ASK Salt Spring: Answered - Ep 17 Ask Salt Spring Answerd

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Damian Inwood talks to Adam Olsen about $20,000 legislature desks, speed limits and BC Ferries

This is episode 17 of Ask Salt Spring Answered, with me, Damian Inwood, talking to MLA Adam Olson about $20,000 legislature desks, speed limits, and BC ferries. So I'm here with Adam Olson, the MLA, Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, and we've just been to Gail Baker's Ask Salt Spring session. I think the first thing that struck me was you're talking about these desks that are going to cost $20,000 each to put in the legislature for six new seats. And what does a $20,000 desk look like, Adam? Has it got gold plating or anything? Well, I think it has to look exactly like the 87 desks that are currently in the legislature, which are not incredible desks by any sense of the participants in Ask Salt Spring was saying today, 40 years ago they were talking about how 57 MLAs had filled the legislature. Well, now we're over 90 and still trying to fit people in to a room that we agreed was full decades ago.

And I like the fact that the opposition and the government have to sit two sword lengths apart. That's going back to sort of medieval times almost. Yeah, I think it's a, you know, where I think the context of this is important is that there was a time when we designed the place that we did our business in the context of the time that the business was being done. And now it appears we're continuing to do business. In 2023, the last sword left the BC legislature. In fact, there might never have been a sword in the BC legislature. But the protocol and the tradition of where our parliamentary democracy has evolved from has us kind of copying and replicating some of the aspects.

While other parts of the parliamentary procedure, we've been and we felt comfortable with amending. And so, you know, I think when we look at it in the context of two sword lengths, we can kind of laugh and make a joke of it and say, why would that be the case? And indeed, over the years, that aisle down the middle of the legislature has become symbolic of the conflict that's ingrained in the system of government that we have. I think Von Palmer made a quip that the space between the opposition and the government is actually less than one David Eby width apart because he's six foot seven.

So, you know, but I think the point of it being is that our predecessors made decisions that were functional for them and our processes to determine how we sit, where we sit, how we speak, how we deliver the speeches that we need to, how we do the work, you know, how do the people who need to be in there for quorum, how do they work while also, you know, being able to speak to important work that we do. We're not making those decisions necessarily to best suit us. We're making those decisions through processes that I would suggest need some pretty serious updating. I mean, when you think about it, if there's 90 desks at 20,000 each, that's $1.8 million worth of desks sitting there.

Maybe the government should sell them and recoup some of that money and actually use it for the people. Some of those were investments that were made in the past. So, yeah, I mean, I think what's interesting about this discussion and just the way that it was framed at Ask Salisbury, the way that you framed it in the way the questions are being other, the way we sit, where we sit, who we sit next to, all of those things create a certain environment for us to operate in. And I don't want to suggest that I am less interested in the amount that we're

spending on desks. I agree with you. And I agree with the others that were, you know, almost solely focused on the amount that those desks are costing, because, you know, it's absurd, especially at a time when many British Columbians are facing a very difficult challenge of making the decision of whether they're going to pay for their heat slash air conditioning, their food or their mortgage or their rent. To have their legislative assembly spending $20,000 on a desk is something that is out of alignment. And so you're right as someone asking the questions to ask this question as someone who's sitting in those seats i'm i'm i'm also um seized with the reality that how we make the decisions in that room are very important and the environmental factors that are influencing

those decisions um we need to look at seriously and have a conversation about the values that are behind them. Because these are the decisions that, well, in fact, the way that that room is set out is indicative or is influencing the decision that we're going to spend $20,000 on a desk. That's the connection that I want to make here, is that the whole way that our government is oriented leads us to this decision where in a state of urgency, we've got 15 months before the next election, we need to find a way to get six more people into a legislative assembly, which seemingly is a long period of time. But in the context of how our legislature works and the times that we need it, we're going to be sitting in there in October. We're going to be sitting in there in February. So those are times that they can't be, you know, reorienting the room.

So they need to know these answers now. The sense of urgency that we have behind this was unnecessary. We could have been talking about this for the last six years. But in addition to that, spending $20,000 on a desk is the result of the way that that legislature is formatted right now, the layout of it, the way we interact with each other, the way we respect and disrespect one another, the way we bash our desks when someone speaks as a way to support them, the way we are intensely partisan at times when we absolutely don't need to be. All of those things are a result of the way we sit and where we sit in that space. I actually would be more interested in talking about the new ridings and where they are and the boundaries and all that

kind of stuff, but that's a different discussion. Yeah, you have to prep me for that so that I can get my staff to provide me the names of those new ridings. I know that there's one in Langford. So there's one locally here. I think there's one in Langley. There's one or two in Surrey. There's one in downtown Vancouver. They left most of northern British Columbia the way it was.

And you did say, I was quite surprised, that you actually do graffiti eyes, the inside of your desk and the thought of 90 vandals in the legislature, all inscribing their names on desks is a frightening, frightening prospect. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of names in there. There's a lot of history in those desks. And so perhaps one of the reasons why we need to maintain the desks is so that we can continue to write our names in them. And I don't think that it's actually something that is talked too often about. But it's always interesting when you get your new seat in the seating arrangement to open your desk up to see whose wisdom it was that was previously sitting behind that desk.

So I can't remember who it is that was sitting in the desk that I was in, but it was quite a moment to actually be able to write my name in the book, you know, the red book of all of the legislators, and then to write my name in the desk and to take my spot, and then to write my Coast Salish name in the latest desk that I'm in was quite special, knowing that there's no other Sanchothan names in there so anyway maybe that's part of the reason why my colleagues want to fight so hard to keep their desks yeah okay we talked about the 30 kilometer

village speed limit project and you said it was moving forward and that the line painting is also going to happen in August. But then somebody said that it might end up being 40 kilometers an hour, not 30. That came out of the blue to me. Was that just somebody speculating or do you have any knowledge of that? I think that that might be a matter of the fact that the decision hasn't been announced yet at what that is. So speculation reigns supreme until confirmation has been made. So my hope is that we hear very soon that the speed limits in Ganges have been slowed and that the line painting that was promised back in June has been complete, specifically the line painting

in Ganges, the crosswalks. You know, I think it's really important that the ministry and the ministry staff continue to focus on improving the safety of the streets. And for all of the road users, we spent an awful lot of time today talking about the various ways people use the road space, who owns the road space, you know, was the road built for the car or was it built for, you know, I think many of the roads here on Salt Spring were originally built for wagons and then it was the car. But there's also cyclists and motorcyclists and scooters and electric e-bike riders and pedestrians, foot pedestrians. And so, you know, I think what is really important to recognize is that none of those modes of transportation own the road. We all own the road. It's a shared space. We have to have a culture of accommodation

of people who are using the space that they rightly are entitled to use in as safe a way as possible and that we have a responsibility to those people around us so that we're not filling maybe more space than we should be and not sharing the road by our behavior. So there was a long conversation about that today at Ask Salt Spring. Yeah, and the question about parking on Ganges Hill, of course, came up on market day. And it is obviously not the safest situation. And I think the main problem for me and when

I've ever driven down there is because people get out of their cars and then they have to walk along the outside of their car before they can get off the the road further down the hill and that that creates difficulties for drivers and for the pedestrians as well. It seemed to me that when we were discussing this that it wasn't clear how far the no parking is going to go up Ganges Hill. Do you have any kind of thoughts or insight on that at all? Well, it's still unclear. I think what we said at that point in the conversation was that we were going

to ask to see if, because there is a point on that hill where the no parking signs stop. So presumably, and I think probably drivers will presume, that the parking begins right where the last no parking sign is. And one of the comments that I made was sometimes signs go missing, sometimes signs fall over. The question that I want to ask the Ministry of Transportation is exactly where does the no parking end on ganges hill and then as well as that road is being repaved and there are 1.2 meter

shoulders being paved on a portion of that up to cranberry i believe that it's clear whether or not, because it's been, Modi has told us that that's for active transportation. That's the place that's safe for bikes and for pedestrians to be. Well, if the parking is continued to be allowed on that, then again, pedestrians and cyclists will be forced into the road. And then that will create a conflict area once again. So what I'm going to seek is clarity as to exactly where that parking and no parking space begins and ends,

and then seeking clarity as to whether or not once that's been repaved, if that then becomes a no parking all the way for the full length of it. Yeah, well, I would have thought if there is a bike lane marked on the side of the road, you're not supposed to park on a bicycle lane. No, but it's unclear as to whether or not they're going to paint the bike lanes onto those because a bike lane is actually a thing. It's got design guidelines and everything, and I don't know that that shoulder is going to meet the guidelines for a bike lane.

So I don't know that they're going to actually be able to call it a bike lane, but it is a place that Modi has been very clear will create more safety than currently exists for people other than drivers of cars. Right. Now, you said that you talked with BC Ferries, the new president, Neil Jimenez, and... Nicholas Jimenez. Nicholas Jimenez, sorry. No worries. And you talked to him about

communications, improving communications, particularly in the light of what happened the last long weekend, and of course we're coming up to a long weekend now. And what did he tell you and what do you think has improved well i mean i think he what i heard from him was that he

understood the the comments i'm certainly not the only person that has i think probably talked to him about the communications of uh the the challenges that the corporation has faced over the last number of months and years. But I think what I've seen and what I saw leading into this long weekend, the BC Day long weekend, just to be specific, has been a pretty substantive change in communications to the point where they're communicating a lot now, where it was maybe difficult. And I think one of the challenges that BC Ferries is always going to face, as long as it doesn't have a reservation, full reservation system, is how do you know who your customers are if your customers are just people driving up to a toll booth, right? So communicating to people that the ferry that they're expecting to catch might be late or might be delayed or might be canceled is very difficult until they get to the space that, you know, until they get to the terminal.

And so one of the things that the BC Ferries needs to figure out is how it can best communicate with its customers, the ones that they know that they have, and its potential future customers, the customers that are on their way to the ferry. Really clearly, one of the best ways for them to do that is through an app. Now, every single one of the cell phones that we have in our pockets have the ability to have an app that can give you notifications. And so there is sophistication in the BC Ferries app that I think is missing, where you could notify if you're going

to Saterna or if you want the Fulford Ferry as being a ferry that you use often or that you're interested in or that you're planning for a trip, that you get notifications specific to that ferry. So that's just one example of how BC Ferries could increase its communications. One of the other ways that I suggested that they could improve their communications was to have it more personable, you know, to have little videos that are produced, to share to people, you know, why it is, and to become more personable rather than corporate in their communication model. And I think that we've seen companies do this very effectively. Yes, it's a corporation. No, it doesn't need to have kind of that corporate bureaucratic speak when it's

communicating messages. Instead, it could be much more personable and more direct and using the technology that exists to their advantage, which I think that has been a pretty significant, it's been lacking up until this point. Do you think that the honeymoon period is now over for the new CEO or do you think people are still going to cut him some slack for the rest of the summer. I know that, you know, we had great hopes when he came in and he, you know, with his background and everything that he was going to be able to turn things around, but we're not really seeing a lot of sign of it in terms of actually ferry service and reliability at this point. Well, I've never driven one of those boats before before I've never been a captain of one of those boats

before but I imagine that um once they get some forward momentum once they get that inertia that it takes a bit to turn a vessel of you know like a the spirit of Vancouver Island or something around and so um you know I know that the minister has been asked this question. I know that it's been on the mind of others. I certainly have, you know, a much longer runway, if we want to use that analogy, or turnaround space or slowdown space, you know, for a new CEO that is coming into an organization that was, you know, that was experiencing some challenges over the last decade with managing its corporate structure and the, you know, the revenues and the costs and all of that, the staffing related issues. This is a, this is not a situation that happened overnight. And, you know, I'm going to sound like awfully a lot like

Nicholas Jimenez when I say the next thing that comes out of my mouth. This is not a solution that can be found overnight, the fix. There are things that you can do, and communications is one of those things that you can do immediately. You can change that immediately and start to change the relationship with your customer, the relationship with your funders and your business partners. But I don't think that you can change some of the systemic erosion that's happened in that organization overnight. And so from that perspective, I have more patience. And my patience, you know, I think grows and wanes depending on how the corporation handles whatever situation they're in. If they handle the, you know, a malfunction

of a vessel properly, well, if they communicate it well, if they explain to people well, clearly what's going on, then my patience grows for that organization. If their website's giving wrong information and it's broken at the time that that boat is broken and they get overwhelmed because they haven't got server space to be able to accommodate the increased traffic that comes from a ferry system that's malfunctioning, then my patience wanes. And it's like, you should know that if you're going to be delivering this bad message, that you're going to go want to get more server space in order to accommodate the traffic for people who are trying to get to where they're going.

And so, you know, an example, when you've got a communications person come out and say, well, you know, we're sorry about this. Go check Twitter or whatever it's called now. Go check, you know, a social media platform, right? X. Which is going to be, why did they do that? Anyway, if you go check a social media platform that nobody really trusts anymore to find the most trusted information about your ferry service. Yeah. My patient starts to wane and it gets pretty low at that point. So,

you know, I think, I think that there's complexity in the question that you ask and there's complexity in my response to it. Okay. Well, hopefully this weekend will be a good one for everyone. And hopefully a good weekend too.

Thanks for coming in. And you're listening to cheer. Can I add, can I just throw something at the end of this? for everyone and uh hopefully we're hoping a good weekend too thanks for coming in and uh you're listening to cheer.fm can i add can i just throw something at the end of this because i i think that there is there is one aspect of this that we never or that i rarely do and that needs to be done and that is i raise my hands to all of the people at bc ferries who are working at the front lines who are interacting with the customers through these really difficult and challenging times. They are a professional crew. They deliver those people that are working, the employees of BC Ferries that were there this morning on my way over here that have been

there at the ferry terminal operating under suboptimal situations in the face of this conflict. They've done it with a great deal of profession. And I just raise my hands in gratitude to them for delivering the best service they can in a tough situation that they're facing right now. Yeah, it must be a very tough job. I'm sure. Yeah. Particularly the people who have to tell people that the ferry is not going to run. And, you know

that's difficult okay thanks Adam now we'll shut this down you've been listening to cheer.fm the voice of the gulf islands