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Budget consultations report released

The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services has come out with 100 recommendations to consider in the provincial budget.

Recommendations include addressing affordability for post-secondary students when it comes to things like student loan interest, addressing labour shortages, responding to the impact of natural disasters and the urgency in addressing invasive species.

Other recommendations include specific actions such as discounted ferry rates for K-12 students to enable educational and extracurricular opportunities and an increase in income and disability assistance rates.

The Committee, of which Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA, Nicolas Simons was a part of, made several recommendations that revolved around health care, education and homelessness.

“Not all our recommendations will find their way into the budget but I think what this report does is reflect, pretty fairly, the concerns that British Columbians broadly have at the forefront of their minds throughout the province.”

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Simons said the opinions gathered ran the gamut.

“Health care in rural areas and climate change needed to be addressed, ensuring that the Indigenous communities are well represented in various sectors. We need to address the issue around homelessness. Those were predictably the ones that were most poignant.”

Between September 17th and October 15th, British Columbians were invited to share their priorities and ideas on Budget 2019.

During the consultation period, Committee Members heard 267 presentations at 14 public hearings in communities across the province and received 253 written submissions and 473 online survey responses.

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