2005 Legislative Session: 6th 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)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005

Morning Sitting

Volume 27, Number 7

CONTENTS

Routine Proceedings

Page

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

Hon. J. Les

Hon. P. Sahota

Hon. I. Chong

Hon. R. Coleman

M. Hunter

[ Page 11869 ]

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005

The House met at 10:03 a.m.

Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Hon. G. Bruce: I call Address in Reply to the throne

speech.

[1005]

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

Hon. J. Les: It's a great pleasure for me to rise in my

place this morning and reply to the Speech from the Throne, which was delivered

by Her Honour last week. As I listened to the speech, I reflected on what a

change we have seen transpire across British Columbia over the last four years.

I think that once in a while it's useful for us to think back and

reflect on the province as it was in 2001. We all remember the decade of decline

of the 1990s when British Columbians had, frankly, lost hope. They had lost

their economic courage and vision that had for so long described British

Columbia. We had gone from a province that was accustomed to being an economic

leader in Canada to a province that was behind almost every other province in

Canada in terms of pretty well every economic measurement that you could

imagine. It had gotten to the point where double-digit unemployment was the rule

in most areas of the province; where new investment across the province was

rare; and where, on a net basis, people were leaving British Columbia. All in

all, not a very pretty picture.

When we ran for election in 2001, we drew up a road map. It was

called the New Era document. It contained in excess of 200 solid

commitments. It laid out how the province was going to get itself back to

economic prosperity in a way that was deliberate, in a way that was prudent and

in a way that committed to British Columbians very exactly how we were going to

do that.

When we look at it now, almost four years later, I'm so pleased to

be able to report that in excess of 95 percent of the commitments that were made

in the New Era document either have been fully completed or are well on

their way to completion. That is a tremendous achievement. Never before, I

believe, in the history of British Columbia has any government set out so

clearly what it was going to do and then followed through so completely, as our

government has done.

I think it's clear today, as well, that the results speak for

themselves. As I've travelled around the province over the last number of

months, it is obvious that there is renewed hope and increased confidence across

British Columbia in every area of the province and in every sector of our

economy.

Those who measure these things, like the Canadian Federation of

Independent Business and other groups like that, report consistently that

quarter after quarter, British Columbians and British Columbia business people

are more confident about the future than Canadians in any other province of

Canada. That confidence is certainly founded on the economic turnaround that has

been accomplished with the economic policies we've put in place.

I should review some of the major pillars of that economic

turnaround. First of all, as everyone knows, on June 6, 2001, the then Finance

minister announced the largest-ever tax decrease in the history of British

Columbia. That was followed very quickly by the opposition reminding British

Columbians constantly: "Tax cuts don't work."

Well, several years have unfolded since, and it has become very,

very clear — it is abundantly clear to anyone who cares about economics — that

the tax cuts we implemented on June 6, 2001, have worked very, very well. In

every sector of the economy — whether it's investment, small business growth or

tax revenue growth from the business sector — no matter what measurement you

want to apply, the tax cuts have worked as they were intended to.

[1010]

Perhaps the best measurement of how these tax cuts and our

economic policies have worked is in the increase in jobs to individual British

Columbians. British Columbia today creates more jobs than any other province in

Canada. In the last three years the economy in British Columbia has generated in

excess of 197,000 jobs for individual British Columbians.

At the end of the day, we can talk about economic statistics and

other issues like that for a long, long time, and some people will find that of

interest. But what people find really interesting on an individual basis in

every community of this province is: are they able to find a job? Are they able

to produce an income that sustains their family and that helps them to create

the future they want to have here in the province?

[J. Weisbeck in the chair.]

Increasingly, it is clear that people across British Columbia are

finding work and are finding that their wages are going up. They are, therefore,

becoming increasingly confident in their own personal economic future.

Another way that's reflected across the province is the increased

price of homes. It is only confident people who buy homes — people who are

confident about their individual future, people who are confident about the

future of British Columbia. Regardless, almost, of which community you go to in

British Columbia today, people's equities in their homes have been restored.

There were communities where people were facing negative equities previously,

where people saw the value of their homes declining year after year after year.

That sorry trend has been reversed as well. People are now seeing the value of

their most important investment in their lives increasing, and that, too, leads

to a far healthier level of confidence in communities across British Columbia.

[ Page 11870 ]

We obviously made a very bold set of policy decisions in June of

2001, and as I've already explained, it's my firm belief that these have worked

exactly as intended. We got rid of the corporate capital tax. We reduced income

taxes by the greatest amount ever in the history of the province.

Importantly, as well, we set in place a deliberate plan to reduce

the amount of regulation within British Columbia. My predecessor, the then

Minister of State for Deregulation, started out with a very carefully crafted

plan to accomplish our New Era document commitment to reduce regulation

by one-third. To give that some real credibility at the end of the day, the then

minister said: "We should be sure that we actually count the number of

regulations we have in the province so that we will have a benchmark against

which we can measure our progress three years out." It was discovered, after the

count was complete, that at that point in time in 2001, we actually had 383,000

regulations in British Columbia. Those are provincial regulations. These were

not municipal regulations; these were not federal regulations. These were

provincial regulations only. Our commitment was to reduce that by one-third.

As I took over those responsibilities a little more than a year

ago, we were, of course, very much in the thick of bringing that to the

three-year mark in June of last year. At that point we were able to report that

our achievement, actually, was a 37 percent reduction in regulations in British

Columbia. I think that, too, has played a very significant role in allowing

people to grow their businesses and create more jobs and to do so in a

regulatory environment that is results-oriented, increasingly, as opposed to

prescriptive, as it was in the past.

We've made very, very significant progress in these last almost

four years. Today British Columbia is a province where people have renewed

confidence in the future. Today British Columbia is a province where investment

is literally flowing into the province again. In many areas, British Columbia

has more investment coming in than any other province in Canada, including

Ontario.

[1015]

We are a province that is more confidently looking to the future

in terms of our role in the world. Given our geographic location on the west

coast of North America, it is becoming increasingly clear that we have some

significant assets, particularly in the ports and other transportation

infrastructure, that are going to allow British Columbia to become a major

geographic player on the international stage. Particularly with the emergence of

the economies in China and India and other Asian nations, we need to be acting

now to take advantage of those opportunities.

When I think of what those opportunities are, there is not a

better example of opportunity today than Prince Rupert and the port that is

located in Prince Rupert. I know the member for North Coast has been working

very, very hard to make sure that within the next several years the port of

Prince Rupert actually becomes one of the most important pieces of

transportation infrastructure on the North American west coast.

I want to say here and now that I fully agree with him that Prince

Rupert is going to be a major economic player in the future. I have referred,

actually, to Prince Rupert as being a future Singapore. I don't think that is

excessive hyperbole in any way, shape or form. When you look at the asset that

is the port of Prince Rupert and the role it can play, being as it is a day and

a half closer in sailing time to the Asian markets than even the port of

Vancouver and being a day and a half closer to the important markets in Chicago

by rail, it leads to only one conclusion: the future for the port of Prince

Rupert and for the community of Prince Rupert is very, very bright indeed.

I want to encourage the member for North Coast to make sure, as

far as our government is concerned, that the port of Prince Rupert stays at the

forefront and that we never lose sight of the significant economic opportunities

available to Prince Rupert and the entire province when we properly develop that

facility for the benefit of not only British Columbians but all Canadians. As

I've said before, and I'll say it again, Prince Rupert has a great future.

While we need to pay particular attention to Prince Rupert, we

also need to pay attention to the port of Vancouver and the Deltaport and the

Fraser ports, because they, too, will need to undergo significant expansion to

properly deal with the expanded trade opportunities we are going to see from

around the world. These opportunities are not just about container handling;

they are about the secondary manufacturing that can result. As these containers

come onshore and as they are handled and their contents are, for the first time,

coming together from various places around the world, we can develop from that

an entire new economy. I think, in many cases, that we have difficulty imagining

today the exact scope of the opportunities that lie before us.

As I listened to the throne speech last week, of course there were

a few things within that document that specifically related to my riding as well

— perhaps none more important than the intended future establishment of the

headquarters of the World Trade University in my riding. This is a very

significant achievement, obviously, for my riding and certainly for the province

as well.

We will become the world headquarters for this new United

Nations–mandated trade university. People, particularly from developing

countries around the world, will be coming to this campus to take further

training in international trade. These will be graduate students who are looking

for more information and more training related to international trade. The fact

that they will be coming to British Columbia gives us, I think, in this province

a great opportunity to establish ourselves as a great place to live, a great

place to invest and a place that has a very hospitable economic environment. The

residents in my riding are very enthusiastic about this new opportunity, but I

would say to all British Columbians that the new World Trade Univer-

[ Page 11871 ]

sity campus, located in Chilliwack, is going to be a significant asset to us

and our economy as we go forward.

[1020]

People in my riding have been commenting for several years now

that very obviously the economy in my riding, too, has achieved new heights

since the election of our government in 2001. Housing starts are at an all-time

high. There has been a tremendous amount of non-residential investment and

construction as well. All of that, again, is easily traced back to the new

levels of confidence that we have achieved together as British Columbians as a

result of the various policy changes we've made.

There's another reason for the excitement that is evident across

British Columbia today. That is the hosting opportunity that we have in 2010,

when we'll be hosting the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. That is a

world-class opportunity. I want to bring it forward one more time and remind

British Columbians how important it is that we do the very best possible job we

can of hosting these games. It is a world-class, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

for us to showcase British Columbia.

You know, when given the opportunity, British Columbia showcases

itself so very, very successfully. We saw that in 1986 when we hosted Expo here

in British Columbia, right in Vancouver. We saw how the tourism industry

literally took off in the years after Expo 86. I am firmly convinced we are

going to see the same kind of effect before, during and after the 2010 Olympics,

as well, except that I think the impact will be that much more profound.

We need to remember that as the Olympics unfold in 2010, at least

half of the population of the world will be watching this event, right here in

British Columbia. I think it goes without saying that no other medium can buy

the kind of exposure that the Olympic opportunity brings to British Columbia.

I must say, as well, that the Olympic planning activities are well

underway. We have a very competent group in VANOC, the Vancouver organizing

committee. As far as venue construction is concerned, all of that is proceeding

very, very well. A couple of the venues have already been given the go-ahead to

start construction — the Olympic speed-skating oval, for example, in Richmond.

And in other venues, the work is well underway. There is no doubt at this point

that the venues will all be pretty much complete by 2008, allowing a year or

more of potential for those facilities to be used by the various competitors in

The Olympics are creating a significant amount of excitement

across the province. I saw a report last week that support for the Olympics has

actually increased very, very significantly across British Columbia since we

were awarded the games. That is unusual. Usually, it is the case that host

jurisdictions suffer somewhat of a decline in enthusiasm before the events

actually transpire. In our case, the enthusiasm and the support have actually

increased. I would suggest that this actually bodes very, very well and very

positively as we work towards hosting these games in 2010, which is, as we

speak, only five years away.

Related to that, there will be a lot of construction, certainly,

but I think it's important to keep that in perspective as well. A couple of

weeks ago my ministry released a report that summarized all of the construction

and investment activity across British Columbia currently on the drawing boards

and actually underway. It was found that there was about $65 billion worth of

construction contemplated and underway in British Columbia today — $65 billion

worth, Mr. Speaker.

[1025]

In that context, it's important to keep in perspective the

construction that's actually related to the Olympics, which is about $600

million, or something on the order of 1 percent. Although the Olympic

construction is significant — there's no question about that; $600 million is

significant — in terms of all the other construction that is emerging across

British Columbia, both public and private sector, I think it's important that

it's kept in perspective.

These are busy times in British Columbia. We are challenged, of

course, to ensure that we have the workforce available. It's true to say today

in British Columbia that we don't so much have workers looking for jobs as we

have jobs looking for workers, and it's a pretty happy circumstance where people

have a variety of jobs from which to choose. Classified advertisements in the

newspapers now typically run many columns in terms of jobs that are available —

again, a very nice turnaround compared to what we saw three or four years ago.

Individual British Columbians today actually have an opportunity to succeed

again.

Looking forward as a born British Columbian, having lived here all

my life, I am most pleased that we have been able to rediscover the potential of

this province in a way that fills people with confidence, fills people with

hope. In spite of the commentary we hear from our opponents from time to time, I

think many, many British Columbians today agree that we are on track again with

our economy. We are leading Canada again.

As the throne speech pointed out last week, we have many, many

opportunities before us in British Columbia, and we want to make sure we

continue to provide those opportunities and government policies that encourage

people, as opposed to those policies that tend to shut opportunities down. Our

government is committed to allowing people to achieve to the greatest extent

possible, to give people as many opportunities as possible in terms of their

business pursuits and the jobs they wish to access and also in terms of

education, for example, which is an extremely important building block in any

economy that aspires to grow and to thrive.

Happily, our government has committed itself to creating an

additional 25,000 post-secondary education seats by 2010. We are well on our way

to achieving that. There are few things our government has done that excite me

as much as that commitment to post-

[ Page 11872 ]

secondary education, in particular. Of those 25,000 seats, it's important for

me personally to point out that 1,700 of those seats are actually coming to the

University College of the Fraser Valley to provide important new opportunities

for students in the Fraser Valley as well.

It's a great time to be a British Columbian again. We have an

abundance of opportunities. We have competent government in British Columbia

today. With the opportunities before us, whether they are in the traditional

economy, whether they are in emerging technologies — biotechnology and many

others — or whether they lie in terms of taking advantage of the Olympics as a

great opportunity for the future, there are many, many things that cause British

Columbians today to take courage and to hope for the future in a way that has

not been available to us for many years.

I appreciate this opportunity to offer those few comments in reply

to the Speech from the Throne. It is, of course, the last Speech from the Throne

in the thirty-seventh parliament. I am looking forward to hitting the campaign

trail in a few short weeks. I think British Columbians will be quite excited to

discuss the progress we've made in these last four years.

Hon. P. Sahota: It's a pleasure to rise this morning on

behalf of my constituents, the constituents of Burnaby-Edmonds, and to reply to

the throne speech delivered last week by the Lieutenant-Governor. I want to talk

a little bit about what this means for my constituents, and of course, I want to

say a little bit about what it means for this new portfolio I hold, a file that

I believe represents a very important sector of our economy, the resort

industry.

[1030]

The throne speech sets the tone for the future. It sets the vision

of a government, and the vision, in my opinion, is clear. British Columbia is

about to enter into a golden decade, a decade full of promise, hope and

opportunity.

We can feel confident about the future because we know where we

have come from. We know the great adversities we have faced as a province, and

in turn, we know how those challenges affected the provincial treasury — from

9/11 to SARS to BSE to the avian flu and forest fires.

Then there were the challenges left behind by the previous

administration: the unfunded contracts and an economic climate that was toxic to

investment. In my opinion, we have met those challenges head-on. Today the hard

work of British Columbians and, of course, my colleagues in this chamber has

paid off. It has paid off to the extent that we can now say that the best is yet

to come.

Our tough decisions are paying off. B.C.'s budget is balanced. Our

economy is growing by leaps and bounds. We're ready to bring the world here, be

it for the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship or the 2009 World Police and

Fire Games, which is the second-largest event outside of the Summer Olympics. Of

course, the eyes of the world will be on us when we host the world with the 2010

Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The throne speech touched on a number of issues. I want to talk

about a few of those that I believe are important to the future well-being of

our province.

The Asian subcontinent is a key to the well-being of this

province. I have previously spoken about diversifying our markets, especially

when it comes to our forest industry. The Premier has travelled to China, and a

number of my colleagues have participated in other trade missions to China and

Hong Kong. Of course, I had the opportunity to travel with the Premier to India

in 2003.

China and India — these two countries are emerging economically on

the world scene. I have always maintained that both of these countries are very

important for British Columbia's future, as they are the world's fastest-growing

commercial economies. I believe that it is important for us as government to

show that these two emerging markets are places where we as British Columbians

want to do business.

I'm happy to know that the government is responding on a number of

fronts. We will soon appoint an Asia-Pacific trade council to advise the

government, and our government will establish a network of B.C. trade and

cultural centres in major international markets to promote homegrown and

made-in-B.C. products. This is the right thing to do and is another step in

securing a future that is full of possibility for British Columbians.

Of course, relevant to this is that we will appoint a B.C.

competition council to conduct a comprehensive review of B.C.'s competitiveness

in every sector, pinpoint the barriers to growth and identify solutions to

overcome them. This is crucial to our future. When I was travelling in India,

the Indians made it very clear to us that their competition is not us. Their

competition is China.

We here in British Columbia should be very clear that our

competition is global. As British Columbians, we have to make sure our

prospective markets know about the competitive products that B.C. and Canada

offer in a variety of industries. As we continue our efforts to diversify and

expand our markets and our economy, it is crucial that we remain competitive.

Thus a Resort file is also crucial, because it is about diversifying our markets

abroad and diversifying our rural communities at home. We have to make sure,

through it all, that the industry is competitive and that we create a

world-class resort industry.

I want to talk a little bit about that. I want to talk a little

bit about the Resort file and the Resort strategy and action plan, which I

believe is very important to the economic well-being of our province. Currently,

there are about 700 resorts in B.C., ranging from small, remote fishing lodges

to world-class destination resorts, together employing more than 26,000 people.

I can't emphasize enough the size of this opportunity and the calibre of people

and investment it can attract.

For instance, of the $10 billion generated by our tourism sector,

about $2 billion of that comes from re-

[ Page 11873 ]

sorts. This $2 billion doesn't include related direct spending, which also

comes close to $2 billion. Nor does it include annual tax revenues of more than

$178 million.

We have a conservative projection of $4.1 billion of new capital

investment and thousands of new jobs for British Columbians throughout the

province, and this does not include what is taking place on private land. All

one has to do is look around the province. All over B.C. the resort industry is

growing at a phenomenal pace.

[1035]

For example, Big White in Kelowna is making a $250 million

investment in additional resort development that includes a ski and snowboard

terrain park, a new day lodge and expanding ski terrain by 200 acres. Peak

season will see 1,100 jobs at this resort. Sun Peaks, in Kamloops, is planning

the completion of their phase 2, a $270 million expansion which will see 6,000

additional bed units. Then there's Red Mountain in Rossland in the Kootenays.

They plan on investing approximately $33 million over the next two years to

upgrade lifts and expand the ski terrain, not to mention the significant

residential investment, bringing people and jobs to Rossland and the surrounding

communities.

These are just ski resorts, but the list goes on and on and

encompasses a number of different resorts, from golf destinations to marine

resorts and wellness centres. We have proposals on the table for resorts in

Squamish, Invermere, Blue River, Nelson, Osoyoos and Revelstoke. There are

expansion plans at Kicking Horse and the new Greg Norman golf course in Fernie.

This ministry is also working closely with other agencies like

Land and Water B.C., key provincial agencies, local government, industry and

stakeholders to implement strategies that will encourage growth and investment

in our rural communities. As we head towards 2010, I believe our resorts will

become economic catalysts that showcase not just our scenery but also our

communities, our lifestyle and the other industry sectors that make up the new

British Columbia economy. I am proud of the fact that our resort sector is

playing a growing and important role in helping to diversify this incredible

province and in helping to create a golden decade of growth, opportunity and

success.

As I mentioned earlier, I can't emphasize enough the Asia-Pacific

gateway strategy mentioned in the throne speech, which I believe will be

critical to our success. Of course, integral to this is tourism, which is also

part of the strategy and builds on our already successful all-seasons Resort

strategy and action plan. These initiatives will create thousands of new jobs,

and in terms of the Resort strategy, it's already creating investment in all

regions of our province. The Asia-Pacific gateway strategy will also promote our

products to the world and open doors for new cultural exchanges, new

relationships and partnerships in education.

I also want to touch on another issue mentioned in the throne

speech: a new Premier's council on aging and seniors issues. It will identify

opportunities to improve seniors services and examine how to improve housing

options and home care — and of course, on the issue of mandatory retirement,

make recommendations on how to improve this particular issue.

I have previously spoken about mandatory retirement in this House.

I've said what we need is to be flexible and adaptable and to find unique ways

to fit the changing world around us. We need to be creative in the face of

challenges. It is important that this discussion begin, especially when you look

at our demographics. According to the Canadian Urban Futures Institute, 9.8

million Canadian baby-boomers are approaching retirement. The number for this

year is 225,000. By 2020 the number retiring every year will be 425,000.

Today there are six workers for every retired person. By 2020

there will be three workers for every retired person. Thus as the workforce

decreases, it still has to maintain or pay for the increasing number of people

over 65. In addition, we're healthier than ever before, so we're living much

longer. In fact, when the age of 70 was selected in the early twentieth century

as the age of eligibility for the government pension, life expectancy was 60 to

65. Today Canadians who reach 65 are expected to live another 20 years, which is

good news, I think, for all of us.

It is crucial that we remain flexible and adaptable and continue

to find unique ways to fit the changing world around us. I am proud of the fact

that this government will now give this issue consideration.

The throne speech also spoke to the importance of education. In

terms of education the One World scholarship program announced in the speech

will assist students from British Columbia to earn their degrees and diplomas in

non–G-8 countries and will be of great benefit to young British Columbians. In

Burnaby-Edmonds, with so many of my constituents already holding close ties to

Asia-Pacific countries such as India and China, this is indeed good news. Not

only will it assist students, it will also create new relationships and expand

existing relationships around the world and raise our province's profile and

recognition.

[1040]

In addition, Chilliwack is set to be the new global home for the

World Trade University. This university, in partnership with the United Nations,

will offer graduate-level programs in trade-related fields and will host

international trade conferences and events.

Our government will also soon increase support of

Punjabi, Mandarin and other languages of the Asia-Pacific. We will also launch

new initiatives that will make more services and resources available in other

languages.

I know full well from listening to my constituents that securing

Canadian credentials continues to be a frustrating experience for many from

South Asian, Asian and other communities. I was happy to see that our government

has not overlooked this problem and has pledged to speed up the process and

allow new-

[ Page 11874 ]

comers to British Columbia to practise in the profession in which they were

trained.

These initiatives outlined in this throne speech speak to my

constituency, a constituency that is very diverse and multicultural in nature.

One of our strongest assets is the diversity of this province. I believe the

path set out in this throne speech speaks to our diversity. We are a province

that is reaching out to the world. British Columbians have long been recognized

as being open to the world. Ours is a province built through the hard work and

perseverance of people from different cultures working together. That is why I'm

proud to stand here today and support last week's throne speech.

Hon. I. Chong: I would like to begin by taking this

opportunity to welcome to this House the new member for Surrey–Panorama Ridge

and you, Deputy Speaker, on your return in your role, as well as to offer my

very good wishes to those who will be leaving provincial public office — that

they have a long and fulfilling life and continue to enjoy the province that is

going to be built before them.

From my first provincial election in 1996 to this point some nine

years later, I still feel a sense of excitement. I still feel a sense of

privilege that the constituents of Oak Bay–Gordon Head have bestowed on me this

incredible honour of representing them here in this Legislature. When you think

about it, over four million people…. We in this House are 79 of those four

million people, and we get to come to this Legislature to speak on their behalf,

to represent them, to make changes, to offer policy, to bring their ideas

forward and to act on them. That's what is important for all of us to remember,

and I, each and every day, recognize, acknowledge and am grateful for that.

Yes, this is an honourable profession, and I'm truly honoured to

serve as an MLA. Today as I rise to offer my reply to the throne speech — the

tenth one, I believe — I am particularly excited, because this year's throne

speech lays out an incredible and, more importantly, achievable vision, a vision

for the future. It's a future of more jobs, more investment and a better future

for our citizens. It's about a future where we enjoy the benefits of a healthier

society, where we have access to quality education, a safer future based on

confidence and optimism and, ultimately, a new world of possibilities.

It is about where we wish to take this province. It is about how

we wish to engage all British Columbians. I think it's fair to state that when

all members in this House seek public office, they do so in order to serve their

community and their province. How we get there from here — well, there are

certainly different approaches. I believe the approach that our government has

taken thus far is the one that best meets the needs of our province.

The throne speech speaks about moving towards a golden decade. Why

would the opposition…? Why would Carole James and the NDP object to that? We

want a province that is viewed as a leader in this country, we want a province

that is envied as the best place on earth, and we want a province that reaches

its fullest potential. Again I ask: what do Carole James and the NDP have

against that? Why do they want to take us back? Why do they want to take us back

to a decade of decline?

[1045]

Our government sees a golden decade where opportunities exist. The

NDP and Carole James prefer a decade of decline. I say we can't afford to go

backwards. We can't afford to go back to losing jobs and losing our young people

to other provinces. We can't afford to go back to the worst-performing economy

in this country. We can't afford to go back to stifling our small business. In

short, we can't afford to go back.

When I was in opposition, I had the opportunity to travel around

this province, and I travelled to places on the Island here and to places in the

interior, even to places like Prince Rupert, where the member for North Coast

resides. I remember when I travelled the province, when I went to Prince Rupert.

I did so as a member of the Select Standing Committee on Finance. I heard from

the people in Prince Rupert and I heard from the member for North Coast, who

indicated to me — at that time he wasn't the member, but I know he was

considering seeking public office — how important it was to realize the

potential of Prince Rupert and of its deep-sea port.

As I travelled around the province, I heard from many communities

like Prince Rupert. I heard that they saw potential but that the previous

government just didn't let them unleash it.

I also had the opportunity last year, when I was appointed

Minister of State for Women's and Seniors' Services, to again travel around the

province in another capacity. That was to reach out to a number of our

communities who provide services to women who are escaping violence. I visited

over a third of our transition houses, I believe around 22 of them, and I spoke

to our service providers. I happened to go to Prince Rupert as well, and I saw

exactly what they were doing. I saw things in Cranbrook. I saw things on the

upper parts of the Island here, even on the lower mainland.

I saw how each and every community said: "We need to be able to

provide the services to our community in our own distinct ways." For that reason

I am proud to see in our throne speech acknowledgment and recognition of the

largest-ever increase being provided to our women's services programs: $37.5

million over the next three years — a greater than 30 percent increase to those

services. I am proud to see that the new Minister of State for Women's and

Seniors' Services was able to speak on that issue at open cabinet not long ago.

As well, in my new role as the Minister of Advanced Education I

recently attended a new campus opening in Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert seems to

have a lot of opportunity. When I was there, I was privileged to participate in

this new campus opening. Again, it showed me how we were reaching out and

allowing

[ Page 11875 ]

these communities to realize their potential, but more importantly, it was

the first opportunity that I had to open a campus in my new portfolio.

I do want to talk about my new portfolio. Before I do so, I want

to talk about what other members of this House have already indicated, and that

is about the throne speech as a vision of going forward, about the five specific

goals that have been identified to ensure that we will realize this golden

decade. Again, I think they're worth repeating.

Those five goals are: to make B.C. the best-educated and most

literate jurisdiction not just in Canada but on the continent; to lead the way

in North America in healthy living and physical fitness; to build the best

system of support in Canada for persons with disabilities, special needs,

children at risk and seniors; to lead the world in sustainable environmental

management, with the best air and water quality and the best fisheries

management, bar none; and lastly, to create more jobs per capita than anywhere

else in Canada. Those five goals reach every community, speak to every British

Columbian and allow each and every one of us to participate in the golden decade

ahead.

As the new Minister of Advanced Education I am extremely excited

about that first goal — being the best-educated, most literate jurisdiction on

the continent — because we are already embarking on that. We are already setting

out how we're going to achieve that. We are reinforcing our intention to build a

better post-secondary system through an investment plan that will create 25,000

new student spaces by the year 2010. That is the largest strategic expansion of

post-secondary seats in 40 years. We're doing that by balancing the needs of

taxpayers, of students and of the province and its exemplary post-secondary

system. By increasing access we will take our advanced education system to an

even higher level.

[1050]

To ensure that students have room to learn we have made an overall

financial commitment of almost $800 million to new infrastructure projects. This

investment will ensure that our government delivers on its promise to ensure

that Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops is ready to join UBC Okanagan as

they become B.C.'s newest universities. This is really wonderful news for all

British Columbians, particularly those in the interior.

To fully support new student spaces we have increased funding for

post-secondary education, as compared to our original service plan, by about

$132 million over the next three years. Together with the funding increase

announced last year, the operating budget for advanced education will be $195

million higher by 2007 than it was in 2004, and that is over and above the

original ministry budget of $1.9 billion.

Why are we doing that? Well, we're doing it because our students

and their families deserve to benefit from the very best post-secondary

education available, and we are committed to providing them with access to just

this kind of quality education.

Our new funding will provide the capacity needed to moderate

rising tuition costs, which are a concern to many B.C. families. This was a

tough but necessary choice, but it is also a choice that had to be made. Today

in British Columbia tuition fees are just slightly above the national average.

Although tuition fee increases did decline at public institutions this year, we

remain concerned about the long term. We recognize the need to keep the cost of

post-secondary education down for students as best we can, and we believe that

by allowing tuition fees to rise to just above the national average, we are now

in a position to ask that tuition be limited to the rate of inflation. We also

recognize the impact on our public post-secondary institutions, so we will be

engaging them in the coming months to find the best way to ensure that they can

meet this objective, beginning this September.

Ultimately, we must be cost competitive to ensure that our

students have the same ability as other Canadians to enjoy access to high

quality post-secondary education. But we also recognize that no matter how well

institutions hold the line on tuition, money can still be a barrier to higher

learning.

British Columbia has very comprehensive, flexible student

assistance programs that relieve financial pressure for students in need. Our

Speech from the Throne signals this government's intention to enable students to

earn more while they learn, reducing dependency on debt. I am proud to say that

student aid will be further enhanced with an income exemption that will allow

our students to earn more than they previously could without reducing their

eligibility for student loans and grants. This measure builds on the $450

million that we will provide for a comprehensive student financial assistance

system over the next three years, including loan reduction for students most in

need, grants for students with disabilities, debt relief programs and loan

forgiveness programs. This program includes provision for over $300 million

annually for funding student loans.

To compete, British Columbia's post-secondary system must ensure

students are provided with a world-class education. That is why we were also

very pleased to announce plans to make British Columbia the global headquarters

for the World Trade University in Chilliwack. This global education partnership

will enable our students to benefit from the delivery of advanced education

programs in world trade, offering world trade services and organizing global

platform events and initiatives such as the World Trade Forum here in British

Columbia, in Chilliwack.

Our Speech from the Throne builds on a growing legacy and a

commitment to higher learning that is integral to the Premier's literacy

initiative and our plans to ensure that every student with a B average or higher

can access the education they need to pursue their hopes and dreams. I believe

that is an important initiative or area that we need to stress.

[1055]

When we heard in the past few years that students with an A

average were still being denied access to a post-secondary space, that was not

acceptable. That is one of the reasons why we are making such a large

[ Page 11876 ]

investment in our post-secondary institutions, our post-secondary system,

because it means that students with a B average should have access to a

university space.

Allow me as well to take a few minutes to highlight some of our

significant achievements. It is not by any means an exhaustive list, but it will

give you a good idea of what we have accomplished in three short years. We have

already increased student spaces by 3,217 in the year '04-05 on top of the 5,857

spaces over the previous two years. That brings us to a total of over 9,000

seats to date. This has increased access to college and university programs for

B.C. students. The seats added this year alone mark the first year of our

six-year commitment to add those 25,000 new seats by 2010. This will be

providing almost 186,000 seats per year for students in B.C.'s public

post-secondary system. The new university and college in the Okanagan, UBC

Okanagan and Okanagan College, will add about 5,500 new seats in the Okanagan

region alone by 2009-10, Mr. Speaker — one of the fastest-growing areas. And I

know you, personally, well know that.

The new Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, on the other hand,

will take on the functions of Open University and Open College and the

University College of the Cariboo. This special-purpose university will focus

primarily on undergraduate and distance education while still maintaining

programs to address the applied education and skills training needs throughout

the region, and I look forward to introducing legislation in this House in the

very near future to ensure that this happens.

Since June 2001 our government has provided more than $625 million

in new funding for capital projects on campuses throughout British Columbia.

This included a new campus for Northwest Community College in Prince Rupert, a

Williams Lake campus for Thompson Rivers University, a joint College of New

Caledonia and UNBC campus in Quesnel, a new trades training campus in Cloverdale

for Kwantlen University College and a $70 million campus to house SFU's

operation in Surrey. I hope the member for Surrey–Panorama Ridge realizes how

important it was to connect that campus in Surrey to SFU, Simon Fraser

University. It's going to achieve an incredible amount of attention, and I know

our government members from Surrey in this House are extremely proud of that

achievement.

We have also focused increased seats on key areas to address

projected workforce shortages, including 825 new seats in computer science and

electrical and computer engineering in 2004-05 to meet our commitment to double

the opportunity for careers in those fields — this brings the total spaces in

those programs to over 7,000, an increase of more than 50 percent since 2001-02

— and 453 new seats for nursing and other health students in 2004-05, bringing

the total increase in seats to 2,785 since 2001-02.

We also welcomed the first students to the northern medical

program, the Island medical program and the expanded Vancouver-Fraser program in

August of 2004, which together have increased the number of first-year medical

students in B.C. by 72. When the full medical training expansion is complete, we

will be graduating 224 medical students per year, nearly double the previous

total that has been in place for more than two decades. Can you imagine? For two

decades we were graduating about 128 medical students each and every year. That

is about one in 32,000 people, per capita. No wonder people were saying they

were finding it difficult to find a doctor. We will be almost doubling that to

224 per year.

As well, we have created a $45 million leading-edge endowment fund

to establish 20 research leadership chairs, and we've launched the regional

innovation chairs — $7.5 million for regional research opportunities. These

initiatives help attract and retain researchers in British Columbia and spur

research and new knowledge with long-term technological, economic and social

benefits. The regional innovation chairs also promote research and innovation in

the heartlands. To date, one research chair has received funding and another 17

chairs have received approval-in-principle at post-secondary institutions

throughout the province.

[1100]

I want to reiterate how important research is to this province.

For a province to go forward, for a province to continue to reach its potential

and advance, we need research. We need to take advantage of those technological

advances made and continue to promote research. Here in British Columbia we're

poised to do that. We're poised to retain and attract our best and our

brightest.

In the area of skill shortages, our new Industry Training

Authority has revamped B.C.'s industry training approach and is creating an

industry-driven, more flexible apprenticeship system that is attracting more

young people into the trades. The ITA has implemented a process by which

industry can bring forward proposals for new industry training programs that

address specific skill shortages. Three new training programs have already been

approved: the residential construction framing technician program, the

construction formwork technician program and the reinforcement steel installer

program — all of which are in the construction area, which we know is booming.

The ITA has also developed a more streamlined and simplified

policy framework to facilitate better access to the industry training system for

trainees and employers. Through the implementation of industry training

organizations, the ITA will have a more accurate source of sector-specific

information on existing and emerging training needs and will be in a better

position to allocate training resources accordingly.

We have started some very important work here, and I'm pleased

with the progress to date. We look forward to making even further progress to

ensure that we can fill our work shortages moving forward.

To build on the good work of the ITA, we have been working with

the Ministry of Education to develop a new industry training program for high

school students called ACE-IT, the accelerated credit enrolment in industry

training program. This program al-

[ Page 11877 ]

lows students to earn hours towards trade credentials and earn dual credit

towards their high school diploma. Many of our young people can enjoy the

program and find out early in life whether or not a trade makes sense for them.

The end result is that we are giving children choices. I have spoken to a number

of young people in this regard — grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 students — who

are excited about this. They believe that they have a future in trades.

[H. Long in the chair.]

What's more exciting is that there are young women, young girls,

who are interested in trades training. With 52 percent of our population

represented by the female population, I think it's an incredible interest that

they're now having and that they can now actually achieve.

In health care we're also making great strides, through $134

million in capital investment to expand medical training in B.C. at a new life

sciences centre at UBC and two satellite medical training centres at UVic and

UNBC. The expanded medical program will almost double the intake of medical

graduates, as I indicated earlier, and provides opportunities and incentives for

medical students to study and practise in underserved regions. Here in Victoria

our medical students will be focused on geriatric medicine. That's important

with an aging population, particularly here on the South Island.

On the research front we're also doing great work through a total

$900 million commitment since June 2001 to research initiatives in British

Columbia. This money has enabled our government to leverage more than $600

million in additional research funding from other sources. One example of this

project is the $30 million committed to Project NEPTUNE, which leveraged an

additional $31 million from the federal government to create the world's largest

cable-linked sea floor observatory. NEPTUNE will allow researchers to monitor

fish stocks, anticipate earthquakes, develop safe oil and gas extraction methods

and monitor climate change on the west coast. That will be happening here in

this part of the province, on the South Island.

To improve choices and access, we have also opened up the system

by bringing into force the Private Career Training Institutions Act on November

22 last year and by establishing the Private Career Training Institution Agency

to oversee a new, streamlined consumer protection and accreditation model for

private career training institutions. The purpose of the new model is to bring

B.C. in line with other Canadian jurisdictions by minimizing the regulatory

burden for private career training institutions.

[1105]

These institutions will then have the opportunity to reinvest the

cost savings associated with the reduction of red tape in the expansion of their

programs. This in turn will stimulate growth in this sector for the economy,

will expand the range of learning choices for students and help address

shortages of skilled workers in various occupations, such as the health care and

the trades technical occupations.

I can show you how committed this government is to advanced

education by just looking at my own riding of Oak Bay–Gordon Head and at one of

the 27 publicly funded post-secondary institutions in this province. At the

University of Victoria, a brand-new medical program opened its doors last month

in a brand-new $12 million building equipped with the latest distance learning

technology. The Island medical program will educate doctors on Vancouver Island

for the first time, and it is part of our commitment to nearly double the number

of doctors graduating in this province. I know that the whole world is watching

this bold venture in distributed learning. When I spoke to a number of these

students, I can say how excited they were to be able to be educated here in

Victoria. Some of them have returned to Victoria for that reason.

Here in Victoria we've also provided $22 million for the

engineering and computer science complex, one of the country's most

technologically advanced facilities at the University of Victoria. It will house

labs concentrating on robotics technology, alternative energy systems, subsea

technology and applied electromagnetics.

Since we took office, the University of Victoria has been awarded

nearly $55 million in B.C. knowledge development fund grants for research

infrastructure. These investments support things like Project NEPTUNE, the

world's largest cable-linked sea floor observatory on North America's west

coast. Information gained through NEPTUNE will lead to earlier warning of

earthquakes and tsunamis, something that the entire world is now all too

familiar with, unfortunately. Information gained through NEPTUNE will lead to

more accurate estimates of commercial fish stocks, another important industry

here on the west coast. As well, this NEPTUNE project will lead to earlier

warning and improved models of climate prediction.

Then there is also Project VENUS, which is creating a network of

instruments in the ocean to observe the waters around southern Vancouver Island.

Measurements, images and sound will be delivered to scientists, managers and the

public via the fibre optic cables from three landfill sites.

There is also the ROPOS project, approved in December, which will

advance new frontiers in ocean science through the Canadian Scientific

Submersible Facility. We have also supported a supercomputer that puts B.C. at

the forefront of climate change research and that will be an asset to Canada in

international climate treaty negotiations.

These are just some of the projects we have funded at the

University of Victoria. All told, we have committed almost $90 million for

capital projects at UVic in the past four years, and in that time we have

provided nearly half a billion dollars in operating grants to UVic alone.

In the final analysis, I am proud to say that our government is

making B.C. a centre of excellence for post-secondary education that is

characterized by a vision and a strategic plan that will ensure we realize

[ Page 11878 ]

the benefits of a golden decade. Throughout the province there are shining

examples of how we are helping our students and their families, and I am

extremely proud of the tremendous work undertaken by our ministry and our

government in this regard.

Before I conclude, I want to pay tribute to the many people in

this ministry, the staff that I have had the opportunity to meet as I have gone

around to their work locations — from the staff who answer the phones and who

deal with students looking for assistance to those who are working on capital

projects and expanding our campuses and to the deputy minister and the assistant

deputy minister — all of whom have an incredible passion for post-secondary

education.

I am extremely proud to be able to be in this particular area of

responsibility. I am particularly proud to work with such a fine ministry of

dedicated individuals. I would be remiss if I did not also thank the former

Minister of Advanced Education, the now Deputy Premier and Minister of Health

Services, for laying that important groundwork to enable me to continue with

that and to ensure that we do reach British Columbia's potential.

[1110]

In the final closing moments, as well, I want to talk a little bit

about my area of Oak Bay–Gordon Head, and how I have seen many of the changes

that have happened. As I've indicated, I represent an area that has a very large

aging population, and so I was extremely pleased to see the Premier speak on

having a new Premier's council on aging.

As I travelled around the province in my previous role, I met

seniors who said they felt they needed an opportunity to share their ideas. The

Premier always said it's better to go outside government than stay within to

find those new ideas, and our seniors have them. Our seniors are living longer,

are more active and wish to participate in how we can plan for them — and not

just about health care. Housing is important. Transportation is important.

Recreational opportunities. Simply just participating and

continuing to volunteer in their communities — these are important to our

seniors, who are throughout all of our communities. I can say I have met some

incredibly phenomenal seniors who have ideas and who can't wait to offer input.

I will be offering a number of names to that council and hope they will have an

opportunity to share those ideas, if not by serving on that council, certainly

by providing input there.

As we move into this new golden decade, I think we should all be

proud of what we have achieved and where we're going. Later on today, when we

hear the budget speech, I'm sure that it will be even more good news for this

province, and I say wholeheartedly that I do support this throne speech.

Hon. R. Coleman: I am proud to stand and speak in support

of the throne speech today.

Reading this again after the throne speech — twice now — there is

something that strikes me after nine years in this House. It is the most

credible throne speech, the most positive direction set for this province, that

I can find in any time in the history of the province. It is something that we

as a government are proud of. We're proud of it because we had to make the tough

decisions starting in 2001 and as we move forward to build a great province for

our children and our grandchildren.

I want to talk about a number of things today — about the golden

decade, with regard to our future in the province — but I do want to spend a few

minutes at the beginning of my speech talking about pages 21, 22 and half of

page 23 of this throne speech. That is the area of the speech where we talk

about safer streets and schools in the province.

When I became the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General

back in 2001, the Premier said to me that he wanted somebody getting up every

day and thinking about the future of policing, the issues in and around

community safety and crime prevention in our province. I met with the members of

the law enforcement community in this province, and we started to build a plan.

The first thing I found out was how detailed the plan of the NDP was.

The NDP's commitment to policing, community safety and law

enforcement was this plan: a blank piece of paper with no relationship

whatsoever to law enforcement in the province. They had no commitment whatsoever

to communities. They had no commitment whatsoever to law enforcement and did not

even have a dialogue with the law enforcement community as to how we could

reduce crime in B.C. and build a better and safer future for the children of

this province.

As we moved through that period of time, we found out a number of

things. First of all, as a result of the previous government having no dialogue

or relationship with law enforcement, I found a structure of policing that was

thirsting for an opportunity to take it into the future and that had never had

the opportunity to discuss it with a minister or with a government to build on

that future.

As we moved forward, starting in the summer of 2001, a number of

things became pretty apparent. The first thing was that the law enforcement

community and policing in general in this province, because they had had no

relationship with a government in ten years, were suspicious that they could

actually build one with this government.

It took a number of months just discussing with them and looking

at the fiscal side of policing as to how we could build a future and fill the

positions that were left vacant because of underfunding by the previous

government with regard to policing. As we did that, we worked with the

leadership of policing in this province — the B.C. Association of Chiefs of

Police, the RCMP and those groups of people — to get to where we are today and

to the comments that are made in this throne speech.

[1115]

The first thing we did, though, was this. The community had said

to us: "We actually think there's a better way to deal with the information

management, to

[ Page 11879 ]

deal with the patterning of crime in our province and to deal with the future

of policing in our province than we're doing it today." We also believe we have

that system, because we've tested it in three jurisdictions in B.C., but we

can't get past first base to have a discussion about it. This system is called

PRIME — police records information management environment.

You know, Mr. Speaker, as you look at this throne speech and at

what has been done in three and a half years in this province and you see the

basis of the strong economy and the basis of the money we put into health care,

education, the safety net that we built for our people, the sustainable

environment management and at how we built a great economy by working with our

partners, you also have to look back at some of the tough decisions and support

that were given by the leadership of this province, particularly the Premier of

this province, to different things that happened in ministries to get us there.

In the fall of 2001, as everybody in this room will recall, we

were facing a huge structural deficit in dealing with the whole aspect of how we

were going to balance our budget and build an economic future for B.C. In that

environment, we were looking at a possibility of a records information

management environment for policing — one that might change the entire dynamics

of policing for the future of the province and for our citizens, one that a

couple of chiefs of police have said is actually the biggest step in law

enforcement in the last 30 years.

Well, in the fall of 2001 we were in a different vein, having to

balance this budget and deal with that structural deficit. I went to the Premier

of this province, and I said this: "We have an opportunity to move into

real-time information management for policing in every jurisdiction in the

province, but in order to accomplish that, we have to do a couple of things.

First of all, we have to select a technology for every police officer in B.C. We

can't have one community that thinks they can have one kind of computer system

and another community that thinks they want to have a different kind of computer

system. The second thing is that in order to get it into the car and on the

street, we can't have communities saying: 'We aren't doing it, because we're not

spending the money.'"

The Premier at that time supported this ministry to go to Treasury

Board to get the money to pay for PRIME in 2001. It was a groundbreaking move on

the part of the leadership of this province and the Premier to support that

initiative, because this is what PRIME does for us. It gives us real-time

information management, and every police car in British Columbia probably will

be furnished with it within the next 12 months. We have it operating in over 20

communities today already.

The important part of this is…. Think about a couple of cases.

When we were testing PRIME in one community, we had a break-in at a high school.

A bunch of musical instruments had been stolen. The musical instruments and the

case were put into PRIME in real time. The following day a police officer

driving down the road in another community policed by a different type of police

agency picked up that in a pawnshop in that community, some musical instruments

had been pawned overnight. They were loaded into a portal into PRIME.

The police officer went by, found the musical instruments,

confirmed that they were indeed from the B and E in another community, got a

search warrant and made arrests that afternoon. In the past, that case would

probably have taken weeks, if not months — or never — to reach the desk or,

indeed, the car of a police officer in a neighbouring community.

A few years ago in this province we had a police officer who

probably had one of the toughest things that he has to live with today as a

result of doing a job. A police officer stopped a person on the side of the road

in a community in the interior of British Columbia. They checked the person for

wants and warrants and let the individual go, because there were none. Two hours

later that individual killed their estranged spouse.

The police officer on the side of the road couldn't know that

there was an order in the courts that the individual could not be in that

community. Through a system called JUSTIN in our justice system, we will be

loading those things into PRIME so that in the future a police officer will have

that information at their fingertips to protect communities better.

If there's a pattern of crime in one community or there are people

missing from one community in numbers and they're showing up at a party site in

another community, that system will talk to itself. It will actually tell

people, so you can set up a pattern of crime, solve a crime more quickly and

deal with issues.

[1120]

As we moved through PRIME, we needed to move to actually build a

strong future for policing in British Columbia, and it required a number of

things to happen. It required the leadership of this province in policing to

first of all recognize that integration in law enforcement was the only way we

could build such a future. It also required us to look at how we did business

and how we could apply dollars and build that financial future for policing. As

we came through that and continued to add funds into specific investigations

that had to be dealt with by police and resources were reapplied, we asked law

enforcement to do one thing more. We asked the RCMP to build a plan for policing

for the next three to five years and tell us how much it would cost to fund it

properly.

In this throne speech two things happened. It basically confirms

250 additional police officers over the next three years are going to be added

to policing in British Columbia at a cost of $122 million to the province, not

inclusive of the 30 percent that the RCMP will also receive in the provincial

budget for policing from the federal government. In addition to that, it also

confirms that 100 percent of traffic fines will go back to communities. We have

done that already, and we're going to continue to do that in the future.

The purpose of the $41 million in traffic fines is for the people

in those communities to see that money go

[ Page 11880 ]

into crime prevention, community policing or additional police officers on

their streets. It is not to be used for something else, as some communities

seemed to think they want to do. Because we didn't put strings attached to it,

we thought they would take responsibility to their citizens and invest it in

crime prevention and law enforcement. Those communities that have maybe chosen

not to do that should be aware of the fact that in the future the criticism in

their community — when they're short of policing or crime prevention — will come

back to them for taking that money and not putting it where it belonged. For the

most part, communities are taking that $41 million and investing it in law

enforcement in communities that pay for policing in British Columbia — that is,

a group of communities that are over 5,000 or have their own city police forces.

Outside of that, we recognize this: because of the lack of having

a plan by the NDP like this, we found that in rural policing in B.C., we wanted

to do some improvements. When we sat down with our police force, we said: "Look,

what about our smaller communities? What about the Queen Charlottes? What about

the areas like Zeballos and Granisle? What about the smaller communities that

have significant issues with first nations policing, where they need to have

additional officers? Give us those numbers."

We are actually putting police officers in all of these small

communities around the province — additional police officers that will reduce

crime by visibility but will also do it as a result of the fact that they're

going to be targeted by the regional policing model that we have designed to get

the best coverage possible for the citizens of British Columbia. It is the first

time in almost 20 years that there has been a significant investment in

additional policing in the province at that level. What happened in the past was

that with no relationship with government, government ignored the requests of

police and continued to think, "Well, you go manage it within the envelope you

have," which resulted in vacancies not being filled.

As we move forward through this plan to get to where we are today,

we did some innovative things in this province in addition to PRIME. In May of

2003 we put together 54 officers from 22 communities between Pemberton and

Boston Bar into an integrated homicide unit. We believe that when it comes to

investigating serious crime, you need to be able to go across borders and not be

isolated in your thinking in law enforcement that a crime doesn't move from one

community to the other or that intelligence cannot be shared.

We put together this integrated homicide unit. The reason we did

it…. It was part of the plan to build up to where we are today with the

additional 215 police officers we're going to put across the province, as talked

about in this throne speech. When we became an integrated homicide unit in 2003,

50 percent of the homicides in British Columbia resulted in the Crown laying

charges. Today 80 percent of the homicides in British Columbia — that is an

increase of 30 percent — result in the Crown laying charges. Because we have

integrated the intelligence, we've put these people together on one team, and

the results are phenomenal. It is actually one of the best rates in North

America today.

[1125]

As we worked through that last summer, the Attorney General and I

sat down with the Indo-Canadian community. There was a significant concern about

the number of homicides — drug-related murders — that were taking place in that

community among young men. Over 70 murders have occurred there in the last ten

years. We have moved forward to have an integrated homicide unit now work with

an integrated gang task force which will concentrate on those files so that we

can share the intelligence and build the ability to have the success to push

back on this in their community. They will work with us on the information side

and also in the building of a new responsibility and new belief for their youth

in their communities that they can get out of the cycle of crime that some of

their peers have had in the past.

We knew we had a difficulty with auto theft, so what we did was

again took our police community and put an integrated auto theft task force

together, including bait cars. Today we see a precipitous drop in auto thefts on

the lower mainland as a result of implementing the bait car program and the auto

theft task force. As we have done that and as we have funded that, we have also

seen significant results that tell us we will now move that program into other

major communities across the province like Nanaimo and Kelowna, the rest of the

Okanagan and into the north.

As we worked on this plan to get where we are with the 215

officers, which is in addition to everything I have spoken to so far, we also

recognized something else was taking place. We had two other agencies in B.C.

that were involved in law enforcement where we weren't getting the best value

for dollar as far as being able to task the people the way we wanted to. The

first was a relationship between ICBC and the law enforcement community with

regards to them sending money to communities to put officers out there at time

and a half and double time to do things like CounterAttack and some corridor

patrol for traffic safety — some additional traffic patrol.

We sat down with the community, as we knew what we should be

doing. We should actually create an integrated provincial traffic unit. If we do

that, two things happen. First of all, if we take the funding and put it into

that unit, we pay 70-cent dollars instead of time and a half. It also allows us

to target people not just into traffic but also in visibility of policing. In

addition to that, we would also have more success in our CounterAttack programs.

We're rolling out the integrated traffic unit now, in addition to

the 215 officers. There will be between 80 and 100 officers around the province,

in every community, that will see the benefit of those folks out there to deal

not only with the eyes that watch for crime but the crime prevention that comes

from the visibility of po-

[ Page 11881 ]

licing, which is a much better investment in law enforcement than the other.

The other thing we did is we took a look at our Organized Crime

Agency. Many years ago they set up an organized crime agency, which was supposed

to be an integrated unit with all law enforcement in British Columbia. It was

having some success, but the leadership of policing said: "Why don't we make it

an organized crime unit, have an integrated unit under the management of the

RCMP — where the leadership of whoever is running the unit could come from any

police force in the province — and turn it into a provincial unit?" Again, what

that means is we pay 70-cent dollars for the provincial unit, whether the

officer is seconded from a city police force or detachment or is a member of the

provincial force. We found another $4 million in that initiative alone to

reinvest in investigations relative to organized crime. That is also working on

behalf of people in B.C.

As we came through all of this and started to move towards where

we were getting to the final plan for policing for the next three to four years,

which is talked about in this throne speech, we identified some other things

that were significantly important for our communities. We tested something

called an ISPOT team. An ISPOT team is an integrated sexual predator operations

team. What it does is follow significant sexual predators who are released from

the courts, who we know are likely to breach their conditions of release within

72 hours. They're going to go to a swimming pool, to a playground or to another

area where there are children and where they're not supposed to be, or there are

other significant issues with regards to their release.

[1130]

We know that by watching and waiting, we can save children from

being abused. In a recent four-week project we made 17 arrests and laid 54

criminal charges in only four weeks. So we know an ISPOT team works.

Part of the funding that we see in this throne speech is going to

permanently put in place an ISPOT team for British Columbia — a team that will

track these people, stop them and catch them before they ruin the life of

another child. It's an important initiative, and I'm proud of the fact that we

were able to put it together in the policing plan and put it in this throne

speech to tell British Columbians where we're going.

There is another huge aspect of crime that is actually starting to

affect our children, and that is cybercrime. Whether it be Internet luring or

child pornography, it is terrible, it is divisive, it is hurtful, and it is

disgusting in our society. We've worked on a plan to deal with cybercrime — in

addition to the officers we already have and by adding 14 additional officers in

this funding that's in this throne speech — to fight Internet luring and child

pornography.

This was the NDP plan for protecting your children from that — a

blank piece of paper. No direction, no relationship, no thought to communities,

because they wouldn't even talk to law enforcement about this type of thing.

Yet, you know, one of the most cherished groups of people in our society is our

children and our grandchildren. For a government to ignore the relationship with

policing and not build a plan to deal with this, as we go forward, was actually

totally and completely irresponsible. We have taken that responsibility

seriously as a government and built a plan for policing that is building the

future to protect our children.

Through the initiative of some of the members in this House, we

have put in place an AMBER alert plan for British Columbia in the last year —

one that will allow us, in the case of the abduction of a child where there is

fear for the child's life…. We'll be able to alert all our media, all our

outlets in British Columbia, to try and solve and take care of that issue very

quickly.

Many of you remember that there was actually a child abducted from

my riding not too many months ago, who was returned to us a number of hours

later — found in Surrey. What people probably don't realize is that we took the

resources of the 54 members of the integrated homicide unit and immediately

applied them to assist in that major investigation to track that child, when

that happened. We were on the verge of an AMBER alert when the child was found.

If you don't have the resources that you can move across borders to help a

community in a situation like that, you would be irresponsible in policing by

not integrating. By having the ability to direct those resources to help people

with regards to a crime like that, I believe we were able to save a child.

That's just a description of where we sit as a result of three and

a half years in policing, with a relationship with a group of people. Now we

have $30 million a year being applied to additional policing in British Columbia

over the next three years — 215 additional officers, as the throne speech says.

The significance of that is this: we will have major crime units in regional

centres around the province to deal with the relationship that major crime has

and major investigation has to the entire infrastructure of policing in B.C.

They will integrate back to the organized crime unit, the serious crime unit and

the integrated homicide unit in B.C. You will have this intricate relationship

between law enforcement, within themselves, because we are the ones that took

the leadership to put those folks on the ground in a regional manner for serious

crime.

You're going to see a community like Zeballos — which went through

a terrible time with a homicide of a young person and which was receiving

policing from a community 45 minutes to an hour away — have a police officer in

that community. When we started to put the officer in the community, the mayor

said: "You have saved my community." The level of crime went down because the

gangs that were operating in the community when the police weren't there now

know there's a presence in the community to reduce the level of crime. Watch

that impact as it starts to get to smaller communities. We build this plan that

we've worked on for four years to get to where we could actually measure our

results and know exactly where we should

[ Page 11882 ]

target people to deal with policing and building a future for our communities

in B.C. and the safety of them.

[1135]

When we were advised that we were going to be doing the

announcement of the $30 million that had been approved by Treasury Board to go

forward with this policing plan that had been worked on, I spoke to some people

in policing and the management of policing in this province who were, frankly,

as I described it, over the moon. They believed that the previous government —

they wouldn't say this, but I can tell you that given the plan was this, they

didn't have to — had ignored them in B.C for too long.

For too long the funding needs and the future and the structure

had to be put in place to make it work, and all of these initiatives that we

took and additional moneys we put in leading up to the 215 officers had already

given them a sense of optimism that they had the opportunity to take care of

their communities. But when we said, "You've got it all. Your plan is fully

funded for the next three years. The funds are there, and the contingencies for

any raises and salaries, so you don't ever have to go back and take it out of

the base funding and cut police officers in this province," they looked forward

and said: "Finally, since 1981" — 1981 — "we have a government that understands

the funding of public safety for the future of our citizens in British Columbia

and who we are proud to work with on a plan to do that."

From having no plan at all, we have incrementally built a future

for policing over the last three years. Coming into the last 18 months as we

built the plan that leads to the 215 officers and the $30 million a year…. We

finished the plan. We now know after doing all of this work with the leadership

of law enforcement, who get all the credit with regard to being able to build

that plan, that we are fully funding the future of policing in British Columbia

in a relationship that is integrated, regionalized and will work for our

citizens.

As we do that, let's not forget — because I never will — that as

we work through that plan, and as I did it as a minister, there was always one

individual who stood there and said: "We're going to do what is right for the

communities in this province, and we will support you in building that plan both

physically and economically." That was the Premier of this province, who has

stood behind policing and stood behind this ministry's objectives from day one

to build a great future for British Columbia.

That leads me to this. This throne speech, as I said, may be the

quintessential throne speech in the history of this province because of what it

delivers back to B.C., what it builds for a future in every aspect of our

province. It does it because of the fact that somebody stepped into the fray as

the leader of this province and put a team together in 2001 of the members of

our caucus and our government to go forward and build a plan and know that there

was an end goal for the people of B.C. That was our Premier.

The Premier saw the importance of the power of a strong economy.

The Premier saw the importance of setting a set of goals and a direction for the

future of our province. We had the New Era document as we came into 2001,

Mr. Speaker, and I can tell you that well over 90 percent of everything in that

document has been completed or acted upon as a government. You will not find

another government in any jurisdiction that I can find that has a record like

that in keeping its commitments.

The fact of the matter is that as you move through that, sometimes

you run into bumps in the road, and you adjust, but the reality is that the new

era did exactly what it was set out to do. That was to lay a foundation of

commitments for citizens to measure this government by, which I am proud to let

them measure me against, but it also set a new era for hope and prosperity in

British Columbia. When you see almost 200,000 additional jobs and when you see

how the province has performed, you see the economic stability of a government

and its finances so that they can fund things like policing and other aspects.

The prosperity is also here because of the leadership of our Premier and the

work that our government has done over the last three and a half years.

[1140]

As I look at that, I also marvel at what's been accomplished. Not

only from the aspect of taking a group of people like the law enforcement

community and empowering them to build a plan with government for the future to

protect our citizens…. Look at the rest of it. In the area of health care alone

— moving down from 50-plus authorities and aspects of management in health care

to six, and taking a government and being able in tough times to still invest an

additional $2.4 billion in health care over a three-and-a-half-year period….

When you think about that, that's an $8-point-some billion budget

when we became government and $2.4 billion today. Yet our detractors out there —

people that actually, I guess, could never add when they were government

themselves, could never really do anything more than do a fudge-it budget — say:

"Oh, they cut health care." It's an additional $2.4 billion into health care,

it's a better management system for the citizens of our province, and it's

building a foundation for health care so that it will be there for us when we,

our grandchildren and our children get old.

We said in New Era that we would not cut education funding.

In actual fact, we have increased the education funding every single year we've

been in government. We've done that while we've seen 28,000 fewer students in

our public school system. If you are out there today, think about this. The

government left the funding in place while 28,000 fewer students were there to

be taught and increased the spending incrementally every year as an investment

in the education system. They did it why? Because the New Era talked

about hope and prosperity and how we would, as we built the economy into a

strong economy for the future of the province, reinvest in health care and

education. That's exactly what we have done through this throne speech and the

budget we'll see this afternoon.

[ Page 11883 ]

We are in the golden decade, but I think it's the golden future.

It's only a golden future when we re-elect this government and re-elect this

Premier to build the great future that we all deserve.

M. Hunter: That's a tough act to follow.

I am pleased and proud to stand here on behalf of the electorate

of Nanaimo to respond to the throne speech that was presented just a week ago.

It was a throne speech that was, in my view, an inspirational precursor to this

afternoon's budget. To me, not only was it inspirational, but it was visionary,

it was exciting, and it was deserving of a province whose potential was wasted

for an entire decade — potential which is now…. We're now seeing the light at

the end of a very long tunnel.

It is worth recalling. In fact, I think it's our responsibility in

this chamber to remind each other and the public of British Columbia of the

dismal facts about the 1990s in this province. It was a decade during which the

western world experienced some of the fastest and most sustained economic growth

ever in the history of humankind. But it was a decade in which B.C. missed out.

In fact, British Columbia went backwards. It went from first to last amongst the

Canadian provinces. The old advice to people where I came from in Europe was:

"Go west, young man." In British Columbia that advice became: "Go head for the

hills." Just a reminder, Mr. Speaker, that the hills are to the east, and people

did that by the thousands.

As personal incomes declined and jobs disappeared in this

province, people and families, old and young, by the thousands fled the economic

devastation in British Columbia to find their way to Alberta and Ontario and

other parts of North America. It's a history that cannot and will not be denied,

and it must be remembered, because the NDP and their union bosses want B.C. to

go backwards. But given what's in this throne speech, the visionary message from

this government, I'm confident that the people of British Columbia are not ready

to step backwards or to have their affairs run by B.C.'s union politburo.

What this government is presenting to the people of British

Columbia is a vision of progress and hope. It's a vision of seeking out and

taking opportunities to advance the situation of every resident of this place,

to set up a framework within which the spirit of British Columbia — its people,

its entrepreneurs — can flourish.

[1145]

Let me talk about the elements of the vision, the goals we've set

for British Columbia and the golden decade and more that lies within our grasp.

The first and perhaps most important goal in the long term is to make this place

the best-educated and most literate on the continent.

We all know that a good education pays huge dividends both to

individuals and to society as a whole. We all know that literacy skills are the

passport to meaningful work and lifelong happiness. They're not the only

determinants, but they are very, very important. We also know that we live in a

time where success means being the best. Competition for investment around North

America is fierce. A good education system and a truly literate population — and

I include in that a numerate population — mean that employers can find qualified

employees. Secure jobs mean stability for families.

Let me take time to give credit to B.C.'s educators for the work

they're doing, because education is a subject about which everybody has an

opinion. They are strongly held opinions, and that's fine. I appreciate that,

and I encourage that kind of debate. But we do need to step back from the fray

once in a while to thank the teachers in our schools and to thank parents who,

under this government's guidance, are again welcome and involved in their

children's school affairs. We need to thank school trustees whose task, frankly,

is very often a thankless one because they bear the load of making critical

decisions about our local education systems and our kids. But it is clear from

the improving academic results across this province that this government's

significant investments and the efforts of educators around the province in

education at all levels are starting to pay off.

I also want to note — because in my community, aboriginal people

are a significant part of our population — that it is really gratifying to see

that our attention on aboriginal education achievement is also starting to pay

off in significant increases in aboriginal graduation rates. We are far from a

situation of equality between aboriginal and the general population rates, but

we are starting to make some progress, and I think we need to celebrate that.

It's really great to see the involvement of parents and families

in the affairs of our schools. In Nanaimo, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that in

our community schools, we have a great example of how we can use our educational

facilities to provide advantages and opportunities throughout the year to

students and others in the community. That is a great example that we can follow

as we pursue the throne speech goal of using those educational facilities more

than we do today.

Can we do better in education? You bet. Are our students being

challenged enough? Personally, I don't think so. When I was educated in another

country many, many years ago now, I think I was much more seriously challenged

than my own kids were. My grandkids are just starting school, so I don't know.

But we must challenge our students. We can't have students in grade 12 spending

their days doing things other than studying and preparing for the future.

Our vision for education is one of constant improvement so we can

be the best we can be. The renewed economic vigour of British Columbia is

allowing us to refocus on things like music and the arts in our schools, as well

as providing new resources within the recently announced $150 million boost to

funding. That's a $150 million boost to funding — new resources within that

amount of money for special needs students, young folks who really need special

attention and increased special attention. In my opinion, that's welcome and

important news. It's part of a program

[ Page 11884 ]

where we have boosted per-student funding by over $860 since 2001, despite a

drop in student enrolment of 29,000 students in that same period — not something

that the B.C. Teachers Federation happens to mention in its public advertising

campaign.

We live in an age when education never ends. It used to be that

once you had finished high school or university, you were on your way to a

lifetime of employment. But that's not so today. It hasn't been for many, many

years, and that's why the important focus on post-secondary education.

Look at the growth of Malaspina University College, which has its

home base in my city. Not only has it grown its degree programs and technical

programs, but also there is growth in adult education. We have people of all

ages going back to school to learn new skills and gain new knowledge that they

need either to improve their lives or to get better jobs. The 1,100 new seats

that are coming to Malaspina University College by 2010 will ensure the

continued growth of this important educational icon in my city, both the

physical growth and the intellectual growth that Malaspina represents.

[1150]

I'm grateful, and I know my community is, for this government's

investment in the Centre for Shellfish Research at Malaspina University College,

its significant investment in the new library which will be opening in the

coming weeks and in other physical facilities that are making Malaspina

University a place of some repute. I am confident that Malaspina University

College can, and will, take up the challenge of exploring its potential role as

a new special-purpose university in British Columbia in the months ahead.

This government's vision doesn't end with education. We want the

residents of British Columbia to lead North America in physical fitness and in

healthy living. Why? Because we know that healthy living and physical fitness

mean a better health care system. Everyone knows that preventative medicine

makes sense, but not all of us can translate that knowledge into our everyday

habits. Frankly, I could use some help myself, because I've struggled with my

weight ever since a knee operation in my twenties left me unable to play the

beautiful game — football. And for the Solicitor General, that's played with a

round ball, not any other shape.

This approach to preventative medicine is not about "eat your

broccoli." The trivial comments made by some media people around the approach to

preventative medicine are just that — trivial. This is about putting emphasis on

health care, not illness care. I think this is something we all know makes

sense, and I certainly support it. It's important because health care, as we

have come to know it…. Health care programs are consuming ever-increasing

amounts of our tax dollars as our population grows and ages.

We are benefiting in my community from improvements to our health

care system. We have, as a result of this government's investments, a new MRI

scanning machine in Nanaimo. We have new kidney dialysis machines available in

Nanaimo. We are weeks away from opening new surgical suites in the Nanaimo

Regional General Hospital, which will conclude an 18-year period of promises.

These things were going to be built. Now they are being built, and they're

almost open. We will have more surgical procedures.

I think it's important to note, as well, that while we improve our

health care system in that kind of way, we are also investing heavily — making

important investments to boost British Columbia's impressive global record in

health care.

Genome mapping — something I know very little about, but I know it

is advanced research in medicine that British Columbia excels in. We know that

cancer research in this province is providing the best cancer outcomes for

people across Canada. That's significant. We know that the SARS vaccine came

from a lab in British Columbia. These are global advances that we are investing

in as this government. I'm proud of that.

We also have a vision for the best supports anywhere in North

America for people with disabilities and with special needs, for children at

risk and for seniors. The opposition wants you to believe that we don't care

about these groups within our society. The opposition focuses on the

sensational, and often, in my view, they have misled British Columbians about

the facts. The fearmongering of the opposition on these subjects does not change

those facts. This government is addressing issues that arise from the

demographics that we face. There will be 22 percent more senior citizens in this

province by 2010. That is five short years away, and I'm almost going to be

amongst them — almost.

Knowledge about these changes isn't new. The Solicitor General

talked about the blank page in law enforcement. The last government had a blank

page when it came to dealing with demographics that were already on the radar

screen. This is not new; we've known about it since 1946 when the baby boom

started. It's disgraceful that no other government before this one had the

courage and the guts to start to tackle some of these issues. We're taking the

issue head-on, and the new Premier's council on aging is going to be an

important institution as we find our way through this maze.

Mr. Speaker, I have lots more to say. But noting the time, I move

adjournment of debate.

M. Hunter moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. I. Chong moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Deputy Speaker: The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m.

today.

The House adjourned at 11:55 a.m.

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