2016 Legislative Session: Fifth Session, 40th 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)

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 35, Number

ISSN 0709-1281 (Print)

ISSN 1499-2175 (Online)

CONTENTS

Page

Routine Business

Introductions by Members

Tributes

Austin Wang

Hon. S. Anton

Introductions by Members

Introduction and

First Reading of Bills

Bill 15 — Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act, 2016

Hon. M. Polak

Statements

(Standing Order 25B)

Dietitians and healthy eating

J. Thornthwaite

J. Rice

Natural resource development

L. Throness

D. Donaldson

Local tourism and community events in Fraser Valley

J. Martin

Sexual exploitation of children and youth

M. Mark

Oral Questions

School district funding and comments by Education Minister

J. Horgan

Hon. C. Clark

R. Fleming

Hon. M. Bernier

Government record-keeping and call for apology to former employee

M. Karagianis

Hon. S. Anton

Sexual assault policy legislation for post-secondary institutions

A. Weaver

Hon. C. Clark

Comptroller general report on Health Ministry investigation

A. Dix

Hon. T. Lake

Orders of the Day

Second Reading of Bills

Bill 2 — Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act (continued)

J. Thornthwaite

C. Trevena

Hon. A. Virk

J. Rice

J. Sturdy

G. Holman

L. Throness

H. Bains

C. James

Hon. A. Wilkinson

R. Austin

D. McRae

Proceedings in the Douglas Fir Room

Committee of Supply

Estimates: Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction (continued)

Hon. C. Oakes

J. Shin

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

The House met at 1:33 p.m.

[Madame Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Madame Speaker: Good afternoon, hon. Members. Special guests on the floor today are Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band and elder Delphine Armstrong. Delphine will deliver the prayer this afternoon in the Okanagan language.

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D. Armstrong: Before I start this prayer, I want to acknowledge the people of this territory that we’re on today, this historical day.

k̓ʷulncutn ʕapnaʔ sx̌əlx̌ʕalt l pəckɬtan kʷu ʔullus ʔalaʔ x̌əc̓x̌ac̓t tqʷaʔqʷʔalmintəm uɬ x̌ast iʔ spuʔustət kʷu nqʷənqʷnaʔmist k̓an anwi niʕayp kʷu kənkənxtʷixʷ iʔ k̓əl sck̓ʷultət, limləmt k̓ʷulncutn kʷu suxʷɬtəm x̌əl minəmɬtət iʔ suʔmulaʔxʷs iʔ swiws iʔ sqilxʷ l təmxəulaʔxws, uɬ nixʷ iʔ

k̓ʷiƛ̓t, way̓ x̌ast t̓iʔ c̓x̌il, limlənt

[Creator, this day of March we are gathered here of great importance. We are to speak together, and to the good of our hearts, we humbly ask to continue to work together with a good heart, happy to have our original place names — swiws, sx̌ʷəx̌ʷənitkʷ, nʕaylintn — language recognized.

Have a good day, thanks.]

[Okanagan language text and translation provided by D. Armstrong.]

Madame Speaker: On behalf of the assembly, thank you both very, very much.

Introductions by Members

Hon. M. Polak: We are welcoming a number of guests from the Osoyoos Indian Band on this historic day, and I will introduce them to the House — Chief Clarence Louie, Councillor Sammy Louie, Councillor Theresa Gabriel, Councillor Yvonne Weinert, Councillor Veronica McGinnis, Councillor Leona Baptiste, Elder Jane Stelkia, Elder Delphine Armstrong, Sheri Stelkia, Morning Dove Hall and Myra Baptiste. Would the House please make them welcome.

In addition, we are joined by members of the B.C. Parks and Ministry of Environment staff who have worked very hard together with the Osoyoos Indian Band to help to make this possible — Jim Standen, our assistant deputy minister, B.C. Parks and conservation officer service; Brian Bawtinheimer, executive director, conservation, planning and aboriginal relations; Ken Morrison, manager of planning and acquisitions; and John Trewhitt, regional director, Okanagan-Kootenay region. Would the House please make them welcome.

A. Weaver: It gives me great pleasure to introduce three members from the Camosun College Student Society who are here in the gallery today — Andrea Eggenberger, external executive; Rachael Grant, education council; and Michel Turcotte, executive director. Would the House please make them feel very welcome.

Tributes

AUSTIN WANG

Hon. S. Anton: I’d like to introduce to the House the very talented grade 12 student from David Thompson Secondary School Austin Wang. Austin is here with his mom and dad, Ms. Astor Yu Ying Lu and Mr. Hopkins Hui Tao Wang. Now, I want you all to listen carefully, because Austin’s a very smart guy, and he is changing our futures. Austin is developing a procedure to use bacteria to generate electricity.

For his science experiments, which he has run through grades 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, he has won a number of prestigious awards. Last year in grade 11, he was awarded the Global Environment Challenge prize at the annual international BioGENEius Challenge final in Philadelphia in June. His project then was titled: “Genes with roles in power output of exoelectrogenic bacteria in microbial fuel cells.” I hope you’re absorbing this.

He also won last year a Canada-Wide Science Fair gold medal top prize, overall best project, and he was the first student from British Columbia to win that prize.

This year in grade 12, he’s come back fairly recently from Taiwan, where he won the gold medal in the microbiology category of the Taiwan International Science Fair. He competed there with 20 countries — joined, by the way, by a Prince George student, who won a bronze medal. He won the gold medal for “A novel method to identify genes in electronic transfer of exoelectrogens” — again, aiming to identify the genes involved in bacterial extracellular electron transport to generate power in microbial fuel cells. He’s shaping our future, as I said.

He was selected two days ago to join Team Canada to compete at this year’s International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix.

David Thompson high school excels in many ways. Nurturing academic success is one of them. Austin is supported by his parents. He is supported by his school, led by principal Marea Jensen. He’s also supported by UBC, by Dr. Susan Baldwin, who is his mentor and project supervisor. She is in the area of chemical and biological engineering.

As I said, Austin is a very impressive young man, and I hope the House will make him feel very welcome and

[ Page 11528 ]

wish him success. He will go to some great institution next year, but we don’t know which one yet.

I’d like to introduce my new communications director. Jason Kuzminski is joined by his wife, Megan Parry, and his sons, Benjamin Kuzminski-Parry and Jude Kuzminski-Parry. They are the wife and sons of Jason. They’re visiting from Toronto and they are moving to British Columbia this summer. Would the House please make them very welcome.

[1340]

Introductions by Members

S. Fraser: I would also like to join the Minister of Environment in welcoming the contingent from Osoyoos, and especially, I’d like to thank respected elder Delphine Armstrong for making this day so special and for opening the session this way. And I recognize, of course, Chief Clarence Louie.

For those who have not travelled to the territory, I would just urge everyone to now. It was about seven or eight years ago that I was there for the opening of the cultural centre, which is just world-class. The setting and the production is amazing. Since then, of course, the Nk’Mip winery has been winning awards all over the world for its world-class wines — they are wonderful; I have drank, maybe, too much of them — and also the incredible resort that exists on the banks of the lake.

Please would everyone help to join me in making everyone that came all the way from Osoyoos very, very welcome in this place.

Hon. S. Bond: Today I’m very delighted to introduce three incredibly special people to the Legislature. Today is an important day for them. They flew from Prince George to be here for the introduction of the bill that my colleague the Minister of Environment will introduce shortly. They are literally the passion behind the creation of the park that we will introduce today. They are incredible people.

I’ll start with Nowell Senior. He began building a trail in the Ancient Forest in 2005 on a part-time basis as a volunteer with the Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club. The trail, once it was open to the public, became popular very quickly, but it wasn’t accessible to visitors with mobility challenges.

In 2010, they began work on a solution, which has resulted in an absolutely spectacular, more than 400-metre-long boardwalk that would enable everyone to experience this incredible place, the Ancient Forest. In the past ten years, he has made over 500 trips to the Ancient Forest and has driven over 115,000 kilometres to do that work.

Dave King has been involved with the Caledonia Ramblers since 1975, including 15 years as president. He worked with Nowell on the original trail. He and Nowell laid out the plan for the accessible boardwalk and began construction in 2010, and he built more than 90 percent of the foundation. And I mean that they carried in the wood — all of those things that were necessary.

Darwyn Coxson is a professor in ecosystems science and management at the University of Northern British Columbia. He was one of the founding faculty members at our university. His research on wet temperate rainforests in British Columbia and internationally has been an important factor in recognizing the significance of the Ancient Forest trail area within British Columbia’s Robson Valley.

I can’t tell you how proud I am. These and 200 volunteers have worked to take this very, very precious part of British Columbia, and today we will recognize it. Believe me, I know that their next step is a UNESCO World Heritage status. I think we have our work cut out for us there.

Congratulations to them, the people of my community who have worked so hard, and thank you to the Minister of Environment for helping us reach this very important place today.

C. James: I have two guests in the gallery today. The first person probably needs no introduction. She’s becoming a regular around this place. Sheenagh Morrison is a Special Olympics swimmer. She is a Thrifty’s employee. She is a volunteer at the Beacon Hill Park petting zoo. She’s also an incredible advocate for people with diverse abilities.

Sheenagh brought a friend of hers today, Jean Melvin. I knew Jean and had the good fortune to work with Jean as an incredible educator in school district 61, both a teacher and an administrator, a school principal. Jean now, in her retirement, has a whole new career as a jewelry designer. I’d like the House to please make both of these women very welcome.

J. Thornthwaite: Today is Dietitians Day, and I invite all members of the House and their staff to go to the Rattenbury Room and check out the dietitians themselves as well as their ability to give you free nutrition advice. I think they’ve still got the food out there. They’re there all day.

I would like to introduce them, the Dietitians of Canada staff: Sonya Kupka — she’s the regional executive director at Dietitians of Canada; Janice Macdonald, director of communications; Melissa Baker from the board of directors, Dietitians of Canada. From the College of Dietitians of B.C., Chi Cejalvo. I’m sorry if I’ve pronounced that wrong.

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From Compass Canada — and thank you, Compass, for the lunch: Anne Holtzman, Karen Hayley. From Island Health Nutrition Services, Monika Leifhebber. And from private practice, Janelle Hatch, Kristen Yarker, Veronica Kacinik, Lisa Diamond and Joyce Schnetzler.

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From the Ministry of Health, population and public health, Lorrie Cramb, Anna Wren, Sophia Baker-French, and a retired dietitian, Margaret Woodlock.

Would the House please make them feel welcome, and go and join them in the Rattenbury Room.

S. Simpson: I’m very pleased to introduce a longtime family friend, Wendy Brooks, who’s with us. I’ve known Wendy for many years, but really our friendship goes back to a connection…. Wendy and my wife go back to being in junior high together.

Wendy has recently moved back to Victoria from the Mainland. She’s retired after 28 years working in the public service with the government of British Columbia. It’s appropriate that she be here now in Social Work Week. Wendy is a registered social worker and has worked at Tranquille and worked in child protection and for the last number of years with Community Living B.C.

Wendy, I know, was very committed and dedicated to her work in the public service, and I would ask the House to thank Wendy for 28 years working for the people of British Columbia and wish her a long and happy retirement here in Victoria.

Hon. B. Bennett: It’s my pleasure to introduce today Shannon Stubbs and Amy Lee Leindecker. Shannon Stubbs is a Member of Parliament for Lakeland, Alberta. She’s also the deputy critic for Natural Resources. She’s here to have some meetings with us and discuss natural resource issues. Amy Lee Leindecker is her assistant. Please help me make them feel welcome.

J. Darcy: I’d like to join the member opposite in welcoming the dietitians who are in the gallery today. Dietitians, as we know, play an absolutely critical…. We know how important healthy eating is and healthy living is to all aspects of health, and dietitians really are the front-line advocates and support as far as healthy living goes. We know that healthy food as well as access to clean and safe water as well as income levels and housing are all critical to the social determinants of health, and dietitians play a critical role in that.

One of the issues that we talk about an awful lot in the area of health is diabetes and diabetes prevention, and I want to just take my hat off to all of you because you play such a critical role in improving people’s health and preventing the worsening of diabetes, which is good for those patients and is good for the health care system. Thank you, and welcome to this House.

Hon. Michelle Stilwell: It gives me great pleasure today to introduce former Parksville residents Suzan and John Jennings, who now call Victoria home. Suzan was an active participant in the disability consultation. She is the former chair of Access Oceanside, an organization that focuses on community inclusion. Most recently she has started up a group called Depression Talks, a peer support group here at the Victoria Disability Resource Centre.

Suzan and John see and live these changes every single day, and I truly appreciate their ongoing support. Their advocacy for people with disabilities is really making a difference in people’s lives, and I admire them for the work they do in the community to help others. Please help me make them feel welcome.

D. Routley: I’m going to be on my best behaviour today…

Interjections.

D. Routley: I thought that would be appreciated.

…because I’m joined here today by my sweetheart, the lovely Leanne Finlayson, who’s up in the gallery. She’s on the government side. I think she’s practising for a future role.

[1350]

Leanne is very active in our community. Her family, the Finlaysons, are very well known in the small business community. She’s been a longtime board member of the Forest Discovery Centre. The members should go there and ride the live steam train through the forest. She’s also, as many here know, a very accomplished Highland dancer, and she has been competing and teaching since she was a wee one. Leanne, I’m so proud.

A few years ago, we went with her dance studio to Scotland. They competed all over Scotland, and for me, seeing her dance in Scotland would be like seeing a lifelong Scottish hockey player come to Canada. It was a really great thing.

Some of you might know that I like Scotch, but I absolutely love my little Scot. So please help me make her welcome.

L. Reimer: At 11:07 a.m., 28 years ago, I gave birth to my wonderful son Gord. He was an absolute joy to raise. He loves life. He’s a graduate of Thompson Rivers University and is now accomplished in his profession. Would the House please help me wish him a very happy birthday.

M. Hunt: I have three guests in the House today. The first one is Mike Callewaert, an innovative Surrey small business man who has created vegetated wall systems that are retaining walls for very steep banks and green walls.

[ Page 11530 ]

These are created in B.C., manufactured on Annacis Island and sold around the world.

Also, I have two other guests who are with us — Rhiannon Martin who, without a word of prejudice, is the best LA in caucus and quite possibly the world, and her assistant who is with her, who makes — they tell me, at least —the best coffee in the world. That is Kori Altreche. Please make them welcome.

L. Throness: Two more of our legislative assistants are in the gallery today. They haven’t exactly won the Nobel Prize yet, but they’re working on it. Of course, they are indispensable to our work. They do a great job. Would the House please welcome Simran Sahota and Jeffrey Crone.

D. Ashton: I. too, would like to welcome the elders, Chief Clarence Louie, the councillors from the Osoyoos Indian Band, and also pay special recognition to Delphine Armstrong. She has had a long, distinguished career at the En’owkin Centre in Penticton. I would like to thank her for her prayer today.

I’d also like to thank all the band members from the various tribes in the Okanagan for allowing us to live on those incredible lands and share those resources and lands together.

Also, two friends are here from Penticton — actually, Naramata. I’ll get in trouble for that later. Karla Kozakevich, the electoral area E director, and her good friend Carolyn King are both here visiting. So welcome, both of you.

Please, would the House make them all welcome.

D. Bing: As we know, a number of legislative assistants are here with us today. I’d like to particularly recognize the two that work with me in east annex on the second floor. They are just amazing people, and I owe a lot to them. I’d like to recognize Jeffrey Crone and Simran Sahota. Would the House please make them welcome.

Madame Speaker: Hon. Members, I have some guests in the gallery today. They’re lovely folks, I can tell you.

We have Tracey and Walter Harms visiting from Richmond. We have Rheta Steer, who helped me with my babies when they were small.

Some of you have commented on who taught me the look, when I sometimes employ it in question period. My mom is here, Cathy Reid, and is joined by my son, Will.

Introduction and

First Reading of Bills

BILL 15 — PROTECTED AREAS OF

BRITISH COLUMBIA AMENDMENT ACT, 2016

Hon. M. Polak presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act, 2016.

Hon. M. Polak: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

Motion approved.

Hon. M. Polak: This bill contains amendments to the Protected Areas of British Columbia Act. The provisions of this bill will add more than 11,700 hectares of land and marine waters to the protected area system managed by B.C. Parks.

[1355]

The amendments will establish one new class A park, the Ancient Forest in the area of Prince George. It will also add lands to five existing class A parks and one conservancy.

The amendments also modify the boundary of one class A park to exclude lands as part of a negotiated settlement with the Boston Bar First Nation to resolve a trespass issue.

In addition, there are amendments to rename four parks. Two of the parks being renamed are changing, so they will only be known by their traditional Okanagan language names. For Haynes Point, the name will be changed to sẁiẁs. For Okanagan Falls Park, the name will be changed to sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ.

The B.C. Parks website has been updated with recordings of the vocalizations of the First Nations names. The chief, the councillors and other members of the Osoyoos Indian Band are able to join us today for the introduction of this legislation.

Chief Clarence Louie has asked that I read a few words on his behalf respecting the renaming of these two parks. I’m pleased to do so.

“Today is a very historic day for the Osoyoos Indian Band and the near extinction of the Okanagan language. On behalf of the Osoyoos Indian Band chief and council, who are all here today, and our language speakers here today and back at home in the Okanagan, I want to thank the Premier and cabinet and especially the Minister of Environment” — I won’t put in the name; sorry — “and all of those behind the scenes who helped and supported the name changes of two very important historical and cultural sites in the Osoyoos Indian Band and the Okanagan Nation.

“sẁiẁs was our people’s crossing area on Osoyoos Lake for thousands of years. sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ was, and still is, the most important salmon fishing ground for our people on this side of the U.S.-Canada border. sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ was set aside as an Osoyoos Indian Band reserve in 1877 and was taken away in 1913 as part of the B.C.-Canada McKenna-McBride royal commission, which reduced Indian reserve lands in B.C.

“Thank you to the B.C. government for not only doing what is right but also for officially recognizing and affirming the Okanagan First Nation language.”

That is from Chief Clarence Louie.

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I see the time is short. I will only add that maps will be available in the Clerk’s office and also posted on the B.C. Parks website.

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

Bill 15, Protected Areas of British Columbia Amendment Act, 2016, introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Statements

(Standing Order 25B)

DIETITIANS AND HEALTHY EATING

J. Thornthwaite: Every year Canadians dedicate a day to recognizing and celebrating dietitians, the health care professionals who use their specialized skill in food and nutrition to improve our health.

Today marks the seventh anniversary of Dietitians Day. As a former dietitian with more than two decades of experience in hospitals, universities and community health, it gives me great pleasure to highlight the work of these dedicated experts and remind all British Columbians that they are the smart choice for credible, nutritional advice on eating well and healthy lifestyles.

Dietitians work with their clients to help them feel their best. They provide tips and healthy recipes to help you plan, shop and cook for healthy meals, show you how to properly read and understand food labels and develop custom meal plans to help you manage weight or digestive issues, support your exercise, workout or sports regime and prevent and manage chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.

Dietitians are playing an increasingly important role in the health of Canadians, particularly in primary care and the management of chronic diseases. More than 20 percent of all visits to family doctors are for nutrition-related conditions like diabetes. More than 45 percent of seniors admitted to hospitals are suffering from malnutrition.

It’s estimated that more than half of all type 2 diabetes cases can be prevented or delayed with healthier eating habits and increased physical activity.

Through nutrition intervention, dieticians can also help lower cholesterol and blood pressure and can reduce malnutrition levels in seniors, leading to fewer hospital admissions and shorter stays.

Our dietitians provide the necessary information and education to help British Columbians take charge of their health.

[1400]

I want to encourage anyone looking for nutritional and dietary assistance to log on to www.dietitians.ca to connect with a dietitian in your community so that you can eat your way to better health.

J. Rice: I’d like to follow on from the member opposite. I know she was a former dietitian and is pretty passionate about this topic. Registered dietitians are health professionals who are trained and accredited to provide advice and counselling about diet, food and nutrition. They offer health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and supportive care.

Dietitians do more than tell people what to eat. They make recommendations based on the best available science, coupled with their client’s or their community’s unique values and circumstances. Dietitians are regulated health professionals. Just so you know, Canadian dietitians are spelled with two Ts and no Cs — those are the American versions of dietitians.

In Prince Rupert, dietitian Arlene Carlson serves not just Prince Rupert but the First Nations communities of Metlakatla, Lax Kw’alaams, Hartley Bay and Gitxaala. Arlene sees people from birth to death. She may assist a new mom with breastfeeding and help her again when her child transitions to solid foods. She may see someone in the hospital who’s had a stroke and is having a hard time swallowing.

One of the important roles Arlene plays is teaching healthy cooking and meal planning classes. Arlene tells me that a lot of people don’t know how to cook or they’ve stopped cooking. If you have a hungry family, you want to fill them up, but the best food choices aren’t always available. Arlene says if you don’t know what to do with broccoli, chances are you’re not going to buy some. Teaching people how to prepare healthy foods creates more demand for healthy foods in our suppliers. That, in turn, creates healthy people.

Shelly Crack is the dietitian on Haida Gwaii. Shelly is spearheading innovative programs such as incorporating traditional foods into the school food programs and health care delivery system. Shelly helps instill a connection to food in schoolchildren so that they grow up valuing their food and where it comes from. In turn, she’s producing healthy eaters, healthy people and establishing food security on Haida Gwaii.

She tells me a story of a Haida….

Interjection.

J. Rice: Just let me finish, hon. Speaker.

She tells me a story of a Haida Gwaii student who was hunting recently. He caught a deer, learned how to butcher a deer, went harvesting foods in the garden and prepared a whole meal. He exclaimed: “Wow, I could feed my whole family.”

I just want to finish off with this. Tomorrow the Masset hospital will be preparing its first 100 percent locally sourced traditional meal, prepared by a Haida Gwaii chef. I want to congratulate the community and thank Shelly Crack for her leadership.

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NATURAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

L. Throness: Today the people of B.C.’s north rallied at noon in Terrace, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, calling for northern jobs for northern people and saying yes to LNG. The rallies in these communities saw over 500 businesses, representing thousands of workers, demonstrate their public support for LNG. They understand that without new markets, their livelihoods will be in jeopardy.

We in southern B.C. need to remember that over half of all jobs generated by B.C.’s resource industries are in the Lower Mainland. Natural resource industries make up 11 percent of our provincial GDP. So we, too, need to say yes to natural resource development. In its consideration of current LNG applications, the federal government must also realize just how important the industry is to our entire province and, indeed, our nation.

In particular, it must recognize the pivotal role that LNG can play in reducing worldwide emissions and serve the interests of our own province and our own country in allowing credit for the positive global environmental impact of LNG. Harvard economist Michael Porter said in Vancouver recently that it’s time to get on with LNG exports. He said: “It’s good for the world. It’s good for China. It’s good for lots of other people in the world who really care about climate. We should be exporting as much LNG as possible.”

So let’s get to yes on responsible resource development. That means yes on Petronas and yes on LNG, but also yes on Kinder Morgan, yes on Enbridge, yes on Site C, yes on mining, yes on logging and agrifoods, yes to the good people rallying in Terrace and Fort St. John and Fort Nelson today, and yes to jobs and prosperity for all British Columbians.

YOUTH SOLUTIONS CONTEST

D. Donaldson: The winner of Score One for Solutions, this year’s contest for teens that our MLA office has held with the Vancouver Canucks’ Dan Hamhuis, had a message that resonated with judges and, I think, maybe with MLAs.

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Here are some excerpts of what grade 10 Bulkley Valley Christian School student Nathan Steenhof wrote:

“Walking into a coffee shop, I take a minute to look around. The sight that greets me is very depressing. Everyone is glued to their phones, and there’s almost no face-to-face interaction.

“Our school is doing something called ‘media-free week.’ So Monday morning and Friday evening we are not allowed to use media. I thought this week would be really boring, and I wouldn’t be able to handle not using media. However, it’s been kind of refreshing not having media to keep me occupied, and it’s forced me to do other things with my spare time like reading a book or playing games with my siblings.

Well, congrats to Nathan for highlighting an important challenge and a solution or two. Thanks to our three judges; to Smithers’s Dan Hamhuis; to our sponsor, Central Mountain Air; the Gitksan Government Commission; Moose FM and the Interior News . Nathan and his dad are off to a Canucks game Saturday night.

LOCAL TOURISM AND

COMMUNITY EVENTS IN FRASER VALLEY

J. Martin: It’s pretty well springtime, and many British Columbians will be taking a staycation somewhere in this beautiful province. Whether you’re thinking about camping at Cultus Lake, or maybe heading up Highway 1 to the Okanagan, I encourage travellers to take some time and experience the Fraser Valley.

In Yarrow this weekend, it’s the annual Barn Burner BBQ Competition again. Yeah, I have been waiting 364 days for that. This is the first sanctioned contest of this year’s cook-off season. The very best teams from throughout the Pacific Northwest will be smoking it low and slow, with beef brisket, pulled pork — mmm, pulled pork — chicken and ribs. Come on out to beautiful Yarrow. There are lots of samples for the public to taste and get an experience of real, genuine, actual barbecue.

The following weekend, children can enjoy Easter egg hunt events at the Chilliwack Corn Maze in Greendale; at Townsend Park downtown, hosted by City Life Church; or at Peteys Easter Eggstravaganza at Fantasy Farms in East Chilliwack. I’m looking forward, also, to the Family Nature Festival at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve near the Vedder Rotary Trail in Chilliwack.

If I may just return to the Barn Burner for one moment, it’s always an honour to have the opportunity to share some words of barbecue wisdom with the House and get that on the record: “When you boil your ribs, the terrorists have already won.”

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SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

M. Mark: I’ve spent the last 20 years advocating for the rights and best interests of sexually exploited children and youth throughout B.C., across Canada and internationally, with organizations such as Covenant House Vancouver, the Urban Native Youth Association, the Justice Institute of B.C., Save the Children Canada and the Representative for Children and Youth.

I know that this is a difficult topic to discuss because we find it hard to admit that today, in all of our backyards, children and youth are being sexually exploited. The reality is we are not paying enough attention to this issue, and perpetrators are relying on our apathy and silence.

Interjection.

[1410]

M. Mark: I’m not sure what’s funny over there.

We can’t afford to be silent. In fact, we should be angered, disgusted and outraged that children are being subjected to such violence, trauma and maltreatment.

Just this past week, we have learned about another beautiful young person whose life was taken way too soon. Her name was Patricia Evoy. She was 19 years old. My deepest condolences to her family and friends.

While the circumstances of her death have not been confirmed, we know that she was high risk. She was vulnerable, and she was sexually exploited.

It is so critical that we must take measures, all measures, to protect people like Patricia. Therefore, I am pleased to learn that March 14 to 20 is declared as stop the sexual exploitation awareness week here in British Columbia.

It is my hope that we take swift and bold measures each and every day as parents, as elected officials and as a society to do everything in our power to protect our children and our youth from violence, harm and exploitation within a human rights framework. This means that we must report abuse and exploitation to the police and MCFD and hold people legally responsible when they do not.

I appreciate that I’m going over time, but it is my hope that we take all measures of action like these children are our sons and our daughters, because their safety is our responsibility.

Oral Questions

SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDING AND

COMMENTS BY EDUCATION MINISTER

J. Horgan: Recently the Premier set a dangerous precedent when she characterized First Nations leaders and others who were concerned about the environment as a “ragtag group.” Her office carried that a little bit further when a whistleblower, Tim Duncan, raised issues around access to freedom of information and living within the laws of British Columbia. He was characterized as “disgruntled.” When we raised in this House, and people on disabilities raised, concerns about the clawback of their bus pass, they were characterized as “confused and wrong.” Now, we have the Minister of Education speaking to his education partners as “noise…from a few groups.”

This is a pattern of disrespect for the people who make up this great province, a pattern of disrespect for those who want to make this place as good as it can possibly be.

My question is to the Premier. Does she agree with her Minister of Education that 60 duly elected school boards are just noise, that 45,000 teachers are just noise, that hundreds of thousands of parents working through their PACs — along with CUPE members and other support workers in the education system in British Columbia — and, indeed, the vast majority of British Columbians concerned about underfunding of our education system are just a few groups making noise?

Hon. C. Clark: Well, let me say this. I think that all of the debate that we have in this province and in this country is part of a vigorous democratic process. We are lucky that we have the freedom of speech that we have in our country, that we fight to preserve it, and that we’re allowed to have legitimate debates about public policy, which is what we see in this House every day and which is what we see out on the streets on a regular basis.

It’s a good thing, but that doesn’t mean we always agree. For example, when I talk about the folks, the NDP and their members, who sign declarations saying no…. When I talk about the leader of the NDP who opposes and says no to Site C, who opposes and says no to LNG, who opposes and says no to job creation all over the province, I understand he’s taking a very clear position. But he needs to understand that on this side of the House, we take a very different position — and that is in support of the people up in the Peace River country, for example, the people in Terrace, who rallied in huge numbers to stand up for saying yes, to stand up for jobs. You can’t stand up….

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members.

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Hon. C. Clark: You can’t stand up for working people if you don’t want to see them get any work. On this side of the House, that’s exactly what we stand for.

Madame Speaker: Recognizing the Leader of the Official Opposition on a supplemental.

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J. Horgan: Well, yeah. Thanks for that. It will come as no surprise to those paying attention that we’re in such a sorry state with respect to public education here. This was a former Minister of Education who can’t even answer a basic question. This is a former Minister of Education who has had us in court for over a decade because she stripped contracts and took away rights from teachers — duly negotiated contracts.

The former Minister of Education has clearly forgotten all about the importance….

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members, I will hear the question.

J. Horgan: Well, thank you, hon. Speaker. I know the Premier doesn’t want to hear the question, but we’ll see what we can do about her colleagues as well.

It’s okay to have a difference of opinion. Everyone gets that. But you don’t disrespect people by calling them ragtag, disgruntled or confused.

Again, the Minister of Education has an obligation, in our co-governance model, to have a little bit of respect for school boards. The school board of district 69, from Qualicum, wrote the following with respect to his comments about noise: “Your comments demonstrate a lack of understanding for those advocating on behalf of our students. Your remarks marginalize and dismiss hundreds of thousands of people in this province. They show a blatant disregard and a lack of respect for school boards who are working within a co-governance model with the Ministry of Education.”

My question is to the former Minister of Education — thank goodness, not the current one — now the Premier. Does she agree with her Minister of Education that it’s okay to disrespect the partners in education when it comes to school boards and the parents across this province that want better for their kids than they had for themselves?

Hon. C. Clark: I was up in Prince George yesterday announcing the creation of an 11,000-hectare class A park, the first one created in British Columbia in the last three years, to protect this unique forest, Ancient Forest, which we’ll now be seeking UNESCO status for. While I was up there…. I know the Leader of the Opposition had been up the day before and had done exactly what he accuses the government of, saying all kinds of bad things and calling people all kinds of bad names. There were only 15 people there to hear it, though, so I’m not surprised that it wasn’t reported widely.

When it comes to education, let me say this. We have dramatically increased the amount of money that we put in on a per-pupil basis into education in the province. We have with us, as an example of the quality of education we provide in public schools, the top gold medal in science winner, Austin Wang, who is sitting right here in our Legislature today.

The six-year completion rate for aboriginal students is at a record high of 63 percent. We are continuing to try and improve that. There are so many successes in the education system over these last years, and if you look at the results, you’ll certainly see them.

I think what members in this House and what the public would like to see is a lot more discussion about the facts — a lot less politics, a lot less emotional pleas and really have us talk about what’s happening in our education system, because British Columbia, by almost any standard in the world, is leading.

Madame Speaker: The Leader of the Official Opposition on a final supplemental.

J. Horgan: To hear the Premier say she wants a lot less politics almost knocked me over. It almost knocked me over. Most days, whether it’s in the private jet with the videographer, all the Premier does is politics. What we want on this side of the House, and I think what British Columbians want, is a government that recognizes and reflects the values and diversity of the people of this great province.

Here’s a fact for the Premier. Here’s a fact. On the watch of the people on that side, 240 schools are closed, 40 more schools are on the block, and 900 people showed up in the south Interior to protest this government’s underfunding of public education. That’s a fact. Larger class sizes. Increasing challenges with class composition. Commitments made by that Minister of Education, that Minister of Education and that Minister of Education not being met.

Families first has been replaced by “millionaires first.” There was a tax break for the richest people in British Columbia, and school boards are being asked to find more.

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My question to the Premier of British Columbia is: why is it okay to call people ragtag, disgruntled, confused or just noise? Why don’t we put that politics aside and embrace the diversity we have here and work with our school trustees, work with parents and work with teachers to make this province as great as we all want it to be?

Hon. C. Clark: Well, I’ll tell you, the member accuses me regularly of just photo ops and all politics — accusa-

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tions that women in politics are certainly used to hearing. Let me say this. Four consecutive balanced budgets….

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members. This House will come to order.

Nelson-Creston, this House will come to order.

Hon. C. Clark: That’s not politics. That’s looking after British Columbia. And 50,000 new jobs created in the last year in a province that is almost doubling the national rate of growth — that is not politics. That’s getting the job done.

Getting to yes on the Great Bear Rainforest. Getting to yes on LNG. Getting to yes on Site C, the biggest single investment that B.C. Hydro has ever made in capital. Getting to yes on 17 new and expanded mines. Getting to yes on job creation all across the province. We have worked hard to get to yes, over the constant noes and the naysaying and the anti-job declarations of the NDP. That is not politics. That’s working. That’s delivering. Those are promises made and promises we are keeping.

R. Fleming: I see that the Premier’s reputation for someone who has an utter disregard for public education is perfectly intact here this afternoon. So let me ask the Minister of Education a question.

Let me quote from the Vancouver Island School Trustees Association spring newsletter. “The Vancouver Island School Trustees Association, which is made up of 12 boards of education and the largest branch of school boards in the province, discussed a number of issues impacting all boards on Vancouver Island, including the ongoing lack of adequate and sustainable funding that is leading to consideration of school closures, reduction of student supports and the districtwide cancellation of innovative programs.”

The newsletter goes on to note that “the Minister of Education” — the hon. member across the way — “had indicated his desire to attend our branch meetings and was invited to attend but was a no-show.”

He won’t show up to the Vancouver Island School Trustees Association, but then he has the time to go on CBC radio and attack school trustees, parents and everybody else who is advocating for the public education system right now and dismiss them as a bunch of noise. That’s what he did.

My question is this. It’s the question that was written to him by Eve Flynn, the district chair of school board 69. Instead of attacking advocates of public education, who he has put in an incredibly difficult situation, with his $54 million cuts in this budget…. Will he do as the chair of the Qualicum board has suggested, and instead of insulting partner organizations in public education, work with them — and begin repairing that relationship by apologizing to those organizations in the House today?

Hon. M. Bernier: You know, I have been invited all around the province. Every opportunity that I have within my schedule, I actually take those opportunities to meet with the school districts. I have actually toured and visited almost half, 30, of the school districts since becoming the Minister of Education.

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Again, one of the main things I’ve heard from all of those school boards is that we need to ensure the autonomy that they have at the local level, that they are the ones that are making the decisions within those school districts.

It’s interesting that the member opposite wants to try to pull out some quotes. I’ve got a couple of my own.

The way I’ll end this is by saying that those decisions need to be made at the local level. I’m glad that the member opposite, also on the radio, yesterday finally agreed with this side of the House, with our government, that those decisions need to be made, when the critic himself said: “Whether they vote or not to close schools, that needs to be left up to the school districts.”

Although he’s been standing in the House and saying otherwise all these days, I’m glad the member opposite has finally realized what this side of the House has been saying all along.

Madame Speaker: Victoria–Swan Lake on a supplemental.

R. Fleming: I guess the question that school districts around British Columbia are asking themselves right now is: what is the point of the minister touring around the province when he’s not listening to anybody involved in the education sector?

What people are trying to understand, whether it’s parents by the hundreds at a meeting in Courtenay last night or thousands in the Okanagan who are attending meetings to try and save their community schools…. They want to know this, and I’ll ask the minister this. He doesn’t have to give up privileged cabinet discussions, but they need to understand at home. How can a government that says there’s no money for public education and that the government has an imperative to cut $54 million in school district funding…?

How can that same cabinet and this minister participate in discussions that allow them to find $230 million in tax cuts for millionaires? That’s what people in British Columbia want to know.

I would suggest this to the minister: stop being critical of organizations who are standing up and advocating for public education around B.C., whether they represent parents or trustees or students. Instead, will he begin to advocate for his own ministry, and the 550,000 kids who are involved in our school system, at the cabinet table and begin that by reversing the $54 million cut in the budget?

Hon. M. Bernier: I’m pleased that the member opposite realizes my job is to advocate for the school dis-

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tricts and the people of the province of British Columbia.

Since this government has taken over from the members opposite, we’ve increased our budget 31 percent; $1.2 billion we’ve increased the budget. At the same time, the member opposite doesn’t want to realize that we’ve also had 70,000 fewer students in the province of British Columbia. When you add that up, we have record investment in the province of British Columbia.

This year alone, did we advocate? Absolutely — $110 million more added this year to the budget for education.

One other thing I’ll mention to try to help the school districts in the province of British Columbia. Coming up in a couple of months, they are going to see $45 million in relief, on July 1, when the teachers pension plan for the employer contributions are going to be reduced, helping every school district across the province of British Columbia.

GOVERNMENT RECORD-KEEPING AND

CALL FOR APOLOGY TO FORMER EMPLOYEE

M. Karagianis: On Monday, we asked the Attorney General to apologize to Tim Duncan, the former executive assistant to the Minister of Transportation who blew the whistle on this government’s culture of triple-deleting emails. The Attorney General refused to apologize. Mr. Duncan had his keyboard grabbed by a senior staffer in the Transportation Ministry who then deleted emails related to the Highway of Tears. When Mr. Duncan took his concerns to the Liberal caucus director of research, he was told: “We do what it takes to win.”

When this side of the House first spoke about Mr. Duncan’s story, the Premier’s executive director of communications and issues management was outside of this chamber moments later attacking Mr. Duncan’s character and telling members of the media that Mr. Duncan was merely a disgruntled employee.

[1430]

Today I’d like to give the Premier a chance to have her say, the opportunity to apologize on behalf of her government and the staff in her office to Mr. Duncan for the treatment that she and her government’s culture of delete, delete, delete, have perpetrated to him.

Hon. S. Anton: As the member opposite knows, there is a special prosecutor appointed in this case. There are charges laid. The matter is before the courts, and that’s where we should leave it.

Madame Speaker: Esquimalt–Royal Roads on a supplemental.

M. Karagianis: Well, there have been charges against Mr. Gretes, who was the gentleman who took the keyboard away, but there is no apology to Mr. Duncan before the courts.

As far as we can see, the only people who have failed to acknowledge the serious wrongdoing to Mr. Duncan — and he has been vindicated on every account — the only ones who have not done the correct and decent thing have been the Attorney General; Mr. Duncan’s former boss, the Minister of Transportation; and the Premier herself.

Mr. Duncan blew the whistle on just how far this government would go to hide information from the public. In fact, I think he deserves the Premier’s award of excellence, not to be subjected to character assassination by the Premier’s staff.

In this culture of deleting and hiding information, there are major decisions that start at the very top of this government. So again, I would like to give the Premier a chance to stand up and do the right thing and please apologize to Mr. Duncan for the treatment that he has undergone at the hands of her and her staff.

Hon. S. Anton: Things which are for this House are for this House. Things which are before the courts are before the courts, and that is where they should be dealt with.

SEXUAL ASSAULT POLICY LEGISLATION

FOR POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS

A. Weaver: Last Tuesday the Premier told News 1130 that she acknowledged more needs to be done to support the survivors of sexual assault on B.C. post-secondary campuses. The Premier stated: “Rape kits need to be available, trained staff need to be available, and some universities and colleges are doing a more thorough job than others. So the Minister of Health is going to go out and have that conversation, because we have to make sure that help is available.”

I fear that the Premier may have missed the larger point about the conversation we need to have. With respect, we don’t just need more rape kits. We need to take this issue head-on, recognize that our post-secondary campuses aren’t always providing a safe environment for B.C. students, and we need to have a plan in place to prevent assaults from happening in the first instance.

When the University of Ottawa surveyed its student body last year, it found that 44 percent of female students experienced sexual violence or unwanted sexual touching while attending the university. I’m asking the government to take a clear leadership role and make a clear statement that this is a responsibility they will act upon.

To the Premier, does she support the need for sexual assault policy legislation for post-secondary institutions?

Hon. C. Clark: Being raped is one of the worst things that can happen to any woman, whether that is intimate-partner assault, whether that’s sexual abuse at the hands of a family member or whether it’s an assault from a stranger. Any woman who has experienced it will tell you that it leaves a lifetime of scars.

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We hope for women who are raped that they can find a way to heal, and many do. Some will say they became stronger as a result. But all women who have been sexually assaulted are changed.

It’s something that should not be happening in our society. Sadly, it appears to be more prevalent on university campuses than most other places in our society. There is more that we can do and more that we should do.

The Minister of Advanced Education has begun that work. I certainly welcome the interest of the member from Oak Bay. I’ve had a chance to look at his bill, Bill M205, and I’d certainly look forward to working with him on finding a way that we can either pass this bill or amend it and pass a similar version to it in our Legislature.

We need to do more to protect women on campus from sexual assault because these life-changing, traumatic events don’t need to happen. As a society, we can and we must do more to prevent them.

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Madame Speaker: The member for Oak Bay–Gordon Head on supplemental.

A. Weaver: Thank you to the Premier for her response. I’m very pleased to hear this.

As the Premier and government will know, without a legislative requirement to develop a policy, we risk continuing the status quo where institutional optics are sometimes allowed to trump student safety.

For example, a student at Thompson Rivers University, who was recently assaulted twice in one term, was told: “Maybe you would be better suited to a different school.” UBC made headlines last year when it turned out that reported cases of sexual assault on their campus were less than a quarter of those reported by the UBC RCMP detachment. Just yesterday, at the University of Victoria, a student noted that she felt “completely invalidated and silenced” by a UVic investigation into her sexual assault.

Addressing this has to be about our institutions, our students and not post-secondary institutions. My question to the Premier is this: what is the timeline for government to introduce such legislation?

Hon. C. Clark: I can’t give a definitive timeline today, except to say that I recognize, along with the member, that this is an urgent issue. A rapist’s best friend is silence. A rapist’s best friend is shame. A rapist’s best friend is the failure of authorities to recognize a complaint when it comes forward and fail to act on it.

We will not reduce the prevalence of sexual assault until we strengthen the institutions that are there to protect women, until we ensure that women feel safe coming forward and saying that they have been sexually assaulted. They will only do so when they have the knowledge that someone will act on what they’ve told them and keep them safe.

We have much more to do, and I welcome the member’s active interest in this. I thank him for presenting his bill. We will work with him on it on an urgent basis and try and get something passed with respect to changing policy as soon as we possibly can.

COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON

HEALTH MINISTRY INVESTIGATION

A. Dix: After fighting to clear their names, after being exonerated more than once, health researchers who were wrongfully dismissed are being subjected again to more Liberal-sanctioned attack. A leaked copy of an internal Finance Ministry report, one leaked from the senior ranks of the government itself, has allowed the government, in effect, to smear those individuals again, either directly or by association.

The government rejected a public inquiry and acknowledged, in settling lawsuits, that the allegations it made against these individuals were not correct. All of the firings were withdrawn because the government knew it had wrongfully dismissed the employees. Now the smears, unfortunately, from the government continue — not in open court, not in a public inquiry for all to see and rebut, but through another high-level government leak.

I want to give the Minister of Health the opportunity to clear the air today, as it was his ministry that signed the agreements along with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice that cleared these employees, dismissed the charges, settled the cases. Will he, on behalf of the government, keep his word and speak out clearly against a flawed and prejudicial report, one that is attacking current and former employees, public servants in his ministry?

Hon. T. Lake: The report was completed by the comptroller general’s office. It is a report that the Ministry of Health had no control over. The information was not authorized to be released by government. We have no control over the fact that a reporter got ahold of the unredacted report. The redacted version was to obey the law, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

This issue is before the Ombudsperson, who is investigating all of the aspects of what occurred, and we look forward to the results of his investigation.

Madame Speaker: Vancouver-Kingsway on a supplemental.

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A. Dix: Well, just to be clear, the sworn and signed word of the government seems to mean nothing. I mean, this is truly dishonourable.

The Ministry of Finance, as the minister will know, both relied on the information from the botched dis-

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credited Health Ministry investigation — which the Finance Ministry itself called a gong show — and then denied people due process, just like the previous investigation, just as they were condemned by the McNeil report. In this case, not only did the Ministry of Finance not speak to most of the people involved; it actually refused to speak to some who’d offered.

Let’s recap. The government publicly retracts the allegation. The Premier gives what amounts to an apology over there but produces a report, ready to be leaked, that says the opposite. It consistently tries to blame lower-level employees for systemic issues on contracts approved by ministers, deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers.

It engages repeatedly in smears and innuendos against its own employees over and over and over and over again — even as it has been forced to acknowledge the allegations it made were untrue and even after the Premier’s self-said apologies. The consequences are clear. The damages to public health care and the researchers are well-known.

Will the Minister of Health do the honourable thing: stand by his ministry’s signed word, the signed word they made to those researchers, and apologize today for this continuing dishonourable conduct?

Hon. T. Lake: The member makes it sound like politicians did an investigation. This was an investigation done by professional civil servants, not under the direction or direct control of politicians but carried out by professional public servants. The member stands up day after day after day and accuses the government of smearing the reputation of public servants. That’s, by inference, what he is doing.

They did their work. That work was held private and only released according to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The government did not have control over the use of that information.

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members. Members, the Chair will hear the answer.

Hon. T. Lake: It is in the hands of the Ombudsperson. The member may want to prejudge the outcome of that work. We don’t. We want to see what that work will produce for us so that we can all understand exactly what happened and how we can make sure that we have proper human resource procedures going forward. The member should do what we are doing on this side of the House and wait and support the report of the Ombudsperson that will come later on.

[End of question period.]

Orders of the Day

Hon. T. Stone: I call, in

section B, the second reading of Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act, and in

section A, the continuing estimates of the Ministry of Small Business Red Tape Reduction and Ministry Responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 2 — GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST

(FOREST MANAGEMENT) ACT

(continued)

J. Thornthwaite: I’d like to resume my remarks about Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act.

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The Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act is a proud moment for British Columbia. We have shown and continue to show environmental leadership in this and other avenues.

Our Premier’s work to bring provinces together very recently for the Vancouver declaration on clean growth and climate change was legendary. Our climate action leadership team is still now receiving recommendations. You can still contribute to the recommendations from the climate leadership team, until March 25, to take

part in helping us build B.C.’s low-carbon future. Our world-renowned, revenue-neutral carbon tax is something to be very, very proud of.

We are recognized leaders when it comes to environmental management. We are one of only 14 jurisdictions invited to a closed-door meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Paris. With one of the brightest and broadest carbon prices in the world, our Premier was invited to address the G20 Finance Ministers on our revenue-neutral carbon tax in Washington, D.C.

We are the first and still the only jurisdiction in North America to be carbon-neutral across government operations. As a result, the carbon-neutral capital program has allowed us to invest millions of dollars in emission reduction projects in schools, hospitals and universities.

Why do I say that? Because I’m very, very proud to stand and support Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act. It solidifies even more our leadership in environment and in forest management. We now are able to prove that we can move from conflict to collaboration to collectively working together towards an agreement between environmental groups, industry groups, First Nations and government.

We have a shared responsibility to pass on British Columbia to future generations as magnificent and pristine as we found it, while continuing the ancient trad-

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ition of making a living off the land. The Great Bear Rainforest is a global treasure, covering 6.4 million hectares and one-quarter of the world’s coastal temperate rainforest, an area the size of Ireland. I mentioned, in my previous remarks, that I’d actually visited the Great Bear Rainforest. This act will create special forest management areas: 273,000 hectares where commercial timber-harvesting activities will be prohibited.

The ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest is the result of the collaboration between 26 First Nations, the province, forest companies and environmental groups to create the policy framework for the proposed legislation. This rainforest solutions project was a combination of environmental groups, forest companies, the Coastal First Nations and N a nwa k olas Council. The forest companies include Coast Forest Conservation Initiative, B.C. Timber Sales, Catalyst Paper Corp., Howe Sound Pulp and Paper Corp., Interfor Corp. and Western Forest Products Inc. The environmental groups include ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace and Sierra Club B.C.

The amount of protected old-growth forest in this area will increase from 50 to 70 percent and will include eight new areas set aside for logging. The act will establish new timber supply areas and reconfigure existing ones in order to better reflect the boundaries of the Great Bear Rainforest.

Forest companies will have a defined forest management area of 15 percent of the Great Bear Rainforest where logging can occur. It will provide for the designation of new special forest management areas that prohibit commercial timber-harvesting activities. The act will create a stable land base that will support an allowable annual cut of 2.5 million cubic metres over the next ten years but will provide certainty for jobs, investment and markets.

The annual allowable cut is a decrease from the existing of about 3.2 million cubic metres per year. This means that under the proposed legislation, the annual allowable cut for all timber supply areas and tree farm licences within the Great Bear Rainforest cannot exceed 2.5 million cubic metres.

The chief forester was involved in the forest analysis that contributed to the recommended annual allowable cut, and the chief forester will continue to participate in these discussions for the Great Bear Rainforest management area during the ten-year adjustment period and will resume authority for determining annual allowable cuts in the area afterwards.

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In addition, through the agreements reflected in the proposed act, the amount of forest carbon sequestered in the Great Bear Rainforest is expected to increase to 640,000 tonnes per year. Forest carbon credits will be shared with the Coastal First Nations and the N a nwa k olas Council through the atmospheric benefit sharing agreements. The forest carbon credits will be used to offset economic development projects of interest to their communities.

I just wanted to summarize in my final remarks a couple of quotes. One from Dallas Smith, who is the president of the N a nwa k olas Council: “The introduction of the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act is welcomed by our communities. It’s important for all parties that the spirit and intent of this world-class agreement has the legislation behind it to meaningfully support the implementation.”

I met Dallas as well as Chief Marilyn Slett at the announcement a couple weeks ago. Chief Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations, said: “The Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act brings increased environmental sustainability to all our traditional territories. It also provides greater access to forestry opportunities as well as ownership to more carbon tonnes than we currently have and includes special protection areas.”

I’d like to summarize by saying I do support Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act, and I look forward to the comments from the members opposite.

C. Trevena: I stand in my place here to talk about the Great Bear Rainforest Act. Many, many people are very pleased that we’ve finally got to the stage where we have

an act before us, a bill before us, that we can discuss and that we can support.

I think everybody around our chamber and those who have been working on this acknowledge that it’s been a lot of hard work on many, many people’s parts. It has gone on for many years. We’ve thought a number of times it might have fallen apart. A number of times it has been announced — it’s various sections. So the fact we are now at the stage where we have a bill in front of us is very significant.

I’m very aware of the Great Bear Rainforest. I know the member for North Vancouver–Seymour mentioned that she’d been up there. Well, part of my constituency is actually in the Great Bear Rainforest. While you see all the wonderful pictures of the mist and the fog going down the inlets, the mother ships, the kayakers, the whales — all these lovely “come to B.C.” types of images — there are also quite a lot of regular working people who live on the edges of it.

The Great Bear starts at the north end of Quadra Island, which is very much a working community. We have logging there. We’ve got fishing. We’ve got fish processing. It’s very, very active. It includes Sonora — where you have both a very established community and a lot of tourism there — right the way up, all the way through Johnstone Strait. So I’m very proud that I have the honour to represent that area and to be very conscious that this is part of the Great Bear.

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There is a huge amount of awareness, quite naturally, about the use of our forests from my constituents — and particularly those who live intimately with the coast. Very often — and I think the Minister of Forests can attest to this — I bring groups down to meet with him who are concerned about what is happening on the coast: tourist operators who are very worried about what is happening with the viewscapes when they are operating their small businesses, others who are concerned about the impact of various plans.

There is an intimate awareness, an intimate knowledge, of what has been happening and a real concern that this is done right. Many people are going to be watching this and monitoring that this is done right.

This goes back to the 1990s, when we started working on land use planning and how to ensure that all the interests, as much as possible, could be brought together to create the environment where you could make use of the forest without taking away, without degrading from the resource that we have. It’s a massive balancing act.

I have to thank…. I know that my colleague from Vancouver-Fairview listed many of the people involved in this, named all their names.

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One of the people that I know who’s been involved from the government side is the former district manager for the Ministry of Forests in Campbell River, who took one of the significant leads on this for the ministry. That’s Rory Annett. He’s been working very, very hard on this and I know will be very pleased to see this go through.

I know that there has been huge and significant input from Greenpeace, ForestEthics, the Sierra Club, all the First Nations, the N a nwa k olas Council. All deserve a lot of acknowledgment.

I have to say, though, there are people who are still concerned about it. There will be, not just in the long term, the need to monitor it, but there needs to be the recognition at the moment. It’s impossible to embrace everyone, but there are some real concerns. While we have had the involvement of the N a nwa k olas Council, which is the group of First Nations looking at economic and other development — and we had Mr. Smith here on the day of the announcement — not all First Nations have been involved, and not all First Nations on the coast are thoroughly engaged with it.

I’d just like to read some concerns from the people who have lived in Kingcome Inlet. I apologize if I mispronounce the name of the First Nations, the Dzawad a ’enu x w, who are part of the Musgamagw Dzawad a ’enu x w Tribal Council. They have lived in Kingcome, in Gwa’yi, for generations. For many hundreds or thousands of years, that has been their home. Kingcome Inlet is right there. The member for North Vancouver–Seymour, when she’s imagining what the Great Bear Rainforest looks like and remembering what it looks like…. Kingcome Inlet is one of those places.

A letter to the Premier, from the Chief of the Dzawad a ’enu x w. I’d like to read some of it into the record because it’s important, when we’re talking about bringing people together, to recognize those who are still concerned. The letter reads that they did not celebrate the recent Great Bear Rainforest agreement announcement, and they “take exception to the inclusion of our traditional territories in the publicly released media coverage. The province continues to engage only with select aggregations of First Nations, while not offering the same level of engagement or financial resources to engage at the table on a level playing field to all other First Nations.”

It goes on:

“The tribal councils have, throughout the years, tried to initiate the discussion with the province of B.C. that we’re not engaged in a meaningful way, and despite the press coverage and tremendous financial support given to the aggregations such as N a nwa k olas, you” — meaning the Premier — “have not offered our nation the same opportunity for meaningful engagement and measurable progress in planning and discussions regarding land- and marine-based decisions regarding our traditional territories.

“As a remote non-treaty First Nation who has not moved from our ancestral lands, we struggle daily to maintain our community in these changing times. We feel we are not represented at all or at any of your tables and are at a loss as to why, in 2016, this continues to be the status quo.”

Then the Chief continues, to quote the Premier about reconciliation, saying:

“Reconciliation means talking; talking means meeting. And we’re pleased that you ‘intend to find real reconciliation, and reconciliation requires respect. It requires inclusion. It requires the recognition that First Nations have their own visions for their own communities, and we have an obligation as a larger society to do everything we can to support them in finding that vision.’”

Chief Willie Moon concludes:

“We look forward to seeing how you mean to achieve this, and extend an invitation for you to come to discuss this with our community in our home village of Gwa’yi, in Kingcome Inlet.”

They have been excluded. It’s important to recognize their exclusion when we’re talking about how we are going to properly include people, include everyone, and ensure that we are bringing people together in a meaningful way. It is very important when we’re talking about EBM, the environmentally based management system, that we are bringing in the traditional knowledge and the people whose land it is — meaningfully — in the plans, in agreements and going forward.

It is essential that everyone is included — not just feels included — and is definitely not excluded. I would hope that there is some definite move to ensure that the people of Kingcome Inlet can have a voice at a table as this goes on.

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There is the ability in this legislation, because legislation does give, in the end, a lot of responsibility to cabinet. This is another, I have to say, of my personal concerns about it, and I’ll note them later. In the note about it…. Maybe I’m misreading this and it will be clarified in committee stage.

The bill authorizes cabinet to “make regulations that impose standards, conditions, requirements, restrictions

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and prohibitions in relation to forest practices and operational plans in the GBR forest management area that are in addition to or different from the standards, conditions, requirements, restrictions and prohibitions under the Forest and Range Practices Act.”

The act could give the cabinet a huge amount of latitude to include other First Nations who feel that they have been excluded, to look at some of the parameters and bring that in.

My concern about that paragraph is that it gives the cabinet a lot of latitude to change the rules, which I think that everybody who is watching hopes doesn’t happen, because it has taken so long to get to where we are.

My other concern about the Great Bear, particularly in my constituency…. I have other concerns with First Nations, and I’ll touch very briefly on that. That is that a number of years ago, when a lot of logging activity stopped in the central coast because of the Great Bear, the area was encouraged to redefine itself through tourism.

Through tourism, it was a fantastic opportunity in Bella Bella and up through the Bella Coola Valley. This would be a brilliant way to re-energize, bring people in to ensure that people still had a viable income.

Unfortunately, despite having encouraged the communities to build up their tourism, the government then pulled the mat away from them by discontinuing the ferry service from Port Hardy up to Bella Bella and into Bella Coola and replacing it with, as we on this side of the House have very often explained, a very small vessel, the Nimpkish, meaning that the tourism opportunities that people have come to rely on because they stopped logging have disappeared.

Now we have the signing of the Great Bear — we are discussing the bill — and no indication of whether this support is going to come back, whether there is going to be another push to encourage tourism and, if so, how that’s going to happen when the ferry that used to run that route was sold for just $2 million after a $15 million refit. They really left people physically stranded and financially stranded. So that is another concern that I have about this.

I’d like to pick up on two specific areas of the Great Bear, areas that are absolutely beautiful, wonderful places for people to come to visit that have been and still are part of a working forest. Again, I’d like to flag them as places where we need to keep a very, very close watch. These are both areas in TFL 47 — on Sonora Island and on West Cracroft. The licensee is TimberWest.

I think that TimberWest is not at all surprised that I raise this, because I’ve had many discussions with them, as have the local communities.

Now, Sonora Island, for those who don’t know it…. Many people may know Sonora Resort. It’s a wonderful resort on the east side of the island, very, very upscale, very nice resort that brings people from all around the world to stay there and enjoy it.

On the other side of the island, we have a very established community. It’s a small community, and there is within that community a great awareness of the value of their old growth. There is still a lot of old growth there. It’s also under the TFL 47. TimberWest has been working at developing logging plans.

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I have to acknowledge the extraordinary hard work of the Campbell family on Sonora — Ross Campbell, Fern Kornelsen, Farlyn Campbell and Jody Ericksson — who have been working extremely hard in raising public awareness about the old growth, literally in their backyard, and to ensure that they have been able to try to negotiate with TimberWest.

But they’ve been playing on a very unbalanced playing field. They are looking at the timber supply, and they had to commission their own report on this. Nobody would do a full report on the age of the trees that weren’t going to be cut — and that some were being cut.

They continue to fight hard to ensure that what is there will remain there, but one of the problems is the definition of what is “old growth.” Are we talking about an old-growth forest or an old-growth tree? Who terms “old”? Who says that this is old and this isn’t? Look at some of the trees there. Some are fantastically huge trees. They’re awesome trees. There are some that don’t look quite as big but are equally old.

It’s this definition which has been a very big problem. We have the negotiations always playing out, and as I say, they are still really negotiating to find some settlement. TimberWest, although they have a significant part of what is now the Great Bear Rainforest, weren’t players in the industrial discussions for a long while. They have only come to the table very recently.

If I might actually quote from the environmental NGOs’ documents about the Great Bear, they say: “One major company, TimberWest, with tenure in the very southern part of the region, didn’t support the agreements until very late in the process.” They are now on board. And their report, the ENGO’s report, says: “More endangered rainforest could have been saved if they had changed course sooner.”

One of the concerns I have from others who are watching the work of TimberWest and working with the company, trying their best to work with them, is that some of the decisions made have already been made. Some of the trees have gone in this time frame in the last few years, and in other cases, some of the decisions have been made and been signed off on before this bill is passed. So we’ll still proceed.

The other area that I know the minister is very well aware of, because I bring this to him at regular occurrences, is Boat Bay and West Cracroft Island, which is where there is a camp for a kayaking company. It’s an extraordinarily vibrant small business. It is based on Quadra Island. They run amazing kayak trips up through

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Johnstone Strait and around the coast. They also run, in the winter, kayaking operations down in the southern hemisphere. They have a camp there.

They have been negotiating for a long while with TimberWest to try and accommodate them, but TimberWest looks at the trees. It’s their TFL. They have, under our forestry rules, the right to access that timber. So there have been a lot of negotiations going on.

Spirit of the West is very concerned. They’ve written their concerns to the minister and have talked with the minister in the past. They are very concerned that this is going to really damage their business if there is logging in the area where their camp is. Even with all the pictures, the computer-generated pictures, whether or not it’s going to impact — you know, whether you are going to see the visual quality here or there — it is the question of the spirit and intent of the agreement. This is what really is concerning — that TimberWest and other forest companies really live by that spirit and intent of the agreement.

The company actually went to the Forest Practices Board, and the result of the investigation said: “…licensees are expected to demonstrate a higher level of due diligence through precautionary management of at-risk values…such as those arising under EBM.” It was also noted in some of the operating areas that “…TimberWest did not manage the forests consistent with the spirit and intent of the EBM.”

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So there is a huge caution there. Some of the agreements have already been signed and things will be happening — not this year but next year now — but there is a serious concern. There are things that are moving on, on the GAR process, but there is a real need to keep an eye on what is happening. I think this is one of my concerns with the Great Bear Rainforest agreement — this absolute need to keep a very constant watch on what forest companies are doing, what others are doing in the Great Bear Rainforest.

We see there is a lot of logging happening on our coast. I represent the north Island, where forestry has been a mainstay of our communities for many years, and that is changing without the mills. I mean, since we’ve had 15 years of a Liberal government, we don’t actually have a working mill on the north Island anymore. It’s quite an extraordinary achievement that they’ve managed to close them all. I’m sure they will applaud themselves for that.

We have people struggling to make income in other ways. We have people still out in the woods logging. That’s what loggers do. But we’ve seen a huge increase in volume appearing to come out of the bush and — the reason I raise this — coming out from remote areas, places where you don’t just drive by. You drive up the main highway through the north Island, Highway 19, and you do see the logging trucks coming down. You do see logging trucks, and whether or not you know trees, you can recognize it’s an old-growth tree because you can see the size of it.

You see those coming out, but you also know that there is logging in areas that people can’t see — way out beyond the bush, into the mountains, on the west coast of the Island, up inlets that are very hard to reach and that you are not going to drive by. The only reason you’re going to go in there is if you are actually working as a logger and that is your job or, potentially, if you are going out hunting, or maybe you’re coming up the inlets if you’re going fishing.

The ability to keep an eye on what is happening is obviously not there, and in the Great Bear, it’s going to be the same. We’re talking about very, very remote places. A lot of trust is going to be involved that everybody keeps to their word, that everything is being done appropriately, that the forest companies are working as they have said they’re going to do and that they’re going to be making sure everything is done appropriately.

The fact that forest companies anywhere have this self-reporting, self-monitoring approach, thanks to what the government, the B.C. Liberals, have said is reducing red tape, is, for most of us, taking away any sense of responsibility, because we don’t have Ministry of Forests people anymore who can go out and see what’s happening. I have the concern, and I know a number of my constituents have the concern, of: who is going to be keeping an eye on what is happening in the Great Bear?

It’s an amazing opportunity, and I know that people are talking about this. It’s a landmark agreement. It could be the way for managing our forests worldwide. That would be wonderful. It really would be wonderful if we in B.C. have got to that stage where our environmental groups, our government, our First Nations, our industry have brought together the best that they can and will work in concert for years to come.

It is an amazing opportunity: the fact that everything that people have talked about in the past — the war of the woods, pitting battles between the environmental people and the people who were working in the bush, the loggers and the industry — might all be over and that we can work together.

I still have, very much, the awareness, the need, as has been referred to by the Forest Practices Board, that logging companies have to ensure that they are practising the spirit and intent of EBM.

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The government has to make sure that everyone who wants to be involved really is involved — so the people of Kingcome who are living on their ancestral lands have an ability to play a

part in this and benefit from it; so the people up the coast who aren’t logging anymore and won’t be logging anymore, thanks to the Great Bear agreement, have the opportunity once again to develop the tourism that they thought they were going to have until the ferry was taken away.

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Give people that opportunity. Bring in a workable vessel so that people can rebuild the tourism industry that’s been devastated now for two seasons — we’re going into the third season, where people are very worried whether anybody’s going to come — from having had this as a great opportunity.

I think that it’s something that is hugely significant, a hugely significant piece of legislation, and it is with pride that I stand here and acknowledge the importance of it. But it’s the implementation, the participation, the acknowledgment and also…. I do urge a little bit of caution on behalf of the cabinet when they are interpreting the fact that under this bill they have the ability to make decisions that can go in contravention to or change from what is expected. It’s a huge responsibility.

This is an area, as we’ve all heard…. It’s a massive area. It’s an area the size of Vancouver Island that we’re talking about. It is very remote. It is very beautiful. It is very significant for not just us in B.C. but for the world, as a temperate rainforest for our carbon sequestration, for the environmental values that it brings in keeping our air clean as well as keeping the integrity of our land base.

The only other thing that I would like to raise at the moment about this…. I know that we’re going to be having the opportunity, as we go through this in the committee stage, to make sure that we all understand the parameters here. It’s something that I know my colleague from the North Coast is going to talk about much more fully when she addresses this. It is the fact that while we’re talking about land use planning and the importance of that — and this is what the Great Bear essentially is; it’s the culmination of many years of land use planning negotiations, and that’s what we have — it omits the marine-based planning.

When you’re talking about the environment, and when you’re talking about the development of the environment and the use of our natural resources on the coast — and this is “on the coast” — it’s unfortunate that we’re missing that element. The marine-based planning isn’t there as part of this, and that has also fallen off the table — areas, after much work, that the marine-based planning side is no longer being discussed.

As I say, I’m very pleased that we have got to this stage. I think it’s important. I welcome it. I do want to underline the concerns of those who have seen literally the raw edge of the Great Bear Rainforest and how it could work and how it is being interpreted. I hope that all the players remain committed to it and really give the latitude in favour — I have to say — of the environment that we’re trying to protect.

One of the things that I think we forget too quickly when we’re talking about our forests is we are talking about a long-term project. Our forests are there forever. Old growth that is taken out, that’s several hundred years old, will take several hundred years to regrow.

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I think we’ve got to be more aware of that, that when we are looking at the values of our forests, in the real holistic value of our forest, we don’t rush for the lowest common denominator, for the quick buck, for the financial value, and realize that every time we take old growth out, it’s going to be 300 years for it to come back. I don’t think we’ve got that sort of time.

Mr. Speaker, with that comment, I will take my place in this debate. I thank you for giving me the opportunity, and I acknowledge the hard work that has gone into getting this in front of us and ensuring that we have hope for the future.

Hon. A. Virk: It’s indeed my pleasure to rise and speak in support of Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act. This is one of many initiatives that government puts forward to protect, for my children and my grandchildren and all those generations to come, pristine areas of British Columbia where ocean meets forest, forest meets mountain and mountain meets mist. It’s an area abundant with wildlife, from eagles to bears to salmon. It’s my pleasure to be able to support a bill that supports the generations of British Columbians in enjoying the pristine beauty that we’ve been known for worldwide.

The great bear, the spirit bear, the ghost bear, known in the Tsimshian language as Moksgm’ol, is a legend of the bear. I’m going to talk about the legend first before I go about the Great Bear Rainforest. The legend of the First Nations speaks about the creation. It’s the legend of the creation of the Earth, from a land covered in snow and ice. When snow and ice disappeared and green came, the raven, as legend goes, wanted to have a reminder of the time when there was still snow. The raven decided to touch every tenth bear and make them white.

So the legend goes that the spirit bear, or the Moksgm’ol, rose from the ravens wishing to remind individuals of the time when the land was covered in snow.

The Great Bear Rainforest is an area of some 6.4 million hectares. That’s a lot of zeros. For the next generations — I speak always to the next generations…. So 6.4 million hectares is a lot of zeros. What does that actually mean for the next generations? It’s an area that’s one-quarter of the entire world’s coastal temperate rainforest.

What does that mean to the next generations? They look at a map. When the youth go to a social studies class, they see an area. They look at the map, they look all across the world, and they see places like Belgium, which is some three million hectares. So this is an area of the creation of a global treasure twice the size of Belgium.

They look at the map, and they see a country such as Ireland, some 7.7 million hectares. We have the creation of a global treasure, a protected temperate rainforest, almost the size of Ireland. Then they go to a map and look at areas such as Scotland, 7.7 million hectares. When you compare that to this area that the Great Bear

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Rainforest Act proposes to protect, it’s an area near the size of Scotland.

That signifies the magnitude by which this government…. I’m hoping the opposition will join us in complete support of the creation of that Great Bear Rainforest that’s going to cover an area — you look around the world — the size of many countries. In some places, it’s double the size of many countries. In other places, it’s the size of large states.

It’s an incredible area where the majority of the area is going to be set aside from logging. The members opposite certainly spoke about the fact that it takes generations for some of these old-growth forests to grow. The legislation is going to support the unique elements. It’s an ecosystem-based environment. It’s going to be a balance between human well-being and ecological integrity.

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This is not the first support from government to protect the environment. As all will recall, it’s one of the few jurisdictions in the world to take a leadership role that many have followed and many have attempted to emulate — and, frankly, many have tried to copy, with limited success — in how you control greenhouse gas emissions in an entire province. This is one of the few jurisdictions in the entire world that put on a carbon tax in an effort, not to tax but to reduce greenhouse emissions, to educate, to encourage and to make an impact beyond our borders.

You would have seen today the tabling of another announcement that proposes to protect an area of some 11,000 hectares, the Ancient Forest east — or west, or whichever direction it is, one of those directions — of Prince George. It’s a increasing effort by this government to protect for the next generations.

When I sit around the kitchen table with my own children, who support me through everything I do…. The next generation is very much concerned with sustainability. They’re very much concerned with the environment. They’re very much concerned with how the future is going to look for them. When I sit with my colleagues, I see that same concern: what will the next generation, what will British Columbia that they come to…?

I’m proud to say the British Columbia that they and their children are going to grow up in is a British Columbia that supports sustainability, that supports the environment. Yet while it supports the environment and is committed to sustainability, it’s also committed to economic well-being. This is one province, as we’ve seen, where we can support the environment, support sustainability yet, at the same time — it’s not an either-or equation — support economic growth and prosperity.

The creation of this act involved a great deal of consultation. There were a great number of individuals at the table. There were key stakeholders. First Nations partners were working shoulder to shoulder with government. There were forest companies, and I could name many of them, that were there. Organizations that are committed to ecological preservation were at the table. This was a considerable amount of work by a number of individuals, right from timber harvesters to First Nations to government and to those who advocate for preservation. They were at the table for a long time.

Only 15 percent of the area of this Great Bear Rainforest will be defined as locations or areas in which managed, with careful oversight, logging can also occur. That is also going to be able to support the economic sustainability of those First Nations who live in the region. Once again, the ability to have economic sustainability and ecological sustainability — that’s the kind of province I expect.

The millennials, the next generation and those ones who come after them — that’s the kind of province, the kind of British Columbia, that they want to look forward to, that will be there waiting for them. This is the kind of British Columbia, the kind of pristine wilderness and the pristine beauty I know they are going to inherit from us, as we leave that for them.

The act also stipulates changes to forest practices. It’s going to enable a number of regulations that will specify how forest practices may differ. That allows flexibility as well. The proposed act is also going to allow the minister to set partitions on licence levels and a whole host of other things that allow flexibility and apportion and manage licensed cuts. That’s important. Once again, you’re managing economic growth in a very sustained, ecological way with protecting the environment.

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It’s absolutely amazing that we can do so in this small province — we are 4.6 million people, approximately — that we can make an impact on the world. News of this would certainly spread among the world — to see that this is a province that has set aside an area the size of entire countries, double the size of countries around the world, for preservation for future generations. That’s something that I think we can all stand up, very proud, to support. I am very proud to support that.

I will continue to support that type of initiative that’s going to leave British Columbia in a far better place than we found it, that’s going to find a British Columbia that works on creating opportunities for the youth of today and the youth of tomorrow. At the same time, in conjunction with creating those opportunities, it protects those wild spaces where they want to travel, they may want to see, they can preserve.

That’s the kind of British Columbia of the future…. That’s the reason why I stand here, that I come here week after week — to look at a British Columbia where I can be proud to say: “We were part of creating a British Columbia that, in the future, my children and grandchildren and their children can be proud of, that this is a province that we created and preserved.”

In saying that, I take my place in full support of the Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act as a gift to the world. It’s a gift to many, many future generations

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and a gift that…. We in government are supporting future generations in inheriting a British Columbia that they can be absolutely, committedly proud to inherit.

J. Rice: I’m proud today to rise and support Bill 2, the Great Bear Rainforest agreement act. This is a tremendous achievement. The Great Bear Rainforest agreement has been a great achievement for First Nations, for environmental organizations, for local communities and the forest industry. I know that we on this side of the House are proud to have played an important role in starting the process, when New Democrats were in government.

This agreement shows how important it is to have full involvement of First Nations when determining the future of B.C.’s environment, resources, culture and economy. I applaud this agreement and look forward to further examples of where we can have this type of relationship-building and agreement-making throughout our province.

Many people here have spoken about the beauty of the Great Bear Rainforest. I have the pleasure of representing a great big portion of the Great Bear Rainforest, and I’ve lived in it for almost 20 years now.

I thought I’d start with a story that I wrote in 2009. It was just a little editorial, and it just describes part of where I live. It’s a story I wrote, and it’s called A PhD in Real Life .

“Recently I listened to renowned photographer Ian McAllister talk about his research in the Great Bear Rainforest. Ian’s talk accompanied an out-of-this-world slide show, except only it wasn’t. The captured moments were from right here on the north coast of B.C.

“Sure, we have all seen our fair share of bears and wolves from nature shows and on the pages of wildlife calendars, but these pictures were redolent. Ian recalled the day he silently eased into a fjord and, from the deck of his catamaran, he could hear the bizarre, loud sounds of snoring. Along the shoreline, a large, snoozing grizzly bear slept, slumped over a rockweed-engulfed boulder, limbs flaccid and drooping into the intertidal zone.

“With the bear oblivious to Ian’s presence, he photographed a day in the life of this creature, where he witnessed bursts of energy followed by moments of instantaneous napping. The bear pounced on spawning salmon and then slept on a riverbank; grazed on sedges, then napped in the middle of the estuary; went digging for clams and mussels, then more sleep followed.

“The chunky bear snoozed in positions from hunched over to sprawl-eagled in what looked like landscapes from the pages of National Geographic Magazine . Amazingly, this entire event unfolded not far from here.

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“I’ve been mulling over something Ian said to me after his presentation. ‘Of course, I don’t need to tell north coasters how spectacular a place this is.’ I’m thinking perhaps not. Perhaps we already get it, and it is those that don’t live here that need this slideshow.

“I participated in a workshop recently where I learned that what urban British Columbians know about the marine environment and how folks from the north coast perceive it differs dramatically. According to the presenter of our workshop, a well-known pollster, surveys show that Vancouverites were only able to name an average of four creatures that live in the ocean, and one of those species was identified as a pigeon.

“Northerners were able to name more than 38 different species. Survey results showed that north coasters understood the intricate complexities of biological life,

whereas urbanites thought of a healthy marine environment as having a nice ocean view.

“This should not be a surprise, and I mean no criticism for this lack of understanding. Likewise, I do not know the current issues affecting the people of Toronto.

“I take this as a signal, though, that if major decisions affecting the lives of coastal British Columbians are being made in large urban cities or, with increasing globalization, in faraway places not even in Canada, the people living there need further education.

“Richard Louv coined the term ‘nature deficit disorder,’ which is in reference to the disconnect of children to nature and increasing behaviour programs associated with lack of play outside. With increasing fears of stranger danger, some parents prefer to keep their kids indoors. It can also be easier to supervise them by having them safely sit in front of a video game or watch TV. Perhaps Louv’s term can be extended to include some adults.

“There is a scene in the documentary called Call from a Coast where longtime central coast fisherman and woodsman Billy Proctor discusses taking city folks out on ecology tours. He’s been asked: ‘How often do you get out into the real world?’ Billy’s response is precious. With a slight air of question and concern in his deep voice, he answers: ‘This is the real world, dear.’

“Yesterday when I was volunteering at the Smolt Fest at the Oldfield Creek Hatchery, I smiled as I watched families line up with empty coleslaw buckets to release coho smolts into the creek. Some of the kids had incubated salmon eggs and raised the little fish in their classrooms over the school year. The kids proudly trucked along the creek path, water sloshing about from their buckets, to a waterfall where the fish were released into the wild.

“A couple of emergencies happened when a dropped bucket sent a mad parent scrambling to quickly scoop up the slippery wonders, but this was part of the whole experience and learning.

“B.C. Stats show some of the lowest formal education rates in the northern part of the province, with many not pursuing an education after high school. Vancouver-based Fraser Institute rates Prince Rupert schools as some in the lowest in the province every year.

“This means little to me. Witnessing the prevention of nature deficit disorder yesterday, without a pigeon in sight, I thought that what we do have here on the north coast are many people with PhDs of ‘living in the real world, dear.’”

I’d just like to talk a little bit about the vision of the Great Bear Rainforest. I’m going to be reading from a handout that the environmental groups ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club put together.

“The Great Bear Rainforest is a spectacular part of the world. It’s home to many First Nations communities. Together the B.C. and First Nations governments, along with environmental organizations and several forestry companies, worked hard to move from conflict to a shared outcome rooted in 15 years of collaboration and negotiation.

“The vision for ecosystem-based management committed to in 2006 is now established with legal and policy agreements, as of February 2016. Eighty-five percent of the remote wilderness region’s coastal temperate rainforests will be permanently off-limits to industrial logging. The remaining 15 percent of the forest will be subject to the most stringent legal standards for commercial logging operations in North America.

“The plan solidifies First Nations shared decision-making with the province over land use in their traditional territories and contains measures to improve the well-being of their communities.

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“The conservation and human well-being initiatives, which were was set into motion in the 2006 Great Bear Rainforest agree-

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ments are widely acknowledged as a global model for collaborative solutions to help resolve conflict over land use, indigenous rights and for large-scale conservation.

“The Great Bear Rainforest is almost 6½ million hectares. Almost half of the region is covered by forest ecosystems. It stretches from British Columbia’s Discovery Islands northwards to the Tongass rainforest of Alaska. Together with the islands of Haida Gwaii, it represents the largest tracts of intact temperate rainforests remaining on the planet. It is the traditional territory of 26 First Nations who have lived in this rainforest for thousands of years.

“Covering less than 1 percent of the planet’s landmass, temperate rainforests are globally rare, and today few areas remain unlogged. The Great Bear Rainforest is a remarkable example of this forest type, hosting a dense web of natural life, including towering ancient trees, orcas, salmon, wolves, grizzlies and the unique white-furred black bear known as the spirit bear.

“The 1990s was a period fraught with conflict over industrial logging of old-growth rainforest. Known as the war in the woods, the conflict between First Nations concerned about the fate of their unceded traditional territories and environmental organizations and the forestry industry resulted in protests and international market campaigns. These resulted in major wood and paper buyers cancelling their contracts or steering clear of products from the region.

“Customers of forest products demanded change. This created the willingness among the stakeholders to collaboratively work towards solutions with decision-makers, namely the provincial and First Nations governments.

“In 2000, a coalition of environmental groups, Rainforest Solutions Project, and an alliance of forestry companies, the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative, formed the joint solutions panel to resolve conflict over logging in the Great Bear Rainforest. In 2001, the forest companies deferred logging in 100 key intact valleys, and environmental groups suspended the do-not-buy market campaigns in order to allow space for the development of independent scientific recommendations and multilateral land use planning.

“A parallel conflict resolution process was also emerging between the provincial government and First Nations, whose communities were disenfranchised from decision-making and economic access to their territories. The majority of First Nations communities in the region are part of two strategic alliances: the N a nwa k olas Council and the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative. As decision-makers in a government-to-government relationship, First Nations and the province focused on reconciliation, shared decision-making, implementation of ecosystem-based management and revenue-generating opportunities.

“In addition, in the mid-2000s, an independent science team conducted the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of these globally significant forests. They developed the Ecosystem-Based Management Handbook to guide forest management in achieving low ecological risk to the forests and high levels of human well-being — the two goals of the 2016 agreements.

“This cutting-edge work was a global first. Over the last ten years, the joint solutions project played a key stakeholder role developing recommendations for the B.C. and First Nations governments for conservation and forest management. These led to conservation and human well-being milestones in 2006 and then in 2009 — the latter resulting in 50 percent of the region’s rainforests being set off-limits to logging — and to final implementation of ecosystem-based management this year.

“One major company, TimberWest, with tenure in the very southern part of the region, did not support the agreements until very late in the process. More endangered rainforests could have been saved if they had changed course sooner.”

Again, I’m reading from the environmental group’s pamphlet.

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“Ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest is one of the most comprehensive conservation and forest management achievements of this scale on earth. The goals of ecosystem-based management are twofold: low ecological risk — which is maintain 70 percent of the natural levels of old growth across all rainforest types — and high levels of human well-being.

“The measures set a new global model for forest conservation that strengthens indigenous rights, increases wildlife and ecological resilience and keeps carbon stored in old-growth forests as a result of avoided logging. The conservation model sustains and, in some cases, aims to restore the long-term health for all types of forest ecosystems in the region.

“The science-based goal agreed to by all parties — to maintain 70 percent of natural levels of old-growth ecosystems across all forest types — will be achieved for most ecosystems and exceeded in many. The plan puts an area the size of Nova Scotia under a new legal, scientific and principled standard for maintaining forest and wildlife health, and the health of the communities that depend on them, into the future.”

This report goes on to talk about the vast area that is to be protected. I know that members opposite and members on this side of the House have already gone into that. But I’d like to just go into some of the things that I have learned about my constituency, which is primarily — well, entirely — within the Great Bear Rainforest.

First of all, again, the First Nations that I represent, which are 44 percent of my constituency, all are eager and are congratulating themselves, the government and the stakeholders on this agreement, which has been difficult to come to fruition over many years.

Collectively, we all have a lot of work to do. One of the issues raised is that there could be…. We have work to do to ensure that the burden of funding and evaluating the implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest agreements doesn’t fall disproportionately to First Nations. There’s a little bit of apprehension and anxiety about that.

In spite of what this government has announced, on the day that they announced the Great Bear Rainforest agreements — well, one of the earlier times that they announced the Great Bear Rainforest agreements — there’s no substantial movement towards ending trophy hunting within the Great Bear Rainforest, which is an issue that is of great importance to the First Nations that I represent within this territory.

Again, the financial burden of compensating the licence holders, the commercial grizzly bear operators, is on First Nations. It’s on a willing-seller, willing-buyer arrangement. That is likely to be cost-prohibitive for many of the First Nations. Now that the Premier has announced this, it has driven up the cost, making it further burdensome for those First Nations.

The guardian watchman program. I hope others will get into this, in our discussion on this agreement, because it is such a phenomenal program. The work that they do is incredible. The products that they produce, the maps that they produce, the science that they produce, are outstanding. The guardian watchmen bank many, many more hours and spend significantly larger budgets on monitoring industrial and recreational use

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of the Great Bear Rainforest than any provincial agency does, and we’re seeing more cutbacks to the provincial agencies, particularly with B.C. Parks.

We need to get a move on with marine protections and also integrating terrestrial and marine planning. I’m a huge proponent of marine planning. I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in various marine planning processes back in the day when PNCIMA, the Pacific north coast integrated management area, was around. I was involved in that. My colleagues here, who are — pardon the ageist comment — significantly older than I, were participating in the land use agreements. I was too young at the time. The marine use planning is a model off the land use planning, and I commend that.

I’m getting the looks here from my colleagues. By all means, I did not mean any offence by that. I just was acknowledging that I didn’t have the pleasure of participating in land use planning of any great significance in my lifetime.

Interjection.

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J. Rice: The 1890s, yes.

One of the issues around marine planning is that there are so many agencies involved, and they all shirk responsibility and point fingers and say, “That’s their jurisdiction,” and: “No, that’s their jurisdiction.” We need to navigate that, and that also includes federal government partners, which have been reticent in previous governments to participate. Hopefully, with the new government, they will have a change of heart and see the significance of marine planning and the importance of participating in marine planning processes.

There are other issues around capacity-building. I think I’ve touched on that.

The site of Namu on the central coast is an environmental problem right in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. We’ve had previous industry players that have just pulled out and left the site abandoned.

I visited the site with my colleague, our Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation spokesperson. We visited the site. We saw what was left. It was like someone cancelled coffee break and people walked away. There were oil tanks falling into the ocean, a sinking, decrepit ship. I now understand that some action has been taken to remediate. The imminent danger has now been identified and apparently addressed, but there is much more work to do.

This is a site, an industrial environmental problem, in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. There is a huge opportunity to fix that site up, remediate it and have tourism draws and provide a support station for travelling yachters up and down the central coast.

B.C. Ferries. I cannot talk about the Great Bear Rainforest and not talk about the fact that this government took away the Queen of Chilliwack , the vessel that carried over 100 cars and took people to the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and went right to Bella Coola. That ship was taken away. It was replaced with a year-round ship that they had normally used only in winter service, the Nimpkish . Now it holds a maximum of 16 cars.

Last April I tried to book a trip to Bella Coola on the ferry, and every sailing was booked until September. So, clearly, we’re not providing that community with the capacity they need. If we are to promote this world-renowned site, this Great Bear Rainforest, we need to allow people to get there. The transportation issues need to be addressed.

I must just speak a little bit more on that, actually. I wanted to mention that this was an area — the Bella Coola Valley — that was a forestry area. This was a logging community, or a series of communities, that through these arrangements was told: “You can’t participate in the logging industry as you currently have.” So majorly downscaled.

These people were told by this government, by the B.C. Liberal government, to reinvent themselves with tourism. The provincial government provided them funding and said: “Here you go. Reinvent yourself. Create tourism. Take people on bear tours. Take people on rafting tours. Go hiking in the mountains.” Yet the only tool that they had to do so was a robust ferry system which they had yanked out of their hands.

This area is deserving of some attention from this government. They have yanked both economic drivers out of their hands and have left them. They’ve been left alone, desperate. The depression rate has got to be through the roof in this community from the sad and bleak emails that I get from people trying to make ends meet in the Bella Coola Valley.

In the spirit of this Great Bear Rainforest agreement, let’s see some resources. Let’s see some support for the Bella Coola Valley residents.

A part of the Great Bear Rainforest is the territory of Klemtu. This is the Kitasoo/Xai’xais territory on the central coast. It’s very close to Bella Bella. They have a robust stewardship program in Klemtu. Again, they are increasing the number of guardian watchmen that they have in the park — eyes and ears on the water and on the ground.

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Unfortunately, the province’s contribution to this area is a measly $20,000 budget — $20,000. This is an area the size of European countries — Switzerland comes to mind — and they have a $20,000 budget. They faced a 5 percent cut last year.

Now we learn that we’ll have 18 B.C. Parks rangers for the entire province. These people are tasked with providing conservation protection for the entire province, and here we are in the Great Bear Rainforest — no eyes and ears on the ground, no one doing science, no one collecting any baseline data, no one managing the increasing number of tour operators, yachts, companies that travel from Alaska to Oregon.

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Now we have enshrined this Great Bear Rainforest agreement. We promoted and endorsed and are celebrating ecosystem-based management. We need to put our money where our mouth is. Or the B.C. Liberal government needs to put its money where its mouth is and properly support monitoring and enforcement in this area.

A big challenge for the Kitasoo/Xai’xais and other First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest is that they’re doing all of the province’s work, and they’re not being included in decision-making. So let’s honour the spirit of this joint decision-making. Let them have a voice at the table, and let’s properly resource them. The province always has the final say.

Issues in the Kitasoo territory — for example, in this area called Khutze Inlet. Increasing pressure in this area. It’s in the northern part of the territory. There are way more operators. To quote the stewardship coordinator and now chief councillor, Doug Neasloss: “There are many boats, and many people in the park are pushing bears around.” You know, boats travelling up and down the coast from the United States, dropping crab traps and going fishing in the area. People really wanting to see bears are putting pressure on the bears.

It’s clearly an area that needs attention. It needs monitoring. Yet there are no resources. The province has no capacity to deal with these problems. The tour operators are actually contacting the First Nations and saying: “You need to get here on the ground. You need to do something.” It’s the province’s job. If these First Nations are actually doing the work of the province, then let’s resource them properly. If we’re not going to do so, let them be the decision-makers. They have no say.

The problem with that is that unfavourable decisions have been made on the basis that we do not have enough information — meaning the province does not have enough information. However, the hard-working guardian watchmen in Klemtu have that information. They have all kinds of information. They’re doing all kinds of data collection. They have hundreds and hundreds of hours on the water, yet none of that is available. Or none of that is recognized.

It’s available. It’s not recognized by the province as valid science. It’s not respected. So the province will say things like: “Well, we don’t have enough information to make a decision or to make any sort of enforcement or to help manage the congestion going on in this part.” Ultimately, the Kitasoo would like to see a joint decision-making process such as that that the Haida Nation has with Parks Canada.

The conservation management plans that are being devel