Following the swearing in of John Horgan and his NDP Cabinet, BC is poised for rapid change in-line with the new government’s ambitious agenda. Our team in Vancouver weighs in on what to expect, and who the key players are. To learn more about Edelman Canada, please visit www.edelman.ca.

1. Edelman Vancouver | July 2017 | 1400 – 1500 West Georgia St | Vancouver, BC V6G 2Z6 | 604 623 3007
AN UPDATE ON BRITISH COLUMBIA’S NEW GOVERNMENT
THE NEW ORDER
On July 18th
, 2017, John Horgan was sworn-in as
the 36th
Premier of British Columbia alongside his
new NDP Cabinet. The BC Liberals now return to
the official Opposition under Leader Christy Clark,
who will be sure to keep the razor thin government
held to task, starting with the appointment of a new
Speaker - a move that will likely split the house 43-43
and leave the legislature with a potentially unstable
composition.
Following pink slips handed out to 142 staff under
Premier Clark, the new crop of Deputy Ministers and
ADMs shows some willingness to retain government
insiders, provided there are little ties to Horgan’s
predecessor. Nine Deputy Ministers were relieved
of their duties (a move that could cost millions in
severance pay-outs), and new Board Chairs were
appointed for BC Hydro, BC Housing and, ICBC
- where former NDP Deputy Premier and interim
leader Joy MacPhail takes over, showing that party
veterans run deep in the new administration.
With the first Cabinet meeting in the books already,
and the province currently in a state of emergency
following roughly 140 active wildfires, Premier
Horgan has laid out his government’s top priorities in
the early days of his administration as BC Wildfires,
Softwood Lumber, Transit and Transportation, and
the Opioid Crisis. For Horgan, tackling these files
will start with a trip to the Prime Minister’s Office
next week, bringing the concerns of a new provincial
government in tow.
This fall, their first big legislative challenge will be
passing a budget that meets the expectations of
their voters, solidifies their agreement with the
Greens, and has broad public support. This is no easy
task, and Carole James, BC’s new Finance Minister,
will have a busy summer receiving departmental
briefings, meeting key stakeholders, and making
tough decisions ahead of drafting her first budget.
Hon. James Moore
Special Advisor, Public Affairs, Edelman Canada
604.648.3401 | james.moore@edelman.com
Bridgitte Anderson
General Manager, Edelman Vancouver
604.648.3403 | bridgitte.anderson@edelman.com
Erin Jacobson
Vice President, Canada West
604.648.3404 erin.jacobson@edelman.com
Joel Thirsk
Account Manager, Public Affairs
604.648.3468 | joel.thirsk@edelman.com
THE NEW CABINET
Strategically assembled by geography, gender and experience, Horgan’s 20-member, gender-balanced Cabinet
is heavily concentrated in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, with only Mike Farnworth, BC’s new
Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety, having served in Cabinet previously.
Assuming office during two provincial emergencies, Premier Horgan will have to work closely with new Forests
Minister Doug Donaldson on the wildfire and softwood lumber files, both of which will be closely watched
and scrutinized. Getting the new Mental Health and Addictions Ministry up and running under former hospital
unionist and Health Critic turned Minister, Judy Darcy will also be a priority for Horgan, who has said she has the
toughest task ahead combating the opioid crisis on track to kill an estimated 1,500 British Columbians.
As expected, former BC NDP Leaders Adrian Dix and Carole James assume major Cabinet roles, in Health and
Finance, while former environment critic and executive director of Sierra Club BC, George Heyman, will usher
the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy into highly contentious and widely monitored files
such as LNG, the Trans Mountain pipeline, Site C and BC’s Carbon Tax.
With an unprecedented 10 MLAs now leading portfolios they were tasked with criticizing in Opposition, the BC
Liberal caucus will surely be combing through public records looking for any controversial or headline grabbing
statement to draw from when the time comes to debate the new government in September.
Premier Horgan’s new Cabinet will certainly have a busy few weeks ahead if they are to deliver quickly on
central elements of their sweeping agenda, something that may prove difficult for some Ministers who were
sworn-in without mandate letters and clear objectives from their Premier.
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2. Edelman Vancouver | July 2017 | 1400 – 1500 West Georgia St | Vancouver, BC V6G 2Z6 | 604 623 3007
MINISTERS BY GEOGRAPHY
AN UPDATE ON BRITISH COLUMBIA’S NEW GOVERNMENT
LOWER MAINLAND:
Honourable Judy Darcy, MLA New Westminster,
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
Honourable Melanie Mark, MLA Vancouver-Mount
Pleasant, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and
Training
Honourable Selina Robinson, MLA Coquitlam-
Maillardville, Minister of Municipal Affairs and
Housing
Honourable Mike Farnworth, MLA Port Coquitlam,
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Honourable George Heyman, MLA Vancouver-
Fairview, Minister of Environment and Climate
Change Strategy
Honourable Adrian Dix, MLA Vancouver-Kingsway,
Minister of Health
Honourable Bruce Ralston, MLA Surrey-Whalley,
Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology
Honourable David Eby, MLA Vancouver-Point Grey,
Attorney General
Honourable Jinny Sims, MLA Surrey-Panorama,
Minister of Citizens’ Services
Honourable Harry Bains, MLA Surrey-Newton,
Minister of Labour
Honourable Shane Simpson, MLA Vancouver-
Hastings, Minister of Social Development and
Poverty Reduction
Honourable Lisa Beare, MLA Maple Ridge-Pitt
Meadows, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture
ISLAND:
Honourable John Horgan, MLA Langford-Juan de
Fuca, Premier of British Columbia
Honourable Scott Fraser, MLA Mid Island-Pacific
Rim, Minister of Indigenous Relations
and Reconciliation
Honourable Lana Popham, MLA Saanich South,
Minister of Agriculture
Honourable Rob Fleming, MLA Victoria-Swan Lake,
Minister of Education
Honourable Carole James, MLA Victoria-Beacon Hill,
Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier
Honourable Claire Trevena, MLA North Island,
Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
INTERIOR:
Honorable Katrine Conroy, MLA Kootenay West,
Minister of Children and Family Development
Honourable Michelle Mungall, MLA Nelson-Creston,
Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
NORTH:
Honourable Doug Donaldson, MLA Stikine, Minister
of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and
Rural Development
• Proportional Representation: Put BC’s electoral
system to a referendum in accordance with the
Fall 2018 municipal election cycle
• Electoral Finance: Ban corporate and union
donations, contributions from non-residents, and
place limits on individual donations
• Fixed Election Dates and Legislature Sittings:
Change the fixed election date to Fall 2021 and
every four years after that
• Poverty-Reduction Strategy: Create, fund and
design a basic-income pilot program to test its
mitigating effects on poverty, health, housing and
barriers to employment
• Lobbying Reform: Ban former senior public office
holders from lobbying and increase penalties for
violations of the Lobbyists Registration Act
THE FIRST SITTING
Under the agreements of The NDP-Green Accord, legislation on the following policies supported by both
parties along the campaign trail will be introduced in the first sitting of an NDP government:
Moreover, the following cabinet-level commitments will be immediately prioritized and pursued:
• Fair Wage Commission: A Commission will be
established immediately to plan the $15 per hour
minimum wage increase rollout
• Site C Dam: The project will be referred to the
British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) for
an immediate review of its economic viability
THE BIG TEN
With ambitious campaign promises and an estimated $2.8 billion surplus left behind by the former Finance
Minister, the new government has laudable plans for the first legislative sitting, and a long list of major policies
to unveil across the province. Below are a select few campaign promises highlighted in the 2017 BC NDP
Platform Working For You: Our Commitments to Build a Better BC that will be closely watched by BC’s residents
and business communities.

3. Edelman Vancouver | July 2017 | 1400 – 1500 West Georgia St | Vancouver, BC V6G 2Z6 | 604 623 3007
ENVIRONMENT
• Employ “every tool available” to stop the
expansion of the TransMountain pipeline
expansion project
• Increase the carbon tax by $5 per tonne per year,
and re-write the existing Carbon Tax formula
• Restore BC Parks through reforestation efforts
• Enact a provincial ban on cosmetic pesticide use
in parks, gardens, lawns and areas where children
play
HEALTH
CHILDCARE
• Implement $10 a-day childcare over 10 years,
with no fees for families with incomes below
$40,000/year
• Build 22,000 new day care spaces over the next
three years and 66,000 over the next five years
• Invest $10 million into the Agreement with Young
Adults to support BC youth aging out of care
FINANCE
• Eliminate existing tax cut to BC’s top 2%
• Increase the corporate tax by 1%
• Reduce the BC small business tax rate by .5%
• Cancel the proposed hike in ICBC rates
• Give credit unions permanent tax status and
support their request to lift the cap on their
lending
EDUCATION
• Implement 50% Medical Services Plan (MSP)
fee reduction and eliminate provincial MSP fees
within four years
• Invest in the construction of new hospitals and
the hiring of more paramedics
• Establish Urgent Family Care Centres
• Reduce the cost of prescription drugs
ADDICTION
• Create a Ministry of Mental Health and
Addictions
• Establish a province-wide strategy to ensure the
widest possible availability of naloxone kits
• Increase penalties for drug dealers who
knowingly distribute death-dealing drugs like
fentanyl and carfentanil
JOBS
• Create 96,00 construction jobs through school,
hospital, road and rapid transit projects
• Mandate apprenticeship ratios on government-
funded capital projects
• Provide incentives to public sector employers to
hire and train apprentices
POVERTY
• Increase all income assistance and disability
rates by $100 per month
• Provide $200 per month in earning exemptions
to income assistance recipients re-entering the
workforce
• Create an immediate Homelessness Action Plan
HOUSING
• Implement an annual 2% foreign speculators’ tax
• Establish a task force on tax fraud and money
laundering in BC Real Estate
• Provide an annual refundable renter’s rebate of
$400 per rental household
• Build 114,000 rental, social, owner-purchase and
co-op homes
TRANSPORTATION
• Fund the provincial share of the Metro
Vancouver Mayors’ Council’s 10-year
transportation plan
• Eliminate tolls on the Port Mann and
Golden Ears Bridges
• Freeze BC Ferries major route fares
• Fix the E&N railway tracks to promote commuter
rail as an option to alleviate gridlock
AN UPDATE ON BRITISH COLUMBIA’S NEW GOVERNMENT
• Invest $100 million to expand technology-related
post-secondary programs
• Invest in co-op, apprenticeship and work
experience programs for high-school and
undergraduate students
• Make Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English
as a Second Language (ESL) free
• Eliminate interest on post-secondary student
loans, and provide a $1,000 grant to graduates