parents through the affordable childcare benefit and the childcare fee reduction initiative. And we've also made sure as we build this new program this fundamental change in British Columbia we've also recognized the work of early childhood educators and we've supported their work through target of wage increases and bursaries. So as you can see investments in childcare BC now provides $1.4 billion over the plan. That's a record in childcare funding reaching $2 billion over this fiscal plan. We know that the growth in childcare gives kids the best start in life but it also ensures particularly in BC's hot labour market the parents have an opportunity to get back into the workforce that they have a chance to be able to to get back to work and keep our economy growing. So housing again a critical piece a critical priority for our government when we were elected and making housing more affordable continues to remain a priority. We put the 30 point plan in place as you know you've heard me say often that one measure isn't going to make the difference when it comes to affordable housing. It's going to take a number of measures and this isn't an easy task to take on but just because it's difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't tackle it because it is one of the biggest issues facing people in British Columbia. We've had some huge success. Nearly 23,000 homes have been completed or under construction in 90 communities across this province. 5,200 new mixed income and affordable rental homes and in addition 1,165 homes on or off reserve are already underway. So budget 2020 continues that investment with the fiscal plan reaching a record high 4.3 billion dollars over three years to address the housing initiatives and that includes 50 million in program spending for homelessness initiatives. These investments are going to support more shelter spaces across the province and also two new enhanced shelter centers which will provide integrated shelter and medical services and help clients with navigating the system so they can access permanent housing which is ultimately where we want to make sure that we're moving as a government. There's 56 million in new capital funding for 200 more supported modular housing for people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. That brings the total to 2,400 units of supported housing and I want to stop for just a minute because although I've run through a number of stats that's 2,400 people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless that now have a safe and secure home with 24-7 support. That's a significant difference and again part of the reason you'll see through budget 2020 that we're continuing to build on the successes we've had and build on the work that still needs to be done. Next slide. So this is another example as I talked about of continuing on the path of the work that we started as government. As you know we've worked very hard on affordability for students when it comes to accessing post-secondary education. We eliminated last year interest on student loans. We provided tuition waivers for former youth in care. We made adult basic education free, English language learning free and now we're building on that by bringing forward a needs-based upfront BC access grant which will remove barriers to education and provide support for learners to complete their studies. Budget 2020 provides 24 million dollars over three years to create this new grant BC access grant. It'll replace existing completion grants and bring the total to 41 million dollars annually. This grant is going to benefit 40,000 students in British Columbia which almost doubles the number of students who are receiving support. Another exciting piece is that this grant will also provide eligibility for students who are pursuing shorter certificate or diploma programs. Right now they can't access a grant. This will provide an opportunity for those areas where we have labor market priorities. Things like childcare workers, health care assistants, trade workers who are taking diploma and certificate programs now will be able to access the access grant and be able to get support for their work in school as well. It also fulfills this budget, the expansion of post-secondary technology programming by providing 42 million dollars annually by 2022-23. This will complete a six-year expansion that will result in 2,900 new post-secondary spaces in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and this is the most significant investment in tech programming in more than a decade in our province. So investing in students is key and we all know that the best way to build a strong economy is to invest in the success of our children. Since budget 2017 update, high-quality K-12 education has been a priority. These investments have included more teachers in the classroom, more support for students with special needs, new and enhanced learning spaces in communities across British Columbia and over 100 new playgrounds over the last two years benefiting 25,000 children. We're also focused on education as part of our commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. We're incorporating Indigenous knowledge, history and language into our classrooms to ensure that all BC students have the opportunity to learn Indigenous perspectives. And budget 2020 provides the Ministry of Education 339 million dollars over three years to support the K-12 system which brings the total investment in K-12 education to over 20 billion dollars over the fiscal plan period. And again the new investment includes support for over 5,000 new students including students with special needs and increasing enrollment in September 2019 as well as additional enrollment we expect in September 2020. So healthcare, again a critical service and a critical support that people rely on in our province. It is a priority and continues to be a key priority for the government with over a billion dollars in additional funding over the fiscal plan. And again this funding builds on the work that we've already done as government. We're opening new urgent primary care centres and communities across the province. Seniors are benefiting from better primary care, home care, long-term care, assisted living and respite services. And we all know that getting surgeries and diagnostic procedures when you need them faster is critical and we've done that as well. Weight times for knee and hip surgeries are falling. The number of MRIs being done each year has increased by over 23%. We're also improving access to pharma care by reducing or eliminating deductibles for 240,000 BC families who have net incomes under 45,000. And in the last two years and I know you've all seen these announcements we've announced almost four billion dollars in capital investments for 13 hospitals with more to come. Again so that all the people in British Columbia can access health care where they need it. Next slide. Our government is also removing the PST exemption continuing on with looking at how we encourage healthy choices, removing the PST exemption on sweetened carbonated beverages. Again this is a health initiative to look at how we grow health, healthy young people. I think it's interesting if you take a look at the largest consumption of pop of sweetened drinks, 14 to 18 year olds. And we certainly want to make sure we're doing our part to set them on the stage of having a healthy life ahead. This is something that you may remember has been recommended by the Select Standing Committee on Finance which is an all-party committee. They've recommended now for seven years that governments take a look at this and so it brings in certainly some revenue that will help with health care, 27 million, 37 and 38 million. But the real focus here is a step in making sure that we address those recommendations and address the health of our young people. And certainly we know that sweetened carbonated beverages are one of our high areas when it comes to health costs and health impacts. This speaks to the work that we're doing to help people who are most vulnerable. So we know that lifting people out of poverty is a key priority as you know again building on the work that we've done already. We are providing in this budget 20 million dollars over the fiscal plan to ensure that more families and more people on income assistance can keep more of the money that they're making through and without having their assistant payments reduced. So this will provide higher earnings exemption to give people a chance as I said to increase their household income to remain connected to the workforce and to build on the work experience that leads to a good paying job. These changes mean that individuals and families can earn 25 percent more without impacting their assistant payments. We're also providing an additional 131 million over three years to ensure that income disability and supplementary assistance is available for those in need and an additional 121 million to community living B.C. To extend care and maintain services to the 23,000 people with diverse abilities who serve who access services through community living B.C. We're also making changes and investments for youth and children services. And again this is in partnership with Indigenous communities looking at how we transform the child welfare system to keep children out of care safe with their families and connected to their culture. Budget 2020 has 84 million dollars more to support children in youth and care in this province and 15 million to support Indigenous youth and care remain connected to their communities. We're also taking steps and this is a piece again that our government is so proud of to provide more supports for young adults aging out of care. This budget means that more than 250 former youth will be eligible for financial support for housing for health care transportation and other living expenses and that's in addition to the tuition waiver that I talked about earlier for children who are former youth in care. We are also providing in this budget funding to support recruitment and retention for the critical community social service agencies who support the overall and long-term strength of the sector but who also provides huge support and services for people in communities around this province. A little bit about justice and public safety. Again new funding in both of those areas in this budget. I'll speak first just about money laundering because we know this has had a huge impact on our provinces we discovered from the independent reports that were commissioned. After those reviews that really showed us the scale of the problem we launched a public inquiry to make sure that we saw the full scope and came up with some answers for the public who really were calling for it. So budget 2020 provides $11 million over two years to fund the public inquiry to restore confidence and to fight money laundering across our province. It also provides in this budget $71 million over three years to keep our communities safer to make sure that we're providing support services for those who are impacted by crime. That includes money directly for victims of crime and their families. It includes dollars to improve the conditions and correction centers and the use of segregation in reforming it and making sure that we support public safety in rural and First Nations communities. Budget 2020 also provides $212 million to support timely inclusive and affordable access to justice. And what does that mean on the ground? It means more support for legal aid services. It means new Indigenous justice centres and funding to operate new or expanded courtrooms. Continuing on again with my mandate as finance minister to make sure that I look at a fair tax system for British Columbia's and to make sure that we also fund better services that benefit everyone in our province. This budget also introduced a new top marginal personal income tax rate of 20.5% on the top 1% of tax filers. We're asking those at the top who benefit the most from our economy to contribute a little bit more. Nearly half of the revenue from this tax increase will come in from individuals with incomes above a million dollars. And even with this tax rate, BC's personal income taxes remain very competitive. Just a couple of examples for you. Individuals earning up to 140,000 will continue to generally pay the lowest personal income taxes across all provinces. And we'll continue even with the new tax rate to have the third lowest income taxes across provinces for individuals earning up to $475,000. The new rate is comparable. The new top rate is comparable to top rates in many provinces, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec. Now while we're asking those at the top to contribute a little more for services that everyone relies on, we're also making sure that we do our part as government. You were a member last year that I asked all ministries to review their spending starting with items like non-essential travel, consulting contracts and office expenses. And as part of Budget 2020, we're again redirecting a modest amount of funding to invest in key services and key priorities, doing our part to make sure that we're being responsible budget managers. This represents again, as it did last year, less than 1% of government's operating expenses. And that makes sure that those dollars are then reinvested into our priorities like child care and housing and the child opportunity benefit. Once again, making sure that we take a balanced approach to spending across government. So speaking about another priority of our government, which is Clean BC, and making sure that as we grow the economy, we also look at how we protect the environment. So through Clean BC, as you know, we're making sure that we put the province on a path to a cleaner, better future, that we protect our air, land and water, and that we build a strong green economy in British Columbia. Budget 2020 builds on the work that we've done. We're providing an additional 419 million in the fiscal plan, which brings Clean BC funding to nearly 1.3 billion over the four years since 1920. The new funding will support everything from Go Electric BC to the building efficiencies of schools, universities, colleges, and hospitals. It also provides 155 million to continue the Clean BC program for industry, which provides incentives for industries to achieve emission reductions, and 120 million to continue the climate action tax credits to make life more affordable for low and modest income families. There's $3 million to continue to develop climate preparedness and adaptation strategies, and that'll be done through consultation with all British Columbians. We all know, and I think we've seen the examples of the changes that we're seeing, whether we're talking about floods, whether we're talking about fires, whether we're talking about other impacts. We need to make sure that BC is prepared and that we're responding to the inevitable impacts of climate change that are already underway, and those dollars will ensure that we're working in partnership with the public, with Indigenous communities, with people across British Columbia. As you know, reconciliation has been a priority for all of us across government priority. Every BC Cabinet Minister has it included in our mandate letters, and we are working together with Indigenous people to be able to build a more prosperous future in a number of ways, as you know, from the time we started as government, with gaming revenue sharing, affordable housing, language revitalization, and having the care of children in Indigenous communities where it belongs. With collaboration between the Province and the First Nations Leadership Council, we're the first province to pass legislation to implement the declaration recognizing in law the human rights of Indigenous peoples. And as announced in Budget 2019, we're supporting self-government and self-determination, strong, healthy communities, and services that make life better for families. The commitment to share provincial gaming revenue with First Nations is $3 billion over the next 25 years. That new funding, again, is life-changing for communities, is supporting social services, education, infrastructure, and self-government. And Budget 2020 affirms those commitments and provides additional funding, as I mentioned earlier, to support cultural inclusion throughout our social and justice systems. And that includes $8 million for new Indigenous Justice Centers and $15 million to support the Cultural Connection Program. Now, we recognize that reconciliation is hard work. There isn't a single path to what reconciliation can or should look like. It's a shared journey that we have to work on together. And we certainly know that that work isn't easy. But to achieve it, we all have to stay committed to the process. We have to stay engaged with one another and we have to look for common ground. And that's a commitment that we continue to have as government. I want to speak for a minute about one of the areas that we know is struggling right now when it comes to BC's economy. And that's our forest workers and their communities. There's no question that the forest industry is going through very difficult times. And we, as government, are making sure that we do everything we can to strengthen the resiliency of the forestry sector while supporting the workers and their families while we see the changes happen in the industry. This includes $69 million over two years for the Forest Workers Support Program. That provides training, placement coordination services, direct funding support to workers, families, contractors. The province also provided an additional $5 million to support coastal forest contractors who are at risk of repossession of their logging equipment. So looking forward to Budget 2020, we're providing $13 million over three years to begin developing new opportunities for the bioeconomy and revitalization in the forestry sector so we can build a stronger, more diverse sector. That includes enhancing inventory activities, promoting BC's innovative wood products and technologies, improving forest management planning and stewardship. Together, these programs are going to reflect a coordinated cross-ministry approach to the immediate needs of forest communities, as well as looking ahead to economic alternatives to support a strong, resilient forest economy. Budget 2020 also provides new funding, $65 million per year, towards wildfire emergency response, management and prevention. That increases the total funding to $519 million over the fiscal plan to provide more resources to prepare, to mitigate, to respond to, and to recover from emergencies in British Columbia. Budget 2020 also meets our provincial commitments that support community infrastructure to create long-term economic growth and to support a low-carbon green economy and build inclusive communities. That includes everything from drinking water facilities, food security, community centres, energy efficiencies, and electric vehicle infrastructure. So building for the future, just to spend the next couple of slides talking a little bit about our capital plan. Again, record levels. Three-year capital spending in Budget 2020 will expand our provincial infrastructure over the next three years. And this includes capital investments in schools, hospitals, roads, transit and housing. They're going to benefit the economy and benefit every corner of our province. This will create good jobs. Work on approved projects in our capital plan is expected to support over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction. Again, as you saw from the quotes from TD and from Scotiabank, making sure that we build the infrastructure we need is critical to growing our economy in British Columbia. You can see from this slide, taxpayer-supported capital spending is expected to total $22.9 billion and includes the completion of existing approved projects along with new investments. And you can see the sector spending listed out on the slide. There are a whole range, and I won't run through all of them, but a whole range of projects that this includes. Student housing, for example, in Victoria, Burnaby, Kelowna, health, this includes St. Paul's Hospital, Mills Memorial, Royal Columbian, housing, the action plan that I talked about for homelessness, Abbotsford Courthouse, Nanaimo Correction Centre, and certainly in education, Vic High, all of the seismic upgrading rebuild there, Valley View Secondary at Kamloops just gives you an example. Transportation of course, the Patello Bridge, the planning that is going in for the Massey Crossing, a Broadway subway, and then Kicking Horse Canyon continues as our projects that we're focused on. So to wrap up, when we were elected, as I said at the start, as a government, we set out with a plan with people at the heart of our work every single day. A budget is a reflection of that. Our plan is working and we're sticking to it. Budget 2020 is all about building on the progress that we've made so far. New measures to keep life affordable. New investments in schools, hospitals, and roads. That results in better services and thousands of good jobs. And in training programs to make sure that people have the opportunity to be able to access those good jobs and that we have the opportunity to grow a sustainable economy. So this really is a budget that builds a stronger British Columbia, not for the few at the top, but in fact for all British Columbians. So thank you for being here today and I look forward to your questions when I come back. Thank you.