2003 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 37th Parliament

HANSARD

The following electronic version is for informational purposes

only.

The printed version remains the official version.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

(Hansard)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2003

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 11, Number 11

CONTENTS

Routine

Proceedings

Page

Introductions by Members

Statements (Standing Order 25 B )

Northern B.C. Winter Games and Olympic Games referendum

R. Harris

Olympic Games referendum

R. Hawes

Vernon Winter Carnival and Olympic Games referendum

T. Christensen

Oral Questions

Long-term care assessment standards

J. MacPhail

Hon. K. Whittred

J. Kwan

Blockade of Ocean Falls fish hatchery

B. Belsey

Hon. R. Coleman

School-based education funding

L. Mayencourt

Hon. G. Hogg

Development of energy sector and coalbed methane resources

W. Cobb

Hon. R. Neufeld

Reports from Committees

Select Standing Committee on Health

Patients First 2002: The Path to Reform

V. Roddick

Budget Debate (continued)

Hon. T. Nebbeling

P. Wong

Hon. J. Murray

H. Long

K. Johnston

B. Locke

Hon. L. Stephens

W. McMahon

[ Page 4927 ]

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2003

The House

met at 2:05 p.m.

[J.

Weisbeck in the chair.]

Introductions by Members

Hon. C.

Clark: Today in the members' gallery we have some very special guests from

Thailand, who I had the honour to meet with today. Surapit Kirtiputra is the

newly appointed consul general of Thailand at Vancouver. He is accompanied by

his wife, Rungnapa Kirtiputra, and Consul Athasit Poolsawat. I hope that the

House will make them very welcome as they make their official calls in Victoria

today.

Hon. B.

Barisoff: Joining us today in the Legislature are two constituents of mine,

Jim and Dorothy Hewitt. Jim used to be the former Minister of Education and

former Minister of Agriculture. Would the House please make them welcome.

Brenzinger: It is an honour to introduce to the House today my very special

guest, Dr. Kwang Yang, and his wife, Katherine. Dr. Yang gave a presentation on

hepatitis B at our Government Caucus Committee on Health this morning. Dr. Yang

is the president and founder of the hepatitis B society. He is an active member

of the Surrey Memorial Hospital, is the author of the About Health

pocketbook and has a thriving medical practice located in my riding of

Surrey-Whalley. Please join me in welcoming my friend and guest, Dr. Yang, along

with his wife, Katherine.

Mayencourt: In the gallery I have two guests today: Mr. Allan Perkins and

his son, Allan Perkins Jr. Members will recall that last year around this time,

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins attended the session. Unfortunately, Mrs. Perkins, Pam

Perkins, is not here today. She passed away this past year. I am told by Mr.

Perkins that the welcome extended to her and her husband last year was greatly

appreciated. I invite the House to one more time give it up for Pam and Allan

Perkins.

Statements

(Standing Order 25b)

NORTHERN B.C. WINTER GAMES

AND OLYMPIC GAMES REFERENDUM

Harris: Recently I again had the pleasure of attending the Northern B.C.

Winter Games. This year's games proved to be especially challenging, because

rather than having one host community, we had three: Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof and

Fort St. James. With all the extra organizational challenges and complications

of hosting such an event over three communities, Kris Neilsen and her committee

did a superb job.

This is the

twenty-ninth year for the Northern B.C. Winter Games, and over its history over

40,000 athletes from 50 to 60 different communities have participated. It's

become an important part of the winter tradition in the north, as it brings all

of our northern heartland communities together each and every year.

These games

are different from other games within the families, as they are more about

participation and attract people both young and old. Our youngest athlete was

seven and our oldest was 82. What also makes these games unique is the use of

billet families. The bonds and friendships that have been created over the years

go way beyond just the competition. With billeting comes even a greater demand

for volunteers. This year they required over 1,200 volunteers for 1,300

participants.

These

games, though, provide a huge boost to the economies of communities that host

them. In '98 in Dawson Creek they generated $650,000 worth of activity in that

community. A year later in Prince Rupert it was $850,000. Last year when I was

in Smithers, those businessmen told me it was like having Christmas in February.

It has certainly been noticed by these folks in these communities — the value

of hosting such an event.

With B.C.

poised to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, the benefits of being a host will be

felt in every region of this province. It gives us an opportunity to bring the

best in the world to B.C. to compete, and also an opportunity to bring B.C. and

Canada to the rest of the world. There was a real excitement in the air at the

thought of B.C. being the host of the Olympics. Nowhere could you see that more

than in the faces of the children that participated.

Vancouver

has an opportunity this Saturday to help that become a reality, and they are

poised to do that. Those of us in the heartlands community say: "Vancouver,

don't let us down." These are B.C. games, and we want to be part of that

Olympic experience. You have a chance on Saturday to make it happen and vote

yes.

[1410]

At this

point, I would like the House to join me in expressing our appreciation to the

communities of Vanderhoof, Fort St. James and Fraser Lake, to Kris Neilsen and

her games committee, to the board of directors, but most importantly to those

communities that opened up their communities — their houses — to all of us.

OLYMPIC GAMES REFERENDUM

Hawes: I guess this is the new three-and-a-half-minute statements.

People from

all over our province are standing up in support of the 2010 Olympic bid. Today

Mayor Jim Doyle of Golden, a former cabinet minister in the previous NDP

government, announced that his council has unanimously passed a motion in

support of the bid. Golden council said, in their words: "We believe the

Olympics will be great for the province, resulting in increased employment,

infrastructure and socioeconomic initiatives. The 2010 bid is not just about

Van-

[ Page 4928 ]

couver. It's about the long-term benefits the entire province will experience

by hosting this important international event. We are encouraging the residents

of Vancouver to vote yes."

I think we

need to be very clear about this. Saturday's vote is not a choice between the

Olympics or something else. It's not about health care. It's not about

education. It's not about highways. It is about an opportunity, and it's an

opportunity that would be completely lost if too many wrongly believe there are

other opportunities to be had by voting no.

I want to

remind voters that immediately following the 17-day Olympics, the Paralympic

Games will begin. Athletes with disabilities from around the world will compete

here in a completely separate, yet just as important, Olympic competition.

Thousands of international visitors will gather to celebrate the Paralympics.

This is an opportunity for disabled athletes from around the world to showcase

their talents. This is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the courage and

tenacity of those with handicaps or disabilities. This is an opportunity to

raise the profile of those with disabilities and to create awareness of the

particular problems they face. Most importantly, this is an opportunity to

instil in our children with disabilities a sense of pride and a spirit of

"I can too."

As you

consider how to vote on Saturday, please, if for no other reason than to support

the Paralympics and the athletes with disabilities, vote yes.

Deputy

Speaker: Thank you, member, for your two-minute-and-20-second statement.

VERNON WINTER CARNIVAL

AND OLYMPIC GAMES REFERENDUM

Christensen: Last weekend saw the close of the forty-third annual Vernon

Winter Carnival, western Canada's largest winter festival. For the last 43 years

the citizens of Vernon have taken the first part of February to celebrate the

fact that we live in a winter wonderland and that we need to get out and enjoy

it.

Whether

it's 20 below zero or we have balmy Victoria-like temperatures as we did this

year, thousands of people come out to watch the winter carnival parade, to see

the ice sculptures of local school children, to see the hot-air balloons and to

participate in one or more of the over 90 events that are part of winter

carnival week.

During

winter carnival you will find all community members — be they seniors,

children, non-profit organizations, businesses or service clubs — taking pride

in being part of this annual event. It truly brings a community together,

involving more than 5,000 volunteers and over 86 local and national sponsors. In

Vernon we like a good celebration, and we know how it can bring a community

together.

British

Columbia has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embrace a provincewide winter

celebration with the 2010 Winter Olympics. On February 11, in the midst of our

own winter carnival, Vernon city council strongly endorsed the 2010 Olympic bid.

We have a

great natural asset in my constituency: winter. We are just starting to be

discovered by people from around the world. You name a winter recreation

activity, and I assure you there's somewhere in my constituency to enjoy it. The

Olympics will help the world discover our natural assets.

During

winter carnival the Vernon Figure Skating Club presented their production of Peter

Pan . Among those kids, there's a 2010 Olympian. Up at Silver Star watching

the Vernon alpine ski team, the Vernon freestyle skiing team or the Sovereign

Lake Nordic ski team, I see 2010 Olympians. In our ice rinks and curling rinks

we have 2010 Olympians.

This

Saturday, I urge the citizens of Vancouver to vote yes to the 2010 Winter

Olympics for their community. But equally importantly, they need to vote yes for

my community.

Oral Questions

LONG-TERM CARE

ASSESSMENT STANDARDS

[1415]

MacPhail: Yesterday, after months of inaction, the government was finally

shamed into paying for an ambulance bill that it had charged to Edward Laitenen,

who has been shuffled between care homes and then asked to pay for the

privilege.

To the

Minister of Long Term Care: can she tell the House what assessment standards are

in place to reclassify and shuffle seniors from long-term care facility to

long-term care facility?

Hon. K.

Whittred: The member opposite will recall that when she, in fact, was a

member of the government, they instituted a new assessment tool. It was at that

time piloted in North Vancouver and in Victoria. That program was implemented

before we became government. It's now being expanded across the province. If the

member opposite wishes details, I would be happy to offer her a briefing.

Deputy

Speaker: Leader of the Opposition with a supplementary question.

MacPhail: I asked the question because today we learn that a coroner's

investigation has been ordered into the death of another Salmon Arm resident who

was shuffled between care homes in the same way as Mr. Laitenen was. The man

died. The man was transferred from Fountainview care home to Pioneer Lodge. The

doctors involved asked the coroner to investigate because they were concerned

about the level of care the patient was receiving and that it was substandard.

These

doctors have been trying to raise their concerns to government about the

reclassification system as recently as last month, but they are being ignored.

Can the Minister for Long Term Care explain why doctors' concerns about a

reclassification system that they

[ Page 4929 ]

say is hurting patients are being ignored? By the way, this reclassification

system is new to this region.

Hon. K.

Whittred: We on this side of the House take matters around safety very

seriously. I understand that both the coroner and the interior health authority

are looking into the circumstances of this matter, and at this point I'm not

prepared to speculate on the outcome of either review.

Deputy

Speaker: Leader of the Opposition with a further supplementary question.

MacPhail: It's not good enough for the minister to stand up and say,

"Hands off," that she'll let the review take place. Mr. Laitenen was

shuffled from home to home. Luckily, all that was at issue with him was the

government charging him for ambulance bills.

We now have

a death in the same region. This patient's doctors are concerned that the

interior health authority did their assessment too quickly and provided the

patient with a substandard level of care. It's this government moving patients

from care home to care home.

There is a

serious problem with the criteria this government is using to shuffle seniors

from bed to bed, and from bed to bed that doesn't meet their care needs.

Will the

minister immediately undertake to make those new criteria public right now, so

that patients, families and their doctors, who are being denied the criteria,

know on what basis patients are being moved around between care homes?

Immediately.

Hon. K.

Whittred: As far as I know, the assessment tool is quite public and can be

accessed simply by talking to the health authorities.

J. Kwan:

The minister needs to take control of the situation before more patients are

hurt or die as a result of her impatience to save money for long-term care.

Seniors and their families deserve a whole lot better.

We have

just learned of this coroner's investigation and the health authority's

investigation. Can the minister tell this House how many other seniors' deaths

are under investigation by her ministry?

Hon. K.

Whittred: As a government we are committed to ensuring that there is a

sustainable health care system there for not only the current seniors but…

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members. Order, please. Let's listen to the answer.

[1420]

Hon. K.

Whittred: …people who are going to follow. That means that there are some

changes being made. We have carefully put policy in place, and the kinds of

fearmongering that are raised by the opposition is, quite frankly, the absolute

most destructive thing that is going on in health care reform today.

Deputy

Speaker: Member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant with a supplementary

question.

J. Kwan:

From day one, this government has treated seniors like they don't matter. It

took four months for this government to take action on just one ambulance bill.

We know the horror stories about senior couples being split up by this

government, but maybe that doesn't matter to this government. Maybe that's

fearmongering, but the reality is that seniors are getting hurt in the

community. Now seniors are being reassessed and either sent home or sent to a

substandard facility. Before more seniors are hurt and investigations are

ordered, will the minister stand up for seniors…?

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members. Order, please. Let's hear the question.

J. Kwan:

Will the minister stand up for seniors and call for a halt to these bogus

reassessments until doctors, patients and their families can have input into the

criteria, before it's too late?

BLOCKADE OF OCEAN FALLS

FISH HATCHERY

Belsey: We've heard about Lynn Hunter of the Suzuki Foundation who jokingly

sent out an e-mail saying how much she enjoys tormenting fish farms and their

employees. Now there's another fish farm business that's being tormented by

these people. The Ocean Falls fish hatchery is suffering from yet another

blockade that's preventing workers from getting to their job. This is in a small

community that needs this job, that needs this project. I know that in the

previous attempt, there was damage done to this project, and it was impossible

for these fellows to carry on working. Can the Solicitor General provide my

constituents with an update on this latest blockade…

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, please. Order.

Belsey: …and the efforts that have been made to resolve it?

Hon. R.

Coleman: The company, as I understand it, is seeking an injunction, and I

would imagine there's a subsequent enforcement order. The RCMP are assessing the

situation and making the plans that would be necessary to deal with the

situation. They will be prepared to act to protect property, public safety, and

to enforce the law.

SCHOOL-BASED EDUCATION FUNDING

Mayencourt: My question is to the Minister of Children and Family

Development. School-based pro-

[ Page 4930 ]

grams and school-based funding provide a number of essential services, such

as hot lunches for many students in my riding. Patti Lefkos, the principal of

one of the three schools in my riding — who is a champion for inner-city

schools — joined us earlier this week for the budget speech. She was delighted

by the announcement that the ministry will continue to support the provision of

these vital services aimed at helping children most in need. Can the minister

please provide details on how this commitment will be fulfilled?

Hon. G.

Hogg: The purpose of the school-based programs is to help level the playing

field to ensure we provide supports, both social and academic supports, for

students so that they can perform to their optimum.

With the

announcement of the budget this week, we are able to say clearly that the

funding for the program will run to the end of the school year. Firstly, there

will be no disruption with respect to the programs throughout the context of

this school year. Secondly, it means we have the opportunity to have some

stability and build evidence-based programs, best-practices programs. The

funding as it exists today does not appear to have any rationale for the way

it's distributed. In fact, there are 705 schools in this province — 705

schools in which there are students. Over 10 percent of the students come from

families on income assistance. There's a need for us to shift that, to move that

forward, and with this announcement we have assurance that we have…

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, please.

Hon. G.

Hogg: …$37.5 million in the next fiscal year to provide services for

exactly those kinds of students.

[1425]

Mayencourt: That's definitely great news for students in my riding. I note

that there are children here in the House today, and I'm glad they are here to

witness this. In the past, outcomes for some of these fundings were often

ignored. The money didn't necessarily get to the kids that needed it the most.

Can the minister please tell us when we can expect to hear more details on the

best-practices program that he announced?

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members. Let's hear the question.

Mayencourt: Shall I begin again?

This is

indeed great news for the students in my community because in the past, outcomes

were often ignored. The money didn't necessarily get to the kids that needed it

the very most. Can the minister please tell this House when we can expect to

hear further details on this new program?

Hon. G.

Hogg: In fact, what's going to happen is that we're going to have better

services and more services coming in the next couple of years, because we have

the involvement of parents, teachers, the B.C. School Trustees Association and

communities working together to provide better services, rather than having them

imposed. We've looked at the OECD countries. We know those programs that are

most successful are those that have the involvement of local-level communities

putting them together. That hasn't happened in the past. We're moving forward to

have that go into place in the future.

We sent a

letter out to all the superintendents around this province this week to tell

them that the funding will be in place to the end of the school year. We're

meeting with a group of parents, trustees and teachers who will come together.

They're making recommendations, because they want this money to go where it

should go: to the most vulnerable students, where it has not gone in the past.

We will adjust this program. By the end of March we will have the specifics in

terms of how we'll be able to address the most vulnerable students in our

schools across this province.

DEVELOPMENT OF ENERGY SECTOR

AND COALBED METHANE RESOURCES

W. Cobb:

My question is to the Minister of Energy and Mines. Under the previous

government, regulations were introduced to systematically discourage the energy

sector from investing in our province. Last year the minister was asked what

initiatives the government had taken to rejuvenate this sector of the economy.

At that time, the minister indicated that the measures taken by the government

to encourage growth in this sector were beginning to pay off but that we needed

more. Can the minister now tell me what further progress has been made to

promote the energy sector?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: This government, under the leadership of the Premier, is working

very hard to encourage the energy industry and the mining industry back into

British Columbia. Both of those industries pay very good, family-supporting jobs

— well-paid jobs — and that's what we need back in the province. After being

kicked out of British Columbia over ten years under the leadership of the

opposition of today, we have been working very hard to bring forward tax changes

and regulatory changes to encourage that industry back to British Columbia so

that we can continue to have well-paying jobs and good health care and education

paid for in the province.

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members. Let's hear the question.

W. Cobb:

I think I caught most of it, with the disruption that was in front of me.

Further to the development of the traditional oil and….

[ Page 4931 ]

MacPhail: It's funny how two of us bother you so much, isn't it?

W. Cobb:

Well, especially when they're so loud and sitting right in front of me. It's

very annoying.

Deputy

Speaker: Proceed.

W. Cobb:

Further to the development of traditional oil and gas reserves, B.C. is

experiencing exciting new opportunities in coalbed methane deposits,

particularly in my riding. Coal is one of the largest hydrocarbon sources in

British Columbia, found in almost every area of this province. This is an

estimated 90 trillion cubic feet of coalbed methane potential for B.C. One

billion cubic feet will produce enough energy for 5,000 homes. Imagine what the

90 trillion cubic feet can do.

[1430]

Can the

Minister of Energy and Mines, regardless of all the hot air in front of me, tell

me what he is doing to encourage the development of this particular resource?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: Actually, in British Columbia we have about 23 billion tonnes of

coal, more coal than any other jurisdiction in Canada. Most of that coal is

spread across the province. Most of that coal is coalbed methane, which is

interchangeable with natural gas. We have devised procedures in royalties and

regulations that encourage the development of coalbed methane. The northeast

part of the province develops all the natural gas for British Columbia. We want

to see that moved out to the rest of the heartlands of British Columbia so that

every region of the province can actually enjoy some good economic activity and

some well-paying jobs, so that we can all have good health care and education.

When the

Leader of the Opposition talks incessantly about a modern economy, I would bet

that she drives a car that burns gasoline that comes from oil. I would bet that

she heats her house with natural gas, which is a fossil fuel. I would bet that

she flies on airplanes that consume jet fuel, which actually comes from oil. I

would bet that when she goes on holidays and rides that cruise ship, it's bunker

C that makes that cruise ship go across the ocean. I would think that every

morning when she takes a shower, the water is heated with natural gas. It is a

good, clean product. We should be happy about it.

[End

of question period.]

Reports from Committees

Roddick: I have the honour to present the report of the Select Standing

Committee on Health for the third session of the thirty-seventh parliament,

entitled Patients First 2002: The Path to Reform .

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members. Let's hear the report.

Roddick: I move that the report be taken as read and received.

Motion

approved.

Roddick: Mr. Speaker, I ask leave of the House to suspend the rules to

permit the moving of a motion to adopt the report.

Leave

granted.

Roddick: I move that the report, Patients First 2002: The Path to Reform ,

be adopted on behalf of the Select Standing Committee on Health, which was asked

to compile the numerous health reports that have been issued across the country

since December 2001 and to disseminate and ultimately compare them to its Patients

First: Renewal and Reform of British Columbia's Health Care System and the

Romanow report.

Interjections.

Deputy

Speaker: Order, members.

Roddick: This documentation and comparison is now completed in Patients

First 2002: The Path to Reform . The people of British Columbia can now see

how their government is proceeding…

Interjection.

Deputy

Speaker: Leader of the Opposition, would you please listen to the report.

Roddick: …with health care improvements not just within our own province

but within the context of the entire country. As Chair, I am privileged to be

able to thank every member, actually — this time — of the committee for

their dedicated diligence, the Clerk to the committee, her tireless staff, and

the committee research analyst and consultant Anne Mullens, who helped pull it

all together. Path to Reform should be read by all of us. Our health is

our life.

Mr.

Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to move the adoption of the committee's

report.

Motion

approved.

[1435]

Orders of the Day

Hon. G.

Collins: I call budget debate.

Budget Debate

(continued)

Hon. T.

Nebbeling: I, too, rise today to speak to the budget that was presented two

days ago here in the House. Before I get to the budget, however, I would like to

extend my greetings to my constituents in the riding of West

Vancouver–Garibaldi. As you know, West Vancouver–Garibaldi is one of the

most spectacu-

[ Page 4932 ]

lar ridings that can ever be had in British Columbia — or Canada, for that

matter. We have the Sea to Sky Highway, with magnificent communities along the

Sea to Sky Highway starting in West Vancouver, Bowen Island, Lions Bay,

Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton and D'Arcy.

I also

would like to give special recognition to the two first nations in my riding. We

have the Squamish nation, and we have the Mount Currie band. These two nations

are working very hard, together with all the other jurisdictions in our riding,

to find opportunities to stimulate the economy in the different areas I

represent.

I would

also like to state my congratulations to the Minister of Finance for delivering

a budget. During the presentation of the budget, it became clear to me that this

was a very good-news budget. It showed that in spite of the difficult situation

we faced when we were elected 21 months ago, we actually dared to take the steps

we had to take to get the economy in British Columbia going again. That includes

a serious dose of bitter medication. We also are aware that at the time we

travelled the province prior to the last election, we made it very clear to the

voters that by electing a B.C. Liberal government, our focus was going to be on

stimulating the economy to turn the ship of state around, thereby creating a

healthier foundation to fund education and health care.

What

happened before the last 24 months that we have been in government? I look back

at the nineties, and I was in this House since 1996, but I believe it is fair to

say that the nineties have turned out to be the decade of disastrous decisions

made by the previous government. The decisions were so disastrous that they

drove pretty well a main chunk of our businesses out of this province. Of

course, with the elimination of many business opportunities in British Columbia,

we lost a lot of job opportunities. It's clear today — when you go to the

smaller communities throughout British Columbia, when you go into the

heartlands, when you go to communities that in the past were totally dependent

on resource extraction industries — that there is still a lot of damage

visible in these communities.

[1440]

During the

nineties many jobs were lost in the mining industry. Many jobs were lost in the

forest industry. A consequence of the job losses in these industries was that in

many cases, families got uprooted. Often the breadwinner had to leave the

community where he was living with his family to find work opportunities in

other provinces, and it just totally has created an imbalance in family life in

many cases throughout these communities in British Columbia. That's part of the

legacy that we have from the NDP government in the nineties.

Of course,

with the loss of business opportunities in British Columbia we lost another

opportunity, and that was the opportunity of enticing industries to come to

British Columbia to invest in this province, creating new jobs. When I listened

to the budget, it was clear that the steps that this government has taken in the

last 21 months are certainly beginning to develop a lot more comfort in the

investment world. We know that investment brokers are beginning to focus on

British Columbia again, something that hasn't happened during the nineties, and

we already see some really good results from that new focus on British Columbia.

The budget

was a good-news budget. It showed increased revenues of $1 billion. It also

showed a re-evaluation of what we anticipated to be the debt for this budget,

which was $4.4 billion. The budget was brought in with $600 million less in

debt, which again was a good sign for industry.

Each and

every one of us knows that in the last year in particular, when we introduced

our three-year recovery plan, the press and many others in the province didn't

believe that the steps we were going to take in order to get the ship of state

in order again could be done; that, indeed, in three years' time we could come

from deficit budgets to balanced budgets. For me it was really interesting to

see the reaction of the press the day after the budget was announced.

Vaughn

Palmer of the Vancouver Sun has been a strong critic and doubter of

whether our plan could actually become reality and come to a surplus in 2004-05

— and, of course, the balanced budget. Vaughn Palmer wrote in his

article the

next morning: "The government did a better job than anticipated. Jobs are

staying within its targets for the first time in living memory. Every minister

came in under budget." Then he goes on to mention: "The next two

targets, a $2.3 billion deficit for '02-03 and a $50 million surplus in '04,

look that much more attainable." That's the first time, I think, that

Vaughn Palmer showed that indeed he believes things will be different in this

province.

The

headline of the National Post was the following: "B.C. Liberals

Moving Out of the Red." Mark Hume of the National Post writes:

"With spending down and revenues up, the B.C. Liberals, after just 21

months in office, have put the province on the road to financial recovery."

That's amazing. I did not expect to see headlines like that. The budget, as

presented by the Minister of Finance, clearly showed that we are on the road to

better things for this province.

There are

other quotes by other reporters, but each and every one that I have seen has

really recognized that, indeed, what we are doing is the right thing and that

things will be better for British Columbia. I think that's a tremendous

achievement.

[1445]

There are

other indicators that things are getting better in British Columbia. When we

look at some of the statistics that we recently have been given about job

creation, we have created many thousands more jobs — 78,000 new jobs. We see

retail sales going up dramatically. We also see housing starts up by a

percentage that has been lagging for many, many years. We really see a boost in

the construction industry. We also see people buying homes again. What this does

is give me a message that people — people out in the street, ordinary folks

like we are — are beginning to realize that things are going in the right

direction in British

[ Page 4933 ]

Columbia and that it is most likely again a province where there is a future

to be had, where there is a future for their children. That's why people are

spending their money.

When I see

all these good messages, I keep thinking: now that people are spending money

again, could it have anything to do with the fact that one of the first things

we did was put $1.5 billion back in the pockets of British Columbians through a

25 percent tax cut? I think it has a lot to do with it.

People

realize that they now have control over that money, and that's why in the retail

business and in home sales we see these increases. There are many critics today

who still try to say that the tax cut was the biggest mistake we ever made. I've

always believed that money in the pockets of people has a lot more value for

people than giving it to the government, who then spend it for whatever they

spend it on.

I think

that is just another indication, again, that people are beginning to believe in

our province. I see it in my own riding. I've got two communities that have

really been hit hard because of what happened in the nineties. The forest

policies of the provincial government devastated communities like Squamish,

devastated communities like Pemberton. These are communities where people had to

leave. These are communities where young kids, once they came out of school and

wanted to join the work environment, just didn't have any opportunities and had

to leave, again disrupting family life.

When I now

go to Squamish, suddenly the stores on the main street are all occupied again.

Two years ago almost half of the stores had big "For Lease" signs. We

see investment coming into Squamish that two years ago, because of what happened

during the nineties, was just out of the question. We see an investment in a

major ski resort to be developed just outside Squamish — Garibaldi at

Squamish. It's at a stage very close to being completed as a deal with the

provincial government, and we will have job opportunities for 500 to 800 people

starting the construction of that resort and the residential component. That's a

tremendous boost to a community that has suffered.

The

investment world is willing to invest again in projects in this province with

our tax regime and our work ethic. That's another thing. British Columbians have

tremendous work ethics. It is very attractive for investors to have that

combination of a good tax base, a good tax regime and people that work for their

living. That's the first observation I make. That particular development would

most likely not have happened had it not been for a new government that is

focused on having a tax regime that is business-friendly and that is fair —

and, of course, a government that is also committed to removing a lot of

regulation and red tape for businesses to get into business.

There's

another very exciting project going on in Squamish. Last year we approved a

university accreditation program for a university at Squamish. This is a

university that is focused on bringing students from overseas for short programs

to the Sea to Sky corridor. They are very close to starting with the first phase

of the construction of the university, and it is just another example of a group

of people that are dedicated to education, who see an opportunity through a

private university to create new opportunities that Squamish and the whole Sea

to Sky corridor never had before. There is a willingness to make that investment

in the construction of the facilities, in bringing people here from overseas for

instruction purposes. So Squamish is on its way to getting itself out of the

dark hole it has been in for a long time now. It is very pleasant to see.

[1450]

Pemberton,

a small community with 500 to 600 residents…. Again, that community, with the

forest policies of the nineties, had nothing for an economic base. Today we see

development of the golf courses. There is some serious talk going on with very

viable businesses about looking at the airport in Squamish and seeing how we can

indeed build an airport in Squamish. That's been talked about for a long time.

It never happened. It never happened because people didn't believe in it. People

didn't feel comfortable investing in it. But today it is. There's an opportunity

for Squamish.

Squamish

has had one hotel for many, many years. It's very good to see that today there

is a new hotel under construction. I wonder why. People are again willing to

invest in a small community. The only reason is that the investors realize that

British Columbia is open for business. British Columbia is going to be an area

where we'll see the world visit, and it's a great opportunity to have a small

hotel on that Sea to Sky Highway.

These are

just two little things for a community like Squamish that make a huge impact on

how the community can assure that the kids of today can have employment in the

future at home and not do as they have to do now — move to Vancouver or

anywhere else where there may be some jobs available.

That brings

me to Whistler. Whistler, of course, is my home. To me, Whistler is probably the

very best example of a group of people having a vision, a big vision about a

major ski resort that would attract the whole world. Of course, this vision was

created in 1975. I came to Whistler from Europe in 1977 and became part of that

Whistler dream. I also became part of a community of 250 people, and that was

Whistler. These 250 people believed they could do something that was so

different, it would attract the attention of the world.

We were

very fortunate. We had two mountains with vertical drops that are the longest in

North America, but we are surrounded by the most magnificent green valley that

you can think of. What was it that ultimately made investors from all over the

world, including from Canada…? A lot of money came from the Asian countries; a

lot of money came from Europe. What was it, again, that people were willing to

spend what is now valued at $2.5 billion in real estate funds on — from a

community of 250 people to an investment of $2.5 billion creating 10,000

permanent jobs,

[ Page 4934 ]

having now a community of 10,000 people as well…? At that time there was a

government that welcomed business. There was a government that enticed business,

that said: "Okay, what do we do to make you feel comfortable investing here

in this province?" The government was also then very much interested in

investment and in creating jobs that come with investment.

When I go

home on the weekend and I drive into Whistler, it's rare for me not to stop for

a moment, thinking that this was once a tiny little village with a small

regional ski resort, and look what we did with it. When the Premier went on a

tour throughout the province the last six weeks to talk to other areas, he said:

"Listen, what do we do to get you in the direction that Whistler has

gone?" He's not saying that every ski resort in British Columbia will be

identical to Whistler. But we do realize that all our ski resorts are in

locations that are just jewels, and it is the type of ski terrain that the

Europeans love and that the Asians really love. They have one problem, and that

problem is that accessing these ski resorts is often very difficult to do in a

safe manner, often very time-consuming, so I was thrilled to see in the budget

that we are actually investing big dollars in a transportation revival, I would

call it. It's called the road upgrade, but to me it is a revival.

[1455]

One of the

areas that truly will benefit from this particular road program that we have

introduced in this budget is, of course, the Kootenays. Anybody who's ever been

there…. Nobody will ever question that this is land that, when we can show it

to the world, the world wants to come to. There are five or six resorts today,

but they all have a problem, and that is that their markets are really

restricted. With the commitment of this provincial government to invest in roads

and airports, we will open up these areas. This will create a tremendous amount

of jobs, and I will come to that later.

The

exposure that these communities need, these resorts need, will come from,

obviously, the opportunity we will have to show the world through the global

media what British Columbia is all about when we bring the 2010 Winter Games and

Paralympic Games to British Columbia. I will come back to the Olympics in a

minute.

The point

is that we have an opportunity in British Columbia to do what we did in the

seventies in the lower mainland and now can do in the heartlands. We have

resorts in the interior. We have resorts in the Okanagan and, as I said, the

Kootenays. We have resorts in the north. All these resorts have an opportunity

to be better than what they are today.

There is a

lot of excitement about it. The Premier has been to 17 different areas in the

province to talk about the opportunities that he believes and I believe and, I'm

sure, caucus believes are there to further the tourism opportunities for British

Columbia. I have no doubt that we will see quite a few of these resorts tapping

into this opportunity. We also will make sure that flights from Europe can fly

into areas through our airport support. Cranbrook — again, the Kootenays. They

have an airport, but it doesn't accommodate the planes and the size of planes

that you need to fly direct from Europe. People today who fly to the Kootenays

have to go to Calgary and then by bus or rental car over a six-hour road trip to

get into the ski areas. So the expansion of the Cranbrook Airport is, again, a

very important component of the strategy to open up British Columbia.

Of course,

still in the Kootenays, because the focus is there for now, we have committed to

upgrade the Kicking Horse Pass. It's a very treacherous road right now;

horrendous accidents have happened on that road. In order to get people safely

into British Columbia from the north, we believe the upgrade of that Kicking

Horse Pass has to be the priority for this government, and it will be.

I talked

about the Olympics briefly, but I would like to spend a little bit more time on

it. When I became aware of the business group in Vancouver that kick-started the

discussion on bringing the 2010 Winter Games and Paralympic Games to British

Columbia, I thought it was a very exciting thing. Ten years ago I had a meeting

with FIS, the international organization of ski organizations. We made a deal

with World Cup races at Whistler. At that time, the president of FIS, Hans

Koegler, said to me: "Do you think there's a possibility that one day we

can have Winter Games in Whistler?" He had been to Whistler; he knew

Whistler; he saw its potential. He knew Vancouver.

We talked

about it. I said: "Well, who knows? It's a little bit more than ten years

before we will bring the games here, but the chance that it will happen is very

realistic." When the business group in Vancouver started to talk about

bringing the games here, they sought some support from the previous government.

To their credit, the previous government also saw the opportunities that the

games would bring for British Columbia — and for Canada, for that matter.

Just a

second. I have to go to the next meeting. How much more do I have?

Deputy

Speaker: Seven minutes.

Hon. T.

Nebbeling: Well, that is seven minutes of quick talk about the Olympics,

because I'm very excited about it.

The thing

is that the previous government, to their credit, did invest a small amount of

money in the bid structure. Of course, when we became the government, we started

to put more focus on the Olympic opportunities that would be available to us as

a province and the benefits that it would bring to the province.

[1500]

First of

all, a major benefit is that every young athlete in the world, once in a

lifetime, dreams about competing in an Olympic event. Almost every young athlete

has that. For us in this province to be able to host these young athletes and

see them compete with our own young athletes — British Columbians, Canadians,

North Americans — is going to be a very unique opportunity that many countries

would like to have

[ Page 4935 ]

and only a few can have. We as a government have put a lot behind the bid

through financial assistance and certainly through a lot of activities by the

Premier, who at every occasion he has had an opportunity to speak to groups has

talked about the Olympics.

What will

the Olympics do? A lot of our economic recovery plan includes new economic

stimulants, and I talked about tourism as one. Expo was a tremendous tourism

boost. It was lasting jobs. We continue to believe we can do much more in the

tourism area in British Columbia, exposing British Columbia to the world through

the media exposure you get with the Olympics. That is not only during the 17

days and the 14 days for the Paralympic Games; it is starting right now. When

you travel in Europe or in Asia, there are already programs focused on British

Columbia as a potential candidate for the games. That will intensify.

That's an

incredible and powerful tool to showcase British Columbia and what we can do in

British Columbia. It is a powerful tool to showcase our land mass, our

mountains, our forests. We can showcase how we in this province harvest our

timber and show that we have a vibrant forest industry, as we're going in that

direction again with the changes in the regulations, and also that we harvest

our trees in a very environmentally responsible way.

We have an

opportunity to showcase to the world what we can do with the wood. The wood

manufacturing sector has tremendous potential that we have never tapped into. We

fully intend to take that opportunity from the Olympics here and world exposure

to showcase what we can do with wood. We are trying to ensure that when the

venues are built for the Olympic Games, there is a lot of wood in the venues, so

again people will see it. That will, in my opinion, give a lot of attention to

an industry that has tremendous potential for global distribution. That is just

another opportunity to see the economy of British Columbia move forward and

create jobs.

Jobs create

tax. Tax is revenue for the provincial government. It is the revenue to the

provincial government and the increase of revenue that comes from all these

economic stimulants, which will ultimately guarantee that we can continue to

fund our education system with the funds needed for the best education system

possible. It is, again, the guarantee that we can continue to focus on spending

in health care, to have the dollars we need to have the very best health care

program anywhere available to British Columbians.

Mr.

Speaker, I touched on a lot of stuff quickly. It is an exciting time to be part

of the government. It is an exciting time to be working for British Columbians.

It's a very exciting time to see the world come back to British Columbia because

they believe this is a place not only to come and visit but to invest in as

well. This budget certainly has helped to give that message wherever it is

heard, and we are on the right way.

Thank you

very much for the opportunity to speak to the budget.

P. Wong:

British Columbia is a province blessed with potential through its natural and

human resources. Our forests have provided jobs and have been the backbone of

our economy for hundreds of years. Our oceans, lakes and rivers have sustained

the fishery and have contributed to the economy and transportation system

throughout our province for just as long. Our people are committed,

hard-working, honest and integral to our province's success.

[1505]

Today we

find ourselves again on the cusp of history. We have to make decisions and

implement regulatory policy and legislative changes not only that reflect our

values but also that can sustain our natural resources and economy for

generations to come. The government made this recognition clear in the throne

speech. No area was overlooked; no sector forgotten. That being said, the

changes ahead will not always be easy, and they will not be universally

accepted. However, based on conversations I have had with my constituents and

with British Columbians throughout the province, I'm confident that we are all

on the same page and that we are all working towards the same goal — a British

Columbia that meets the needs of all its citizens, while protecting our natural

resources and diversifying our economy to ensure the long-term viability of

both.

As a

father, a husband, an employer and now a member of this House, I can tell you

that I think of nothing else as I fulfil my duties and responsibilities to this

province. As a father, I want to leave a legacy for my children — sectors like

forestry, fishing, mining and tourism that support employment for decades; an

economy that promotes entrepreneurship, investment and success; and access to

our province's best minds and skill sets to keep us moving forward in a global

economy; a health care system that is financially viable, responsive to the

needs of its users, or patients, and that offers services in a timely manner; an

education system that assists our children to reach their full potential and to

prepare them for the knowledge economy; and a province that supports seniors and

provides opportunities for all citizens to contribute to our society.

We must

make long-term and strategic investments in all of these sectors to make these

goals a reality. The government has begun to make those important investments,

and all British Columbians will benefit. We must start by increasing the number

of investments and capital coming into the province. Since 1997, B.C. has lost

31 head offices from the companies that once ranked in the top 100 of B.C.

firms. That is one-third of our corporate head offices, because these companies

have not been replaced. B.C. has been eclipsed and now ranks fourth in the

country in terms of head offices with only 144 of the top 1,000 Canadian

companies. We rank behind Ontario, Alberta and Quebec.

As Mr.

Terrance K. Salman, chair of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, said

recently, the province must do more to encourage head offices to set up in B.C.

through the use of incentives and tax breaks. The business community must also

do its share to encourage business to move here. I fully agree with him

[ Page 4936 ]

that one of the most important ways of achieving this is to improve the

capital market by helping firms raise capital for small and medium-size

organizations, which are critical to our economic health.

In B.C., 95

percent of businesses have fewer than 50 employees. Two-thirds of new jobs were

created by small business. I'm pleased to see that the Finance minister, in his

budget, has addressed the need to do more to improve access to venture capital

and public funding. The capital market can be operated in an orderly and

efficient manner with adequate protection to the public, as well as less

cumbersome legal and financial requirements that hinder its development. The

Minister of State for Deregulation has already looked into ways to dispense with

the burdensome regulations.

B.C., being

located closest to the Pacific Rim, will benefit if it becomes an international

financial centre in Canada. I understand that the government is working towards

that goal. The Premier has envisioned making B.C. a high-tech province, which

will help sustain and protect the high standard of living of all British

Columbians. There are many more new high-tech companies that will need financing

to do research and compete with global partners.

[1510]

There's

lots of venture capital supply around the world, and they may consider B.C. as a

place to invest. Investment money is mobile. In order to attract investors here

over the long term, we need to provide a competitive environment and rebuild

confidence in our province.

Ultimately,

this will create more job opportunities in all sectors. The increased income

will stimulate internal consumption, raise the standard of living and enhance

our GDP. A corresponding increase in government revenue will mean more strategic

investments in health and education and the flexibility to carry out more

affordable social programs for the benefit of all British Columbians.

Making this

investment means making some challenging decisions in the short term. I'm

confident that British Columbians will rise to the challenge. In South Korea

during the Asian financial crisis a few years ago, many citizens were so

passionate about change and economic recovery that they were even willing to

give up their savings to help the government meet its financial obligations.

While that was not necessary, it demonstrated the commitment of its people and

showed that people can pull together when it counts. South Korea is now fully on

the way to economic recovery.

While the

government will not be asking that of British Columbians, I would ask everyone

to bear with the government during this challenging time. Mr. Speaker, I say to

the people of British Columbia, through you, that we all need to pull together

right now as our government is heading in the right direction. We will see the

light at the end of the tunnel. With determination and commitment from the

Premier and a government that envisions our province being more competitive in

the global environment, I'm sure all British Columbians will meet the short-term

challenges and look forward to the legacy they will leave to future generations.

Our

forestry sector continues to be a vital segment of our economy. The Premier,

working with the cabinet and all MLAs, has been a strong advocate for this

industry. He has attended a number of trade missions to Asia and other locales

to internationally advertise B.C.'s market-leading products, forestry practices

and strategic research. The province has signed several memoranda of

understanding with important partners in China and the rest of Asia and has

worked in close collaboration with stakeholders from B.C.'s forestry sector to

ensure multisectoral input.

This year

the government will introduce legislation to establish a working forest land

base throughout the province. This will help to ensure the viability of the

industry across the province and throughout the years. Already, the government

has acted to protect this vital industry. Last year changes were made to the

Forest Practices Code, with a results-based code that sets standards in law but

provides greater flexibility for forestry companies to decide how to meet these

standards. Given the expertise that our forestry companies and workers have,

this is an important step in achieving accountability and real results in the

sector.

Canada and

B.C. produce some of the world's best timber, and given the exchange rate of

Canadian dollars against both the euro and the U.S. dollar, B.C.'s position as a

world-leading exporter of lumber is bound to increase. As international treaties

responsibility for the softwood lumber agreement with the United States and any

other trade activities related to this agreement.

The World

Trade Organization has twice sided with Canada in the dispute, and the

government of British Columbia remains committed to working with our federal and

provincial counterparts to negotiate a deal not only that is fair to Canada but

also that fully represents the interests of B.C. forestry workers and their

families. This year the government will make changes to the stumpage system to

ensure market-based rates that are regionally sensitive and socially

responsible.

[1515]

Housing

starts in both Canada and the United States are up, meaning a greater demand for

lumber. B.C. can help fill that demand, but only if our products and our workers

are appropriately recognized, respected and remunerated for their valuable

contributions.

Tourism is

an important sector in British Columbia for a number of reasons. First, it

allows visitors from all over the world to come to our province and experience

firsthand the scenic beauty, the diversity of culture and the passion of its

citizens that B.C. is known for. Second, it is an important segment of the

provincial economy, accounting for billions of dollars in annual revenue.

We have a

number of opportunities to capitalize on this important part of the economy.

First, Vancouver-

[ Page 4937 ]

Whistler is one of the three cities short-listed to host the 2010 Winter

Olympics. To be able to host these games would provide an unparalleled

opportunity to showcase our province to the world. Millions of people will come

to see the sights and the games firsthand, and billions more will watch on

television.

We already

know that B.C. is the best province to live and work in all of Canada. Soon the

world will know the same thing. Thousands of jobs will be created, and the games

will inject billions of dollars in new investment and economic activity into the

province.

Skeptics

may say: "Aren't the Olympic Games a waste of taxpayers' dollars? How can

we actually quantify the exposure B.C. will receive in hard economic

terms?" My response is this: there is more to it. Prior to 1998 very few

people knew where Nagano was. Now most people will tell you it is in Japan and

was host to the Winter Olympics. The same situation applies to Lillehammer,

Norway, in 1994; Albertville, France, in 1992; and countless other examples. If

we are to become a world leader, then we must truly open ourselves up to the

world. The 2010 Olympics is a catalyst and an ideal way to make this happen.

Technology,

education and innovation are key to B.C.'s success over the long term. The

government is committed to making strategic investments in education at all

levels — from the early years through grade and high school to post-secondary

education and to the end of life. We have a ministry that is solely devoted to

children and families, which last year made a number of critical investments in

early child development that have already reaped significant benefits.

Deputy

Speaker: Member, I'm going to interrupt your speech for just one second.

Hon. K.

Falcon: Thank you, fellow member. I seek leave to make an introduction.

Leave

granted.

Introductions by Members

Hon. K.

Falcon: Today we are joined in the galleries by 27 grade 5 elementary

students from Surrey Centre Elementary School. They are joined by their teacher,

Ms. Scarlett, along with seven parents, and I would ask that members of the

House please make them all welcome here today.

[1520]

Debate Continued

P. Wong:

In partnership with B.C.'s four universities, health and school boards, and

community partners, the ministry has reallocated early child development

services and programs to where they are most needed. I'm pleased to hear in the

budget that the inner-city school funding program will be maintained. This shows

that the successful advocacy effort of my constituents has received the

government's attention and required action. More importantly, B.C. has emerged

as a Canadian leader in early child development issues, in large part due to the

University of British Columbia's human early learning partnership, or HELP.

HELP, led by one of Canada's foremost early child researchers, Dr. Clyde

Hertzman, is in the process of mapping the entire province to determine what

factors — social, biological and emotional — influence child development

where populations of vulnerable children reside and how early child development

programs and interventions affect early child development. The results are

staggering and are making a real difference to our most precious resource — children. I encourage everyone to check out the results of this fascinating work

at www.earlylearning.ubc.ca. Early child development is the first step in

ensuring that all British Columbians reach their potential. Early investments

can mitigate longer-term and more costly interventions later in life.

For

school-age children, the government is making strategic investments and changes.

New measures will be taken to ensure that our high school graduates have the

skills they need to go on to higher education and for life after school.

Universities, colleges and private training institutions are the backbone of

preparing our citizens for the knowledge economy. The government is committed to

supporting these avenues of growth. In addition to establishing the leading-edge

endowment fund, the government recently announced the B.C. regional innovation

chairs program to create 20 new research chairs throughout the province.

Research

and its correlated activities are imperative to shaping the knowledge society

and maintaining its momentum over time. Research is a catalyst for change and

positive growth and functions as a magnet to attract the best and brightest

minds of our time. It attracts students and, most importantly, graduate students

who will become our future leaders.

We must

also look internally at the abundance of expertise and skills that exists in

every corner of the province. B.C. is fortunate to have a steady influx of new

immigrants who bring with them incredible expertise. This is badly needed at a

time when our country is facing a severe shortage of skilled labour and when a

generation of baby-boomers is set to retire within these two decades. They will

take their professional skills and expertise with them into retirement, leaving

a significant dent in the labour force.

I am

pleased that the government has not only protected the education budget but also

invested an additional $200 million to ensure that students are able to cope

with the new challenges in the future. The government has sought consultation

and input and has paved the way to reintroducing technician and apprentice

training programs in various trades. This will accelerate the supply of

qualified workers to meet the increasing needs of our many business sectors. At

the same time, the government will create opportunities and build a better

bridge to younger workers and new

[ Page 4938 ]

immigrants so they can enter the workforce more quickly and contribute to

B.C.'s economy.

The

government remains committed to providing educational opportunities to its

citizens, regardless of income or social status. We will protect education and

continue to invest in it, leading to opportunities for all British Columbians.

Health care

is the number one issue in my riding and tops the agenda of most British

Columbians. We are all aware that the health care system is in crisis and is not

sustainable in its current form. We are all aware that major systemic changes

have to be made to the health care system. How do we do that without

marginalizing current users? As it is, patients are waiting months to have

claims processed, to have surgery, to see specialists and to be diagnosed —

let alone be treated. It's difficult to justify to someone who has worked hard

one's entire life and needs to wait long to have an X-ray, to see an oncologist

or to have tests that may save one's life. As an MLA, I have to answer these

questions from my constituents every day.

[1525]

Like many

others, I was elected on a platform of change, and change for the better is what

I intend to accomplish. The government recognizes how important the health care

system is and is prepared to make investments to ensure its long-term

sustainability.

That being

said, the investments will be made only when there is structural change to

accommodate and implement these changes. In its current form, investing straight

cash into the health care system is like throwing good money after bad. It

certainly cannot meet today's needs, let alone our needs down the road.

The

government has taken steps to reform the health care system, abiding by the

principles of the Canada Health Act. It will continue to work in collaboration

with stakeholders, patients, communities and others to implement change in a

fair, responsible and least intrusive manner.

One such

example of this is the Fair Pharmacare plan, which will be introduced in the

coming weeks. It will mean many seniors with low income will pay less than they

do for their prescription drugs now. For the first time ever, young families

with lower income will have their drug costs supported. Changes will also be

made to strengthen other health care services and programs, including the B.C.

Ambulance Service and community living B.C.

Seniors are

an incredibly important part of our society. In my riding they are one of the

most active and vibrant groups that I regularly work with. I am constantly

amazed by their level of dedication to the community and by the wonderful ideas

they have.

It was a

group of senior citizens in my riding that first approached me about building an

all-weather shelter in South Memorial Park. This park is frequented by many

residents who use the facilities for exercise, education, art exhibits, picnics

and more. However, the park had no shelter to protect users from Vancouver's

inclement weather. This group approached me about a year ago to see if we could

raise funds to construct a building to enhance the park's user-friendliness and

to make it safer. I'm pleased to report that through their fundraising and

lobbying efforts, the city of Vancouver has approved the application to fund the

shelter and has contributed towards part of the cost of construction.

Applications with the governments of B.C. and Canada are still pending for the

remaining cost.

Seniors

have also come to my office to voice their concerns about service cuts, health

care, street safety and transportation. We have worked together on all of these

issues, and I will continue to engage this important group in all of the issues

affecting our riding.

I was

incredibly pleased the government recognized the importance of seniors to our

province and was especially happy to hear about the seniors and youth congress,

which will bring together two important groups in our society to address issues

facing us all. As the Lieutenant-Governor said, the government wants to build a

bridge between the generations where the enthusiasm and the new ideas of youth

are tempered by the wisdom of experience.

Finally, I

would like to comment on the government's plan to enhance B.C.'s transportation

infrastructure. The importance of these networks cannot be overstated. What is

the point of having globally competitive goods and services if we cannot get

them to the market in a timely and efficient manner? Why make strategic

investments in the regions of the province if we are not connected to those

regions with appropriate infrastructure?

[1530]

The

government has recognized the critical need to enhance and improve our roads,

railways and other transportation infrastructure. As we move forward making an

investment in forestry, tourism and other resource industries, we need to have

the mechanisms in place that will make these investments pay dividends; that is,

we need roads that are safe and reliable for all communities, not just where the

bulk of the populace resides. We need rail options that connect remote

communities with ports, airports and other major hubs to ensure that products

and services from all corners of the province reach their destinations. We need

to enhance our ports and airports, making them international gateways and

enhancing the services they offer not only to British Columbians but also to

visitors to our province. Transportation is an incredibly important part of our

economy. When we discuss making investments in one, we must make investments in

the other so that this symbiotic relationship continues to flourish and reap

rewards for our province.

I am very

pleased that the government has begun to tackle the province's transportation

system in the budget, something that was long overdue. This will serve to

connect the heartlands and the lower mainland not just physically but also

digitally. Goods and valuable resources will flow more smoothly and efficiently

across the province, and the safety of all citizens will be greatly enhanced

with a better maintained road network. This will no doubt reduce transportation

costs in

[ Page 4939 ]

the long run and will increase the competitiveness of our resources in the

global market.

British

Columbia is recognized as the gateway to Asia-Pacific. Vancouver ports and

airports, of course, will become the gateways to British Columbia.

The world

today is a challenging place. Technology has increased the speed at which we

conduct business, exchange knowledge and visit other places. Yet it has also

hampered our ability to make strategic, long-term investments as everything

demands a "right now" response. The budget and the throne speeches are

necessary tools to outline the government's overall objectives and the

strategies needed to achieve those objectives.

While

concurrently moving forward to implement these changes and continue to build our

province, we must take time to plan for the long term. We must find a way to

make technology work for us, not the other way around, and we must find a way to

bridge technology with our goals so that they are working in tandem with one

another, not in opposition to one another.

We have the

tools, the knowledge and the natural and human resources to restore B.C.'s

economy and to succeed in leaving a lasting legacy for our children and

grandchildren. The government is committed to this goal. My colleagues in this

House are committed to this goal. My constituents are committed to this goal,

and I am committed to this goal. With our blueprint in hand we can now move

forward to implement these changes and to evaluate their impact. We will keep

what works and change what doesn't. Most importantly, we will work together to

achieve these goals and to succeed.

The energy,

passion and commitment that British Columbians are renowned for still exist. It

is evident in every home, on every street and in every community across the

province. We must now work together to channel that passion and effect positive

change. British Columbia needs each and every one of us at this critical point

in our history. I know we will rise to the challenge.

Hon. J.

Murray: Today I have the privilege of speaking in response to the budget. I

congratulate our Premier and the Minister of Finance. I am very pleased to

respond to a budget that shows we are meeting our primary objectives as a

government.

There's a

golden thread woven throughout this week's budget speech and the February 11

throne speech. This thread ties together the messages about opening up British

Columbia. It's woven throughout the vision of this government. It weaves through

every day's work of each member of this House. That golden thread is our deep

commitment, the one that we all have in common: our commitment to improving

people's lives in British Columbia.

[1535]

In my

remarks I'll be speaking about the budget. I'll be speaking about New

Westminster, about our various strategies, our heartlands economic strategy,

some of the great initiatives that we've put in place over the past year and

that we will be putting in place. But underlying all of those thoughts is our

commitment to improving people's lives in British Columbia. We who govern have

been elected to improve people's lives. That's what the public expects of

government. It's why we, the members, choose to run for office. It's our

government's underlying motive for all of the changes that we are making. It's

my commitment to my constituents in New Westminster.

Over the

past 20 months we have been busy weaving, and in the coming years a tapestry of

change will emerge. Whether the policy is an immediate change or whether it's

change over the long term, whether it's simple or complicated, whether it's

about balancing the budget or about funding early childhood programs for first

nations people, at the foundation of each change that this government is making

is the overriding objective of improving people's lives.

One of the

first tasks that our government had was to turn the economy around and to reduce

government spending to affordable levels. I am very proud that our government's

plan is working. The 2003-04 budget shows that we are on track, we are ahead of

schedule, and our prudent planning and management of people's hard-earned tax

dollars are already paying dividends. These dividends will enable our government

to continue making strategic investments for patients, for students and for

people in need in the coming year. These are investments that improve people's

lives.

In my

remarks today I'm going to talk to you about six specific aspects of improving

people's lives in B.C. and in my home of New Westminster. First, I'm going to

talk about improving people's lives by serving basic needs — needs of

patients, of students, of the vulnerable. Next I'm going to talk about improving

people's lives by creating an environment that promotes financial stability,

then about improving people's lives by strengthening families. Fourth, I'm going

to talk about improving people's lives by strengthening communities and, fifth,

about improving people's lives by having a healthy physical and natural

environment. Lastly, I'm going to talk about improving people's lives by giving

people reasons to be optimistic, to be excited about their future.

First, I'm

going to talk a bit about my community of New Westminster and about our

connection to the heartlands of British Columbia. Our Premier talked about

opening up British Columbia, and one of the key initiatives is our new

heartlands economic strategy. What is our heartlands economic strategy? It is a

strategy that recognizes that we have a province of spectacular and diverse

landscapes that contain abundant natural resources and that these natural

resources provide the core of the jobs and the wealth our province enjoys. It's

a strategy to coordinate government initiatives; to strengthen communities

outside the urban centres; to improve conditions for people who live and work in

those districts, towns and villages; to recognize their importance and their

contribution to the entire province. It's a strategy that will improve the lives

of people across the province and people in New West-

[ Page 4940 ]

minster, who will also benefit from a thriving heartlands economy.

Our city,

New Westminster, is actually home to five forest products mills that depend on a

vital heartlands economy and a strong forest economy. New Westminster has many,

many businesses that serve heartlands industries like mining, fishing and

tourism. These businesses and the service businesses that support them will all

benefit from the heartlands economic strategy. It's time to bring together and

strengthen the many, many initiatives that this government has already

undertaken and will be undertaking in all of the remote and resource communities

across the province.

New

Westminster was once the essence of a remote, resource-based heartlands

community. It was the home of a first nations community. It was the frontier

lands for European newcomers. They were the survivors, the doers, the

adventurers of those times, the self-reliant builders. Now New Westminster

nestles in the very centre of our largest urban metropolis.

[1540]

Improving

people's lives in places like New Westminster is also a priority for our

government. Living sustainably in a more and more densely populated area, an

urban area, while maintaining quality of life for people is an enormous

challenge, and this challenge is not unique to the Royal City. It's faced in

cities around the world across provincial, national and international

boundaries. In fact, demographers predict that in developed and less developed

countries alike, virtually all of the population growth over the next 50 years

will take place in urban centres like greater Vancouver, like the Royal City.

This makes our focus on improving people's lives in our cities particularly

important.

Now, I

predict that we will meet the sustainability and quality-of-life challenges.

With the changes our government is making, working hand in hand with other

levels of government, New Westminster will once again have a chance to regain

the position it once had, its position as a vibrant and thriving centre, its

position as a commercial and economic powerhouse for this province. In 50 years,

I predict, New Westminster will be an even more desirable place to make a home.

Despite our growth, despite our density, New Westminster will still be a place

where people care about their neighbours and care about making their city a

better place to live.

It's an

immense privilege to represent New Westminster as its Member of the Legislative

Assembly. I want to thank the residents of the Royal City for their confidence

in me and their confidence in our government's new-era platform.

New

Westminster is also known as the Royal City, and this name reflects our proud

heritage and the history that saturates our city. "Royal" can also

mean magnificent. New Westminster does have a very rich variety of people,

places and activities, and our people have a diversity of origins. European,

aboriginal, Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, Korean, Romanian — these are just

some of our backgrounds. These characteristics make New Westminster magnificent.

Lying in the epicentre of the greater developed Fraser River delta area, it's

without a doubt the most liveable community in British Columbia.

As the MLA

my job is varied, and every day brings opportunities to meet people, to learn

from them, to find ways to solve problems with and for them and to acknowledge

them and share their excitement in their successes. Those are some of the parts

of the job of an MLA.

The

foundation of my job, the reason I ran for office, is to improve people's lives.

My job is to hear people's views about an issue, impress those views on other

members of government and help bring about positive changes. That's what I'm

doing in my work to make sure that St. Mary's Hospital has a vital future in our

health region.

My job is

to provide recognition of achievements, celebrating student graduations and

presenting awards and medals. My job is to help people access the government

services that they're eligible to receive but are not getting, like the family

whose MSP coverage was blocked by bureaucracy, which meant that they personally

faced paying $2,000 in medical fees for the delivery of their baby. My job is to

bring people together to solve problems, like the meeting last week between our

front-line addiction counsellors and the minister responsible for addictions to

talk about the importance of effective abstinence-based programs.

My job is

to work with other representatives, with the mayor, with council, with the MP,

so that together we can expedite new projects and opportunities that will

improve people's lives in New Westminster. My job as an MLA means both helping

individuals to be served and helping organizations to do a good job of serving.

Lastly, my job is to be part of a team — a team led by our Premier, a team

that has a plan to improve people's lives in the entire province, a team that's

following this plan and, as our budget shows, that is already seeing positive

results.

[1545]

I said

earlier that I would touch on six different aspects of improving people's lives

and what that means for New Westminster and British Columbia. First, this

government is working to meet basic needs such as health care, education and

services for the most vulnerable.

Let me

describe one of the challenges in improving people's lives in New Westminster.

Last spring St. Mary's Hospital received notice that its funding contract was to

be cancelled. Unfortunately, this decision was taken by our local health

authority without proper consultation with the hospital board or owners. St.

Mary's is one of B.C.'s oldest public-private partnerships, founded when New

Westminster was a heartland outpost, and it has served our community and served

our region for well over 100 years.

Last month

I had a chance to visit the hospital for a second time, and the squeaky-clean

hallways, the attentive staff, the top-notch medical equipment bought by the

local foundation and the dedication and pride of people working at St. Mary's

Hospital were obvious as

[ Page 4941 ]

we walked each floor of the building. New Westminster is also privileged to

be home to the Royal Columbian Hospital. We're proud to have Royal Columbian

Hospital, one of the foremost complex care hospitals in B.C., in our community.

It's an excellent organization.

However,

St. Mary's Hospital has a special place in the hearts of the people of New

Westminster. It has a well-deserved reputation for its centres of surgical

excellence. It has a track record of reducing costs while maintaining quality of

care, for the dedication of its doctors and staff, and for its ability to adapt

to changing needs. St. Mary's Hospital has a great deal to offer in improving

people's lives, especially those of our seniors, and that's why I've been

working to bring the St. Mary's message to government decision-makers since I

was first elected.

The

community of New Westminster and especially the staff and the doctors at St.

Mary's Hospital have been facing a very difficult time of uncertainty. What was

especially challenging was the fact that the relationships and the communication

between the hospital and the health authority have been strained for decades. To

save the special benefits of this unique hospital, a better relationship was

needed between the leaders of the two organizations. A shift was needed from a

strained relationship to a new relationship of trust, openness and constructive

solution-finding. I've made it my goal to help bring about that shift.

Following

the notice of cancellation, I brought to government the messages from New

Westminster residents and others in our region. I made my view clear in Victoria

that a productive role for St. Mary's Hospital would be mutually beneficial for

the community, for the patients and for the health region's service and fiscal

plan. But to get there would take breaking the communication logjam. To begin

this process, I invited 42 people to attend a community dialogue on St. Mary's

Hospital, and this was a chance for the health authority and ministry executives

to, for the first time, hear directly from the hospital groups in the community.

When a

review panel was being formulated to review the reasonableness of the

cancellation of St. Mary's contract, I worked with all the parties to broaden

the panel's scope so that constructive proposals by St. Mary's could be

discussed rather than having a narrow assessment of the contract cancellation

decision. Last month I was able to bring the Minister of Health Services to New

Westminster to tour the hospital and meet with the board chair and the new CEO

of St. Mary's.

I am

pleased to say that the shift to constructive communication appears to be

happening. Discussions are going well. The hospital's new CEO and the new Fraser

health authority team are working to design a win-win plan so that the hospital

can continue to serve the needs of patients in our region and in our community.

People who know St. Mary's Hospital know that it's the kind of organization that

improves people's lives, and that's why I have been working for it for over 20

months. This is consistent with the goal of our government to improve and reform

the public health care system, so it will be there to serve our needs in the

future.

[1550]

Under the

leadership of our Premier, the province has negotiated a major improvement in

federal health care funding for British Columbia. Mr. Speaker, I am amazed when

I read or hear criticisms that our government has cut the health care budget. In

fact, our government, under the leadership of our Premier, has invested more

than $1 billion in the Health Services budget this fiscal year compared with

last year. In the future, every single dollar of the new federal health funding

will be directed to improving patient care. We made sure our nurses and doctors

are amongst the highest paid in the country so that more of them are now staying

to care for patients in British Columbia. We are significantly increasing

training spaces for new doctors and nurses. We are investing in a new life

sciences centre at UBC, in Victoria and in Prince George so that our research

and training can be leading edge. We are at the forefront of provincial reforms

to improve health information and increase service accountability. Our

government is committed to improving people's lives through better patient care,

and that is exactly what we are doing.

Education

is also a basic need. We have a great education system in British Columbia, and

making it even better improves people's lives. Two weeks ago I attended a

meeting of the New Westminster school trustees and committee members, who were

working through their strategic planning process for the district. There were

school trustees, administrators, employees, union members and parents, and all

were working together to find ways to improve the achievement of our students.

This is

what I witnessed. I witnessed a group of people who were focused on student

achievement. Parents were deeply involved. The new planning councils were

becoming a reality. Greater choice was happening as our trustees used their new

budget flexibility to add early French immersion programming for the first time

in New Westminster.

Provincewide

our school boards do face challenges, especially with enrolments declining. New

Westminster has some special challenges such as the aboriginal graduation rates,

which are really far below acceptable levels. However, our government is

committed to having an exemplary education for B.C. children, aboriginal and

non-aboriginal alike, and we have strategies for achieving that. We have new

mechanisms for parent involvement, we have improved accountabilities for

schools, we have three-year budgets with increased flexibility, and we are

increasing per-student funding for education in the coming school year.

That's not

all. Our government has just announced a $50 million grant to school boards,

which means that over half a million dollars will go to the New Westminster

school district to help meet board objectives. Our Premier, in this week's

budget, is committing a further $100 million over three years to increase the

core edu-

[ Page 4942 ]

cation budget. Social equity funding, so important to the New Westminster

community, is continuing to the end of the year and will continue beyond that to

provide services to the most vulnerable children in our schools.

The second

aspect I mentioned at the start of this address is improving lives by creating

an environment that brings financial stability for people — financial

stability by revitalizing the economy and job opportunities; financial stability

by reducing government spending in order to reduce deficits, debt and interest

costs. Our government's promise, our strategies, our plans and our ministries

are directed to improving people's lives by returning financial stability to

this province, and it's working.

New

Westminster has some special challenges in making the transition from a thriving

downtown of decades ago to the city it is becoming today. In some parts of the

city, businesses have been struggling. Storefronts are empty. What were once

busy sidewalks are quiet. Sapperton, 20th Street, 12th Street, Columbia Street

and the Quay all face some challenges. A thriving economy provincially will help

weave a thriving diversity of commerce back into our neighbourhoods in New

Westminster, and this is beginning to happen.

[1555]

Like many

people in the Royal City, I enjoy meeting friends on the weekend over a cup of

tea or coffee in a small café. As I walk the few blocks from my office to the

Royal City Centre, I now have a number of new café choices, new businesses that

enliven 6th Street. That's just a small snapshot of the new opportunities that

are emerging as our economy starts to pick up again. From 2001 to the present

day we have seen 89 new businesses locate in New Westminster. They created 382

new jobs, and they generated over $6 million in direct investment in our city.

Housing

starts in the Royal City in 2002 were up 70 percent compared with 2001. City

hall issued $33 million worth of building permits in the first half of 2002.

This was up 54 percent from the same period the previous year. Jobs and

investment in New Westminster increase personal opportunity and financial

stability. They improve people's lives.

Our

provincial government decisions are helping to strengthen New Westminster's

institutions and financial stability. We have approved over $5 million for a

capital expansion at Douglas College that will create jobs in our city. This

means we can accept more students into our college, reduce course waiting lists,

and more young people will graduate as nurses and computer specialists from

Douglas College in the future. Almost $3 million in funding was allocated last

year for a Justice Institute capital program, which will create 35 construction

jobs.

Government

can't create economic prosperity, but it can certainly create the conditions

that attract private sector investment and jobs into the province. That's what

we're doing, and that's what's working. B.C.'s economy in 2002 grew by close to

three times as much as forecast. We were the leader among provinces in housing

starts and job growth, and we created almost 80,000 new jobs in the year 2002.

Our

Premier's leadership has also resulted in a remarkable and historic event. This

fiscal year, for the first time in 50 years, every single ministry is completing

the year on or under budget. That accomplishment symbolizes our determination to

eliminate the deficit in the 2004-05 budget. As we reduce government spending,

as the economy revives and deficits transform to surpluses in the near future,

we will lower the province's interest costs and begin to have more funds and

more choices for improving people's lives.

A number of

our Premier's initiatives will increase this momentum — from the heartlands

economic strategy to the transportation strategy and, I am very proud to add, to

the new era of first nations reconciliation and economic initiatives that were

outlined in the throne speech and the budget. This set of reforms to improve

first nations' lives are long awaited, they're critically needed, and they are

unprecedented in British Columbia. These initiatives will create the foundation

for opening up opportunity for first nations people. They will be the turning

point that British Columbians — aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike — have

hoped for, for many years.

These

initiatives include funding to support aboriginal involvement in oil and gas,

tourism, forestry, fish aquaculture and the Olympic bid. They include enhanced

funding for aboriginal post-secondary education, early childhood education,

child care and programs to protect aboriginal languages. They include access to

logging and forest opportunities, comanagement of parks and recreational

services.

For the

first time in B.C. history, the government has budgeted for natural resource

revenue-sharing for first nations — a significant initiative. Our Premier and

our Attorney General are leading the way in building a new relationship between

government and first nations. The throne speech has a historic government

expression of respect, recognition and regret for the way governments of all

stripes have failed first nations people in British Columbia.

This budget

has measures that will ensure first nations economic opportunities which will

support our economic revitalization goals right across this province. These are

important first steps. They are the path to the negotiation of treaties that

will provide certainty, finality and equality, and without a doubt, treaties

will improve the lives of both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in British

Columbia.

[1600]

The third

aspect of government's commitment to improving people's lives that I want to

speak about is strengthening our families. Our government is putting in place

programs to strengthen families because healthy, stable families nurture and

support each other and increase each member's chance of success and fulfillment.

Having stable, healthy families who support each other improves people's lives.

There is an

unfortunate reality that when government spending is reduced, some programs and

services

[ Page 4943 ]

that used to be available are also reduced. That affects people, both service

providers and their clients, who have depended on that government's support. Our

government is committed to making every one of the public's hard-earned tax

dollars count. Programs that were routinely funded year by year now must show

how they can actually measure results and effectiveness. Available funds are now

being carefully targeted where they will have the most value. In the short term,

we are bringing forward a number of positive new initiatives to strengthen

families, and in the long term, all of the families will benefit from the shift

from deficits to surpluses.

I had the

pleasure recently of reading a book to young children at Family Place in

downtown New Westminster. Children that were shy around me, not having met me

before, were curious about the book that I was holding, and soon they were fully

engaged in the story. Family Place is the kind of organization that provides a

variety of supports for people that need it, for parents. It's a place with

books, toys and volunteers to read and play with children. It's a place where

parents can take courses to become a better parent.

Actually, a

few days ago I received a letter from a person who lives in New Westminster who,

as a young parent, had gone to Family Place with her children and had written me

to express just how valuable an asset it was for her and for her family. We know

that a child's young years are very critical to thriving as an adult, and that's

why our government increased funding for early childhood development programs by

$20 million this year. That meant a sevenfold increase in funds for early

intervention into childhood autism. That meant waiting lists for autism

diagnosis decreased by one full year. This strategy provides critical support

for families who need support in order to improve their children's lives.

There are

many initiatives that our government has brought forward and that are in the

budget for supporting families and improving their lives. There has been $110

million earmarked for employment programs for people in need over the coming

year. A new child and youth mental health strategy was announced recently, which

will coordinate much more effectively the supports for families of children and

youth with mental health challenges. We're implementing our commitment to fully

fund the $125 million adult mental health plan.

Families

supporting seniors with dementia will benefit in the coming years from new

facilities planned right in New Westminster at Woodlands Hospital, the campus of

care. A new child care funding program announced in this budget will increase

the number of government-supported child care spaces by over 50 percent and will

provide a far more fair and consistent framework for funding child care. The

threshold of eligibility for family child care subsidy has just been raised so

that thousands more low-income families will qualify for subsidies, and this

will especially benefit families in communities like New Westminster, which has

a disproportionate percentage of low-income families.

Over 3,000

new affordable housing spaces have been opened or initiated for low-income

British Columbians, including 29 units at Hillside Place in New Westminster,

opened last October. Since taking office, this government has increased funding

for housing programs by over 2 percent to $142 million this year, and that is

the largest provincial contribution to subsidized housing ever in British

Columbia.

Deputy

Speaker: Minister, your time has expired. I wonder if you could just

conclude your remarks.

[1605]

Hon. J.

Murray: Well, there are a number of other aspects that I could speak about

in terms of our government's initiatives to improving people's lives, and

strengthening communities is amongst them. Our commitment to a clean and healthy

physical and natural environment is something that is very important to the

people of New Westminster, to the province and certainly to me personally.

Deputy

Speaker: Thank you very much.

Hon. J.

Murray: I'm just going to wrap up by saying that I'm proud to be working

with the city of New Westminster to bring forward an initiative to strengthen

New Westminster's involvement in the Olympic Games. I encourage every Vancouver

resident to vote yes this weekend, because the Olympic Games is an opportunity

that won't come around for many, many years.

Mr.

Speaker, I speak through you to the people of British Columbia. Together we have

a lot of work to do and many organizations, regulations and sectors to

transform. But I am proud that our Premier and our government have a commitment

to working with people across this province to meet basic needs, especially

those of the most vulnerable. I'm proud that we have a game plan that is working

for turning our economy around. I am proud that we have mechanisms to strengthen

families and communities. I'm proud of our government's commitment to a

sustainable environment, a commitment that is being made in every ministry. I'm

proud that our government has strategies for opening up opportunities and for

optimism. I'm proud to work together with our Premier, with the other government

members, with the caucus and with all the people of British Columbia towards one

single goal, and that is improving people's lives now and for the future.

Deputy

Speaker: Responding to the budget speech, the member for Powell

River–Sunshine Coast.

H. Long:

I rise today, and I want to thank the Minister of Finance and the Premier, but I

also want to

[ Page 4944 ]

thank all the other ministers for the hard work they've done within the

budgets to keep it on cue — to bring down and get into order our fiscal

responsibilities to this province. I want to thank all my colleagues, the other

MLAs, who work on the GCC committees and the budget committees, as well as all

the other committees that have helped the minister and the Premier and us as a

whole to bring in a budget. Primarily, it's the Premier and the Minister of

Finance, but I want to thank everybody for their participation. I know it's been

pretty hard.

I also want

to thank the people of my riding in Powell River–Sunshine Coast for the

opportunity to be here today to speak in this House on their behalf to the

budget speech, as well as the Premier's address and the throne speech. It seems

to me.…

An Hon.

Member: You have great people out there in Powell River.

H. Long:

We have great people in Powell River, believe me. There are a lot of great

people.

I want to

go back a ways, where one of the members opposite would probably understand —

the Minister of Labour — back to 1983. That's when Bill Bennett was in power.

That was the first time this province had been in a restraint program. In fact,

it's the first time in Canada that restraint was being practised. He knew at

that time that if they kept spending, they had to tax. If they kept taxing, the

province would fail.

An Hon.

Member: Good leadership there.

[1610]

H. Long:

Good leadership at the time, and we have good leadership today as well. Back in

those days in '83, when he knew he maybe couldn't win the election at the time,

they went into a leadership…. Bill Vander Zalm was brought in as the leader of

the Social Credit Party of the day, and some of us at that time made up that

government. We were part of that government. Being there, we took a look at the

books and at what was happening with the budgets at that time. Because of the

restraint that Bill Bennett had done and because he kept the good fiscal

responsibilities of this province, we had quite a good bank account, so to

speak. The province was fairly rich in economics. The province was really good

in resource extraction, and the moneys were pouring in. It was doing very, very

well because of what he had done prior to….

An Hon.

Member: Eighty-six.

H. Long:

Prior to '86, yes. For the first four years we as Socreds were managing the

budget, keeping budgets on line and having balanced budgets, but we got into

trouble. We got into trouble in the last year because of what happened in the

last year. We had some political problems. I hate to say this, but we as the

Socred government of the day tried to buy our way back in, and it just won't

work. It just won't work.

We did lose

some money, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. When we lost to the NDP,

it started in wholesale losses. Every year for ten consecutive years $2 billion

more than we could pay for was spent — $20 billion of debt.

When we

start adding up that $20 billion of debt and add it to the $20 billion we were

in debt at the time…. With a $40 billion debt today, you're looking at $7.2

million a day just to satisfy the interest and the debt payments. Health is only

$10 million a day. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that we could do

a lot with health if we had another $7.5 million a day.

Saying

that, when I look at the government today after the NDP, what they have done to

our economy and where we have to go…. Someone reminded me today, because I

have a lot of people saying: "Well, why haven't you fixed it? Why isn't it

all done?" Well, it's a long process.

Someone

said to me today that it's just like a diet. When you put weight on, it takes as

long to come off as it did to go on, so it's a long-term plan. We're taking the

weight off a lot faster now than the NDP put it on, so we will balance the

budget in '04-05. I think that's going to be a real positive for B.C.

I also want

to get into something here. Recently the Leader of the Opposition, in her

comments in this House, actually mocked what we claim as the heartlands. What

are the heartlands? The heartlands are anywhere outside of the major city

centres, Victoria and Vancouver — not to put down those major centres.

Victoria and Vancouver are very essential to the economy of the province. They

have a huge, significant input into the province. But I'd like to set the Leader

of the Opposition straight, because I looked up what it said here about what the

definition of heartlands really is. It's the centre or most important part of an

area. Well, the heartlands are probably the centre and the most important part

of British Columbia.

The

heartlands are the most important parts. Why are they the most important parts?

Because they drive the big centres. When you take logging out there in the

heartlands, when you take lumber from the heartlands…. A lot of the logging

that's done in the heartlands is in fact sent to the mills in the big urban

centres where it's cut up, creating the jobs. That's the lumber they produce.

We have the

fishing, and the big plants are in the big urban centres — both commercial and

of course fish farming. They do add to the economy of those areas. Never mind

the sport fishing. They've got somewhere to go out in those heartlands and catch

the fish. They have their holidays and can catch the fish they want. Also, a lot

of the people from the urban areas come into our areas to hunt, holiday and

fish.

Mining is

another huge industry that we have to get going in this province. Ranching, oil

and gas…. Oil and gas are huge — absolutely huge. I think those are the two

things — the oil and gas, the coalbed methane — that are going to help this

province in the future with huge amounts of money, an influx of money, so we can

look at adding to health and to our education.

[ Page 4945 ]

[1615]

Not to sell

it short. We've got pulp and paper, farming, grains and the parks. Most of the

parks are in the heartlands, and the people from the big cities use them. What

does this mean that the heartlands do for the urban areas — that the

heartlands sustain and add to the urban economy? Well, as far as I know — and

I live in the heartlands area — they have the major ports where all the

products are shipped from, in and out of Vancouver. They have the major

railheads where most of the products are coming and going. Most of the head

offices of all the big companies from the heartlands are in the cities, adding

to their economy. Most of the supplies to the heartlands come from those big

centres — our food, our supplies, all the things it takes to drive the system

out there in the heartlands. Most of the major trucking companies are in the

heartlands. I can ask my colleague on my left here. He's a tycoon in the

trucking industry, a tycoon.

Johnston: Typhoon.

H. Long:

Typhoon.

That's

where the oil refineries are. There are some oil refineries. It's brought all

the way down and refined right in the urban areas. Fabrication shops for those

heartland mills that go out there. The machinery that's bought — the trucks,

tractors, graders — are all sold in some of the large urban areas. Airlines,

sawmills, shakes and shingle mills….

We are

integrated, but most of the resources come from the heartlands. I want to set

the Leader of the Opposition straight. If she doesn't know where the heartlands

are, it's time she bloody well learned.

I'd like to

go through a few things too. We were talking about the heartlands, the

investment in transportation and the money we're going to spend on

transportation in the future on roads and things. I understand the upgrading of

all the roads in the province, because this government covers the whole

province. The Kicking Horse Pass needs to be done for safety reasons, and many

of those other projects in these communities — the bridge in the Okanagan and

such…. I want to tell the people: now that we have a budget, we have a gas tax

of 3.5 cents, which people really don't care for but can accept because it's

going to go into rebuilding their roads and highways and the infrastructure that

they need. Part of that, I understand, is in the airports.

Let me

touch on the roads first. In my riding of Powell River–Sunshine Coast we have

a few minor projects that we need to do: the realignment of the Lund highway,

the last 20 to 30 kilometres out to Lund — I'll give a significant reason why

that's a major part of my riding and why it should be brought up to standards

— also from Davis Bay into Sechelt, which is a very dangerous area. It has to

be widened and looked after. They're not big dollars, but they're necessary to

bring to my riding and to make it safe for the people that live there.

Hon. G.

Bruce: Are you lobbying for more work in your area?

H. Long:

Absolutely. I'm lobbying for work in my area, because they deserve it.

When I talk

about the roads and the infrastructure, also in Sechelt ? Powell River's got a

fairly good airport ? I'm going to be asking our government to update the

airport in Sechelt, to work with the municipality of Sechelt. If we can — and

I've talked to Sechelt about this — maybe we can interest Vancouver

International, the YVR, to partner up with the Sechelt group, to partner up with

us, to try and get the infrastructure and the airport brought up to standard so

we can bring in light commercial aircraft to give another means of

transportation for those on the Sunshine Coast into the Vancouver area and other

parts of the province. It's time for that.

Interjection.

H. Long:

I think I'm being misled here on some of the items that they want me to do.

I'm going

to be jumping around a little bit here. One of the issues is with schools and

the education system we have. One of them that came up recently is the community

schools, which are very, very important.

[1620]

We have

seven community schools. The community schools are in Rogers Creek, Gibsons,

Pender Harbour and different places. They are the focal point for the community.

That's where they gather. That's where they do the work. That's where they have

their families and friends come in. They have different functions there. They

have different programs that they put there. They're very, very important to

bring the community together and keep it together. I want to say that I'm proud

of my government saying they're going to continue to fund these. Maybe the

funding will be different in the future, but they're going to continue to fund

them and watch them and make sure they're looked after.

In fact, I

have a letter here which surprises me. It was read out the other day by another

member. It's from the president of the Sechelt teachers association, who agrees

and is happy that we are continuing to fund the community schools. I think it's

important that if these people are working with us…. If the president of the

teachers association is willing to work with us on these issues, I'd like to see

them work harder on making sure that our school budgets are kept in line and

that we can make our other schools work as well as our community schools.

I'm going

to take a minute to gather my thoughts here again.

Mr.

Speaker, we're going to get into another issue; it's people with disabilities.

You know, we have a lot of people in Powell River under what we call PRACL —

Powell River Community Living. It's good to see that we've moved up the

disability amount that they can make to $400 from $200. That's significant for

them. I'm proud to see our government doing these things for these people.

[ Page 4946 ]

This $275

million in the forest transformation fund. I'm not sure how that's going to be,

and I don't know if a lot of my members know how that's going to be dealt out. I

know that on the Sunshine Coast mills have shut down, and they're going to need

some of that funding to bridge their way through these economic times.

Going back

to the schools, to the $42 million, the $50 million and the $100 million

promised to the schools over the next three years. In 2002 and 2003 the funding

has gone up from $584 per student and will be up to $662 per student. Then we

have people saying we're cutting education. Well, that's foolish. Education has

not been cut; health has not been cut. I'm proud to say that there are some

other areas that we have had to cut, which I believe should have been cut.

I'd like to

go now to the budget. Basically, it's on track for a balanced budget. I'd like

to read out some of the things and where they're going for my constituency, and

they can have a good understanding. Increase in Ministry of Education budget of

$143 million over the next three years. Investment of $650 million new dedicated

fuel tax revenue in transportation, which I spoke about earlier, and what I

believe to get some infrastructure from that money to go into our highways and

airports…. I think the most important thing is that we will balance the budget

in 2004 and 2005.

Direct

addition of $1.3 billion in expected three-year federal funding to meet the

health care needs of British Columbia. Well, it's about time the…. Well, I

guess I shouldn't say it's about time. It's good to see that the federal

government is now stepping up to the responsibility to start putting more money

into the health care system here in British Columbia.

[1625]

Some other

things that came to mind, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that when I talked about the

highway to Lund, the structuring is the $30 million we have promised to the

native people to carry their funding on for another year. We have a very

progressive group in Powell River, the Sliammon people. I had a meeting with

them last week. At the end of that road going to Lund, which I want repaired —

every member in this House, I can see, is just ecstatic; they want it done for

me — is a resort called the Lund Hotel, which works together with another

partner and the native band. They resurrected that hotel from something that was

actually going to have to be torn down at one point. It was in shambles; it was

in a terrible state. The native people, with another entrepreneur in Powell

River, have resurrected it to a status so that people now want to be there. They

want to come there. It's a real destination. I'm proud of them for being

involved in the community, and they want to become more involved in the

community.

To my

understanding, talking to the chief last week…. He was telling me they want to

get on with the negotiation. They want to get on with their treaties. They want

to settle up. We came very close, a year and a half ago, to them settling up

their treaty. I look forward to the native people in Powell River, the Sliammon

band, settling up their treaty and starting to work with the community. They are

working with the municipality now, but they work with the whole community and

other people. I think that will be one of the most positive growth things we can

have out there.

I think

that in the long run, economics is probably the driving force for the

heartlands. It's a driving force; it's what we need the most. We have a small

depressed community in Powell River,

whereas the Sunshine Coast — Gibsons,

Sechelt — is fairly busy. They're doing good. They have a good economy. I

think the reason their economy is good is because they're hooked up to the

Vancouver area. But Powell River, with a mill that started out with 2,200 men

and is now down to 600 or 700, is turning into a retirement community, and it

needs some new economic advantages and things to happen.

I don't

want to forget Texada Island either. It's a huge driver of the economy there,

and it brings in a lot of wealth from mining, probably the most active mining

area on the coast for the last 50 or 60 years. It does a great job for this

province.

I want to

continue on and mention the increase in health spending again, going back to

health, because St. Mary's Hospital also needs some upgrading. That's going to

be through the Vancouver coastal health authority. It's very hard to say whether

we'll get the funding or not, because we have to go to them for this. I believe

that St. Mary's should be brought up to standards, because the increased

population on the Sunshine Coast is such that it deserves to have a good, hard

second look at it.

Our areas

also have huge amounts of seniors in them. The budgets coming down from our

ministers are helping with these seniors. There are so many things that have

happened that it's hard to touch on all the things that are needed. But for the

seniors in our area, a new way of delivering the services — with in-home care

for seniors, then assisted living and then, of course, extended care — is

working out very well. I'm looking forward, possibly in the next few months, to

a positive resolve to an issue where multicare seniors homes could be built in

the Gibsons area. I hope that happens. We have a huge amount of seniors.

Recently I

visited an assisted living, because I had a real problem in Powell River when

they said that the Olive Devaud was going to close down and that assisted living

was going to take its place. At the time the announcement was made, the

Vancouver coastal health authority didn't have a real good plan, but right now

it's working out very well.

I went to

the assisted living and talked to the nurse there, Tom. He has 18 people there.

They're the happiest people you'd want to meet. They have their own apartments.

People are living together. They have their dignity; they have their life. They

have their own furniture, and it's much better than being in a one-room

institution. I look forward to maybe the Olive Devaud being converted into

assisted-living facilities in the future. I think that's something the people of

Powell River want, and I hope the studies come in positive in the future for

that facility.

[ Page 4947 ]

[1630]

Of all the

things we do, what this government is trying to do is get our fiscal house in

order, because if it's not in order, as the minister has said, there's nothing

we can do. When I mentioned back in '83, when Bill Bennett did it…. I can see

what's happening today. We have the same dynamics in the Premier of the province

today. He has a vision. He knows which way we're going. He knows why we're going

there, and he wants to take us there. I think we're all on board with the

Premier.

I think

when we look at the necessary things we have to do, of course, health care is

number one. Education is number two. Both of them have had no budget cuts since

this government has taken power. People have to know — and I want to make it

clear to them — that there's a big difference between a budget cut and the

reallocation of money and how we spend it.

Economic

development, to me, is the third issue, and I want to make sure that the

heartlands and the different areas of this province are looked after. That was

dealt with very clearly in the budget, in the throne speech and in the Premier's

address. It's going to take some time to get our budget completely on in '04-05.

I look forward to the day when we can get back to doing the things we have to,

when we can get our debt — not only our fiscal debt — down to where we have

the extra money to spend, to have that $7.2 million a day to spend on the

services that we need. I would like to say that the only time we would be able

to do anything in the future is when we control how much money we are spending.

Well, I've

run out of words. I just can't carry on, so I'll turn it over to my colleague.

Johnston: I appreciate the opportunity to rise today and certainly voice my

complete support for the budget speech as del