Skeena's Ellis Ross on housing, Firearms Violence protection for first week of Legislature return

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross spoke to a range of
themes in appearances at the Legislature this week

As the only declared candidate for the BC Liberal leadership to this point, Skeena MLA Ellis Ross will no doubt be using the Legislature speaking opportunities to highlight some themes of note for fellow Liberals and the media that covers politics in the province, the give and take of debate in the Legislature a fairly impressive stage to put some focus on what he has to offer the party as they make their way to a new leader next February.

It also makes the Skeena MLA a fit of a focus for the government side of the House, with MLA Nathan Cullen already having made note of the next door neighbour as part of the legislature debate.

With the return of the Legislature, this week has seen Housing as a key topic, that as part of the introduction of new legislation on rentals and landlords this week, with the Skeena MLA picking up on the comments of Mr. Cullen as part of his review on the topic of Tuesday.

"This is an interesting topic, and I've already heard somebody mention my constituency and wondering whether or not I was going to get up to speak or not. And I've got a lot to say on this, because I've actually seen both sides of this equation over my lifetime, as an adult. 

I've been a renter for over 20 years, and when I got elected to council in 2003, I was surprised to learn I was a landlord, but in a different context. 

And over those years as a renter, I rented in Prince George, Kitimat. I rented in Abbotsford, and never once did I feel that I was treated unfairly. In fact, I was treated more than fairly on more than one occasion when I couldn't make my rent. So, I've heard some of the conversation here, and I commend both sides of the House for those that talk about a balanced approach to this problem. 

That's the right way to have this conversation. For those MLAs that have spoken already and are trying to pinpoint the landlords as the bad guy here, where there's something wrong with the landlord system, whether it be a private owner, or whether it be a block apartment owner, shame on you, because this is a complicated issue. 

There are a lot of factors that go into whether or not there are enough rental units or what affects the price, and it's in different parts of B.C. where this exists. 

And so, to kind of find the bad guy and try to divide British Columbians in this context and actually refer to this government as a noble government? 

Come on. I mean, we're legislators here. We should be talking about real issues, real solutions. 

And for the most part, I do understand what the government is trying to achieve in this bill. 

I don't know if they achieve it or not. We're going to find out within the next year."

The Skeena MLA also called on his experiences as a Chief Councillor for the Haisla, and how the Band Council approached social housing in their community.

"I do understand how hard it is to find a balance, based on my experience. 

Because in 2003, as a chief and council…. Our landlord experience is quite different from those living off reserve. As a landlord for social housing and for rental units, if we don't get that rent payment from the members living in those houses, we don't have enough money to pay off that bill for the housing construction in the first place. We don't have money to pay for maintenance. 

And guess what, there are consequences. Ottawa takes the amount of money that's owed for these houses out of your program-delivery dollars, which is unfair, because that program-delivery dollars could actually pay for something else, especially in today's day and age when we're looking at more programs for youth and elders. 

Now, you come outside of this, and you don't have those punitive mechanisms for governments outside of a reserve, because the Indian Act is a totally different world. 

This is what band councils have to live with. This is why you see so many band councils now trying to raise money outside of the Indian Act. 

And this is why you saw bands like mine that pushed so hard to engage the LNG industry even though there was so much opposition — even from those colleagues sitting across the floor right here who signed anti-LNG declarations, who showed up to protests, who didn't even come to ask a band like mine why we were doing it. 

And the proceeds of this actually go into what we're talking about here today."

The themes of Housing framed much of his discussion for the Spring session debut, but Mr. Ross has also seemingly has taken note of the return of partisan themes in the first week, offering up his own response to some of the conversation of the week.

"The last thing I'll close with is ...  I heard a colleague talk in referring to his own government as "noble" — a noble government. 

Wow. I couldn't believe that one. This government, in terms of the housing crunch we're talking about, in terms of rental supply we're talking about, promised 114,000 houses being built. 

They haven't even come close to that number. How is that noble? 

The renter's rebate that was promised — 400 bucks. Didn't deliver. How is that noble? 

So to take this one amendment to a bill and then blast it across the whole record of this government and actually define your government as noble? I don't know. I think there are a lot of people that will actually argue that point. 

For the most part, I'm interested in seeing where this government actually takes the real issue of supply, in terms of home ownership, as well as affordability, in terms of rent, without raising more taxes. 

Because '21-22 increase for new taxes? 

That doesn't help. That actually raises the cost of affordability when it comes to British Columbians."

You can review the full account of the Tuesday session here starting at the 4PM mark.

Thursday, the Skeena MLA tackled the topic of Firearms violence, speaking to new regulations to be introduced by the NDP government, as well as recounting some personal experience to expand on the theme of the session of the day.

It's a pretty interesting story, actually, because my background comes from being around firearms, right from a young age. 

And by the way, when we're talking about…. We're not talking specifically about gangs in my riding, but I do know there's gang activity in places like Williams Lake, for example, so this is not just Vancouver or Surrey or places like that. It's not just a problem there. It's spotted around different parts of rural B.C. as well. 

Getting away from the specifics of this bill, we also have problems of unlawful use of a firearm, overall, up in our area. I know this bill is not intended to go after that specific activity, but it does exist. It's hard to describe what can happen in a small community when a registered gun is used for an unlawful activity. 

It's quite scary. I've heard that  the previous member talk about how scary it was to wake up to the ricochet of bullets. I don't think it matters where you're from, whether you're in Surrey or up in our riding or northern. If you find unlawful use of a gun close to you, like somebody coming into your backyard and shooting your dog, that is scary. 

But that is not what we're talking about here today. I really commend all of those people on the task force, as well as the government staff and all of those people that picked up the ball from the task force that was developed in 2016; as well as followed up on the work of former Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Marvin Hunt and actually got this bill here today.

Mr. Ross noted some of the differences found from rural to urban areas, when it comes to firearm ownership and use, as well as to the need for more information for Aboriginal owners.

I did tell you that I do have different perspectives on this, based on where I come from. But you know what? We're in B.C., and in B.C. many of our community members live, work, and play in the bush. We know what it means to be responsible gun owners and First Nations as well. We know what that means. 

More importantly, we know the importance of handling firearms safely. 

But there's a bit of a difference here, because as we all know, on-reserve rules are not the same as off-reserve rules, meaning provincial Crown land. 

Off-reserve activities are actually mandated under the federal government, which kind of gives a bit of a grey area when we're talking about these types of laws coming down. And that goes for gun registry. That goes for gun ownership. 

For the most part, Aboriginal gun owners who have the right for hunting and whatnot are responsible gun owners and voluntarily participate in the programs that are out there, aimed at safe handling and safe transportation and safe, secured locations for their firearms. But it's quite uncertain in terms of the rules. 

I wasn't quite sure myself, but I understood, based on the teaching that I had from my dad, that there had to be a way to get rid of unlawful guns and promote the safe use of firearms. There had to be a way. 

In fact, I convinced my father to voluntarily participate in the firearms amnesty program, to give up all of those firearms we accumulated over the last 60 years from all over the coast and just turn them in to the RCMP. 

We weren't sure whether or we had to or not, but we knew it was the right thing to do. We just didn't want those firearms falling into the wrong hands. Then we started to read more about the registry and the training and the licensing. And voluntarily, we decided to participate. 

I know many First Nations who do this voluntarily and also go for the training and learn how not only to handle firearms safely but also to transport firearms safely and securely. 

I don't really see any reference in this bill to anything related to First Nations, and understanding what First Nations are requesting when it comes to either ownership or transportation or what this bill is about. 

It would be helpful if First Nations understood how far this extends.

For the most part, Mr. Ross tried to show the different needs for firearms for rural residents and those who work in the bush, reminding the Legislature that each situation is different.

Because firearms are part of our society. I mean, in some cases of some civil servants, especially in today's day and age with all of the stress, all of the anxiety, we have civil servants that are going into really sensitive situations. 

And in some of those situations, these civil servants have to think about whether or not there's going to be a firearm that will be used. It's not fun, I mean trying to guess whether or not there's a firearm in a certain location and that the civil servant might be required to carry a firearm. But some civil servants might not. 

Some civil servants are not required to carry firearms. 

So I can see what they were thinking back in 2016 to try to make it safer, not only for the citizens of B.C. but also to make it safer for civil servants to go out there and do their jobs safely and return home safely that night. 

I know it's not 100 percent foolproof. Nothing ever is. But this is a step in the right direction.

The full Thursday presentation to the Legislature provided a fair bit of reflection on the topic, including observations from a Northwest and rural perspective. 

You can review the entire commentary from Thursday through the Legislature Archive here, starting at the 3:30 PM mark.

The Video presentations of both days can be found through the Legislature Home page, select the Chamber Video option and then seek out the times listed above for the Skeena MLA's presentations of the day.

For more notes on the BC Legislature see our archive page here.

A wider overview of the BC political scene can be explored through our Political Blog D'Arcy McGee.