This is the 20th in our series of stories celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of youth in our community. These inspirational young adults are enriching our lives with their passion and commitment to the betterment of society.

Erin Attwell

In 1929 the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy put forth the notion that each and every person is only six degrees of separation from  one another. But anyone who has lived in Victoria for a few years knows that it’s more like one degree of separation, or two degrees at most, within our community. And in the case of Erin, it is no different.

I first met Erin when she was three years old. She was a year younger than my son and both were attending Lambrick Park Preschool. Twenty years earlier, her father and I played rugby together at UVic and I was a TA for his Calculus class. While I periodically saw her father on the Tyndall turf coaching his son’s (and Erin’s twin brother’s) soccer team, I had no idea what Erin had been up to since preschool. So you can imagine my surprise when I learned on social media that the Erin Attwell recently won the overall General Classification cycling Yellow Jersey and Gold Medal at the Tour de la Rèleve de Rimouski.

Erin was born in Victoria and attended Frank Hobbs Elementary School from kindergarten to Grade 5. In Grade six she enrolled in Maria Montessori Academy where she is currently entering Grade 11. Maria Montessori Academy is a small school with 300 students from kindergarten to Grade 12. Erin loves the small school and sense of community there. She describes it as a supportive learning environment with self-directed learning and a focus on independence. Students in grades 9 through 12 work together on projects in a common area. Her grade 10 class had 10 students and there were 7 students in the grad class of 2015. The Montessori philosophy teaches students to manage their own community and teachers facilitate learning through coaching and mentoring. Erin notes that there is no bullying at the school and learning is a very positive experience where students learn self-discipline and how to work together.

From a very young age, Erin learned to ride a bike. Her Dad, a competitive cycling racer himself, got her on a bike “as soon as I could walk” and it was the beginning of her passion for cycling. She remembers having so much fun on rides with her Dad and many great times mountain biking at Hartland, a popular riding area at Mount Work Regional Park in Victoria.

Less than a year ago, Erin began cycling competitively when she joined the youth program of Tripleshot Cycling Club. She has done remarkably well in competition. As a rookie cyclist and member of the Tripleshot development team, Erin recently attended the Canadian National Junior (racing “up” in the age category U19 as a U17) Championship followed by the Tour de la Rèleve de Rimouski. At the Global Relay Canadian National Junior Cycling Championships, Erin won bronze in the individual time trial over a very difficult hilly course. Erin then went on to win 4^th place in both the Road Race and the Criterium (a criterium is a bike race held on a short course, often run on closed-off city streets). This was not Erin’s first national experience as she won silver in the omnium at the Canadian Cycling’s national junior track championship in November 2014 in Burnaby, BC.

After the excitement of nationals, Erin went on to Rimouski, Quebec for the 5 stage Rimouski Internationale Tour de la Releve, where she was a guest rider with ‘Team NCCH p/b DEC Express’ coached by Rick Lee. Erin was on the Cadet team of four young ladies who won silver in the Team Time Trial. Erin went on to win the first long 78 km race, the 15 km Individual Time Trial, the 35 km Criterium and a brutally hilly and windy 76 km Road Race – these impressive wins gave Erin the overall General Classification Yellow Jersey and Gold Medal.

Next on Erin’s agenda is racing against adult women at BC Superweek, followed by the Rapha Pacific Northwest Juniors Classic Stage Race in Elma Washington, then onto the Western Canada Summer Games in Wood Buffalo, Alberta as a member of Team BC. Her season will continue with Track Provincials in Victoria in August and then Nationals in October at the newly-built Pan-Am velodrome in Milton, Ontario.

All this achievement has required a high dedication to training and considerable sacrifice. As Erin says, “doing something you love, you make sacrifices”. Her goal is to represent Canada at the World Championships and the Olympics. She says that her determination as a competitor has been inspired by her father. Others who have inspired and supported Erin are her personal coach Lister Farrar who has taught her to “never give up” and Peter Lawless, an accomplished lawyer and coach, who has been appointed Team Canada’s Ombudsperson for the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games and the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Erin has also received inspiration from Pro Rider Mical Dyck, who likes to ride with and mentor junior riders. Mical has been a role model for many and champions equity for girls and women in sport. Erin has recognized that the sport of cycling does not provide equal opportunities for males and females – and she believes (as do we) that needs to change. There are fewer opportunities for women and the prize money for winning a race is substantially less (sometimes 50% less than prizes for male winners). Erin will champion and support the Ride Like a Girl initiative to get more women and girls into mountain biking so they can experience the joy of the sport.

Starting in September, Erin is very excited to be entering the prestigious and highly competitive Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence (PISE) program. PISE’s mission is to ‘enhance the development of sport and physical activity excellence through a partnership approach delivering world class programs, education, innovation and facilities’. She will spend half-days at PISE four days a week, including 2.5 hours daily in the gym. The program at PISE is for athletes in all range of sports, where cross training and nutrition are emphasized. PISE has a teacher on site to assist students with their academic studies. Speaking of academics, Erin loves science and wants to enter the medical field to become a physician (like her father).

Erin is an incredibly impressive young woman with a brilliant future ahead of her. She has the determination and drive necessary to succeed at the highest level. Her enthusiasm for the sport and dedication to ensure that girls and women are provided with equal opportunities bode well for the future of  women’s cycling in Canada. Erin will make a terrific mentor herself someday and young girls will look up to her as an exceptional role model. She is mature beyond her years and we wish her every success on her journey.

Media Statement July 21st 2015
As LNG bill passes, British Columbia is at odds with the global community on climate change
For Immediate Release

Victoria B.C. – British Columbia is at odds with the global community, who are calling for governments to take immediate action on addressing and mitigating climate change according to Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the B.C. Green Party. This statement comes a week after calling for an emergency debate on whether B.C. legislators are acting with sufficient urgency or demonstrating the leadership needed to mitigate and prepare for climate change.

Yesterday, twenty four of the UK’s foremost academic and professional institutions – including the British Academy, the Royal Society, and the Learned Society of Wales – released a statement that said “responding to the challenge [of climate change] will require deploying the full breadth of human talent and invention. Creative policy interventions and novel technological solutions need to be fostered and applied… Capturing this potential quickly and effectively will drive economic progress.”
“Today the B.C. Liberals are forcing through legislation that they desperately hope will land a single LNG investment,” said Weaver. “At a time when it is imperative that we are making meaningful investments in low-carbon technologies, the B.C. Liberals are pulling out the stops to build fossil fuel infrastructure that will commit the province to an energy-intensive non-renewable industry for the foreseeable future.”
In reference to the regional droughts, forest fires, lack of snowpack, and fishery closures currently affecting B.C.,  Andrew Weaver last week urged the House suspend discussion of LNG legislation to discuss the government’s inaction on climate change. Responding to MLA Weaver’s statement, Finance Minister Michael de Jong said, “…we have certainly experienced some extreme conditions in the province these past number of weeks that have contributed to some challenging circumstances. We heard about that earlier from the minister. Nor do I doubt the member’s interest and commitment to addressing some of the underlying issues that may or may not be contributing to that. Having said that, we are also bound and obliged to conduct proceedings in this chamber pursuant to the standing orders.”
Both the BC NDP and the BC Liberals argued against having an emergency one hour debate on climate change.

“The juxtaposition of the B.C. government being called into a summer session to push LNG legislation through, unwilling to spend an hour discussing our response to climate change while salmon are dying in warm rivers before they can spawn, Gulf Islands are starting to truck in fresh water, and the Premier’s own riding is on fire is incredibly striking, and only further highlights the inaction we are seeing” said Weaver.

“British Columbia has all the tools it needs to tackle climate change head on; we have the renewable resources required, and the innovative, creative, and inspired population,” said Andrew Weaver. “The missing element is a government willing to demonstrate the leadership required to focus the efforts. Right now they seem content to continue rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

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Media contact

Mat Wright
Press Secretary – Andrew Weaver MLA
Cell: 250 216 3382
Mat.wright@leg.bc.ca
Twitter: @MatVic

Parliament Buildings
Room 027C
Victoria BC V8V 1X4

Today in the legislature I rose to table Private Members’ Bill entitled: Bill M229 — Energy and Water Efficiency Act, 2015. As I noted in introducing it, this Bill was originally tabled by the Liberal government in 2012 as Bill 32 — Energy and Water Efficiency Act. The Bill received support from all sides of the legislature when it was introduced in 2012. Unfortunately, it was never brought to the Committee of the whole house and subsequently third reading. We missed an opportunity in 2012 to pass this legislation. I hope that the government chooses to pick this up at this time.

Text of the Introduction of my Bill

I’m pleased to introduce a bill intituled the Energy and Water Efficiency Act. If this title sounds familiar, it’s because the act was initially introduced in 2012 and passed second reading with the support of the official opposition on April 24, 2012, but the Committee of the Whole House was never called during the fourth session of the 39th Parliament and so the bill died on the order paper.

This bill reflects the new language in the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act. As noted by the Minister of Energy and Mines at the time, this bill would reduce consumers’ energy bills and lower operating costs for B.C. businesses. This legislation replaces the current Energy Efficiency Act and would enable administrative penalties to ensure manufacturers, distributors and retailers comply with energy efficiency guidelines, broaden the scope of energy efficiency requirements to include commercial energy systems, industrial reporting on water efficiency and enable the minister responsible to enact regulations for technical standards.

It was a fine, widely supported piece of legislation that was introduced after engaging more than 40 organizations and 60 individuals representing industry, utilities, governments, public interest and academia.

I move the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Video of the Introduction of my Bill

Today in the legislature I rose to question the Minister of Finance as to what steps, if any, government is taking to ensure that Metro Vancouver’s potential housing bubble doesn’t burst and that housing remains affordable in the region. I further inquired as to what plans the minister has to gather data to ensure that future decisions and policy development are informed. Earlier in the day I introduced a Private Members’ Bill that would provide government with a tool to begin measuring the impact that speculation is having on affordability in Metro Vancouver.

Below are the text and videos of my speech and the Minister’s response.

Question

A. Weaver: Earlier this year we learned that the U.S. short-sellers are betting on a Canadian housing crash, calling it an accident waiting to happen. One article quoted a high-profile U.S. short-seller who described the Vancouver housing market as “a mix of money laundering, low interest rates.” And he went on: “A house is something you live in, but in Vancouver you guys are trading them like penny stocks on Howe Street.”

Government often points to global forces as the main reason we need to be so careful and deliberate with our economic management. I’m left wondering: where is the careful and deliberate action to ensure that Metro Vancouver’s housing market doesn’t become the next housing bubble?

More and more British Columbians are taking on bigger and bigger mortgages as housing becomes less affordable. The economic consequences of a burst housing bubble would be profound.

My question to the Minister of Finance is this. Can he provide this House with an update as to what actions, if any, his government is taking to ensure that Vancouver’s housing bubble doesn’t burst?

Minister’s Response

Hon. M. de Jong: To the member, the first thing I can do, perhaps surprisingly, is validate for him the interest, the curiosity, at times the fascination, that Americans have for the Canadian real estate market, the Canadian housing market, and that includes certainly the Vancouver market. That comes up frequently in the discussions we have from them.

I think it derives in large measure from their own experience and the trauma that they suffered after 2008. I think, further to that, it derives from the belief that if it happened there, it is destined and, therefore, must happen elsewhere.

What I tell them is this. I’ll respond, and I’ll tell the member and the House what I say to them. You do have to understand that there are some fundamental differences. The levels of equity that are involved in home ownership in British Columbia are, on average, very, very different than American markets. The rate of default and arrears thus far is very small, and the general stability of our banking system is different.

Now, I don’t say that at all to diminish or dismiss the concern, but this has been a high-value real estate market for a long, long time. What the government is doing is examining measures that may encourage first-time homebuyers to enter the market. We are, as well, through B.C. Housing, working to gather more information and more data. And I’m alive to the private member’s bill that was tabled today. We are also seeking to work with local governments to address issues around density that are a key part of the puzzle of addressing housing affordability.

Supplementary Question

A. Weaver: Thanks to the minister for his response there.

We’ve also recently heard from the Chinese consul general in Vancouver, Ms. Liu Fei, who suggested that the blame for the situation lies with “officials who monitor buyers, sellers and real estate developers.” She goes on to say: “People are blaming the buyer. It’s the wrong direction. I mean, the regulation here, nobody’s playing the role.”

Her point is that government must ensure that housing remains affordable and the bubble does not burst. Now, the first step towards formulating good housing policy is to ensure that the necessary information is available for analysis. For example….

Madame Speaker: A question.

A. Weaver: A question, I have. It’s a key question. Is the bare trust property transfer tax loophole that I have bought up several times here….is it actually incentivizing the speculative market?

My question then to the minister is: instead of rhetorical speculation contained in the reports that government released earlier this year, will the Finance Minister provide British Columbians with an outline of what data it plans to collect and analyze to determine what action is necessary to ensure that people retain access to affordable housing in Metro Vancouver, what plans does the minister have…?

Madame Speaker: Question.

A. Weaver: What plans does the minister have to gain and gather data to ensure that decision and policy is informed?

Minister’s Response

To the member, I must first of all confess that officials representing the government of the People’s Republic of China may have an affinity for centralized control and management that I do not share. But be that as it may, I think there is value in gathering additional data, which is why I’m pleased the Minister Responsible for Housing, through B.C. Housing, is working with agencies to gather additional data.

I mentioned earlier some of the other steps that the government has taken — I do believe, matters relating to density. I can provide the member with data and statistics about the average price of housing in Vancouver, which is actually lower than many people think. You can still purchase a home in Vancouver for under $400,000. About 30 percent of the homes that are exchanged or sold are sold for less than that.

I think that a big part of this is driven by the general economic circumstances, and if….

Madame Speaker: Thank you, Minister.

Hon. M. de Jong: Madame Speaker, since I don’t expect I’m going to get a question from the official opposition about the state of the economy or the public accounts that were tabled, I will take this opportunity to advise the House what people are saying.

Madame Speaker: Thank you, Minister.

Hon. M. de Jong: The national bank says B.C.’s economy is relatively buoyant, the budget is balanced, and the debt burden is relatively low and falling.

Madame Speaker: Minister.

Hon. M. de Jong: Little wonder B.C. is leading the way in Canada.

Video of Questions and Responses

Today in the legislature I introduced a Private Member’s Bill. If enacted, the Bill, entitled Land Title Amendment Act, 2015 would amend the Land Title Act to reintroduce and expand provisions that were previously in the Act. Such provisions will help determine who is purchasing property in BC. It would allow the government to determine foreign investment flows, the role corporations are playing, and whether we are seeing speculation in our market coming from other regions of Canada.

Text of my Speech

A. Weaver: I’m pleased to be introducing a bill that offers government one of the tools it needs to begin to properly assess and act upon the affordability and housing crisis affecting Metro Vancouver and emerging here in the capital regional district.

There’s been significant conversation in the past few months about the role that speculation is playing in our market. The government came out with a number of documents purporting that foreign investment wasn’t a factor. These studies were vague and lacked any links to clear, rigorous evidence that supported the claim.

It’s with this in mind that I bring this bill forward today. The bill amends the Land Title Act to provide the government with the means of determining who is purchasing property in B.C. This includes determining both foreign investment flows, the role that corporations are playing in purchasing property and if we have significant speculation coming from other places in Canada.

To be clear, this bill is not about identifying what specifically is driving housing prices to unsustainable rates but, rather, to ensure that government is informing itself so that any future policy measures are based on a better understanding of what is happening with our provincial real estate industry.

Video of my Speech

Press Release on Introduction of Bill

Media Statement: July 16, 2015
MLA Weaver Introduces Bill to help inform solutions to Affordability Crisis in Vancouver

Victoria B.C. -Victoria B.C. – Today, Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and Deputy Leader of the B.C. Green Party, tabled his private members bill that provides government with a tool to begin measuring the impact that speculation is having on affordability in Metro Vancouver.

“This is not about stopping the flow of investment or preventing growth in the real estate sector,” said Andrew Weaver. “We need to take serious and deliberate steps to smooth the rate of increase in prices to ensure that the region can manage the growth in a sustainable manner.”

If enacted, this Bill would amend the Land Title Act to reintroduce and expand provisions that were previously in the Act, which can help determine who is purchasing property in BC. It would allow the government to determine foreign investment flows, the role corporations are playing, and whether we are seeing speculation coming from other regions of Canada.

“Smart public policy requires good information about what action is needed,” said Andrew Weaver. “I am concerned that this government isn’t taking seriously the challenge of affordability that many people are experiencing in the Metro Vancouver. Strong, resilient communities are worth protecting.”

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Media Contact
Mat Wright – Press Secretary, Andrew Weaver MLA
Mat.Wright@leg.bc.ca
Cell: 1 250 216 3382