Joan McIntyre this week said her appointment to B.C. Premier Christy Clark's Committee on Families First dovetails nicely with the work she has done over the past two years as chair of another government committee dealing with children and youth.
Since 2009, the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA has been chair of Premier Gordon Campbell's Standing Committee on Children and Youth. In that role, McIntyre has helped formulate government policy as it relates to young people in B.C. That included convening a series of hearings dealing with child poverty that included submissions from various experts on the topic.
McIntyre, reached on Tuesday (March 15) as she was on her way to Victoria, said she wasn't exactly sure what the scope and reach of the new premier's Committee on Families First - one of Clark's stated priorities - would be. McIntyre said she hoped to find out more in a caucus meeting in Victoria on Tuesday.
As chair of Campbell's standing committee, "We brought in a lot of experts on what to do to help the most vulnerable in society," said said. "I've spent the better part of the last two years learning a lot on that topic and listening. I'll be anxious to share all that we've been doing."
McIntyre, who supported rival Kevin Falcon - the new deputy premier and Minister of Finance - in the just-completed B.C. Liberal leadership race, said that while she hadn't yet sat down with Clark to discuss priorities, "my interests on family and children are pretty well aligned conceptually with hers."
McIntyre, who is serving her second term as the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding's representative in Victoria, served as Campbell's Minister of State for Intergovernmental Affairs -a junior cabinet minister's role - from June 2008 to June 2009.
Since then she has been relegated to the back benches. Given her support of Falcon in the leadership race, most pundits considered McIntyre a long shot for a post in Clark's streamlined cabinet, which shrunk from 23 to 18 ministers.
"Christy ran on a change agenda and on a 'families first' agenda and that's obviously what she's trying to implement," McIntyre said.
As far as the Liberal caucus goes, McIntyre said, "the No. 1 task is holding the coalition together," adding that she's optimistic that Clark will be able to achieve that.
