The first legislative session of the 40th Parliament begins this week, and the main business of the House will be to pass the provincial budget. That process is referred to as estimates debate.
The role of opposition members in estimates is critical as it is our responsibility to question ministers, line by line, on the budgets for their ministries.
The BC Liberal budget will be presented on Thursday, June 27, and is expected to be similar to the budget they first presented before the election in February. At that time, it was considered by most to be very controversial. It is unlikely that the claims made in the budget will be able to withstand close scrutiny.
The new cabinet has been announced and the Ministers are now settling into their portfolios. And slowly, we are finding that ministries are becoming more responsive to requests. This allows my office to work on casework files as we did before the election.
The MLA office is available to assist you with issues you have with provincial government services, and we open dozens of new files every week. All contacts with my office are confidential. My staff can provide information, advice and advocacy on a wide range of provincial issues.
As your MLA, my role is to be your voice in Victoria. To be able to do that effectively, I need to hear from you. I value your feedback and the information you can provide.
You can reach my office by email at norm.macdonald.mla@leg.bc.ca or by phone at 1 866-870-4188.
Norm Macdonald is the MLA for Columbia River–Revelstoke.