Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs is calling out the NDP's budget, saying it "neglects the pressing needs of Chilliwack and leaves critical infrastructure and public safety projects unfunded and behind schedule."
The statement was released via the BC Conservatives by email March 12 and focused on the need for detox beds and better transportation.
“This budget completely fails Chilliwack and my riding of Chilliwack North,” said Maahs. “Despite rapid growth in our community and urgent infrastructure needs, the NDP government has chosen to prioritize urban centres while leaving families, businesses, and vulnerable people in Chilliwack behind."
The "continued failure" to deliver supportive housing with detox beds is one of the most glaring omissions, the release said.
"There are currently only 12-16 recovery beds servicing 1.5 million people, with the next closest centre in Surrey," Maahs said. "A project for 22 complex-care beds and 27 supportive housing units is already four years behind schedule, yet there is no new funding or commitment in this budget to address the delay."
“Our community has one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness and addiction in B.C., rivaling even Vancouver,” Maahs said. “Yet there is nothing in this budget to support involuntary care or recovery options. The promised treatment centre is still behind schedule.”
The release also criticizes the Highway 1 expansion project, which currently stops just east of Abbotsford. The NDP's budget, released March 4, earmarks $142 million over three years for transportation, with $5 billion going to two phases of Highway 1 corridor improvements in the Fraser Valley.
“Chilliwack is a growing city, and we need infrastructure that supports that growth, not half-measures that create more traffic headaches,” Maahs stated. “The government’s failure to complete this expansion properly will hurt commuters and businesses alike.”
The widening of the highway is being done in phases, and prior to the election, officials had announced that the highway would eventually be widened to Chilliwack, although exact details had not been released.
Maahs said in the press release she intends to "keep fighting to ensure our voices are heard.”
