Today’s Speech from the Throne showed an out of touch Gordon Campbell with no vision to make life better for average British Columbians and highlighted seven years of wasted opportunities under the B.C. Liberals, Opposition Leader Carole James said today.

“Gordon Campbell came up with some new slogans about tomorrow, but he failed to provide the vision B.C. needs to meet its challenges today,” said James. “British Columbians expected more. This was a hollow Throne Speech full of slogans designed to cover up empty promises.”

Gordon Campbell’s Throne Speech mentioned climate change, healthcare and homelessness, but he didn’t provide any concrete actions. No help today for the forestry crisis, nothing about child poverty, nothing to make life more affordable for average families and no plan to tackle crime except more studies.

“On healthcare, Gordon Campbell basically told British Columbians to expect less,” said James. “That’s his vision, that’s all he’s got. He’s thrown in the towel, especially when it comes to seniors care. He once promised healthcare where and when you need it, but now he will only talk about ‘reasonable access’. He wants seniors to care for themselves and be more independent longer, but he’s the one who cut home care and broke his promise to build 5,000 long-term care beds. After a year of consultation with the Conversation on Health, people expected more.”

Gordon Campbell also came up with a ‘Trees for Tomorrow’ slogan to plant trees in urban B.C., but he completely failed to provide any hope to our forest-dependent communities.

“‘Trees for Tomorrow’ is a great slogan, but it’s not going to help communities losing their mills or workers losing their jobs,” said James. “If a roundtable and a slogan is all the vision he has, our forest industry is in even more trouble. Gordon Campbell should take a closer look at my five-point forestry plan that will actually deliver results.”

On homelessness, the Throne Speech only promised more downloading onto communities. Gordon Campbell’s big idea is to make communities include mental health and addiction in their community plans. But there is no mention of the comprehensive province-wide investment that is clearly needed.

“Communities are already struggling to cope with homelessness, mental illness and addiction in their neighbourhoods,” said James. “Downloading the problem without a plan or funding will not solve the problem.”

Perhaps the biggest losers of Gordon Campbell’s lack of vision are average families.

“There is nothing in this Throne Speech to make life more affordable,” said James. “In fact, life is just going to get more expensive. Everything from hydro rates and transit to health care is about to cost everyone more. At a time when B.C. has the highest child poverty rate in the country, we should be working to make life more affordable. Clearly, that’s not Gordon Campbell’s priority and that’s where he and I differ.

“Today’s Throne Speech was a wasted opportunity to make life better for British Columbians,” said James. “But Gordon Campbell once again chose empty slogans over meaningful vision.”