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)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 16, Number 9

CONTENTS

Routine Proceedings

Page

Introductions by Members

Tabling Documents

Office of the Conflict-of-Interest

Commissioner, annual report, 2001

Office of the Auditor General,

2003-04, follow-up of performance reports, report No. 2

Office of the Auditor General,

annual audit, year ended March 31, 2003

Office of the Auditor General, annual

report, 2002-03

Office of the Ombudsman, annual

report, 2002

Statements (Standing Order 25 B )

Mental illness

I. Chong

Alzheimer's disease

Christensen

Response to B.C. forest fires

J. Les

Oral Questions

Spending on government communications

J. Kwan

Hon. G.

Campbell

Work of lobbyist on government energy

plan

J. Kwan

Hon. R.

Neufeld

J. MacPhail

Surgical services at Port Alberni

hospital

G. Trumper

Hon. C.

Hansen

B.C. Rail partnerships and protection

for employees

P. Nettleton

Hon. J. Reid

Potential closing of Port Alberni

hospital

J. Kwan

Hon. C.

Hansen

Motions without Notice

Response to B.C. forest fires

Hon. G.

Campbell

Petitions

J. Kwan

Motions without Notice

Response to B.C. forest fires (continued)

K. Krueger

Hon. M. de Jong

Hon. G. Abbott

Hon. B. Barisoff

L. Mayencourt

R. Lee

B. Suffredine

Hon. L. Stephens

R. Hawes

D. MacKay

Hon. S. Bond

J. Bray

Hon. R. Coleman

K. Stewart

J. MacPhail

J. Kwan

I. Chong

G. Trumper

Hon. S. Hawkins

Hon. J. Murray

P. Bell

D. Hayer

R. Stewart

V. Anderson

Committee of the Whole House

Business Number Act (Bill 36)

Hon. K.

Falcon

S. Brice

Reporting of Bills

Business Number Act (Bill 36)

Third Reading of Bills

Business Number Act (Bill 36)

Second Reading of Bills

Health Professions Amendment Act,

2003 (Bill 62)

Hon. S.

Hawkins

J. MacPhail

Mayencourt

S. Brice

J. Bray

Provincial Revenue Statutes Amendment

Act (No. 2), 2003 (Bill 42)

Hon. B.

Barisoff

Skills Development and Labour

Statutes Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 37)

Hon. G.

Bruce

J. Kwan

Pension Statutes Amendment Act, 2003

(Bill 49)

Hon. S.

Santori

Committee of the Whole House

Personal Information Protection Act

(Bill 38)

Report and Third Reading of

Bills

Personal Information Protection Act

(Bill 38)

[ Page 7153 ]

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003

The House

met at 2:04 p.m.

Introductions by Members

Hon. G.

Halsey-Brandt: Today in the members' gallery, I'd like to acknowledge a

special visitor from Spain. Please join me in welcoming His Excellency José

Ignacio Carbajal, the newly appointed Ambassador of Spain to Canada. This is the

ambassador's first official visit to British Columbia, and I am pleased he has

travelled to British Columbia to discover the many opportunities our beautiful

province presents. He's accompanied by his wife, Ms. Elisa Iranzo de Carbajal.

Would the House please make them welcome.

[1405]

Hon. G.

Campbell: Today I have the honour of introducing the new director of the

Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Canada, Mr. Bassanio So. Joining the Hong

Kong government in 1991 from the private sector, Mr. So has served in various

policy areas and was most recently the principal assistant secretary for

constitutional affairs of Hong Kong until he was appointed director of the

Toronto head office. Mr. So is joined in the gallery by Mr. Kenneth Cheng,

deputy director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and Ms. Catherine

Yuen, principal consultant from the Vancouver office. I'm pleased Mr. So and his

party have had the opportunity to meet with members of the government this

morning, and I hope the House will make them welcome.

J. Kwan:

There is a delegation of people from the west coast here today, who brought

forward a petition lobbying for government to save the West Coast General

Hospital. The individuals are Jack McLeman, Hira Chopra, Nancy Czigany, Janet

Pombert, Nelia Krikke, Harry Dhillon, Dorothy Aston, Carol Reynolds, Angie Brick

and Alf Brick. Would the House please make them welcome.

Hon. G.

Campbell: Currently, the United States of America is hosting the 2003

women's soccer World Cup. I think it's important that we take this opportunity

to recognize the exceptional efforts of the Canadian women's soccer team. Eight

of those players are from British Columbia. Christine Sinclair, Andrea Neil,

Brittany Timko, Kara Lang, Silvana Butini, Katrina LeBlanc, Sharolta Nonen and

Clare Rustad are all players on the team. The physiotherapist, Paolo Borignon;

the goaltender coach, Shel Brodsgaard; the assistant coach, Ian Bridge; and the

equipment manager, Jamie Sales, all come from the province of British Columbia.

Prior to

this event Canada's women's soccer team had not won a single World Cup match.

This year they won against Argentina, Japan and China. That took them to the

semifinals last night. They were valiant, but unfortunately last night Sweden

prevailed. I can tell you, all of us in British Columbia will be watching them

on Saturday, October 11, in Carson, California, as they take on the United

States team for the bronze medal. They've made British Columbia proud, they've

made Canada proud, and I hope the House will send them their best wishes.

Chong: Joining us in the gallery today are five very special friends and

constituents. Earlier we enjoyed meeting with you, Mr. Speaker, and now they are

here to observe the proceedings of this afternoon: firstly, Mr. Richard Burke

from Berkshire Investments, who is joined by Michael O'Connor, a well-known

leader in the community as well as being chair of the Greater Victoria Hospitals

Foundation.

Joining

them are three brothers who this past summer put on a celebrity gala weekend

event that raised awareness for mental illness. They are Geoff, Russ and Bruce

Courtnall. Would the House please make them all very welcome.

Hon. B.

Barisoff: Today I'd like to introduce Glen Ringdal, who's the CEO and

president of BCADA New Car Dealers of B.C. Also, I'd like to introduce two

constituents of mine, Dr. Fred Hamilton and his wife Julie — who actually

bought a dinner with me in the dining room earlier today — and their friends

from Victoria, Hugh Davidson and his friend Aubrey Little. Would the House

please make them welcome.

Hon. L.

Reid: We all have family and friends who make this job not just possible but

enjoyable. In the gallery today — and I'd ask the House to please join me —

is my three-and-a-half-year-old little girl, Olivia. She's accompanied by her

grandmother, my mom, Catherine Reid. I'd ask the House to please make them

welcome.

Lekstrom: It's certainly my privilege to be back in the House and have the

opportunity on the first day to introduce three people who work very hard on

behalf of the people of Peace River South in the northeastern part of our

province. Joining us in the Legislature today are Mayor Evan Saugstad, district

of Chetwynd; Mayor Wayne Dahlen, mayor of the city of Dawson Creek; and the

director for area E in the Peace River regional district, Mr. Tim Caton. Will

the House please join me in offering them a warm welcome.

[1410]

Hon. R.

Neufeld: It's my pleasure today to introduce a few folks from what we call

north of the river: director Karen Goodings, chair of the Peace River regional

district; Mayor Steve Thorlakson, city of Fort St. John; and Lenore Harwood,

mayor of the district of Hudson's Hope.

R. Lee:

I am pleased to introduce Benny Cheung and Cindy Pau from Fairchild Media Group

Ltd. They are here today for the reconvening of the House and to cover the visit

of Mr. Bassanio. Would the House please make them welcome.

Chong: I have another set of introductions today. Visiting us today is a

class of grade 11 students from Mount Douglas Senior Secondary, my former high

[ Page 7154 ]

school. There are 50 students. They are accompanied by their teachers Mr.

Ponchet and Ms. Jones as well as an adult leader, Ms. Windjack.

They've

had a tour of the buildings and are now here to observe question period. So I

hope the House will make please make them all very welcome.

P. Wong:

I would like to introduce Mr. Andy Gregor, who has contributed the last 15 years

in the B.C. film industry as a speech trainer. Would the House please make him

welcome.

Tabling Documents

Mr.

Speaker: Hon. members, I have the honour to present the following documents:

office of the conflict-of-interest commissioner annual report 2001; office of

the auditor general, 2003-04, report No. 2, follow-up of performance reports;

annual audit, office of the auditor general, year ended March 31, 2003; office

of the auditor general annual report 2002-03; office of the ombudsman annual

report 2002.

Statements

(Standing Order 25

b) MENTAL ILLNESS

Chong: This past July, a very special fundraising event took place here in

Victoria — the inaugural Courtnall Celebrity Classic. It was an extraordinary

weekend where $800,000 was raised in aid of the Greater Victoria Hospital

Foundation toward a facility to combat mental illness.

This

fundraiser featured a gala dinner and a highly successful auction followed by a

celebrity golf tournament the next day at the Victoria Golf Club. The event was

particularly poignant as it focused on the personal lives of three brothers who

knew all too well the effects of mental illness.

The

Courtnall brothers — Geoff, Russ and Bruce — along with their sister,

Cheryl, and their mother, Kathy, shared their story with us. We were all moved

as they spoke about how having to deal with mental illness changed and shaped

their lives, their futures. I commend the Courtnalls for their courage to speak

out and for raising awareness of mental illness not only locally but

provincially and internationally.

One out of

five people in British Columbia will be affected by mental illness during their

lifetime. No one is immune. Mental illness can affect your family, your father,

your mother, your spouse, your child, your friend, your co-worker or even

yourself. Mental illness does not discriminate, and it affects all ages,

genders, socioeconomic classes and ethnic backgrounds. Sadly, people with mental

illness and their families still encounter discrimination and stigma. This week

is mental illness awareness week, and the goal is to provide education and

information to raise awareness about mental health issues. The more we know

about mental illness, the better able we will be to seek help and speak openly,

the better able we will be to offer support to individuals who should be

supported and the better able we will be to ask for support and respect, because

it's deserved.

With the

help of people like the Courtnalls, who are in the gallery today, awareness of

mental illness is increasing and will continue. I hope all members in this House

and individuals in the gallery will do their part not only during mental illness

awareness week but every day.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Christensen: Last night, as most of us were sitting down to dinner, a team

of British Columbians on the other side of the world slowly walked towards the

19,340-foot-high Ohuru Peak, joining the ranks of other British Columbians, like

the Premier and his family, who have ascended Mount Kilimanjaro in support of

the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia. Over the last six months members of

the 2003 Ascent for Alzheimer's team have been training physically and mentally,

speaking to community groups and raising funds to help increase awareness and to

support research to overcome Alzheimer's disease.

[1415]

This year

approximately 16,000 British Columbians will be diagnosed as having Alzheimer's

disease, joining over 50,000 other people in our province who face the daily

challenges of living with Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is the leading cause of

dementia, a set of symptoms that includes loss of memory, judgment and

reasoning, as well as changes in both mood and behaviour. It affects all aspects

of a person's life — how he or she thinks, feels and acts. It taunts its

victims and their families as it slowly steals the memories and personalities of

its victims and impacts their relationships with all who know and love them. One

in four of us has someone in the family who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

The Ascent

for Alzheimer's symbolizes the mountainous struggle facing the victims of

Alzheimer's and their caregivers. There is no known cause or cure for

Alzheimer's, and although it is often considered a seniors' disease, the

beginnings of the disease can now be detected in people in their thirties and

forties. The 2003 Ascent for Alzheimer's team includes Elaine Wright and her

16-year-old son Cameron. Elaine was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 47. The

other members are Lorraine Barker, Jim Hoggan, Judy Huska, Roslyn Kunin, Joanie

McEwen, Enid Marion, Claude Rinfret and Kate Sladen, who I'm particularly proud

of because she's my mom.

Would the

House please join me in congratulating all of these outstanding British

Columbians on a job well done.

RESPONSE TO B.C. FOREST FIRES

J. Les: I

rise today to pay tribute to the people of British Columbia and their great

display of courage under fire.

[ Page 7155 ]

This summer

the forest fires that consumed large areas of the province threatened the lives

and homes of many British Columbians. A few lost their lives, and some lost

their homes. We owe thanks to the heroic efforts of the firefighters and

military personnel who saved so many lives and homes. Were it not for those who

risked their personal safety and stood shoulder to shoulder against the

ever-growing flames, the devastation would have been even more tragic than it

was.

I know I

speak for many of my government caucus colleagues when I express my admiration

for the people affected by the fires. Their unwillingness to give up should

serve as an example to us all. Faced with devastating losses, families still

came together and celebrated the fact that they had not been physically hurt by

the fires. As many said, a house can be rebuilt but a life cannot.

The plight

of these British Columbians did not go unnoticed. The Premier, with the support

of his caucus members, made sure that all of B.C. was ready to meet the

challenge. He responded quickly and effectively by declaring a provincial state

of emergency, ensuring that all available firefighting and military forces would

be ready and engaged to stop the fires' spread. This timely response protected

the safety of all who were threatened by the flames and was part of the

provincewide effort to protect all the property that was possible to protect.

The

significance of this natural disaster was lost on no one, even those living in

areas of the province far from the flames. Every single one of my colleagues was

touched by this summer's events, as were their constituents. The generosity

displayed all across this great province in fundraising efforts has shown that

British Columbians stand ready to help their fellow citizens and that they are

prepared to work together in the rebuilding process. We owe our thanks to every

person who contributed their time, energy or money to fighting the fires.

I am

honoured to speak on behalf of my colleagues today to thank the people of the

fire-ravaged communities for their great display of courage and resilience. May

they serve as an example to us all.

Mr.

Speaker: That concludes members' statements.

Oral Questions

SPENDING ON GOVERNMENT

COMMUNICATIONS

J. Kwan:

The Premier knows well the good people at National Public Relations. Perhaps he

even recalls Randy Wood's kind words in his defence last January — speaking as

a crisis management expert, of course.

The

Premier's office paid National Public Relations a total of $37,000 in taxpayers'

money last year alone. Given that this Premier has the largest political

communications staff in B.C. history working for him already, what possible

extra value could National Public Relations provide that was worth $37,000?

[1420]

Hon. G.

Campbell: I'd have to get the information on the specific contractual

arrangements for the member, but let me just remind the member that, in fact,

this government is spending substantially less than the government that she was

part of spent on communications. It is important, unquestionably, that we do

communicate with the people of British Columbia, and we are doing that. But

today, Mr. Speaker, as you will know from the budget documents — and the

member opposite should as well — we're effectively paying $6 million less than

the previous government was in 1992.

Mr.

Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary

question.

WORK OF LOBBYIST ON

GOVERNMENT ENERGY PLAN

J. Kwan:

The boss at National Public Relations, B.C. office, is Marcia Smith. On

September 4, 2002, Marcia Smith registered as a lobbyist for an oil and mining

industry association, the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental

Solutions. These guys don't like Kyoto, but they sure like oil and coal. It was

Marcia Smith's job to lobby government on their behalf as the government was

putting its energy plan together. She really must be convincing — good enough

that only five days later, the Minister of Energy and Mines hired her to work on

this government's energy plan.

Can the

Minister of Energy tell us why he was paying Marcia Smith to help develop his

energy plan when she was also being paid by big oil to lobby on the very same

energy plan?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: It's interesting that the member asks a question about energy in

British Columbia, one of the bright lights in the province. Let me tell you, Mr.

Speaker, that we have an energy plan that we released last fall, which moves

British Columbia forward into the future instead of into the past — like under

the leadership of the last administration. B.C. Hydro just signed $800 million

worth of contracts to supply clean energy in the province of British Columbia.

And I stress "in the province of British Columbia." This wasn't in

some other country, like the other administration did. We're actually building

projects in the province of British Columbia for British Columbians.

We are

moving forward with an excellent energy plan, one that just brought us in $418

million in British Columbia. That's three times higher than any land sale in

Alberta has ever brought in…

Mr.

Speaker: Thank you.

Hon. R.

Neufeld: …and it is a record in Canada and matches the best fiscal year

we've ever had in one month. That means we're moving ahead on a great energy

plan for British Columbia.

Mr.

Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a further

supplementary.

[ Page 7156 ]

J. Kwan:

Perhaps the minister should have taken the question on notice.

Let me just

lay it out for the minister. Marcia Smith is paid by the big oil and coal

association to lobby this minister and this government on the development of its

energy plan. At the same time she was also being paid by this government to work

on the same energy plan. The contract that this government signed was a $22,000

contract for her to do this work. Does the minister see the problem at all —

that there is a conflict here? Does he see the problem — yes or no?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: Again, I don't want to go through all the points that I just went

through, because I believe…

Interjections.

Hon. R.

Neufeld: Please — more, more.

…British

Columbians…

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

Hon. R.

Neufeld: …are very happy with the energy plan that this government, under

the leadership of our Premier, released last November. It's an energy plan that

takes us well, well into the future. The member over there is picking at straws,

trying to find anything wrong that she can. Unfortunately, they have not been

able to, other than trying to mislead people in some instances. We have a very

good energy plan in the province, one that's designed to take British Columbia

well into the future, and we are looking forward to actually going along with

that energy plan well into the future.

MacPhail: Well, the minister is playing dumb. That's what my notes here say,

but I actually don't think he's playing. I actually think he may be dumb on this

one. It's an outright conflict — it's an outright conflict — for the

minister to pay Marcia Smith to help him with his energy plan when she's already

on the payroll of big oil and mining companies to lobby him on the same plan.

[1425]

But there's

more, Mr. Speaker — new information. Two of National Public Relations top

lobbyists, Michael Goehring and Randy Wood, are also registered lobbyist for

Accenture — National Public Relations employees lobbying for Accenture, the

same folks who benefited from this government's privatization of B.C. Hydro.

These two gentlemen report to Marcia Smith.

So while

the government is busy negotiating a deal with Accenture and drafting the final

energy policy, which included the Accenture deal, Marcia Smith is also lobbying

for Accenture. She's also lobbying for big oil, and at the same time she's being

paid by this minister to advise him about the Liberal energy plan. Can the

minister stand up now and tell us how this is not a conflict?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: Well, as normal, the opposition is trying to dig under every straw

and everything to see what they can find that is wrong. Now they talk about

Accenture. Isn't it interesting? The deal B.C. Hydro has with Accenture will

save ratepayers $250 million over ten years. Is that a bad deal? I think that's

a good deal for British Columbia. It's also a business that's centred in

Vancouver, that pays taxes in the province of British Columbia, hires….

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please. The minister has the floor.

Interjections.

Hon. R.

Neufeld: It's my turn. I listened to you.

Accenture

will set up a business in the province of British Columbia. It will employ

British Columbians. It will pay taxes in British Columbia. It will help keep the

rates low for ratepayers of B.C. Hydro in the province. I can't imagine anything

that's better for British Columbians than that, and that's a key part of our

energy plan. Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker: Leader of the Opposition has a supplementary question.

MacPhail: Well, I hope all those public affairs bureau employees are

scurrying around right now to help the minister out of this little trap. If the

minister….

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

MacPhail: Although, actually, the minister isn't confident that no conflict

occurred, because he didn't answer the question.

Let me ask

the minister this: will he agree today to release to the public all of the

documents that Ms. Marcia Smith was involved with under this contract, and will

he ask the Attorney General to do a full investigation into how and why the

government is paying oil and mining lobbyists, industry lobbyists, to help

develop his energy plan? And if he won't, what's he got to hide?

Hon. R.

Neufeld: What have I got to hide? I'll tell you, this government has been

more transparent than any government we've experienced in the last bloody

decade. You want to talk about transparency? That person talking about

transparency should take a lesson from this government under the leadership of

our Premier. We have been more transparent with things that happen in the

province than they ever were. In developing our energy plan, we were as

transparent as you can possibly get. We're moving ahead with an energy plan that

is excellent for British Columbia and will bring benefits for years to come,

even though they just

[ Page 7157 ]

about destroyed this province in the ten years that they were here.

SURGICAL SERVICES AT

PORT ALBERNI HOSPITAL

G. Trumper:

My question is to the Minister of Health Services. People in Port Alberni and

the surrounding communities that depend on the West Coast General Hospital are

very concerned about the planned temporary closure of nine acute care beds in

the hospital. They are further concerned that this may lead to a loss of

surgical services provided in Port Alberni. Will the Minister of Health Services

assure the residents, who depend on the availability of health services, that

their quality of care will not be compromised?

[1430]

Hon. C.

Hansen: This is a subject that is very dear to me because I was actually

born in the old West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni. I had the pleasure

of being there for the opening of the new West Coast General Hospital just

recently.

The

Vancouver Island health authority is undertaking a review of surgical services

on the mid-Island. I can reassure the member that there is no plan to remove

surgical services from Port Alberni, and that will continue. But they are

looking at where the best mix of services can be provided between Nanaimo and

Port Alberni, and at the same time making sure that the communities of Bamfield,

Ucluelet and Tofino, who also rely on West Coast General Hospital, will have

access to the care that they need when they need it.

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

B.C. RAIL PARTNERSHIPS

AND PROTECTION FOR EMPLOYEES

Nettleton: I have a question for the Minister of Transportation. During the

summer recess the member for Prince George North had a great deal to say to the

media regarding the government's plan for B.C. Rail. For example, to the Prince

George Citizen , September 9, 2003, the member was quoted as stating, when

questioned on the future of B.C. Rail, that their concerns — that is the

employees' — "really come down to successorship and pension funds."

The member for Prince George North further added: "When you really ground

it down to nuts and bolts, I don't think they care that much about whose name is

at the top of the paycheque as they do about the long-term security."

My question

to the minister is: does the member for Prince George North speak for the

government on this issue, and further, is the minister seeking from the

proponents or bidders some form of guarantee of job security and protection of

pension funds for the B.C. Rail employees?

Hon. J.

Reid: With the B.C. Rail partnership that we're looking at, the operating

partnership, we've certainly been engaged with the communities. We've certainly

been listening to the concerns. One of those concerns is employment.

The members

from Prince George have very adequately represented their community, their

concerns, as well as other mayors who are on the mayors' committee that have

been part of this process all along. There has been well-expressed concern. The

member knows that in the RFP process, that was one of the areas that has to be

addressed in the proposals that are put to government.

Mr.

Speaker: The member for Prince George–Omineca has a supplementary

question.

Nettleton: Well, I'm interested in that response, minister. If, as you

claim, you're listening to workers as well as folks from communities along the

line — if that is the case — then will this provision to which I've made

reference be included in the strategic considerations in the finalized form of

the terms of request for proposals?

Hon. J.

Reid: The respect for those workers is part of the deliberations. It will be

part of the evaluation as we work our way through the proposals. Absolutely.

That's been there from the beginning. All the concerns they have expressed are

part of the respect that we need to pay to workers. They have collective

agreements in place, and all of those issues are part of the discussion.

Yes,

absolutely. There is a commitment that all those issues are part of the

discussion.

POTENTIAL CLOSING OF

PORT ALBERNI HOSPITAL

J. Kwan:

Before the election, the current member for Alberni-Qualicum campaigned hard to

have the hospital in Port Alberni built. Indeed, she established a profile in

the community on it.

Now she and

her government are shutting the hospital down and sending patients off to

Nanaimo, the hospital with the longest wait-lists in the province.

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

J. Kwan:

No weasel words from the Minister of Health, please. The question that should be

asked from the member from Qualicum to the minister is: will he today commit, in

front of the members from that community, that he will in fact keep the hospital

open and that he'll make that commitment to their face by meeting with them

today?

Hon. C.

Hansen: Yes.

[End

of question period.]

[ Page 7158 ]

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

[1435]

Orders of the Day

Motions without Notice

RESPONSE TO B.C. FOREST FIRES

Hon. G.

Campbell: I ask leave of the House to move a motion without notice relating

to the recent forest fires in British Columbia. A copy of the proposed motion

has been given to the opposition and is in the hands of the Clerk.

[Be it resolved that this House recognize: The heroic efforts

of all firefighters and military personnel who fought and continue to

fight the 2003 wildfires, the contributions of volunteers and donors across

British Columbia in assisting the evacuees and helping rebuild communities;

and the noble determination of those families directly affected.]

Leave

granted.

Hon. G.

Campbell: This summer our entire province was struck by the ferocity and the

power of nature. It was one of the worst wildfire seasons in our history. We

were also awed, however, by the spirit of British Columbians and their response.

Today, as we observe Fire Prevention Week, we honour and pay tribute to that

spirit. We saw the heroism and courage of those who fought the fires.

Unfortunately, 334 homes were lost, ten businesses were destroyed, and 50,000

residences were evacuated — the second-largest evacuation in Canada's history.

In response, over 7,600 men and women from across Canada and indeed from south

of the border and over 1,000 military personnel from our Canadian Armed Forces

came to assist. Our forest fire service personnel, property protection

personnel, first nations firefighters and firefighters from the property

protection divisions of 61 communities across B.C. dedicated themselves to

protecting British Columbians. They all came and put themselves in harm's way to

protect the public.

As I speak

today, we must remember that three people lost their lives in airplane and

helicopter crashes as they tried to help fight the fires from the air. I'm sure

the hearts of the Legislature go out to the families of Ian MacKay, Eric Ebert

and Ben von Hardenberg, but thanks to our firefighters' efforts, not one single

member of the public or resident that was evacuated lost their life through this

horrendous summer. We saw the spirit of British Columbians and the determination

of their families and communities, and we saw British Columbians band together

and be neighbours.

As one of

the women I visited in one of the evacuations said to me, she had thought she

was from the town of Kelowna, but she realized that everyone in British Columbia

was her neighbour as she went through that horrendous experience. There were

2,000 volunteers that were involved to help evacuees. In Kamloops, in Kelowna,

in Cranbrook and throughout our province people banded together to offer support

and comfort at a time of incredible family stress to people that live in our

province. We saw the spirit of British Columbia and outpouring of support from

across the province. We saw as Telus rushed to make sure people had phone cards

and Internet connections to make sure they could connect with their loved ones.

We saw the efforts of London Drugs to provide things as simple as eye drops to

make sure people could get through the difficult environmental time the fires

created. Fifty thousand British Columbians were evacuated, and 4.1 million did

everything they could to help.

Mr.

Speaker, as I'm sure you're aware, there have been cash donations that have been

large and small. There have been truckloads of toys, clothing and household

goods. Communities across the province offered whatever they could. As I

mentioned, 61 communities provided personnel and equipment to help protect the

properties of their fellow British Columbians. Together with the federal

government we were able to provide assistance at that time, and we will continue

to work in partnership with the federal government, the local government and

regional governments to try and ensure that people can get through this very

difficult time of their lives.

[1440]

We've

launched a full public and open review, a no-holds-barred review that asks

people to say clearly what they think could have been done better but that also,

hopefully, will recognize the things that were done exceptionally well. It's

important to note that today, as I speak, there are 570 firefighters still

working in the forests of British Columbia. They're cleaning up over 290 fires

as we speak today. Those people continue to work on behalf of us.

I think the

real message of all of the activity through the summer was how fortunate we are

to live in a province like British Columbia, how fortunate we are to have

citizens that are as generous as those who live in our province, how fortunate

we are to have a public service who will put everything aside in the service of

the public they were asked to protect. I believe this was a time of great

difficulty for all of us, but I also think it's a time that we should celebrate

the work British Columbians did.

We had

people from Crown corporations, from across all arms of government, trying to be

sure we could deal with this in a way that was as positive and supportive as

possible. To all of those people, I say thank you. To all of the volunteers who

came from literally all over the province to the areas in the Kootenays and the

Okanagan and the North Thompson Valley, who were going through that exceptional

time, to all those who came to offer their support, I say thank you.

Let the

legacy of this summer be a legacy that we can build on, a legacy that says that

in the midst of danger, British Columbians will dig down and bring

[ Page 7159 ]

out the best they have to offer on behalf of their fellow citizens.

J. Kwan:

I seek leave to table a petition.

Mr.

Speaker: Please proceed.

Petitions

J. Kwan:

I rise to present a petition signed by over 9,000 people from the west coast who

ask that the West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni stay open as a

full-service facility, including surgical capabilities.

Debate Continued

Krueger: I rise to support the Premier's motion. As you know, three of the

major interface fires that our province experienced this summer were in my

constituency of Kamloops–North Thompson. First, the McLure fire started. It

looked like a small matter to begin with, but over the next 21 hours it turned

into a raging monster that threatened the very existence of the town of Barriere

and wiped out the community of Louis Creek, together with the major employer of

that part of the North Thompson Valley. The Strawberry Hill fire started shortly

thereafter, and so our forest firefighters, our Ministry of Forests personnel,

were dealing with these two massive crises simultaneously.

The little

volunteer fire department from Barriere and the even smaller one from McLure

fought the McLure fire for 21 hours straight, backing up all the way from McLure

to Barriere, and it was a nightmare night for them. Their lives were constantly

at risk. They were facing flames 500 feet high. At one point they were

completely surrounded by fire and literally had to drive through fire to escape.

The

Strawberry Hill fire raced off at 140 metres per minute and ran 12 kilometres in

the first night, literally at the doorstep of Kamloops, just the opposite side

of Highway 5 from the subdivision of Rayleigh, which had to be evacuated so

rapidly that a call went out for boats to bring residents across the North

Thompson River, because the smoke was too dense to use the highway. Fortunately,

the smoke lifted, the boats weren't necessary, and everyone got out in safety.

Heroes

arose everywhere during the course of this emergency. There were B.C. Hydro

linemen out putting up new hydro poles to replace those that had burned down,

while the fire was still burning around them. The Chu Chua, McLure and Barriere

fire departments, under the leadership of Chief Al Kirkwood from Barriere,

distinguished themselves in every way. People with stock trailers and pickup

trucks tore up into the hills from Kamloops, picking up stock all over the

endangered countryside, bringing them into the SPCA and to the Kamloops

Exhibition Association where they were cared for until the threat had passed.

Members of

the public came forward offering their homes and goods, offering their services

as volunteers at the evacuation centres, helping in every possible way. The

Barriere search and rescue department, all of them volunteers, were incredibly

self-sacrificing. They were travelling between houses, knocking on doors,

evacuating people, while their own homes were burning to the ground.

[1445]

The

firefighters, both private and government, the loggers, the emergency personnel

— everybody distinguished themselves. The SPCA was open around the clock, sent

out a plea for help from the community and got it. The search and rescue went

around and fed animals that were left on the properties that were evacuated and

would have starved or died of thirst without their help. NL radio, locally,

devoted almost all their coverage full-time around the clock to communicating

information to my constituents, and we'll never forget that. Robbie Dunn, the

owner, Jim Harrison, the news director, and Angelo Iaccobucci, Bob Price and all

the staff worked incredible hours and did yeoman service for us.

The people

down at the Thompson-Nicola regional district emergency centre also worked

around the clock. The provincial emergency program people under the leadership

of the coordinator Rod Salem really distinguished themselves. The Canadian

military as well — it was wonderful to see them arrive.

Just when

we were in the thick of all this and thinking it's amazing how people are

coping, there was a lightning strike at 18 kilometres on the McGillivray Lake

Road — 18 kilometres from Sun Peaks. I talked to a Mountie that night. I was

in the emergency operations centre at four in the morning, and he had been out

to have a look at it. I said: "How bad is it? " He said: "It's

about 30 hectares, I think, and it looks really evil. It's just smouldering

there like some kind of demon." It smouldered all night, and in the morning

it came raging out of the ravine it was in. They weren't able to touch it with

aircraft because of the steepness of the ravine. They couldn't get to it with

cats or heavy equipment. Out it came. The next thing we knew, it was threatening

the community of Chase. It came within three kilometres of Chase, when as I said

we had had a fire go 12 kilometres in one night previously. It was a very

frightening time.

As far as

I'm concerned, he doesn't want to take any praise for it, but the Premier is a

hero too. He declared a state of emergency immediately. During the Salmon Arm

fires of 1998, the Premier of that day turned the situation into a photo op and

went out to Salmon Arm to declare an emergency. Our Premier did it as a leader,

did it immediately, marshalled the resources of the province, the country and

the continent to help us. There were no politics involved.

The

Solicitor General is another hero. He phoned every day. He checked on us

constantly. He got the resources whenever we needed them. He created a

provincial fire department, and very shortly there were 45 different municipal

fire departments protecting the community of Barriere, and they saved Barriere

— 800 homes. We all grieve for the homes that were lost, but we're so proud of

them for saving Barriere.

[ Page 7160 ]

We've been

looking big picture. I want to just give you a zoom-lens picture of one family,

the Oakland family. They have the only permanent home at Neskonlith Lake, and it

survived because of heroes. Mr. Oakland is on a disability pension. He's owned

that property for 25 years. He inherited it as a boy. Now he's raised three boys

of his own there, but he's disabled, and he doesn't have a whole lot of income.

He painstakingly built this beautiful log home himself, and he didn't want to

give it up.

He couldn't

afford insurance. Some people have been pretty harsh about why folks didn't have

insurance. He didn't have any money. It would have cost $3,000 a year to insure

that home, and he couldn't afford it, so he didn't. He and his family determined

they were not going to let it go. I've got a series of pictures he loaned me of

this terrible yellow cloud of smoke coming up to his home and how frightening it

was for them. At the last minute 13 people showed up — friends of his, people

he used to work with at Adams Lake Lumber and other friends. They were

determined his home was not going to be lost.

They fought

that fire until the fire was 20 metres from the house. They were soaking it

down. They were terrified, and they could easily have been killed. Then they had

to run, and it was a class 6 fire at that point. As the fire chief from Kelowna

has said, the standing orders for class 6 fires are: "Run for your

lives." They had to do that, and they went and jumped in Niskonlith Lake

— all 13 of them.

The fire

was creating its own weather, as these fires did — a huge raging windstorm —

and debris was pounding down on them as if they were in a hailstorm. The fire

was sucking all the oxygen out from the lake, and they could barely breathe. The

wind and the waves came up tremendously. They had taken boats, and the boats all

sank. They had things they were hanging on to, to try and float, and they were

all kicking together to try and get out into the middle of the lake. They

couldn't because the wind from the fire kept sucking them back. They began to

think they were going to be drawn back into the fire. Someone showed up with a

little putt-putt electric motor on a boat and managed to tow them out into the

middle of the lake. They were out there for five and a half hours, kicking and

struggling to keep from being drawn back into the fire.

[1450]

In the

meantime, there was wildlife all around them. Everything was piling into the

lake to save its life. There was a moose swimming in circles around them. There

were deer, bear, bats and birds. A little bird came and landed on Mr. Oakland's

chest, and he tucked it under his chin. It stayed there for over an hour until

it was strong enough to fly away. None of them was afraid of each other, because

they were all in it together, just like British Columbians were. It was a

terrible time for them. Many times they thought they would die. Some of them

were very close to hypothermic, but they all survived it.

It has been

an awful experience for our constituents, but the thing that really inspires

people about the way it all turned out was the way British Columbians rallied

around them. The new chief, Art Anthony, of the Neskonlith band spoke at the

Chase public meeting we had, and he said: "We realized we were treated just

like everybody else. Everybody pitched in to help us, to save our people, and we

really appreciate it." There's a new bond between people, between

aboriginal people and everyone else, between all of us and the Chinese community

with their generosity — the member for Vancouver-Kensington and Mr. Johnny

Fong and the incredible fundraising drive that they led to contribute a

quarter-million dollars to the North Thompson Relief Fund.

We just

feel a real kinship with British Columbians, and everybody who has helped is a

hero. George Evans and Derek Johnson, two businessmen from Kamloops, started

that fund thinking they might raise $100,000, and it's well over $2.5 million.

Their board is composed of people like Bob Holden from KPMG, a representative

from Fulton and Co., and many distinguished business people from around our

area. Their commitment is a dollar in, a dollar out — no administration fees.

All of the money is to go to the people who suffered losses.

Alberta

farmers are organizing a hay lift, 400 tonnes that they're delivering themselves

to our ranchers who were burned out, and the Minister of Transportation and the

Solicitor General once again have stepped up to the plate and waived regulations

and changed things that they needed to change so that could be done. People have

provided food and water and supplies, and the money keeps coming in.

We had

disappointing news from Tolko last Thursday that they don't intend to rebuild

the mill at Louis Creek, and I appeal to them to reconsider, to pitch in with

the same spirit that has been demonstrated by British Columbians everywhere, to

recognize that these people in Barriere and Louis Creek served them well for

decades. They've suffered catastrophic losses, and they don't deserve to lose

their employment, as well, and the hurt that will bring to that community.

I appeal to

them to pitch in like everyone else and rebuild the North Thompson Valley, to

consider a value-added plan, to join in the spirit of support and generosity of

all other British Columbians and reward the loyalty of the people of the North

Thompson Valley. The Minister of Forests has already been talking to me about a

community forest for Barriere, more woodlots for people in the Barriere area,

more allotment to the North Thompson Indian band.

All of

these are efforts to try and help those people get back on their feet and make

their community thrive again. I've already spoken longer than I meant to, but

there are so many people to thank, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that there

are an awful lot of heroes here, and we appreciate every one of you.

Hon. M.

de Jong: Thanks, to the member for Kamloops–North Thompson and, of course,

the Premier. There are many in this chamber, I think, who would like to place on

the record their thoughts and

[ Page 7161 ]

their thanks as it relates to the events that have taken place over the past

number of months, so I will try to keep my comments brief.

It seems to

me that years from now, as we look back on these events, we will necessarily be

drawn to the numbers. We will think about and record the 2,700 fires. We will

talk about the 8,000 or 9,000 or 10,000 firefighters who were engaged at any one

time. We will talk about the incredibly abnormal number of interface fires that

took place, challenging lives, threatening lives and property. We will look at

the money that was necessarily spent, closing in on the half-billion-dollar

mark.

[1455]

Those will

be the measurements by which we compare these extraordinary events and place

them in historical context, and yet here, standing in close proximity to what

has taken place, it is really things other than the numbers that leave a lasting

impression. As the member for Kamloops–North Thompson pointed out, it is those

human stories. It is the manner in which British Columbians rallied at a time

when it took our collective resolve and, essentially, our collective reserves to

wrestle to the ground a natural conflagration that threatened an incredibly

large geographic area of the province.

Today is

really a chance, at a time when fires continue to burn…. Fires continue to

burn, and there are still men and women battling blazes, conducting mop-up or

cleanup work. Of course, the cleanup work will continue months and probably

years into the future. But it is a chance to say thank you and recognize some of

those thousands of people, British Columbians, who in their own way — some

large, some small — contributed to us battling through this unforgettable,

unforgettable summer.

To say

thank you to the Forest Service personnel who marshalled themselves in ways that

I am certain they hoped they would never have to marshal themselves but in their

heart of hearts were prepared to respond in the ways they were called upon to do

— not necessarily the jobs they were accustomed to doing but remobilized from

parts of the province where, happily, the fire situation didn't reach the

crucial and critical stages that it did in the Okanagan or the North Thompson

Valley.

To thank

the air crews who — in a professional way that all of us, I think, must admire

— utilized the tools at their disposal and fought, whether it be as an initial

attack on a fire or as a way of trying to contain the spread of a fire, and

attacked those blazes in terrain that is difficult, in circumstances that are

dangerous. And yes, there was loss of life. Three members of our aerial

firefighting team died in tragic accidents. Our hearts go out to their families.

It is a

time to say thank you to the first nations who, when their province and country

needed them most of all, were there — no questions asked — to lend support

in terms of personnel, equipment and locations for the establishment of fire

camps, operational camps. It's quite a story. No questions, no bureaucratic

hurdles, just a willingness to respond and be there and to lend whatever support

was necessary.

It is a

time to say thank you to our Armed Forces. We sometimes — as we go about our

business in this chamber and our province and, I suppose, in this country —

forget the advantages that come with being members of a great team. Canada is a

team; I like to think about it in those terms. In this past summer British

Columbia needed help from our teammates, and we got that help. We got it from

the Armed Forces, who marshalled and deployed, again asking only one question:

how can we help? We got that assistance from other provinces — from the

Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the prairie provinces, the Territories — again,

asking only one question: how can we help? And it's at times like this past

summer when you appreciate and are reminded of the value that goes with being

members of a great team like Canada.

The fire

departments from across the province that the Solicitor General helped to forge

into a single provincial fire department, who asked only, "What can we do

and where do you need us?" and then arrived on the scene from the four

corners of the province — an extraordinary sight, an extraordinary effort.

[1500]

Some of

those other organizations and individuals that were probably never on the

television screen and never on the front page of any newspaper are people like

the women in Okanagan Falls who spent hours, day in and day out, ensuring that

those fighting the fires on the front line had enough to eat, making 200 lunches

and 200 dinners and, in circumstances that would have challenged any of us, had

fun doing it. They were able to motivate their community by their example, by

their enthusiasm and by their unswerving belief in the fact that we were going

to — and did — overcome the challenge posed by Mother Nature.

The

commissionaires — some of them coming out of retirement and back to active

service after being in retirement for five, ten or 15 years and asking only,

"How can we help?" — were there to lend the kind of logistical

support that is so essential at a time like this.

The list

goes on and on: the ice cream parlour and pizza house in Penticton that ensured

our firefighters had enough to eat, enough ice cream to cool off at the end of

the incredibly long shifts over such an extended period of time…. Everyone did

their bit in the best way they knew how. We say thank you to them, and we say we

will learn from your efforts. We will conduct a review, as the Premier announced

at last week's Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting — a full review, a

transparent review.

We'll ask

the difficult questions. Could we have done some things better? What are those

things? How could we do them better? Could we have communicated better? Could we

have prepared better? If so, how? How do we place ourselves in a position where

we can diminish, if not eliminate, the likelihood of events like this recurring?

We will learn, as one would expect, after events of the magnitude that we were

met with this summer.

[ Page 7162 ]

Today most

members of this House, if not all, will simply want to join together and say

thank you and place on the journals that record debates in this chamber our

belief — and it is certainly my belief — that out of these extraordinary

circumstances, British Columbians demonstrated their incredible spirit. In our

history this surely was, collectively, one of our finest hours. Thank you from

grateful legislators to those thousands and thousands of British Columbians who

saw us through such a difficult time.

Hon. G.

Abbott: It's an honour for me to rise, as well, and speak to the motion

before us today. I too, like the Minister of Forests and the member for

Kamloops–North Thompson and the Premier, want to say a heartfelt thanks for a

job well done by a great many people, particularly in the southern interior this

year, as we faced what was undoubtedly the toughest forest fire season that we

have ever seen in this province.

I had the

good fortune to be born in British Columbia and to have lived here for 50 years

now. Every year, it seems, we have some challenges in respect to forest fires,

but there is no question that 2003 will go down in history as the most difficult

season to date. Hopefully, we never see another one like it, but we don't know

that.

[1505]

In my own

constituency of Shuswap we certainly had our share of forest fire challenges. As

it turned out, one of the first fires near my home town of Sicamous was,

relatively speaking, a small one in comparison with what was going to come

later. We had the Cedar Hill fire between Falkland and Armstrong. That was a

very challenging blaze — one home lost in that battle, and of course, there

was a constant threat throughout the season. Actually, that threat still exists.

We still haven't had the kind of rains that would assure us the fire season is

well beyond us. That potential still exists. We've had a very long period of

drought, certainly one of the longest in history — hottest temperatures, least

precipitation and so on. That led to enormous potential for fires.

Fortunately

for us, only part of that potential for fires was realized. It could have been a

lot worse had we had an unfortunate combination of lightning and other factors.

I think we also benefit enormously from the skill and dedication with which the

firefighters and a host of others helped to contain the many small blazes that

threatened to become very large blazes — particularly across the

Thompson-Okanagan, the Kootenay and other areas of the southern interior.

The

potential for forest fires also obviously brought into focus that term

"interface fires." A few years ago we wouldn't have known what an

interface fire was — it's when the forest fire meets a community — and we

are more and more becoming accustomed to the interface fire. Certainly we saw

the greatest interface fire threats in Kamloops and Kelowna this year. It's a

very difficult thing. Hopefully, we will never see interface fires like we had

in 2003, but again, the potential may exist in the future, and we're going to

have to work hard as a province to ensure we are as well prepared as we possibly

can be for such an event.

One of the

items I have in my office that I've kept since 1998 is a piece of melted

aluminum from the 1998 fire that swept across rural Salmon Arm — the Silver

Creek area. In 1998 we lost about a dozen homes to that forest fire. Again, it

was a prelude, I guess, to the enormous challenges we were to face in 2003 in

terms of that magnitude.

There were

in 1998 and again in 2003 a host of people who worked together to ensure that

the potential impact of those forest fires was not realized. Clearly, the

outcome was devastating in any event, but these were among the people who helped

to ensure that the full devastating potential of wildfires was not realized.

Among the

people that worked very hard — there's a huge number of volunteers, and others

of my colleagues have mentioned them — the folks in the evacuation centres

were phenomenal. Sometimes people even from out of province volunteered to serve

in those evacuation centres, and it was a remarkable example of communities

pulling together to help people who were temporarily displaced by those

interface fires. They did a great job. Enormous compassion and enormous humanity

were reflected in the way in which the evacuation centres were operated.

One of the

other critical pieces in terms of community and provincial responses to the

fires was the emergency operation centres. In those centres we saw people like

the local fire departments' representatives, representatives of the RCMP,

representatives from all the local governments in the area. A host of officials

worked together tirelessly, I must say.

The folks

in those centres were absolutely exhausted by the time the major fires had come

under control. They were absolutely exhausted. They were tireless in terms of

serving to ensure that the firefighters and the fire departments all had the

resources that they need. It was an enormous logistical challenge. They rose to

that challenge and acquitted themselves most admirably in their efforts to help

keep the fires and the impact of the fires on communities under control.

[1510]

I think we

also want to acknowledge the efforts of the search and rescue personnel, who

were enormously valuable in helping to manage situations. The Minister of

Forests mentioned the folks making sandwiches. Well, there were an enormous

number of church groups across the southern interior — I'm sure across British

Columbia — who worked in many ways to help with the human needs that people

experienced when they were displaced from their homes or were threatened with

displacement from their homes. Countless service clubs in the Shuswap and right

across the province contributed enormously to helping manage the impact of these

devastating fires.

Of course,

I think we should acknowledge, as well, the business community, which in many

cases stepped up to the plate with fundraising endeavours and contributions of

material and other goods that helped

[ Page 7163 ]

enormously to make what is often an unmanageable situation at least more

manageable, more livable, more human. They need to be thanked for that as well.

Out in the

field there's no shortage of people to acknowledge, salute and thank here.

Obviously, the forest fire fighters did a great job. Tireless efforts by the

first nations across the province who stepped in…. The Canadian Armed Forces

were instrumental in assisting and did a fabulous job.

All of the

pilots. The tragic loss of three pilots' lives was one example of the commitment

and sacrifices that they make to ensure that, from the air, we are doing

everything we can to contain blazes. Structural firefighters, because of the

interface nature of many of the fires this year, also have to be saluted,

commended and thanked for their work.

Right

across the province volunteer and professional firefighters stepped up to the

plate. Often I would see travelling down the highway or in communities fire

trucks from literally every corner of the province. I know that people took

enormous comfort, enormous satisfaction in seeing firemen and fire trucks from

literally every corner of the province in their community to help them through

what was a very, very tough patch to endure.

I'll

conclude quite quickly here, because I know there are a lot of my colleagues who

wish to speak to this resolution, and rightly so. We learned a lot from the 1998

fires, particularly in Salmon Arm, which was brought to bear in the situation we

had in 2003. The lessons were well-learned, I think. Looking on as, obviously,

an interested observer, I was amazed at the efficiency, the speed, the

thoroughness and the humanness, all of which were a part of the response by

officials to an emergency situation. This is not something that we have a lot of

time to prepare for. Often these things spring up quickly, without notice and in

areas where we may not necessarily expect them. I think that a lot has been

learned, and that contributed to an excellent response in 2003.

But as

others have noted, there are always things that we can do better. There are

always things we can and should learn from these very, very difficult and

sometimes devastating experiences. I think we fully intend to do that, so I do

look forward to hearing my constituents' views with respect to how they think

the firefighting in the future can be undertaken, in some respects, in more

effective ways. I'll look forward to hearing that.

[1515]

I do think

we have to, at this moment in time, not only think ahead about what we can do

better but also look back and say what great people, what great communities,

what a great province and what a job well done. With that, I do thank them all

for those efforts, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to the motion.

Hon. B.

Barisoff: Thank you for the time to speak about these fires. I know the

Premier spoke about the province as a whole, along with the Minister of Forests.

My colleague from Kamloops spoke about the Kamloops area, and my colleague from

Shuswap spoke about that area. I'd like to just focus in a little bit on the

South Okanagan.

As it

started out, we had the hottest, driest summer that we've had in a long time.

That's nothing new for the South Okanagan, because we're used to that kind of

weather. But unfortunately for us in the Oliver area, we started out in early

July with a firebug who started to light fires. Rod Parrent and the Oliver fire

department, along with the B.C. Forest Service, took quick action on a number of

those fires and were able to prevent them from getting out of hand too far. They

actually grew pretty fast, and we realized at that point in time how quickly

these fires were growing.

Shortly

after that, on July 19 we had the Anarchist Mountain fire in Osoyoos. I guess

that was one of the first major fires that started. We lost three structures and

a couple homes up there. I must say that Walter Lemke and the Osoyoos fire

department just did an admirable job of keeping that loss to a minimum. In the

early stages of what will probably be the worst fire season that we've ever

seen, the B.C. Forest Service was there with everything they had, to bring that

under control. I just can't give enough credit to the local firefighters under

Walter Lemke and the Osoyoos fire department. I know they were administered by

the Oliver fire department. Then they were administered by OK Falls and all the

way down the line. They prevented that fire from actually going very far.

During that

whole interim period of time, we had the great fire down in the U.S. that was

moving up towards Keremeos. We were actually surrounded by fire, knowing that it

was going to be a bad season, but it didn't feel that bad at that time. Lo and

behold, later on in July we got the Okanagan Mountain fire, and that truly came

to be one of the biggest fires that we had in the province and took a lot of

homes, and it took a lot of effort by a lot of people to make things happen. I

know that Mac Lockhart, the fire chief from Penticton, organized the initial

stages in Penticton, and Grahame Baker in the fire department in Naramata were

right in the forefront of it all as that fire moved in towards Naramata with the

big fear of what was going to happen. Lo and behold, the small community of

Kaleden, with Darlene Bailey and her fire department were there trying to help

each other out and make sure things were happening.

That very

Friday — again, I must commend the Premier for taking the time — he came up

to meet with the people in Penticton and in Kelowna. That was the night that the

big fire took off. The Premier was just out to do a press conference on what was

happening in the Okanagan Lake fire, and my wife happened to phone me. She said:

"If you're on your way home, you're not going to get past Vaseaux Lake

because a major fire has just erupted at Vaseaux Lake." An osprey nest fell

off the power lines, and the fire was running at 300 feet per minute. It was

just taking off right up the mountain, so make sure I come around the opposite

way. Well, you know, you've got to give credit to the OK

[ Page 7164 ]

Falls fire department. They were there trying to get it. That was another

one. Everything was so dry that it just took right off.

I've got to

commend the people of the area, particularly the people around OK Falls and all

the communities. I used to try to make an effort of getting up there to talk to

the firefighters after they came off shift or just to see them to give them a

little bit of credit. OK Falls ladies auxiliary were there just preparing food.

They were camped out at the elementary school in OK Falls. There were people at

the fire hall, ladies coming in and making cookies, suppers, and everything else

just to keep people going, because it was a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day

operation.

[1520]

Lo and

behold, along comes the Canadian military. I tell you, they did an awesome job

of coming there to…. They camped out in the community park on the grass, and

nobody was concerned about whether it was going to be damaged or whatever else.

Everybody just pitched in and said: "Here's a great place to set up camp.

Let's set it up here and make things happen." I talked to a lieutenant

commander, and he was indicating how they were actually excited. They were

coming back after a 12-hour shift, but they were really, certainly, doing their

job and what had to be done. In particular, again, when I think of Bob Haddow

and the OK Falls fire crew, they were there, it seemed, every day I went there.

They were more and more tired because they were spending — we thought it was

12 or 14 — almost 20 hours a day there and going home, having a quick rest and

coming back. All the people that were contributing in the area kind of brought

the community together to say: "Listen, we'll survive this. We'll make this

happen."

One of the

things that impressed me the very most was — in my visits to the different

areas and what was happening — all the community support. We thank everybody

from the B.C. Forest Service for an admirable job of what they did and the local

firefighters in taking their equipment from here, there and everywhere. I think

everybody in the OK Falls fire…. I counted. There were seven or eight

different trucks from different places around the province that had come to do

the things that had to be done.

During one

of those visits, I had one of the B.C. Forest Service members come up to me. He

said: "I just want to tell you something." He'd been in the Forest

Service for 25 or 30 years and had seen it all. This was probably the worst he'd

ever seen. He said: "I want to commend your Premier." I looked at him,

and I said: "Well, that's fine." He said that when the Premier came,

he came with the attitude of: "What can we do to help?" He wasn't

there to criticize; he wasn't there to lay blame or to do something else. He was

simply there to ensure that they had the moral support for what was going on. He

said: "We've never, ever seen that before." I guess internally I kind

of felt really good about it. As we were standing there talking, one of the

other senior Ministry of Forests personnel came up and actually said almost the

same thing. One said to the other: "Promise, we never talked about this

before. We never said anything about it. It was just something that came

about." That's the impression they got.

I think

that out of this, you've got to take that everybody worked together. There's

such a positive feeling about the work that went on — from the guys that were

shovelling, trying to put out every little piece of fire, right to the Premier

of this province, who was doing his part. I think the member from Kamloops

mentioned the Solicitor General. He seemed like he was on a road circuit. When

you're in part of that circuit…. I know the Solicitor General was either in

Kamloops or Kelowna or the South Okanagan. Meantime, he'd go back around, and he

just kept circling around the province — I think over to Cranbrook. You know,

I think he also did an admirable job in what was taking place.

My thanks

go out to everybody that contributed, because I know we're going to look to see

where we might have gone wrong or where we can do things better. I know that's

part of looking back. I know that if I could replay every one of my days of

coaching basketball, I certainly would do things differently. I'm certain that

when we start to look back at all of this, we'll find things we might have been

able to do better, but you know, we're going to find that we did an awful lot of

things exceptionally well.

I think a

lot of credit goes to the individual fire departments for what they did, but in

the big scheme of things, it goes to the B.C. Forest Service. It was

unprecedented what was taking place, yet they kept everything under control. You

know, there wasn't panic in the air. There weren't these kinds of things

happening. It was a matter that they actually kept control of. As one of the

people that had the fires in their back yard, I've kind of seen that firsthand,

and I truly think they should be commended.

[1525]

I know a

lot of businesses suffered from what took place over the summer, and the

tourists didn't come because of all the smoke we had in the valley, particularly

in the South Okanagan. I want to tell you: that all changed on the weekend, when

the winefest came and the Wine Festival started. I've never seen so many people

back in the Okanagan, and I'm sure that's a credit to all the people of British

Columbia. They didn't come and interfere when the fires were going on, but they

certainly came and gave their support when it was needed. I'm sure they'll all

be coming back. We certainly want the hot, dry summers. We just don't want the

fires.

Mayencourt: It's an honour to stand here and speak to this resolution. I

come from an urban area, but I got to witness some of the tremendous efforts by

a large group of individuals — people like firefighters, community leaders and

volunteers — in addressing the awesome effects of the wildfire season in

British Columbia this year.

Last week,

as members of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services,

we travelled up to Kamloops, and we had the opportunity to

[ Page 7165 ]

visit the fire control centre in Kamloops and also to fly over the towns of

McLure and Barriere and the fire sites there and to visit the Strawberry Hill

fire site. While these locations represent just a small portion of the

challenges that we faced in British Columbia, it was amazing when you looked at

the scale of what had happened.

I want to

say that I was really impressed with the people at the Kamloops fire station. I

couldn't believe the expertise and the caring and the knowledge that exist in

that facility. I was impressed by the technology they employed in British

Columbia as a way of dealing with the forest fire problems. I am also really

impressed with the volunteers that put together a response to this particular

crisis. I am speaking about both corporate and individual donors who rallied

together to help.

[J.

Weisbeck in the chair.]

I must

speak about some people from my own riding that contributed to this, as well,

people who were willing to share their time and give what they had to the people

who lost homes and properties in our province. One corporate donor I want to

specifically recognize is Wayne Hartrick, the gentleman who owns

reputations.com. Wayne, while sitting in his boardroom one day, looking at the

North Shore mountains and the lush greenness of those, started to think about

what it would be like if we were to lose the North Shore mountains to fire. He

became committed to doing something for the people in the interior — to the

people of McLure, Cranbrook and Kelowna — and so he got to work on creating a

concert. He worked with some people from our community: Joanne Wyatt of Telus

Communications, Kristen Rabnett of CIBC, Linda Oglove of the 2010 bid committee

and Paul Haagenson of the House of Blues. They decided they wanted to put a

concert together, so they talked to Bruce Allen.

Bruce Allen

rose to the challenge, and he talked to his talented artist Bryan Adams — who

was raised here in British Columbia — and they put together a concert series

that is going to travel across this province. They're going to go to Prince

George, Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver, and they're going to raise money for

the fire relief fund, for the North Thompson relief fund, and also for the

Salvation Army and for other charities that are needing support at this time.

I'm really proud of the efforts of those people.

There are

also other businesses that have become corporate donors. I want to talk about

Molson Canada, which has a program that's going to take place here in British

Columbia on October 16. This is an ad kind of thing. You want to go out and

drink Molson Canadian on that day, because they're going to be giving $1 from

every Molson Canadian that is sold in the province of British Columbia. A dollar

from that is going into the North Thomson relief fund. That's like a

contribution of $100,000 for one day's work, and I really salute them for what

they're doing.

Aside from

corporate donations there are many, many individuals that pulled together, made

contributions and have been extremely generous. Over the weekend I had the

privilege of talking with Capt. John Murray of the Salvation Army. He's a

gentleman who has come and visited this Legislature. I've introduced him here.

He has appeared before members of caucus. John informed me that the Salvation

Army has set a private fund aside for those who have lost their homes in the

fires. For the 348 homeowners that lost their homes in these fires, the

Salvation Army is going to send a cheque for $1,000 this week, and it is going

to send a further $500 to them just ahead of Christmas so that they can know

that the people of British Columbia really care about them.

[1530]

That money

that the Salvation Army raised — $1.1 million in cash and $1.3 million in

goods and services — is going to be distributed to people who really need some

help and assistance right now, and it is a demonstration of the support of this

whole province. I'm very, very proud of that.

I'm also

proud of the people who worked really hard to see that people's needs were being

met. Specifically, I want to mention the Premier and the Solicitor General. Both

of these gentlemen suspended their vacation time, which they really deserved and

really needed, and they went to work on supporting the communities that were

affected by these fires. I really want to say that they are also great heroes in

this province for what they did. When I talk to people in my community, they say

that was a demonstration of leadership they have not seen before here in British

Columbia, and they are appreciative of it. I'm proud to serve in this House with

those two gentlemen.

I also know

that there were many, many members of this caucus who took time out of their

vacation and decided to work in their communities: the member for

Kamloops–North Thompson, the member for Shuswap, the member from Okanagan

Falls and many, many others who took time out of their precious time away from

this Legislature to help their communities. I think that's something we can all

be very, very proud of in this province.

Sometimes

in this chamber and in this Legislature we talk about the disconnect, the

difference between urban British Columbia and the heartlands. That's something

that I'm particularly conscious of as I travel around the province, because

there are differences in this province. Sometimes there's a gap, a lack of

understanding about lifestyles in both of those different types of communities.

I think the

fires actually helped us bridge those gaps. I think the fires taught us that

we're all British Columbians. I think the fires taught us that we can be better

and bigger than just our own little communities. We can be a province that works

together, that bridges these gaps. I'm very, very proud to be a member of this

Legislature, but more than anything else I'm proud to be a British Columbian

because of the way that British Columbia responded to the fires.

With that

I'd like to yield the floor to other members who want to speak on this matter,

but thank you very much.

[ Page 7166 ]

R. Lee:

I would like to stand to add my voice to support the motion moved by the hon.

member for Kamloops–North Thompson. This year British Columbia experienced the

driest summer in 50 years, and the water level in some of the rivers reached the

lowest level in 80 years. Consequently, it's not surprising to see that this

province has had one of the worst summer seasons with fires caused by lightning

and human error.

In early

August, for a trip planned months ahead, I travelled with my family to

Barkerville, Prince George, Prince Rupert, McBride and Kelowna. Everywhere we

went, we could see the indirect effect of the fires on the tourist industries.

In some areas we saw the effect of the fires on jobs and air quality.

Many

families in the heartlands are directly affected by the interface fires. I was

at the McLure and Louis Creek areas on September 20, together with 34 members of

the Chinese Canadian community from the lower mainland, to talk to the families

who were evacuees and to see firsthand the disaster area. As British Columbians

we are all related, all interconnected like a human body. When part of the body

is hurt, then we all feel the pain. The Chinese Canadian community brought in

donations of a quarter of a million dollars to the North Thompson relief fund on

that day. Thanks to the community members from Kensington and also to the member

for Kamloops–North Thompson for their quick response.

[1535]

The support

of hundreds of communities, business organizations and individuals from mainland

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam was behind the donations. I would like to

particularly mention the members from the Tzu Chi Foundation, who helped some

families without house insurance, and the donation they gave to the three fire

departments in McLure, Barriere and the Chu Chua volunteer fire departments.

Thanks to

the volunteers and firefighters and also the military personnel coming from

across Canada, the fires in British Columbia are now under control. From my

constituency of Burnaby, the Burnaby firefighters were among those who helped to

fight the fires in the heartlands this summer. They've also been in there

helping fundraising for the relief fund by selling T-shirts.

Fortunately,

the fires this summer also brought out the best in British Columbians, as many

of my colleagues have said. In the months ahead, let's move forward together to

help rebuild the affected communities, to bring in more economic development and

job opportunities to these communities.

Suffredine: I rise in support of the motion of thanks made by the Premier

today.

emergencies we often react out of emotion and fear. The urgency of a situation

often causes us to use poor judgment instead of the right judgment. Later, when

we analyze the events, we tend to be critical of the things that were done

perhaps by us and by others. That's in part due to the fact that we have the

benefit of hindsight and the luxury of time afterward. There will be a time for

us to question things, but today I think it's important to focus on saying thank

you to those who contributed so much.

In my part

of the Kootenays, which fortunately wasn't prominent in the news, we were really

lucky to have hundreds of skilled professionals and volunteers. Many people,

when they think of the fires, think of areas like Barriere where the whole

community was lost. While our hearts in my part of the Kootenays go out to those

people who have lost everything, we also have to bear in mind why it didn't

happen where we live.

Nelson-Creston there were thousands and thousands of acres on fire at one time.

I believe the total is between 40,000 and 50,000 acres. We had a fire called

Kutetl Creek that burned approximately one-third of the West Arm wilderness

park. We had fires in Meadow Creek, Arrow Park, Burton and Kuskonook — all at

the same time. Now it's clear that when such a large portion of your community

is burning, you don't have the luxury of being able to put enough resources on

to put out all of those fires. What the Forest Service did was the only rational

way to approach it. That was to pick the priorities and to put your resources on

the things where people or property were seriously at risk.

There was a

fire between Nelson and Harrop that was a little over 12,000 acres at its

largest. It was actually between five and seven miles from each community. It

carried on for a number of weeks, with people being pretty nervous,

understandably, about whether or not if a wind came up one of those communities

could have been the subject of a fire like Kelowna. Fortunately, it wasn't. The

fact that there was no interface fire in those communities or virtually in any

other community in the Kootenays is a great credit to the skill and the

decision-making of the Forest Service and the emergency centres.

Recognition

should also be given to the many community volunteers who provided outstanding

service during those fires. There were hundreds of people who donated in the

efforts and who volunteered in the local provincial emergency centre. In Harrop,

people like Rick Morley, who is a former conservation service employee,

volunteered and helped put together an evacuation plan that was communicated to

the community one night at a community meeting I attended. Lynne Betts, another

local person, served as a distribution source to provide by e-mail copies of the

most current fire information throughout the whole community.

[1540]

Accurate

information to all the communities was the most critical thing. Our biggest

enemy was rumour and misinformation. People needed to know what was happening,

and both the Forest Service and the volunteers helped that information reach

them in a way that gave them confidence.

Getting

that accurate information was simply critical. In Kuskonook, a little place

about 15 kilometres north of Creston, a local pilot, Michael Wigen, volun-

[ Page 7167 ]

teered some aerial time and did a video of the fire the day there was a

public meeting, so the people at the public meeting could actually see for

themselves on TV that evening what the fire looked like that day. That sort of

information was extremely valuable in helping the community to approach things

in a calm and rational way.

Evacuations

were rare in Nelson-Creston — only one, at Arrow Park, where the entire

community was driven from their homes and stayed out of their homes for a little

more than a week. Community support was great. All those people were

accommodated. Not a single home was lost, and everyone evacuated was looked

after for that entire time.

I know

people want the review promised by the Premier to proceed. So do I, and I'll

make sure the views of my constituents are heard when that opportunity comes.

But today is about recognizing that this was a summer where nature was in

charge, and the strategy employed to protect lives and property first was

realistic and necessary.

Out of

every challenge, we learn something. This summer and the challenge it brought

was no exception. What we learned about our communities is the single most

important thing. We saw the volunteers perform admirably and the firefighters

courageously. We saw them work tirelessly day after day. I know some of the

people in the PREOC centre had been working without a day off for over a month.

To all of

them, thank you may not be enough, but it's what we have and it's what we should

do. What impresses me most is that in saying thanks to all of these people, it's

probably more than they would have asked. So thank you to each and every one of

the volunteers and the firefighters, and my greatest respect.

Hon. L.

Stephens: It gives me great pleasure to rise to pay tribute to the many

contributions of people from all across British Columbia as we debate this

motion moved by the Premier earlier today.

Really, on

behalf of the constituents of Langley, I want to take this opportunity to

express our heartfelt thanks to all the firefighters involved over this very

long, hot summer, fighting fires throughout British Columbia — especially to

the 47 members of the firefighters, male and female, from Langley who responded

to the call. We are all very proud of you.

Although

Langley was very far away from the Okanagan and the Kootenays, our hearts go out

to the many families who are homeless, who have lost valuable possessions and

are dealing with the trauma disasters such as raging forest fires can produce.

Also the many hundreds of community volunteers who worked tirelessly to assist

individuals and families who were affected by the fires — they all deserve our

respect and admiration for a job well done.

Our Premier

visited the affected areas to demonstrate our government's support for those

communities. The Premier's tireless efforts with the federal government and

numerous visits are ongoing to convince the federal government of the need for

relief dollars for B.C. communities and families.

I join with

my constituents and express my appreciation to our Premier for his leadership

during this very difficult time, and to various other individuals in our

government, particularly the Solicitor General. It was under his leadership that

the provincial emergency response program folks and other government agencies,

including local governments, handled this massive undertaking with what looked

like — to those of us looking on from the outside — military precision.

Indeed, without the help of our military forces, the outcome may have been

greater loss of life, personal property, valuable forest land and valuable

parkland.

[1545]

It was a

huge task to coordinate so many, and all of those agencies — including the

pilots, the weather personnel, the forest personnel — were magnificent. In

many ways we were at war, and to use an old cliché, this was really their

finest hour.

I know that

at least 47 firefighters from Langley were part of this unprecedented effort,

and I'd like to read into the record the names of those 47 who were in the

Okanagan or in the Kootenays, and I'm sure there were others that perhaps are

not on this list. But from the Langley city fire-rescue, there were Terry

Alcombrack, Jamie Burns, Mike Cameron, Murray Campbell, James Clark, Troy

Collins, Tony Crawford, Bruce Dundas, Mike Frew, R. Gunn, Brad Hamilton, John

Hanson, Murray Hess, Scott Kennedy, Bruce Kilby, Ryan Kilby, J. Kirbyson, Rob

Leigh, Gord McGregor, Chris Miley, Brent Morgan, Colin Nystrom, Dave Robinson,

Dan Skidmore, Mike Veitch and Barry Vignal.

In the town

of Langley: K. Anderson, D. Anline, M. Blair, S. Brewer, R. Clauson, Jim

Duncan, Bruce Ferguson, Len Foss, A. Hewitson, M. Kernel, S.

Mashi, S. Matterson, Rita Paine, Dave Palmer, P. Prudhome, Rob Sewel, D.

Steeple, B. Ulle, H. Vanbroek, D. Witowitch and J. Witowitch.

Once again,

on behalf of the constituents of Langley, I want to express our sincere and deep

appreciation to the 47 firefighters from Langley city fire-rescue and the

township of Langley and all the other women, men, firefighters and the military

from across Canada and the United States for your bravery and heroism that was

displayed this summer throughout British Columbia in the fire-ravaged parts of

our province. Thank you.

Hawes: Like those before me, I too rise to put the voices of both myself and

my constituents, actually, behind the congratulations and thanks that we would

send out to those who worked so hard to stop the terrible fires of last summer.

It wasn't

just the communities that were directly affected by the fires that suffered the

terrible, terrible consequences. Communities all over the province and families

all over the province felt the effect, and some a lot more than others. As

volunteers, firemen, policemen and our soldiers pulled together to put

themselves in harm's way — very typical of what happens in this

[ Page 7168 ]

type of an event, where young men and women go forward without regard to

their own safety to protect the lives and property of others…. It's very, very

typical of what happens in these types of events.

The Mission

fire department and the Maple Ridge fire department, like many others around the

province, sent volunteers. But I want to speak today just briefly about one that

went, and that would be Ben von Hardenberg. Ben was a helicopter pilot who grew

up in the Deroche area, near Mission, in my riding. Ben, like the others,

answered the call, knew the risks and decided that he would put himself in

harm's way to help quell the fires. He flew the buckets of water that many of us

watching TV saw so frequently — the image of the firebombers and the

helicopters flying over these fires. Every time you would see that, at least

personally…. I'm sure just about anyone else who saw it would think about the

people who were inside those planes and inside those helicopters and the kind of

danger that they had put themselves into and the kind of bravery they were

displaying as they just flew mission after mission over these fires.

[1550]

So often in

these events, tragedies occur that go beyond just what the headlines say. Ben

von Hardenberg was about to get married. He was days away from being married,

and he was just flying one of his last missions. Following his marriage, Ben was

going to move to Australia to take up a management position. He was tragically

killed while flying a mission over one of the fires. For Ben, there isn't going

to be a future. For Ben's family, who have been completely devastated by this,

and for his fiancée, our hearts must go out. I just wanted to make sure that

the memory of people like Ben von Hardenberg is recorded and not forgotten.

These are

the types of heroes that fought for us all summer, and tragically, three,

including Ben, gave their lives. On behalf of myself and my constituents, our

hearts do go out to the von Hardenberg family and to Ben's fiancée, and our

thanks for what he did for us and our thanks to all of the volunteers. I think

we need to constantly remember that there are those who will give their lives,

and we need to make sure they are not forgotten.

MacKay: I'm pleased to stand in the House today in support of the motion on

the floor. Our Premier has said several times that the greatest resource this

province has is its people. At no time in our history as a province has this

been more evident than this past summer.

I was

appointed to the mining task force made up of 15 members of caucus under the

very knowledgable and competent chair, the member for West Vancouver–Capilano.

We were asked to discuss with the mining industry what more we could do as

government to bring back the industry. This required a great deal of travel

throughout the summer months. We travelled through the interior, down through

Kamloops and Ashcroft, Vernon, Merritt and the Coquihalla Highway area. This is

where we got our first glimpse of smoke and an indication of what was to come.

travelled on our next trip through the southeastern part of British Columbia,

where the fires were creating so much havoc. I recall my trip from Banff to

Radium Hot Springs. I experienced firsthand what the fires were doing. We

travelled through a burned valley and through an area that was still burning.

The highway was intermittently opened and closed, and travel arrangements had to

be put on hold and moved ahead.

I continued

on to Cranbrook, and there was smoke everywhere. After checking in to the hotel,

the first thing one noticed was that there were firefighters from all over B.C.

and Alberta. T-shirts identified where the firefighters were from. There were

fire trucks from all over the province in the parking lot. Thank-you signs were

posted on commercial billboards and businesses as well as on private properties.

The signs had a simple message: "Thank you, firefighters."

I recall

one evening in Cranbrook, where the fires were visible from the parking lot. I

filled up my truck with fuel just in case I got a phone call in the middle of

the night that said: "You have to leave." I recall standing in the

parking lot of the hotel and watching the flames and trees exploding. Residents

in Cranbrook continued on with their daily activities. I'm sure the uncertainty

was there, but it was not evident.

After we

finished in the southeastern part of the province, I travelled home through the

Kelowna area and could see the after-effects of that fire and the continuing

smoke in the distance. I continued on through Kamloops and up Highway 5 north

through Barriere, McLure and Louis Creek.

Having

lived in Blue River for years and travelled that road many times,

"devastation" is the only word that comes to mind to describe the

scene that was unfolding as we travelled north. Homes were gone. Some were left

standing. Who knows why. Industry was gone. All that was left of the sawmill was

some twisted metal. Jobs were gone, dreams were shattered, and lives had

uncertain futures. To add to the uncertainty was the announcement a few days ago

that the mill will not be rebuilt.

[1555]

Thousands

of firefighters from around the province and this country came to help them in

their time of need. The Canadian Armed Forces sent personnel to help. Countless

volunteers, police, provincial emergency personnel and other government agencies

contributed to the evacuations. There was no loss of life on the ground.

However, three died in aircraft, fighting the fires. Our sympathies to the

families who lost loved ones in those tragic accidents.

People from

the area I represent, Bulkley Valley–Stikine, travelled a great distance to be

of assistance. They travelled to help with the firefighting. We had people on

the ground and in the air. I'm talking about the pilots and the engineers who

keep those things in the air. They were part of the army of people needed to

fight the fires.

If I could

just get off that and talk on a lighter side for a moment…. My good friend Ray

Brakenbury was one of the many helicopter pilots that spent the sum-

[ Page 7169 ]

mer away from home. Ray is a golfing partner of mine, and his absence took

away my opportunity to win as much as 50 cents a round.

Linda Goudy

retired from the B.C. Forest Service last year. She was a dispatcher. She was

retired, and she went back to work when she was called. She didn't ask any

questions; she went back to work. Bob Rowsell, a retired fire boss with the B.C.

Forest Service, took a crew called a "ten pack" to assist. Four forest

companies from my riding sent crews as well. Pro-Tech Forest Resources Ltd., PRT

Summit nursery, Silvicon Service Inc. and Tyhee Forestry Consultants Ltd. were

four of the companies that sent crews down.

A very

competent district forest manager from the Nadina forest district, Bob Murray,

was also called to the southeast fire centre. His duties consisted of ensuring

that resources were being deployed to the right fire in the right priority. The

key objectives of the resources are (1) the protection of life, (2) the

protection of property, (3) the protection of infrastructure such as roads and

power lines, and (4) the protection of timber.

This is

just one example of how people from my riding assisted. Think for a moment of

the planning needed to look after the thousands who faced it and were evacuated.

The largest evacuations ever in this province were done with precision. This is

a credit to the dedicated public service employees and hundreds of volunteers

who assisted them.

What else

did we do to help? Well, we prayed in our churches, and we prayed in our homes.

We prayed for those whose homes and businesses were at risk, and we prayed for

the firefighters that fought the fires.

The

Smithers Interior News dated September 10 carried an interesting story.

It talked about how the individuals and groups across the Bulkley Valley are

showing their compassion for victims of B.C. forest fires in a multitude of

ways, sending everything from cash, quilts and clothing to prayers, best wishes

and letters of support. Special mention was made of Bob and Kathy Allaire of the

Crocodile Cafe in Telkwa. They collected truckloads of supplies for those in

need.

Another

great initiative to raise funds was started by the members for Cariboo North and

Cariboo South. They held a beef barbecue, both to raise the profile of Canadian

beef and to raise funds for the fire victims. My constituency assistant, Sharon

Eastabrook, thought this was such a great idea that she organized a beef

barbecue in Smithers. Our mayor, Jim Davidson, the firemen from Smithers and

Telkwa and the members of the Bulkley Valley Cattlemen's Association and local

service clubs worked for four hours on a Saturday. We raised over $5,000. Many

local businesses also contributed to make this a great event.

In Burns

Lake a group of women made quilts for fire victims. A fundraising garage sale at

the rod and gun club was held in Burns Lake on September 6, with all the

proceeds to go to the Red Cross to help people affected by the forest fires. A

poker ride was held on September 14, and the money raised was sent to the Red

Cross.

Corwood

Timber Products in Houston challenged all businesses and contractors and their

employees to donate to the North Thompson Relief Fund at Kamloops. I'd just like

to read the short announcement that was in the Houston paper: "We at

Corwood Timber Products Ltd. would like to challenge all business and

contractors and employees to donate to the North Thompson Relief Fund at

Kamloops. The fund is managed in Kamloops and is designed to help the many

people who lost their jobs, homes and possessions. We believe Houston is a very

fortunate community and is a position to help."

[1600]

"We

nearly had the same thing happen to us 20 years ago. The Royal Bank will look

after donations. All Corwood Timber employees have donated $100 each, and the

company has matched that amount."

The

Premier, in his address at UBCM, promised a review of the 2003 fire season to be

completed by February 15, 2004. The Premier promised that the review would be

done quickly, independently and thoroughly, and Mr. Gary Filmon, the former

Premier of the province of Manitoba, has been appointed to this task. In support

of the motion put forward by the member for Kamloops–North Thompson, I would

like at this time to say thank you to the firefighters, the police, the public

service, the military personnel and the thousands of volunteers who helped

strangers in their time of need and who continue to help us to this day.

To the

families affected, you should know by now that you are not alone. This is what I

meant when I used the words of our Premier when he said that the greatest

resource this province has is its people. It is the spirit of British Columbia

that makes this the best province in the best country in the world.

Hon. S.

Bond: I, too, stand in the House to join my colleagues today in support of

this motion. As I stand here and listen to story after story being shared by

MLAs from around the province, it's absolutely amazing. This province should

feel incredibly proud of the spirit of volunteerism and support that was

demonstrated and continues to be demonstrated in the province even today. I

want, first of all, to say that I am incredibly proud of the constituents I have

in Prince George–Mount Robson and in the communities within my riding who

demonstrated incredible service and volunteerism during the last number of

months.

I also want

to say that the leadership that was demonstrated by the Solicitor General and

the Premier was outstanding. I know that during very, very complicated and very

busy times for both of them, they made efforts to contact me, since there were

some unexpected and unintended consequences in the communities that I represent

in this province. You see, the McLure forest fire burned 20 kilometres of B.C.

Hydro's right-of-way near Barriere, right through B.C. Hydro poles. What that

meant was that two of the large communities and many small communities in my

riding literally had no power for weeks.

[ Page 7170 ]

On August

1, 2003, at about 12:30 in the morning, power went out just prior to the long

weekend. One of the things I want to say that made me most proud was that while

it was obviously an inconvenience, and we still will pay for the impacts of what

happened — and I'll explain those briefly — what was most impressive was

that people in my constituency said: "We're not in immediate jeopardy.

There are people whose homes and lives and jobs are in jeopardy. Take care of

them first, but help us where you can." That is the kind of spirit we have

not just in my riding but in the province.

Hydroelectric

service was cut from Clearwater through Valemount, through McBride, Mount Robson

Provincial Park and all the way to the Alberta border. I want to highlight what

an impact, economically, that brought to some of those communities. The long

weekend in August is typically the best weekend for tourism in both the

Valemount and McBride areas, so many small business owners had brought in

additional supplies — food, in particular — to serve the customers that had

booked their particular hotels and motels and restaurants.

As you can

imagine, the lack of electricity caused significant loss of business traffic.

There was no opening in any of the restaurants or the motels, and I can tell you

that it is only this week that the mobile generators that were required in order

to power up our part of the world are finally being sent back to where they came

from. In particular, there were ten diesel generators brought into the North

Thompson and Robson Valley areas as interim power sources, which, as I've

suggested, are finally going home this week.

[1605]

Two

semitrailers with freezer units operated by their own motors were brought in for

McBride residents and small businesses to store their frozen foods. A boil-water

advisory was issued immediately because the water purification equipment could

not operate without power. The provincial emergency program issued warnings that

there was no opportunity to purchase gasoline on the Yellowhead Highway between

Prince George and Jasper, so the limited service stations that were offering

service in Valemount were certainly a challenge for travellers who were

stranded, and the potential for that existed for several days.

One of the

things that I became aware of very quickly is that while there was a direct and

absolutely devastating impact on hundreds and thousands of people in specific

areas of the province, there were certainly extended consequences to those of us

whose ridings border the geographic area where the fires were the most

significant.

I want to

tell you that the people in my constituency responded amazingly well. Some of

the first outside responders to the fire situation came from the Fraser–Fort

George regional district, where firefighters from volunteer fire departments

responded quickly and effectively. Local volunteer firefighters pitched in to

work on fires. Over four dozen Prince George volunteer firefighters and five

fire trucks travelled south to help fight the blazes. Over 50 firefighters from

12 volunteer departments in the regional district volunteered to fight the fires

in McLure, the Venables, Naramata, Kelowna and Cranbrook. I can honestly tell

you that as I've heard the stories of the number of hours…. In fact, a very

reasonable estimate would be over 6,700 hours spent volunteering away from their

jobs in order to help the other parts of the province of British Columbia.

I also want

to extend a sincere thank-you to those employers who allowed the volunteer

firefighters from our regional district to be away from their jobs in order to

help support the other parts of the province at very difficult times. That is a

sense of community spirit and provincial responsibility. We had numerous

examples, as have been shared by my colleagues, in terms of the generosity of

the people in my communities and in terms of blankets, clothing and all sorts of

other items that were needed by the victims. But perhaps one of the most

poignant stories was hearing firsthand, as a matter of fact, from one of my

colleagues who ultimately ended up in an evacuation centre. She said to me:

"The person that greeted me at the evacuation centre that night was from

Prince George." I was pleased that someone who we were concerned about was

able to be cared for initially by someone from Prince George, and I think that

says volumes. I'm hearing behind me that my colleague appreciated that.

I want you

to know that while these were difficult times…. I'm sure we all share those

visuals that we will not forget — watching the television screen in my case,

watching only by television. It was horrifying and absolutely tragic. Yet the

people of our constituencies, the people of our province, rose to meet the very

difficult circumstances. I want to recognize the leadership provided by the

mayors of my communities: in particular, Mayor Frazier in McBride, Mayor

Townsend in Valemount and Mayor Kinsley in Prince George. They provided 24-hour

support for their communities. We worked together to attract the number of

generators that we needed. We were very concerned that our industry,

particularly our forest industry, was unable to actually operate for a

significant period of time. At times as difficult as these, you can imagine that

added extra challenge in resource-dependent communities.

The

excellence of the work done by B.C. Hydro and Telus has to be mentioned today.

They were on 24-hour standby, in contact with my communities and my mayors on a

regular basis.

But I think

it's the people of Mount Robson who came together. They delivered flyers, they

looked after each other, they cared for one another, and despite their own

circumstances, they recognized they were not the most in need. They, in turn,

then provided support and assistance to those whose circumstances they

recognized as being much more challenging.

[1610]

Today I am

so very proud to stand in the House to support the motion made by the Premier

and to congratulate the people of Prince George–Mount Robson, in particular,

for not only enduring circumstances that were challenging for them but most of

all for rising

[ Page 7171 ]

above that, for recognizing the challenges of other British Columbians and

thinking first and foremost about their health and their safety.

J. Bray:

I'm very pleased to be able to stand up and speak strongly in support of the

Premier's motion. We've heard a lot over the last little while about all the

heroes that came forth during this incredible period in our province's history.

Really, I can't echo it better than the Premier talking about 50,000 residents

evacuated and 4.5 million people, the population of the province, looking out

for them. It was a tremendous thing as a British Columbian to witness the

bravery of the residents and all the heroes, large and small, who emerged over

this summer of fire.

Here in

Victoria, obviously, we have a large amount of public sector workers and

government employees who work here. Given that I'm coming at it from a Victoria

perspective, from an area that wasn't directly impacted, I thought I would like

to pay special attention and give special acknowledgment to British Columbia's

public service — not just the provincial public service, although they were

majorly involved but in fact all of those people who work on behalf of British

Columbians in the service of the public.

Obviously,

when you're dealing with something like forest fires, one of the most present

views you see on TV are those brave men and women of the B.C. Forest Service. I

don't think there's any question that nobody could have done a better job in

fighting these fires than the men and women who work for the B.C. Forest

Service. I think they did us all proud in the way they battled hour after hour,

day and night, week upon week against at times almost insurmountable pressures

from these fires to finally beat those fires back. That shows that those men and

women who work for the B.C. Forest Service didn't just step up to the plate

during this summer. What it shows is their dedication to training, their

dedication to planning and their dedication to their communities year after

year. You don't get that good overnight. You get that good year upon year,

planning, working, receiving direction from senior officials and learning from

past experiences.

My first

congratulations and thanks go to the men and women who worked on the front lines

for the B.C. Forest Service, because the only reason those forest fires stopped

was their excellent training, their incredible hard work and their dedication to

their communities. I think they did us all proud in the way they fought those

forest fires this summer in British Columbia.

There are

some other public servants who were involved in that. Those were the municipal

firefighters, those who were employed on behalf of their municipalities, who

were there not necessarily to fight the front lines of the actual forest fires

and brush fires. They were there to protect property. They were there on their

off-shifts. They were calling in and volunteering time, and they were going

sometimes out of their catchment area and positioning themselves between the

fire and property — people's homes, people's workplaces, farms. In fact, the

member for Kamloops–North Thompson talked about how that fight occurred with

property, how they were up to 20 metres between the fire and homes.

I can tell

you that there's no question over 300 homes were lost, but because of the B.C.

Forest Service, those public servants and those municipal firefighters four

times as many homes were saved as a result of their work, their training, their

bravery and their dedication. Their impact was immeasurable on the homes, the

families and the communities which they served.

[1615]

You know,

there was another incredible story that was almost so big I'm not sure people

actually understood the gravity of it. That was the evacuation — both the

Barriere, McLure and Louis Creek areas and the even larger Kelowna evacuation.

I'm speaking about the public servants who work for the provincial emergency

program. This is a group that does not get much attention year in, year out. We

haven't had a lot of major disasters. This is a group that plans for major

catastrophes the best you can when they don't happen. These are groups that work

out in our communities, encouraging volunteers, identifying evacuation reception

centres and identifying suppliers available to provide the necessities of life

during a catastrophe, but because they don't happen that regularly, we tend not

to notice their efforts. They work quietly and in some anonymity in our

communities, both here in Victoria centrally and around the province.

There can

be no question that those public servants who work for the provincial emergency

program can take great pride that they didn't just show British Columbia their

skill, and they didn't just show Canada their skill. They showed the world their

skills, their preparation, their commitment to their communities — the

second-largest evacuation in the history of Canada — and it went so smoothly,

we almost didn't notice the magnitude. Thirty thousand people at one time in

Kelowna were evacuated, sometimes on less than an hour's notice, yet their needs

were met. Reception centres were available, and registration for names so loved

ones could contact occurred. Distribution of food, prescription medication, care

for animals — these all happened without serious glitches. That is an

incredible story.

The public

servants who work here in Victoria to coordinate the program — the regional

managers out in the various areas affected and their volunteer crews, who came

together in such an enormous, effective and efficient way — can take great

pride in the fact that 30,000 people were evacuated, 30,000 people were served

and 30,000 people were able to return home as soon as possible. That is a

testament to the men and women who work in the provincial emergency program.

A lot of

municipalities were directly impacted by evacuations, by a disruption in

service, by the dislocation of families and by the interruption of business,

commerce and trade. The resources that municipalities, through their city staff,

had to put on standby, had to

[ Page 7172 ]

mobilize, which had to go above and beyond the call of duty…. That was

incredible. Whether it was Kelowna, Kamloops, Barriere or Cranbrook, these

communities required their professional, hard-working, dedicated municipal civil

servants to respond, and respond they did. Again, they often go without much

recognition, and yet when called upon, they didn't just rise to the challenge;

they exceeded the challenge. They served their communities with distinction and

with honour.

Evacuating

people from their homes and directing the mobilization of people is difficult

and can sometimes be a dangerous task. The municipal police and the RCMP

officers around the province who were dealing with that did so in a caring and

compassionate, well-organized manner that ensured the safety of movement and the

safety of our population, and is one of the reasons why despite the huge tragedy

of these fires, despite the huge areas affected and the huge mobilization, no

civilians were injured during this summer of forest fires. In

part it is because

of the skill, coordination and superior training of our RCMP and municipal

police officers.

Lots of

power was disrupted. Power is required for all sorts of functions, and those men

and women that work for B.C. Hydro again stepped up to the plate, working extra

hours, sometimes in rather difficult working circumstances, as I'm sure one

could imagine — no complaints, no requests for special favours; instead, a

dedication to the public which they serve. The result was getting power restored

extremely quickly in most communities and working very hard to install new lines

and repair the grid where necessary.

[1620]

There were

great volunteers and great heroes. We heard about George Evans in Kamloops, who

basically stopped his auto dealership business for two months to raise over $2

million for the North Thompson Relief Fund. He's getting a lot of attention, and

he deserves to, for that kind of work.

We've had

great examples from my colleagues here in the House of individuals who have

risen to the challenge. But I hope that as we acknowledge the heroes and we

acknowledge what worked well, we remember that the cornerstone of the response

that occurred this summer was our public service. The years in quiet obscurity

doing planning paid off. The hours and hours and hours of each day they worked

on execution during this summer paid off. I know that in the months to come,

various ministries, various municipal staffs, regional districts — those

public servants — will be working to evaluate what occurred in an open and

no-holds-barred approach, as the Premier has set out, to ensure that as we learn

from this, we evaluate this to improve even further our response to these types

of tragedies.

Sometimes

in casual conversation people like to refer to a certain stereotype of

"government workers." I hope British Columbians will stop for a minute

now, look at the people I've mentioned and others have — in the Forest

Service, with the RCMP and the police, the provincial emergency program, our

city staff — and see their hard work, not worried about overtime or whether

they're union or non-union, which level of government they worked on. They were

concerned about their communities. I hope the new stereotype emerges, which is

the public servant, the civil servant, who is the cornerstone of our

communities, and no more so than when our communities are facing danger.

Hon. R.

Coleman: On July 31 I was in Edmonton meeting with the RCMP with regard to

issues in and around organized crime when I received a phone call stating we had

a fire that might take off on us in British Columbia and interface with a

community and put lives at risk. By noon the next day, as the minister

responsible for the provincial emergency program, I was actually signing an

order to create a state of emergency in the Thompson–Nicola Valley and

advising the Premier, in consultation with him, that we were going to have to do

this.

By the next

day, the Saturday, because of how fires had taken off, we actually created a

state of emergency provincewide, because we had fires in a number of areas

across the province that were threatening communities.

I've heard

a lot of discussion and talk in this debate today about the different

organizations that performed at a high level — police, fire, emergency

personnel, all those people who actually made us able to react and deal with

this thing that the Premier and I were dealing with every single day through the

month of August to September 15.

Those

people did a remarkable job, and there were some tough decisions made during

that period of time — decisions that changed how we will deal with emergencies

in the future, decisions that had to be made on the spur of the moment for the

benefit and the protection of British Columbians. In my opinion, they were all

the right decisions. They were done in a timely manner, because people didn't

panic, people understood the issues, and people put people first, rather than

anything else, when it came to protecting lives.

In the

middle of August we created a provincial fire department, and some people have

actually questioned whether we should have done that, because they said that

actually put the fire commissioner's office in charge of all the fire equipment

in the province. But whe