British Columbia Hansard — Monday, May 9, 2011

H0509am-03

British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)

Third Session, 39th Parliament official rePort of Debates of the Legis Lative a ssemb Ly (hansarD) the honourable bill bari Soff, SPeaker iSSn 0709-1281 Monday, May 9, 2011 Morning Sitting Volume 21, Number 3

Pro Vince of britiS h colu Mbia (entered c onfederation July 20, 1871) lieutenant -Go Vernor h is h onour the h onourable Steven l.

Point, obc Third Session, 39th Parliament SPeaker of the leGiS latiVe a SSeMbl Y h onourable bill barisoff eXecutiVe council Premier and President of the executive c ouncil .............................................................................................................. h on. c hristy c lark Deputy Premier and Minister of finance ............................................................................................................................h on. k evin f alcon Minister of a boriginal r elations and r econciliation ...........................................................................................................h on.

Mary Polak Minister of a dvanced e ducation .................................................................................................................................h on. n aomi Y amamoto Minister of a griculture ........................................................................................................................................................... h on.

Don Mcr ae a ttorney General ........................................................................................................................................................... h on. barry Penner, Qc Minister of c hildren and f amily Development ................................................................................................................ h on.

Mary Mcn eil Minister of c ommunity, Sport and cultural Development .................................................................................................. h on. ida c hong Minister of e ducation .........................................................................................................................................................h on.

George a bbott Minister of energy and Mines and Minister r esponsible for h ousing.........................................................................h on. r ich c oleman Minister of environment ....................................................................................................................................................h on. Dr. t erry l ake Minister of f orests, l ands and n atural r esource o perations......................................................................................h on.

Steve Thomson Minister of h ealth .................................................................................................................................................... h on. Michael de Jong, Qc Minister of Jobs, t ourism and innovation ................................................................................................................................... h on. Pat bell Minister of l abour, citizens' Services and o pen Government .............................................................................. h on.

Stephanie c adieux Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General .................................................................................................................h on.

Shirley bond Minister of Social Development and Minister r esponsible for Multiculturalism ............................................................ h on. h arry bloy Minister of t ransportation and infrastructure ................................................................................................................h on. blair l ekstrom leGiS latiVe a SSeMbl Y l eader of the official o pposition ......................................................................................................................................................a drian Dix Deputy Speaker .................................................................................................................................................................................... l inda r eid a ssistant Deputy Speaker ..................................................................................................................................................................Dawn black Deputy c hair, c ommittee of the Whole ...................................................................................................................................Douglas h orne c lerk of the l egislative a ssembly...................................................................................................................e.

George MacMinn, obc, Q c c lerk a ssistant ..................................................................................................................................................................................r obert Vaive c lerk a ssistant and l aw c lerk................................................................................................................................................. ian D. izard, Qc c lerk a ssistant and c lerk of c ommittees ............................................................................................................... craig h.

James (on leave) c lerk a ssistant and a cting c lerk of c ommittees ................................................................................................................. k ate r yan-l loyd Sergeant-at-a rms ................................................................................................................................................................................. Gary l enz

alP habetical liS t of MeMberS a bbott, h on. George (l) ........................................................................ Shuswap a ustin, r obin (nDP) ................................................................................ Skeena bains, h arry (nDP) ....................................................................Surrey-n ewton barisoff, h on. bill (l) ............................................................................Penticton barnett, Donna (l) ................................................................ c ariboo-c hilcotin bell, h on.

Pat (l) ..................................................... Prince George–Mackenzie bennett, bill (l) .............................................................................k ootenay e ast black, Dawn (nDP) ................................................................n ew Westminster black, iain (l) .............................................................. Port Moody–c oquitlam bloy, h on. h arry (l) ............................................................burnaby-l ougheed bond, h on.

Shirley (l) ...........................................Prince George–Valemount brar, Jagrup (nDP) ................................................................ Surrey-fleetwood c adieux, h on. Stephanie (l) ................................................Surrey-Panorama c antelon, r on (l) ..............................................................

Parksville-Qualicum c handra h erbert, Spencer (nDP) ................................Vancouver–West end c hong, h on. ida (l) ..................................................... o ak bay–Gordon h ead c houhan, r aj (nDP) ........................................................... burnaby-e dmonds c oell, Murray (l) ..............................................Saanich n orth and the islands c oleman, h on. r ich (l) ........................................... f ort l angley–a ldergrove c onroy, katrine (nDP) .............................................................. k ootenay West c oons, Gary (nDP) .........................................................................n orth c oast c orrigan, k athy (nDP) ..................................................... burnaby–Deer l ake Dalton, Marc (l) ..............................................................

Maple r idge–Mission de Jong, h on. Michael, Qc (l) .............................................. a bbotsford West Dix, a drian (nDP) ............................................................Vancouver-kingsway Donaldson, Doug (nDP) ......................................................................... Stikine e lmore, Mable (nDP) ................................................... Vancouver-kensington f alcon, h on. k evin (l) ..........................................................Surrey-c loverdale f arnworth, Mike (nDP) ............................................................

Port c oquitlam fleming, r ob (nDP) .......................................................... Victoria–Swan l ake f oster, eric (l) .......................................................................Vernon-Monashee f raser, Scott (nDP) ............................................................a lberni–Pacific r im Gentner, Guy (nDP) .........................................................................Delta n orth h ammell, Sue (nDP) .................................................... Surrey–Green t imbers h ansen, c olin (l) ............................................................

Vancouver-Quilchena h awes, r andy (l) ............................................................... a bbotsford-Mission h ayer, Dave S. (l) .................................................................... Surrey-t ynehead h eed, k ash (l) ................................................................ Vancouver-fraserview h ogg, Gordon (l) ............................................................... Surrey–White r ock h organ, John (nDP) .......................................................................

Juan de f uca h orne, Douglas (l) ..............................................c oquitlam–b urke Mountain h oward, r ob (l) .....................................................................r ichmond c entre h untington, Vicki (ind.) ..................................................................Delta South James, c arole (nDP) .........................................................Victoria–b eacon h ill k aragianis, Maurine (nDP) ........................................e squimalt–r oyal r oads k rog, l eonard (nDP) ........................................................................... n anaimo k rueger, kevin (l) ............................................... k amloops–South Thompson kwan, Jenny Wai ching (nDP) ...........................

Vancouver–Mount Pleasant l ake, h on. Dr. t erry (l) .....................................k amloops–n orth Thompson l ali, h arry (nDP) ..........................................................................f raser-n icola l ee, r ichard t . (l) .......................................................................burnaby n orth l ekstrom, h on. blair (l) .......................................................

Peace r iver South l es, John (l) .........................................................................................c hilliwack l etnick, n orm (l) ........................................................k elowna–l ake c ountry MacDiarmid, Dr. Margaret (l) ......................................... Vancouver-fairview Macdonald, n orm (nDP) ....................................c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke Mcintyre, Joan (l) ..................................................West Vancouver–Sea to Sky Mcn eil, h on. Mary (l) .................................................Vancouver–f alse creek Mcr ae, h on.

Don (l) ................................................................... c omox Valley Mungall, Michelle (nDP) ..........................................................n elson-creston Penner, hon. barry, Qc (l) ....................................................c hilliwack-h ope Pimm, Pat (l) ..........................................................................Peace r iver n orth Polak, h on.

Mary (l) ...............................................................................l angley Popham, l ana (nDP) ...................................................................Saanich South r alston, bruce (nDP) ................................................................

Surrey-Whalley r eid, l inda (l) .............................................................................r ichmond e ast r outley, bill (nDP) .................................................................. c owichan Valley r outley, Doug (nDP) ............................................n anaimo–n orth c owichan r ustad, John (l) ........................................................................... n echako l akes Sather, Michael (nDP) ......................................... Maple r idge–Pitt Meadows Simons, n icholas (nDP) ...................................

Powell r iver–Sunshine c oast Simpson, bob (ind.) .....................................................................c ariboo n orth Simpson, Shane (nDP) .....................................................Vancouver-hastings Slater, John (l) ..............................................................boundary-Similkameen Stewart, ben (l) ..................................................................... Westside-kelowna Stilwell, Dr. Moira (l) ......................................................... Vancouver-l angara Sultan, r alph (l) .....................................................

West Vancouver–capilano Thomson, hon.

Steve (l) ........................................................k elowna-Mission Thorne, Diane (nDP) .................................................c oquitlam-Maillardville Thornthwaite, Jane (l) .......................................... n orth Vancouver–Seymour t revena, c laire (nDP) .................................................................... n orth island van Dongen, John (l) .............................................................a bbotsford South Y amamoto, hon. n aomi (l) ................................. n orth Vancouver–l onsdale Y ap, John (l) .......................................................................r ichmond-Steveston Vacant ...............................................................................Vancouver–Point Grey liS t of MeMberS bY riD in G a bbotsford-Mission .......................................................................r andy h awes a bbotsford South .....................................................................John van Dongen a bbotsford West ......................................................h on.

Michael de Jong, Qc a lberni–Pacific r im ..........................................................................

Scott f raser boundary-Similkameen .....................................................................John Slater burnaby–Deer l ake ................................................................... k athy c orrigan burnaby-e dmonds ......................................................................... r aj c houhan burnaby-l ougheed ...................................................................h on. h arry bloy burnaby n orth .............................................................................. r ichard t . l ee c ariboo-c hilcotin ........................................................................Donna barnett c ariboo n orth ................................................................................ bob Simpson c hilliwack ...............................................................................................

John l es c hilliwack-h ope .......................................................... h on. barry Penner, Qc c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke .................................................. n orm Macdonald c omox Valley...........................................................................h on. Don Mcr ae c oquitlam–b urke Mountain .....................................................Douglas h orne c oquitlam-Maillardville...............................................................

Diane Thorne c owichan Valley ................................................................................ bill r outley Delta n orth ......................................................................................Guy Gentner Delta South ...............................................................................Vicki h untington e squimalt–r oyal r oads .....................................................Maurine k aragianis f ort l angley–a ldergrove ...................................................h on. r ich c oleman f raser-n icola........................................................................................ h arry l ali Juan de f uca .....................................................................................John h organ k amloops–n orth Thompson ............................................ h on.

Dr. t erry l ake k amloops–South Thompson ...................................................... k evin k rueger k elowna–l ake c ountry ...............................................................n orm l etnick k elowna-Mission .............................................................. h on.

Steve Thomson k ootenay e ast ....................................................................................bill bennett k ootenay West ............................................................................ k atrine c onroy l angley.......................................................................................h on. Mary Polak Maple r idge–Mission .....................................................................

Marc Dalton Maple r idge–Pitt Meadows ........................................................Michael Sather n anaimo ......................................................................................... l eonard k rog n anaimo–n orth c owichan ......................................................... Doug r outley n echako l akes ..................................................................................

John r ustad n elson-creston ........................................................................Michelle Mungall n ew Westminster ..............................................................................Dawn black n orth c oast....................................................................................... Gary c oons n orth island .................................................................................. c laire t revena n orth Vancouver–l onsdale ........................................h on. n aomi Y amamoto n orth Vancouver–Seymour .................................................

Jane Thornthwaite o ak bay–Gordon h ead ............................................................ h on. ida c hong Parksville-Qualicum ..................................................................... r on c antelon Peace r iver n orth ................................................................................Pat Pimm Peace r iver South ...............................................................h on. blair l ekstrom Penticton................................................................................... h on. bill barisoff Port c oquitlam ..........................................................................Mike f arnworth Port Moody–c oquitlam ...................................................................... iain black Powell r iver–Sunshine c oast ................................................. n icholas Simons Prince George–Mackenzie .............................................................h on.

Pat bell Prince George–Valemount ...................................................h on. Shirley bond r ichmond c entre ............................................................................ r ob h oward r ichmond e ast ................................................................................... l inda r eid r ichmond-Steveston ..............................................................................John Y ap Saanich n orth and the islands .....................................................

Murray c oell Saanich South ................................................................................ l ana Popham Shuswap ...............................................................................h on.

George a bbott Skeena .............................................................................................. r obin a ustin Stikine ........................................................................................Doug Donaldson Surrey-c loverdale .................................................................h on. k evin f alcon Surrey-fleetwood ...............................................................................Jagrup brar Surrey–Green t imbers ..................................................................Sue h ammell Surrey-n ewton ................................................................................. h arry b ains Surrey-Panorama ........................................................ h on.

Stephanie c adieux Surrey-t ynehead ........................................................................... Dave S. h ayer Surrey-Whalley.............................................................................. bruce r alston Surrey–White r ock ....................................................................... Gordon h ogg Vancouver-fairview ................................................ Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid Vancouver–f alse creek ........................................................ h on.

Mary Mcn eil Vancouver-fraserview ........................................................................k ash h eed Vancouver-hastings ....................................................................Shane Simpson Vancouver-kensington .................................................................Mable e lmore Vancouver-kingsway..........................................................................a drian Dix Vancouver-l angara .................................................................Dr.

Moira Stilwell Vancouver–Mount Pleasant ..........................................Jenny Wai ching kwan Vancouver–Point Grey ...............................................................................Vacant Vancouver-Quilchena ................................................................... c olin h ansen Vancouver–West end ...............................................Spencer c handra h erbert Vernon-Monashee ...............................................................................eric f oster Victoria–b eacon h ill .......................................................................c arole James Victoria–Swan l ake.........................................................................r ob fleming West Vancouver–capilano ............................................................. r alph Sultan West Vancouver–Sea to Sky ........................................................

Joan Mcintyre Westside-kelowna .............................................................................ben Stewart Party Standings: l iberal 48; n ew Democratic 34; independent 2; Vacant 1

CONTENTS Monday, May 9, 2010 Morning Sitting Page Orders of the Day Private Members' Statements ................................................................................................................................................. 6739 fiscal responsibility creates jobs J. r ustad b. r alston The importance of friendship centres S. f raser G. h ogg Putting families first M. Dalton c.

Jame s t ourism leadership S. c handra h erbert k. k rueger Private Members' Motions ..................................................................................................................................................... 6748 Motion 5 — c lean power and renewable energy technologies P . Pimm J. h organ r . h oward D. Donaldson r . l ee r . flemin g M. Stilwell M. Sather J. Mcintyre

6739 MonD a Y , MaY 9, 2011 The h ouse met at 10:02 a.m. [Mr. Speaker in the chair.] Prayers. Orders of the Day Private Members' Statements fiScal reSPonS ibilit Y createS J obS J.

Rustad: i am pleased today to rise to talk about fis - cal responsibility and job creation. in the province of british c olumbia as well as everywhere, when you think about what's important for families, when you think about what's important for the future, it's really about families, about being able to have jobs, about being able to supply and have benefits for your families and ultim - ately to build a future for your children. [D. black in the chair.] Job creation is a key focal point in any plan going forward, i think, for virtually any government, and es - pecially with a family-first agenda. it's very important to think about what the key components are.

What is it that you need to have in place to have a strong situation, a strong environment that is going to be able to have strong job creation? When you look at the economic cycles, you have some booms; you have the recessions and downturns. it's im- portant to make sure that your foundations are strong so that you have that type of environment. a s i speak to - day on this, i'm really trying to create an open dialogue about this. i'm not trying to be partisan in the sense.

When you look at e urope and at other jurisdictions around the world, particularly when it comes to deficits and debt, what you see is that there is a direct correla - tion between countries and jurisdictions that run large deficits, that run continuous deficits and that let their debt out of control in relation to job creation.

When you look at the downturns in economic growth, if you're coming from a position of a strong economic environment where your government is running sur - pluses, you can weather through that well, and you don't have as many job losses from a percentage basis as you do when you're running deficits and when you've got your debts that are running out of control. [1005] The reason for that, of course, is because governments have the ability to be able to inject additional cash into the economy to help smooth through those downturns. but the challenge becomes, of course, that if govern - ments decide they want to continually inject cash into the economy, to overspend, that actually creates a risk.

Y ou get an initial bump that goes with that, but over the long term it creates an enormous risk. i want to talk for a moment about Greece and why it matters. When you look at Greece, as it's gone through the last decade, it has never had a surplus. it has run deficits continually to the point today where its deficit rate now is running at around 10 percent, and its defi - cit as a percentage of GDP or a percentage of its overall spending is around 20 percent. That kind of spending has led to the environment that they have today, which is one that is very destructive.

They are having to pull back on services that people would like to see. They're having to cut back on their spending. Their interest rates have spiked up, creating huge challenges on their fiscal budgets, and ultimately what that is doing is creating an enormous pressure on unemployment.

Their unemployment rate right now is over 12 percent with no prospects for it to drop anytime soon. fiscal responsibility is a key in that, because you can keep borrowing until it becomes a problem but no one can tell you when it's going to become a problem. f or example, in Japan they have a debt rate now that is over 200 percent of its GDP , yet they don't have a problem,

whereas Greece's debt is only at 140 percent of the GDP and they have a problem.

What it comes down to is confidence, Madam Speaker: confidence by people that want to invest in governments, and confidence, ultimately, in the broader community as to whether they believe that the jurisdiction has the ability to be able to service its debt but also has the abil - ity to be able to create economic growth. h ow do you influence that confidence? h ow do you get to a situation where you have 200 percent GDP in a place like Japan — where i think, quite frankly, they're going to be facing a problem in the future — versus 140 percent in a place like Greece which has already hit the wall?

What it comes down to is that fiscal responsibility. e ven though Japan has run deficits pretty much non- stop for the last decade as well, and they're running a deficit right now at close to 10 percent, they've managed to keep their unemployment level low,

whereas when you look at something like Spain, for example…. Spain actually ran a few surpluses but let their spending and particularly their debt get out of control, and Spain is running over 20 percent unemployment. What is it that we need to be doing here in british c olumbia? back a number of years ago, just as the eco - nomic downturn was hitting, i had the pleasure of being on the finance c ommittee, and we had some of our public sector unions that were suggesting we should run about a $6 billion deficit. The problem is that if you run deficits that are that large, you never get to a place where economic growth

british c olumbia Debates6740 Monday, May 9, 2011 will eventually bring you back into surplus.

The cumula- tive effect of that over time is what will ultimately harm our job creation environment. fiscal responsibility is important, and another big piece of that is your tax regime. u ltimately, fiscal respon- sibility means how much money you're bringing in, how much money you're spending, but creating that environ- ment for job creation is so important. it's important to recognize that the most job creation comes from small business, from those first five years of startup businesses, which is why it's so critical that you have a positive en - vironment for doing that.

Madam Speaker, that's why we are dropping our small business rate down to zero within the next couple of years. it's also why we're keeping our…. o ur corporate tax rate is going to drop down to 10 percent over the next couple of years because it's important to have that right environment, to create those opportunities and to have investor confidence so that as we go forward, when we do need to run a deficit on another downturn and we get back to surplus budgets, people have confidence to invest in the province of british c olumbia. u ltimately, the challenge of not doing that is…. i like to point out the example of the u nited States at the mo- ment.

They're running a deficit that's about 42 percent of their overall spending. Their debt levels are rising rapidly. They're approaching the 100 percent GDP debt level. They don't have good solutions. They're either go- ing to have to be raising taxes, which puts a break on their economy — something that the opposition has suggested we should be doing in the province of british c olumbia — or they're going to have to look at reducing spending. but i'll get to more of that after the opposition has a chance to respond. [1010] B.

Ralston: it's my duty to respond to the representa- tions made by the member opposite. h e did reference the finance c ommittee, and back in September of last year the finance c ommittee, as it does every year, heard from the Minister of finance. h e talked about his view of the fiscal outlook of the province. The member opposite has mentioned confidence, sta- bility and predictability, but what transpired over the last six months between the two finance ministers, the previous one and the current one, is anything but an indication of stability and predictability.

That minister, the previous minister, came before the committee and said, and i'm quoting from Hansard of September 15: "of the $2.7 billion of net additional rev - enue that we are anticipating over four years of the plan, $2.5 billion of that is because of corporate income tax. but i think that as the quarterly report sets out, it still comes with risks." n ow, that basis of a projected increase in corporate revenue was the subject of the budget consultation, and the budget consultation document that went out to the public, a couple of million copies, projected available revenue, they called it: $650 million for 2011-12 and $700 million and $750 million for each of the two sub - sequent years.

The premise of the consultation was that this money was available either for additional spend - ing or tax reductions. indeed, on o ctober 27 the then Premier announced a 15 percent income tax cut costing $568 million a year in the first year, rising to $638 mil - lion by 2013-14. So a projection of increased revenue and a decision by the Premier then, back in o ctober, to announce a per - sonal income tax cut. Then, surprisingly — and again, the member speaks of confidence, stability, predictabil - ity — on n ovember 16 the cabinet decided that the 15 percent income tax cut would be suspended.

Within the space of three weeks a major fiscal initiative taken by the government — completely reversed. "h ow is this fiscally responsible? h ow did this induce confidence in the operations and the fiscal record of the government?" i'm sure many people at that time asked themselves. n otwithstanding those projections, we now hear the new finance Minister talking about, in relation to the hS t , potential shortfalls.

So while there was a very rosy picture in the budget consultation in the fall, sufficient to bring about a reduction in personal income tax, we now hear the finance Minister expressing concern that there may well be budget shortfalls, once again related to the hS t . So given…. This additional revenue did not come from projections of increased revenue from the hS t .

The Minister of finance then…. i quoted it earlier; i'll quote it again: "…2.5 billion of that is because of cor - porate income tax." n o anticipation that the argument that's being put for- ward now would be available, that somehow the hS t revenue was disclosed, that it went beyond what was pro- jected — none of that took place — and that sufficient revenue was available for an income tax cut at that time.

When the member speaks of creating the fiscal condi- tions by a government, by its action inducing confidence among those who invest, among those who work here, among those who conduct business here, the record of the last six months, the zigzag pattern of the successive Ministers of finance, has done anything but induce the kind of confidence that's necessary. [1015] it's regrettable. it's regrettable indeed, and i look for - ward to the member opposite's explanation of that zigzag pattern and just how it induced confidence. J.

Rustad: i want to thank the member for Surrey- Whalley for the response. i find it interesting that when you're talking about fiscal responsibility and accumu - lated debts, he wants to focus on a six-month window, but that's fine. h e's allowed to do that.

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6741 Just with regards to that in particular, i want to start by talking about the hS t and, as he had said, some ap - parent instability over six months.

Well, we've gone through a little bit of a political upheaval in the prov - ince of british c olumbia that, quite frankly, hasn't been seen for many, many decades, and it's interesting that the consumer confidence level in british c olumbia is the highest anywhere in c anada. it's clear that because of the ongoing stability that the b.c. l iberal government, our government, has been able to provide, we've been able to have that kind of stability that people have confidence in. t hey have confidence today, more confidence than any - where in c anada. but the point i'm trying to get to with all of this dis - cussion is really around how we as a government and how we, quite frankly, as a society make sure that we protect services, that we have families at the centre of our policies and that we create an environment for job creation. u ltimately, when you look at the risks that are happening in other jurisdictions around the world, when you look at the problems they're facing, it's clear that if we do not have good fiscal policy, we put every - thing at risk.

Y ou're looking at the choices that need to be made. i was mentioning the u nited States before we broke for the member's response. The choices they have are not good. in order to get their spending under control, they are going to have to do what they're continually doing right now, which is print money. That has huge, enor - mous consequences over time.

They're going to have to cut spending dramatically, which also has significant impacts in terms of the services that we all come to ex - pect, or they're going to have to raise taxes, which also creates an enormous amount of instability. o ver time those fiscal decisions put countries like the u nited States and others in the situation where they are going to be at risk of being able to create that stability that families want, to be able to create that environment that ultimately creates jobs. i would argue that here in b.c. we have done a very good job over the last decade of creating that type of environment.

People see us and see the environment we created, and they say: "how did you do that? We want to be able to emulate that." a key is to make sure that you have your spending under control, that you don't overtax the people and the corporations and, also, that you make sure you keep your debt under control so that you can continue to have that confidence going forward.

Madam Speaker, those are tough things to do because, ultimately, it means you have to make tough choices. it's far easier to just let the deficits go and be irresponsible in spending or crank up taxes to be able to provide what everybody wants, but the right road, the straight road, is fiscal responsibility because, ultimately, it will pay the dividends in job creation. the iMPortance of frienDS hiP centreS S.

Fraser: i would like to enter the debate in a private member's statement today on the topic of the import - ance of supporting our aboriginal friendship centres. i will begin this debate by quoting from the so-called New Relationship. "The historic aboriginal-c rown relationship in b.c . has given rise to the present socioeconomic disparity between f irst n ations and other british c olumbians.

We agree to work together in this new relationship to achieve strong governments, social justice and economic self-sufficiency for f irst n ations which will be of benefit to all british c olumbians and lead to long-term economic viability." f urther, the first goal of the New Relationship includes: "...to restore, revitalize and strengthen f irst n ations and their communities and families to eliminate the gap in standards of living with other british c olumbians and substantially improve the circumstances of f irst n ations people in areas which include: education, children and families, and health." n early 70 percent of aboriginal peoples in british c olumbia live off reserve, largely in urban centres, and there is no, absolutely no — i repeat, no — urban ab - original strategy to address the socioeconomic gaps that exist in the cities in this province. [1020] The l iberal government is failing to live up to the spirit, to the intent and to the very words of the new relationship. a boriginal people rank at the bottom of almost every measure we use in c anada to gauge eco - nomic potential, health, well-being — you name it. n ow for the good news.

Thankfully, b.c.'s aboriginal friendship centres are there. in british c olumbian com- munities 23 friendship centres play a key role in the lives of over 145,000 aboriginal people living off reserve in this province. They are doing the work that the province is arguably required to do by their own mandate.

They are doing that good work with woefully in - adequate funding. o ver the past 20 years the annual allotment from the first citizens fund has been frozen at $720,000 — a sum that does not even come close to addressing the level of need we see in too many of british c olumbia's off-reserve aboriginal populations. u nbelievably, rather than ensuring that proper funds are in place, this past year the friendship centre program fund has been reduced.

This is wrong. a s needs increase and costs go up or are down - loaded, thanks to this government, friendship centres are truly facing chronic underfunding. l asting eco - nomic prosperity cannot be realized if educational, health and housing for many aboriginal people are not being met. i raised this glaring l iberal policy failure last week with the new minister in budget estimates. The minister, unbelievably, cited these tough economic times as some kind of rationale for the government's current under - funding of friendship centres. i can't figure out if the

british c olumbia Debates6742 Monday, May 9, 2011 minister really doesn't get it, doesn't even have the basic understanding of the reality for many aboriginal peoples living off reserve in this province, or if she was trying to slide one by me with a meaningless platitude. but let me be crystal-clear. The essential work that friendship centres do is the work that is, in fact, the man- date of this government.

The needs did not get less in these tough economic times. t ough economic times mean more people — many more people — desperately need those services. t ough economic times are a justification and rationale for increasing supports, not cutting them.

That is exactly why the Select Standing c ommittee on f inance and Government Services, after travelling and listening to the people of the province and learning of the needs of the people of the province, put forward recom- mendation 31, which says: " invest additional resources annually in a long-term capacity fund for friendship cen- tres." This cross-party recommendation didn't say: "c ut the supports." it said to invest additional resources.

The key word in the recommendation, the one that ap- pears to go right over the heads of the l iberals across the way, is "invest." The finance c ommittee got it bang on.

The payback of properly investing in friendship centres is massive. l iberal philosophy seems only to recognize an investment if it benefits their universe and returns as party donations. e xcuse my cynicism, but how on earth could you ex - plain using desperately increased needs as a rationale for inadequate supports? h ow could a minister and a government ignore the spirit, intent and words of the so-called new relationship? h ow could a minister and a government ignore the very specific directions from the finance c ommittee?

The cost of that committee's work could probably have gone a long way toward adequately funding b.c.'s 23 aboriginal friendship centres, so ig - noring the committee's key recommendations is even more appalling. in closing my presentation and allowing a rebuttal, in case anyone over there is unclear of my opening pos - ition, let us provide adequate supports for aboriginal friendship centres in this province. Deputy Speaker: Member for Surrey–White r ock. [a pplause.] G.

Hogg: Thank you for that thunderous ovation, and thank you to the member for a lberni–Pacific r im for those insightful comments and his request that we ex - cuse his cynicism. i certainly excuse your cynicism with respect to this matter. [1025] c ertainly, the member has outlined a number of the issues which are obviously some of our more in - tractable challenges within the aboriginal community and highlighted that there's over 70 percent of aborig - inal people now living off reserve and that there are challenges in terms of the development of the u rban a boriginal Strategy. c ertainly, as we look at the provision of a number of social services worldwide and the provision, more specifically, of aboriginal services in british c olumbia and, indeed, other services across british c olumbia, the recognition that there have been a number of fiscal chal- lenges in terms of being able to address those….

Worldwide they're looking at new approaches of ad - dressing these types of initiatives, new ways of looking at how we deal with some of our most intractable social programs and ways of looking at being able to address them in more efficient, cost-effective and co-creation ways of managing these types of issues. i've had the fortune of working with the aboriginal friendship centres for a number of years on different strategies and have worked with their executive direc - tor, Paul l acerte, on a number of initiatives.

They're talking about the development of models that are called co-creation — new methods of design thinking, new methods of citizen involvement, new tools that allow us together to work at joint processes. i appointed Paul l acerte to our social innovation council a number of months ago and sit with him on that council in looking at strategies for managing and dealing with some of the challenges which the mem - ber has just highlighted and outlined. There is a lot of work that has been done with some of the funding that they've received in terms of looking at and finding what the metrics are.

Paul told me a couple of weeks ago that the metrics, in terms of what the challenges are…. The member appropriately talks about the savings which could be generated as a result of appropriate funding models that looked at and enhanced the types of services that are being provided. The member, again, highlighted a number of the challenges with respect to children and youth and unemployment and health issues with respect to the aboriginal people who are off reserve. c ertainly, those are statistical and undeniable in terms of our ability to look at those.

Social innovation or social entrepreneurship is a model which is being looked at worldwide, and we have a council working with that. The aboriginal friendship centres see this as a possibility, with the development of the metrics that we now have, the ability to look at and measure the outcomes and the potential for the savings to be generated in that.

Some models, and particularly the models out of england now, are showing great po - tential for doing that. if we're able to actually look at the savings that can be generated and quantify them — and Paul tells me that they're very close to being able to do that — with the quantification of the savings that can be generated, we can actually look at and generate new methods of being able to address those. Those models are just now in their embryonic stages.

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6743 in england they've got the first social impact bond. Social impact bond is where you're able to show through metrics the savings that are generated and to take those savings and go to t reasury board and say: "l ook, we can generate these savings. We're able to quantify it. We're able to show what the measurement of those are and then get a contract to do it." The t reasury board, the state, shifts the risk away from the state in terms of outcomes.

They then go and are able to raise the money and take that money and provide those services, provide the money — to the aboriginal friendship centres, in this example — to be able to provide the services necessary and then go back when the services have been provided, show the out - comes of those and then have the state pay the money, because they've been able to show that the savings have been generated. We've talked with c lyde h ertzman about this in terms of early childhood development and the potential that exists, with Shawn a tleo of the a ssembly of first n ations in terms of the potential.

So there is great po - tential for us to look at this.

The great work the aboriginal friendship centres have been able to do in terms of developing the metrics to be able to actually look at and measure these, i think, provides great opportunity and potential for us to be able to address some of those challenges that we face in terms of the challenges which the member has so eloquently outlined with respect to the aboriginal chal - lenges off reserve. c ertainly, i am optimistic that we can move into that type of model to provide and address the challenges the member highlighted with respect to the challenges that we face, not just with aboriginals off reserve but, certainly, around the world in terms of the delivery of those services. [1030] i thank the member for his comments, and i hope that we can optimistically look forward to changes with respect to those types of challenges.

S. Fraser: i'd like to complain about the government members picking the member for Surrey–White r ock to debate this. i actually believe he gets it, and i very much respect his positions here, but he's missing the point, or he's being forced to miss the point, Madam Speaker, which is probably more likely. There's a recommendation from the finance c om- mittee. one of the key…. The most basic first step in addressing the needs that friendship centres provide for is to fund them adequately. That's not in my words. That comes from the bipartisan, non-partisan finance c ommittee.

The member is nodding there, so i appre - ciate that.

The ministries — this is from the ministry's own web - site. it says: "Strategies." " o bjective 4: build stronger relationships with urban and off-reserve aboriginal peoples." The strategy is to "work to ensure that provin - cial initiatives to close social and economic gaps address the distinct needs of urban aboriginal peoples, includ - ing f irst n ations, Métis and non-status indians; support coordinated and collaborative approaches by provincial ministries, the federal government and aboriginal or - ganizations" — like friendship centres — "that seek to address urban aboriginal social and economic issues." i mean, the mandate is there for the ministry. it's not being met.

They're not even listening to their own finance c ommittee, which says specifically to adequately support friendship centres. They're not listening to their own mandate. We already established in the opening that they're certainly not listening to the spirit, the intent and the words of the so-called new relationship. The member for Surrey–White r ock referred to inter- national solutions, and i tend to agree. i think thinking out of the box is important, so i'm going to go right to an international solution.

This is the un declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, something that this gov - ernment refused to endorse after we repeatedly urged them to do so. it has now been signed; we're the last na - tion in the universe to do so. h owever, we should be responsible for the articles within this un declaration. a rticle 21: "i ndigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the improvement of their economic and social conditions, including, inter alia , in the areas of education, em - ployment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security" — the things that friendship centres provide for every day of the week in this province today, in spite of the fact that they are woe- fully underfunded by this government. it also states: "States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate, special measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions," which falls right into order with the recom- mendation of the Standing c ommittee on finance. i would submit that the province of british c olumbia needs to develop a specific and targeted strategy to ad - dress the needs and realities of urban aboriginal people.

That must include friendship centres, and it must in - clude adequately supporting them. Puttin G fa Milie S fir St M. Dalton: i'm happy to stand here today and to dis - cuss with the h ouse how the government is putting families first. o ur new Premier has placed families as a keystone to our policy framework. in r oman architec- ture, both sides of an arch in a lot of buildings put their rest on a keystone. Without that keystone, the structure would be unstable and collapse. We recognize just that importance of the family. This cannot be overstated: it's the primary support structure of society.

british c olumbia Debates6744 Monday, May 9, 2011 The traditional family is mom and dad and their bio - logical children. The majority of british c olumbian families are traditional, but there are hundreds of thou - sands of single-parent families and blended families. a s a government, we want to support and help strengthen all families, because when we support families, we sup - port individuals, and every person has great value. Y ou've heard of the term "nanny state." We don't be - lieve, as far as the government, in being a nanny state.

We can't take the place of parents, but we are there to support families and to help. We recognize that parents are the primary caregivers and educators of children — the nurturers. [1035] i was raised in a traditional family. My folks had six children, lived on military bases all across c anada, and i'm very thankful for my parents' love, support and encouragement. When i was older, my parents split up and divorced. Mom had two children at the time at home, and she struggled with poverty in spite of my dad supporting her throughout that time.

She struggled with mental illness. i've seen the blessings and also the pains of being in a family, like we all have. i have three older children — Marlene and i. e very family faces challenges, and the Premier is saying: "how can we help?

What can we do to support families?" it disappoints me sometimes when i hear the other side mocking the Premier's commitment to this, as if it's some grandiose scheme, sugar-coated political rhetoric. i believe that it is more than that. i believe we are mak - ing concrete steps that are being taken. i was a teacher for quite a number of years, both at the high school and elementary levels, and on occasion we would discuss decision-making and choices. i'd ask stu - dents for some volunteers, a couple volunteers, to come up to the front, and i'd make an angle with my fingers.

The students would be side by side, and i'd say: "o kay, stand here, and the other student stand there." Then i'd say, "f ollow the direction of my finger," and they would go right to the other side of the classroom, one student, and the other student would go in the other direction. Though they were close together initially, by the time they reached the other side of the classroom, they were right on opposite sides. So those small steps, those small decisions, those small acts as a government we make to support fam - ilies….

Though they are small initially, i believe that in the long run they make a very significant difference. o ne of the things that the Premier has done is set up a cabinet committee on families first. h ere's the pur - pose, as far as the framework. The recommendations of the cabinet committee on family first will play a critical role in assessing government policy and legislative re - quests and considering their impacts on families. The committee will work to ensure that families are posi - tively affected and strengthened through government actions. i'm part of this committee.

We're examining laws and legislation coming forward, and looking at how this impacts families. i think that's great. it's a family- first lens. Some of the illustrations happening lately with regards to families are, for example, lifting the day-parking fees at our provincial parks. The fees were modest compared to going to downtown Vancouver, but nevertheless, it did impact families struggling with income, raising kids, and it kept some families away.

So this is a way for open- ing up our parks and allowing them to come and enjoy it and to enjoy the outdoors together. a lso, there's been a lift in the funding to charitable or- ganizations that support children and youth. f riends in n eed f ood bank is one of the organizations in my com- munity, in my constituency, that is making a difference in supporting families that are struggling.

There are also numerous Girl Guides and scouting troops. n orth f raser Therapeutic r iding a ssociation is an association that really helps out children and youth that are struggling with disabilities, and they've seen that lift. a lso, service clubs like r otary, kiwanis, k nights of c olumbus. a nother important lift was P ac funding. initially it was $20 per student. a ctually, prior to us being govern - ment, every school had to apply for this funding.

This way we allocated the funding to each school whether or not they had a strong P ac, so every school has been able to benefit. it did go down to $10 for one year, and it's been restored to $20 and now lifted to $25 per student. That's significant. That does help kids. That helps bring in new computers, resources, gym materials, li - brary books. i know that that goes a long way. The Premier just announced, a few days ago, funding of over $13 million to r onald McDonald h ouse.

This is a new state-of-the-art house in support of b.c. c hildren's h ospital. it will allow five times the number of families to come and to stay there as were there beforehand. [1040] We have invested over $80 million per year to allow full-day kindergarten. That's optional full-day kinder - garten. Some parents don't feel their child is ready, and they're able to work with the principals and make an ad- justment. i think that's very positive, and that's in spite of a very significant decrease in enrolment. StrongStart is another initiative that is very import - ant.

There are over 300 StrongStart programs in british c olumbia — seven in Mission and eight in Maple r idge — and it's been very positively received by parents and families. a t this moment, i will allow the next member to respond to this. C. James: Thank you to the member for Maple r idge–Mission for raising the issue of putting families

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6745 first. i couldn't agree more that we should put families first — that, in fact, families in this province need the supports. They don't expect government to take care of it all, but they don't expect government to make it more difficult for them. They, in fact, are looking for a hand up, not a handout, when it comes to supports for their families.

The member raised the issue of the new cabinet com - mittee that has been put together and that its job is to look at legislation and to assess government policy to en- sure that families are positively impacted. i think that's a very important goal, and i thank the member for raising it. but i have to say that i believe that the people — and the families, in particular — of this province would hope to see action — not words, not more meetings, not more opportunity to discuss what the public knows and what research has shown, which is that we need to make sure the resources are there for families. i just want to run through a few facts that i believe are important. i certainly would hope the member, if he is committed to this agenda, would take these issues back to the cabinet committee. one of the most important facts that i believe every - one needs to look at, particularly government, when addressing the issue of family-first policy is the child poverty rate in british c olumbia.

Seven years in a row we have had the highest child poverty rate in this prov - ince. c hildren don't live alone in poverty; families live in poverty. We are not going to address putting families first until we address the issue of child poverty in this province, and that means putting together action and measures and clear reporting out to the public to ensure that that happens. This should not be a partisan issue.

There are governments of all political stripes across this country that have taken on measuring child poverty. in fact, if you take a look at n ewfoundland — one of the first governments that acted — that government has more than 15 indicators around the issue of child pov - erty, reports out independently on those indicators on a regular basis and ensures that they're being looked at. That would be a first start, if this government is really serious about taking on the families-first issue.

The other important statistics to take a look at are the stats that come out of helP . i'm sure the members across know the human early learning partnership and the statistics that they do on a regular basis. They talk about vulnerability for children. The most recent stats in 2010 said that the young chil- dren's vulnerability index in british c olumbia showed that more than 30 percent of young children in british c olumbia are at risk, on that index. in fact, in some neighbourhoods, we have more than 50 percent of chil - dren who are in vulnerable states.

That again is a statistic that has to underlie any kind of strategy that's being put together to put families first. So where do the priorities go? Where should the money be spent? Well, a good start would be, as i said, addressing the issue of child poverty — begin to meas - ure it, put an action plan in place. l et's invest in child care — affordable, accessible, quality child care. That would be a huge start to addressing the issue of putting families first. e ducation.

We've seen schools close across this prov - ince. h ow do you ensure that you're putting families first when rural communities and urban communities are losing the very infrastructure of a families-first agenda — a good quality neighbourhood school in their community? if we saw more investments and sup- port for students with special needs, those vulnerable children, school meal programs, community schools, school librarians, counsellors, wouldn't that be a start to addressing the issue of family first? [1045] Wouldn't that be a statement about this government being serious about this agenda, rather than simply put- ting words down — but actually putting an action plan together to address it?

The issue of housing — a huge cost. We have one of the highest costs of living in this province — a huge cost to families. a n affordable housing program once again in this province would show that the government was serious. i can't finish off without, of course, mentioning the hS t . a gain, if we're looking at additional costs for fam - ilies…. a report came out from the government's own independent panel last week that stated clearly that fam- ilies are paying more — in fact, up to $350 more — when it comes to the hS t . h ow does that put families first?

So while i appreciate the member opposite, and i've been glad to have the opportunity to be able to respond to putting families first, i really believe that it's time to put action in place, not words, and serve the families of british c olumbia. M. Dalton: i want to thank the member for Victoria– beacon h ill for her comments. She may or may not be aware that regarding child poverty, since 2003 the child poverty rates have actually dropped by almost 50 percent — 46 percent.

We right now have the lowest child poverty rates in this province since 1980. a lso, i know that o ntario was mentioned as an example. l ast year their child poverty rates went up. We're interested in results, not just a plan, and that is happening under this government. The minimum wage was lifted. That is supporting people that are working immigrants, perhaps working in agricultural communities, and low-income earners. That's very important, and just that there are now only 35,000 children living on the welfare rolls. in the 1990s there were 135,000 children.

So there are great changes, and that goes to illustrate that the priority of this govern-

british c olumbia Debates6746 Monday, May 9, 2011 ment is jobs, is the economy. Why? because it's families that have jobs. it's families that benefit from a stronger economy. it's not just the strong economy and jobs, but it's tax rates.

The tax rates are down by thousands of dollars. if you look at a person making $50,000 now as opposed to the previous government, you're looking at approximately $2,500 in income tax being spent — provincial in - come tax. if you're looking at someone making $80,000, which is what i made as a teacher before being an Mla , we are looking at a difference of about $4,000 to $5,000 per year. That $4,000 to $5,000 can help to take care of a child that is going through university — their tuition. it can help to provide savings for a house. a fter five years you can actually pay for a car.

That is a big difference, and we're making that difference, as far as the government. i'm pleased to support this government. i'm pleased to be a part of this government. i'm pleased to see the difference that it is making to families and its demon - stration that we are placing families first. touri SM lea Der Shi P S.

Chandra Herbert: i'm pleased today to speak about leadership in tourism. i'm speaking about leader - ship in tourism because, first off, it's a hugely important industry for my own constituency of Vancouver–West end. a nybody who's ever had the pleasure of visiting the West end will know it is a place you have to bring visitors back to again and again and again. c ertainly, we see that in Stanley Park with some of the most visited sites in all of british c olumbia. it's vitally important for our hotels, and we have many great hotels in the West e nd. o f course, people will know the historic Sylvia h otel, the buchan h otel, the c oast h otel, on and on and on. i could list them all for you. chances are people in this h ouse and people at home may have stayed there because we are certainly a place where people come to first when they arrive in british c olumbia.

They want to see the fabulous english bay. [1050] but i'm speaking about leadership in tourism be - cause tourism is a vital economy for all of c anada and all of british c olumbia — indeed, over 129,000 jobs in british c olumbia. We're hoping to add more — jobs in small communities, jobs in large communities and jobs, in particular, in communities where they may be challenged, where there may not be a huge economic base but because of their beauty, because of their cul - ture, because of their wonder, people want to come visit them. but it's an industry that's struggling.

We know the a merican tourist visits to british c olumbia have de - clined over the last decade approximately 40 percent. o ther markets certainly have been challenged. We know that today in a number of our key tourism markets, we still have fewer visitors coming to british c olumbia than we had in 2008 and 2007. When you talk to the small business owner, they are feeling it. c ertainly, some businesses are doing very well, but many businesses are just struggling to stay afloat. So i think it's important that we spend some time consid - ering why this has come about and some opportunities to make a difference.

So what do we have here? We've got british c olumbia. "Super, natural b.c." — a brand that is known around the world and is admired around the world for the in - credible attributes our province has. but marketing that brand is very, very important, because certainly you can't rely on marketing done 20 years ago to get some - body to come here today when tourists are now being targeted all over the world to come to different places. indeed, the opportunity to travel to different places in the world has increased. So when marketing is one of the key issues, what have we done in our province?

Well, unfortunately, we got rid of t ourism british c olumbia, the industry-led, independent, formula-funded marketing agency for british c olumbia, and brought it back in-house. n ow, why is it important that we have a formula- funded marketer for the province? Well, one of the key reasons is that the demand for money in government is high. e verybody has a different project where money could go to. indeed, i know that in speaking with the minister, one of the justifications for why we don't have formula funding was because health care, education — all of those groups — want the money.

Well, marketing a province when you bring more people here quite often leads to more tax dollars than you would get when you expend the small amount that you end up putting into marketing. indeed, the studies show that increases in marketing dollars quite often lead to even greater increases in dollars for a provincial budget, which can go to health care, education and so on.

We've seen the marketing budget for tourism in b.c. it's going to remain flat for the next three years is the proposal — this when other jurisdictions are massively increasing their budgets and trying to eat away at our market share. a nother reason why t ourism b.c ., that sort of a model, is vitally important — and i understand the minister is reconsidering the former minister's decision to get rid of the independent, formula-funded marketer in b.c. — is because you don't get situations where par - tisan politicians try and direct funds to their favourite pet projects. instead, you get industry leadership, people whose livelihoods live and die based on how well they do their marketing.

They are the ones doing the leading, rather than a politician whose career lives and dies on whether or not they can associate the success of the o lympics to

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6747 their own political party — as indeed the other side of the h ouse tried to do with its "Y ou gotta be here" cam - paign, as was documented in marketing documents from the ministry. Y ou also don't end up having special Premier-focused promotions which the government tried to do to as - sociate the success of the o lympics with an unpopular Premier. Probably not the best use of tourism marketing dollars, i would say.

We have many wonderful attributes to sell the world. i probably would disagree with the gov- ernment that the former Premier was not one of them. indeed, i would rather market barkerville or some other such place than the former Premier. c ultural tourism. This is a huge opportunity for us in tourism, but it's also a huge challenge.

We know that many festivals, many arts organizations in b.c . have either shut their doors, moved or are just struggling to stay above water because of massive cuts to cultural investment in this province — the deepest cuts in b .c. history. [1055] We know that they struggle on because they believe in what they're doing.

They believe in the vitality of community and the importance of creativity. i men - tioned barkerville, but i think of other folks up in the c ariboo-c hilcotin area that i've met with. i think of Wells, b.c., right outside of barkerville, and c ariboo north and what they do with a rtsWells to get people to their town, build that town and keep their econ - omy alive. i think of bard on the beach in Vancouver, which brings people from all over n orth a merica — the people who love Shakespeare. i think of the h eritage t ourism a lliance of b.c., which is working to keep our heritage properties alive but also to get people to visit them, and the incredible work they do for small towns. i think of the Grist Mill. i think of…. of course, i could go on and on and on about heritage, because it's such an exciting aspect for a province as young as ours to embrace. i know there's a challenge in culture because, for a time, the former minister wanted to focus on spirit fests over existing festivals. i understand my time is coming up for my colleague across the way to have a say, but i will continue on with challenges and opportunities we have shortly.

K. Krueger: i thank the member opposite. it is nice to see his pride in his constituency. l ike probably most british c olumbians, i love Stanley Park. it was great to see a boriginal t ourism b.c. build k lahowya Village in Stanley Park last summer and to know they're going to do so again. The collaboration with first n ations in tourism in this province is tremendously beneficial for all concerned.

We know that tourists who are looking at travelling to british c olumbia are more interested in cultural tourism than any other aspect, and they're particularly interested in aboriginal tourism. it's a real pleasure to work with the ceo , k eith h enry, at a boriginal t ourism b.c., and c hief Sophie Pierre, who is the chair of the board. There's been a tremendous collaboration with the ministry, with the government, for years and certainly leading up to the o lympics.

They were a gigantic part of their very suc - cessful staging of the olympics. it's also good to see that the member, although he represents an urban riding, is fully aware of the value of tourism to the economy and to constituencies and the people that live in them all across british c olumbia. t ourism is absolutely vital to our economy. it's our fourth-largest export. We consider it an export because it brings in money from outside of our borders. it's also a very green industry and tremendously eager to show leadership in being a green tourism industry. We're reviewing operations at t ourism b.c.

The mem- ber commented on the changes to t ourism b.c., and the Premier, Premier c hristy c lark, has said that she is cer - tainly willing to look at an evolution of the model. We have been talking about that for quite some time. [Mr.

Speaker in the chair.] We were very successful in combining the forces of the ministry staff and the crown corporation staff in that, presently, virtually all of the same people are still working together in the ministry. of those who worked for t ourism b.c. at the time that the shift was made, al - most all of them are still with us. i heard the member canvass that with the minister just last week. We've been talking about a potential hybrid model for some time.

We certainly need the ongoing, constant and thorough input of the industry, and we'll continue to work collaboratively with it to align goals and ob - jectives. o ne of my tasks presently is working with the minister to speak with tourism operators all around the province and gather their input through the Small business r oundtable.

We've built very successfully on our o lympic exposure with a wide variety of marketing approaches, includ - ing campaigns throughout n orth a merica, e urope and a sia. in fact, our focused, creative 2010 campaign won eight awards in n ovember, including one for the vir - tual b.c. e xperience in San f rancisco, which generated nearly 500 news stories. a few weeks after that opportunity concluded, i was in an elevator in a hotel in Vancouver, and a woman and two children stepped on and we talked on the way up in the elevator.

She was from c alifornia, and i said: "Well, great to have you here in Vancouver." She said: "o h, we went to the event down in San f rancisco, and we just loved it and thought we'd come up and see the province." it's anecdotal, but our statistics demonstrate that all of those approaches have been very successful. We're getting results.

british c olumbia Debates6748 Monday, May 9, 2011 The latest Stats c anada data on overnight visitors, com- paring January 2010 — just a month before the o lympics — with January 2011, showed a rise of 3.2 percent in u .S. overnight visitors to british c olumbia. That's a very sig- nificant number when one realizes that u .S. visitors, in spite of their recession, accounted for 62.6 percent of all overnight international visitors to british c olumbia. [1100] So it's great to see that very significant component of our overnight visitors increasing by those rates even over the o lympic year.

There's also growth in visitation from a sia-Pacific countries. The number of visitors from c hina rose 22.8 percent, from h ong k ong by 52.6 percent and from South k orea by 7.8 percent. There have been some remarkable increases, as well, in visits by people from e urope. People in e urope are tremendously interested in o lympics, and they took a huge interest in our o lympics.

They've been increasing their attendance here by double-digit numbers since the o lympics. in March 2010, as the member mentioned, t ourism b.c. launched an integrated n orth a merican advertising cam- paign building on the games message "Y ou gotta be here." That campaign included the virtual b.c. e xperience in San f rancisco that i just referenced, with a zip line across e mbarcadero Square, b.c . images in subway stations, 3-D chalk art and an interactive storefront. Glad you're more on side than you were last year, Member. l ooking forward to hearing the rest of what you have to say. S.

Chandra Herbert: i'm glad the former minis - ter is more on side with the idea of an independent, performance-based, funded tourism marketer than he was last year when he got rid of it. it's good to hear, and i hope that comes about very shortly, as we in the opposition have been calling for ever since the govern - ment got rid of it. i was glad that the former minister, the member for k amloops–South Thompson, spoke about aboriginal tourism. c ertainly, we had a great time at the k lahowya Village in Stanley Park, but i also think about oppor - tunities across b.c. k eith h enry is very able at speaking about them.

Whether it's in a nahim l ake and the grease trail that i was introduced to when i was up there or in a lert bay and the u'mista c ultural c entre, we certainly have incredible culture, and our first n ations in b.c. have incredible cultural experiences to share about their nations and their territories. one of the great opportunities we have in b.c. — and we've done well, i think, but certainly it's challenging — is ecotourism. i think of the broken islands chain. i was up in c omox, c ampbell r iver, Port h ardy and Port Mcn eill recently, with the member for n orth island.

What an incredible place it is up there. but there are incredible challenges too. a s some - body put it, whether it's shooting things or shooting pictures of things, sometimes the interaction between those doesn't go so well. So somebody wants to go to a river to get a beautiful photo of a bear, for example, but finds that somebody else has shown up with a boat and lifted the engine out of the water so that they would be in compliance with guidelines so that they could shoot the bear. n ot exactly a fair fight when the bear is eating salmon from the riverbed. a nyways, that is one of the challenges.

The tourist who has come from Germany is expecting a pristine, natural environment, but they have found instead something dif- ferent. So the conflicts between uses, i think, will be with us forever, but i can't understand why we don't have a more integrated approach to get the groups to sit down with each other and develop a plan so that they're not stepping on each other's toes all the time — land tenure conflicts.

The Wilderness t ourism a ssociation, of course, is very able in speaking about these issues. i hope that they get an open ear from the current minister, so we can get moving on those issues that particularly deal with rural british c olumbia. The other challenge, of course, with ecotourism is our parks.

W e've got great parks and many of them, but as we've seen, the budget for parks has been cut about 50 per- cent in the last ten years — ten park rangers full time in all of british c olumbia. i think we saw today in the news much discussion about the fact that they couldn't even get toilet paper into a number of the parks — other issues. So let's focus on tourism, and we'll build our province. Hon. P . Bell: i call private members' motions, Motion 5. Mr. Speaker: h on.

Members, unanimous consent of the h ouse is required to proceed with Motion 5 without disturbing the priorities of motions preceding it on the order paper. [1105] l eave granted. Private Members' Motions Motion 5 — clean P o Wer an D rene Wable ener GY technoloGieS P . Pimm: i'd love to move Motion 5. [be it resolved that this h ouse encourage the government to con- tinue to spur innovation in renewable energy technologies and clean power generation to reduce carbon emissions and provide family supporting jobs in british c olumbia.] h on.

Speaker, our potential of the green economy and green energy is substantial — green and clean energy. b.c. has some of the greatest clean energy po - tentials in the world.

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6749 [l. r eid in the chair.] f or the first time ever, private sector innovation is being freely applied to clean tidal, geothermal, wind, run-of-the-river, biomass and natural gas projects right across our province. o ur b.c. energy plan has facili - tated the private sector to invest more than $5.4 million in clean, renewable power projects in b.c. in 2005 we introduced incentives to support the development of wind power projects, and b.c.'s first wind power project began operation last year in the Peace country — the first one of its kind.

We certainly are going to have more of those wind projects in the future as well. c lean, renewable projects along with the aggressive conservation and b.c. h ydro's own projects are cer - tainly going to help us meet our growing electricity demands. They're going to help create jobs for b.c. fam - ilies. it's also going to help keep our electric prices low. That is a key factor — keeping our prices low, keeping our economy, our industry, at a position where they're going to be able to be competitive in this market as we move forward. it's certainly one that we have to be very aware of.

Developing a reliable supply of clean power in b.c . will help us become electricity self-sufficient by 2016, while keeping our rates among the lowest in n orth a merica. in my area of the province we're pretty darn lucky, i've got to say. We've got more energy up there than you can shake a stick at. We've got natural gas. We've got hy- dro, obviously. We've got huge wind potential. We've got Site c up there as well. Site c is estimated to create 7,650 direct construction jobs and 35,000 indirect jobs throughout the project.

What i want to talk a little bit about today is our abun- dance of natural gas in our area and the possibilities for natural gas. b.c.'s h orn r iver and Montney gas plays are part of a massive increase in n orth a merican nat- ural gas supplies. Many regions of north a merica share this wealth of clean-burning energy. one thing that we have to make sure of is that b.c.'s huge natural gas sup - plies, while further away from the markets than many of the other supplies….

We have to make sure that we have an equal opportunity to play a role in n orth a merica's low-carbon economy. n atural gas is meeting our energy needs today and will be a foundation fuel in our future. So let's build on b.c.'s energy successes with clear regulatory processes that create certainty for ongoing investment in b.c.'s natural gas sector. Did you know that natural gas is 45 percent cleaner than coal, 30 percent cleaner than oil? n atural gas is also the best backup to wind and solar when Mother n ature isn't looking after her part.

The thing i want to talk about a little bit is about the natural gas vehicles and the potential for the market for the natural gas. t ransportation is british c olumbia's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions — 36 per - cent of the total, 45 percent of which come from large trucks. n atural gas used as a transportation fuel is ap - proximately 25 to 40 percent cheaper than gasoline or diesel.

Y ou can put it in the pumps at about 72 cents compared to $1.30 or so, and that's something that we have to look at. n atural gas vehicles produce approximately 20 to 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gaso - line or diesel-equivalent engines. if biomethane is used, natural gas vehicles can be carbon-neutral.

Worldwide interest in natural gas vehicles is growing, especially in the u .S., where domestic natural gas as a transporta - tion fuel helps them address their huge supply concerns. o bviously, they have large supplies in the u nited States, as well as we have large supplies in c anada. it's going to create problems in the future. a couple of the biggest problems that we are facing are natural gas development to include incremental costs of the natural gas engine compared with conven - tional equivalents and also the lack of adequate fuelling stations. [1110] Some of our natural gas producers are looking at that concept right now — transportation highways and put - ting fuelling in.

That's certainly being looked at in a big way as we speak. f ortisbc has developed a natural gas market penetration strategy which would see 6.5 per - cent of the heavy- and medium-duty vehicle penetration rate by 2030. This strategy would replace 17 percent of the diesel demand in british c olumbia and create sys - temwide benefits for f ortisbc ratepayers — estimated savings at $33 million to $104 million. i think that's something that we need to support in a big way. one last point. c onverting just one heavy-duty truck from diesel to natural gas is equal to taking 325 cars off of our roads. J.

Horgan: it's a pleasure to be rising in the h ouse today to talk about energy issues. it was, gee, only ten months ago when we had the c lean energy a ct before this place. h on. Speaker, you might remember it. it was passed with closure after about five or six hours of de - bate — $10 billion worth of infrastructure at b.c. h ydro exempted from utilities c ommission oversight.

So i'm delighted today, ten months later — after we've had an opportunity to assess the impact of the c lean energy a ct, which was passed by closure without any debate at all — to see that we will have members of the government side on their feet today talking about energy issues. it is interesting to note that we were talking about renewable energy technologies in the motion, and yet i heard the member for Peace r iver n orth talk about natural gas as a renewable energy source. We must be

british c olumbia Debates6750 Monday, May 9, 2011 killing more dinosaurs every day so that we can have that natural gas. h e also said — and i don't like to lecture people on these issues — that natural gas may well be a bet - ter backup than anything he could contemplate to wind generation. i'm thinking: "b oy, here's a fellow who comes from the Peace where we have one of the largest reservoirs in n orth a merica, where water falls from the sky, fills that reservoir so that we can have a nice fit with wind." That strikes me as renewable. h owever, the important thing to remember is when we use our publicly owned reservoirs to backstop privately owned wind generation, we are taking some of our public wealth and transferring it to private hands. n ow, i know members on the other side of the h ouse excel at transfer- ring our money into the hands of other people. but i would think, after having ten months to con - template, that to think about energy issues, we would have a little bit more depth, if i could say so, in the discussion today. but we have renewable energy be - ing discussed in the form of natural gas, rather than talking about the comparative and competitive advan - tage british c olumbians have with our publicly owned, water-driven utility, b.c. h ydro. i also want to talk, if i could, just for a moment about the wind farm just south of the member's riding. it's in the constituency of the member for Peace r iver South. h e talked about family-supporting jobs in his intro - duction, and it's actually in the text, in the body of the motion.

My colleague from Surrey-Whalley, the finance critic, and i visited the Dawson creek site. a lthough we weren't allowed access by the company, we did manage to find someone who was a member of the co-op that has a 3 percent ownership, the Dawson creek co-op, in that wind farm. We did take a trip up to the ridge to look at the tur - bines, and we came across two young engineers that were working on the site — two young engineers, young fel - las. They were excited to talk to us. h owever, they had to use a second language; they had to speak english. They came from Germany.

They were German kids that were hired to ensure that the wind farm was in working or - der, and that's family-supporting jobs in Germany. i'm thinking to myself: "My goodness. They're taking a page out of David h ahn's book. They're transferring public wealth — now to German hands." i'm okay with that.

My son studied in Germany last year and brought home a German f räulein, who is de - lightful. i have no issue with the people of Germany. i'm a bit concerned, however, that we are again taking our wealth and creating family-supporting jobs in Germany rather than here in british c olumbia. n onetheless, i have only a few minutes at my dis - posal to talk about an issue that i feel very passionately about, and that is public electricity, public power here in british c olumbia. n ow, i've had the opportunity to review the list of speakers that are coming up, and for those who are de - ciding whether to go for a walk or maybe go out in the garden or stick around for the energy debate today, over the next 45 minutes you're going to be hearing a lot of stuff about how great it is that we're buying energy at $120 a megawatt hour from private companies and sell - ing it back to our shareholders, the people of british c olumbia, for about $50 a megawatt hour. [1115] n ow, i know that we don't know how to run the economy over on this side of the h ouse. i'm sure we're going to hear about that over the course of the next 45 minutes. interjections.

J. Horgan: There you go. n ow, this comes from a government that's kicking tax policy around for 24 months, creating uncertainty in every corner of the province, in international mar - kets. a nd they are the ones that can manage the economy? They're now going to stand up…. My good friend from Whistler is probably going to bat cleanup on this, and she's going to get up and say the power of the private sector has been unleashed, and we are going to have this fantastic new day dawning when we buy power…. interjections. J.

Horgan: This is the new l iberal approach — the wall of noise. if you can't debate the issues, just clap louder. That's what they do on that side of the h ouse. Just make a lot of noise. The member for Whistler is going to stand up and say, "Somehow, miraculously, the world economy has been turned upside down, and in british c olumbia we will rejoice, as b.c. l iberals, that we are transferring pub - lic wealth to private hands.

We're buying power at 70 bucks a megawatt hour, more than it's worth, and that's good economics, and that's good business" — on that side of the h ouse. f or me it's inconceivable. f or me it's absolutely appalling. The last point i want to make…. My good friend from Peace r iver n orth talked about renewability — how we could use natural gas, a renewable energy source. i don't know quite how you do that. but an interesting aspect of the gas plays in the northeast is this notion of fracking and the amount of water used to break up the rock and release the gas.

They're taking that water from the Williston reservoir. They're reducing our ability to generate clean, green electricity, and they're taking that water to extract dirty fossil fuels. That's the environment in the eyes of those on that side of the h ouse.

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6751 i know my colleagues have much more to add to the debate. i'll take my seat. before i do so, though, i just want to thank the Minister of Jobs for his resound - ing support for a buy high, sell low strategy. only the guy who's tasked with creating jobs can ship them to Germany and think that's a good thing. R.

Howard: it's my pleasure to rise today in this h ouse and speak in favour of the motion brought for - ward by our member for Peace r iver n orth. it's also been, again, a pleasure to listen to the member for Juan de f uca, who does remind us of the differences in the two sides of the h ouse. We live in a world that they don't seem to get: low tax, low regulatory environment that encourages private sector, encourages innovation, encourages job growth. They just don't seem to get it. We're here to remind them of that. What is renewable energy and clean power?

We are talking about tidal, geothermal, wind, run-of-river and biomass projects across the province. Why is that import- ant to us? Well, because the potential of the green economy is valued at $5.2 trillion globally. That's more than four times the GDP of c anada. So this is a remarkable-sized sector of the economy, and it's something that we are well positioned to continue to play a leadership role not just in the country but in the entire world. i think it's also important to note again the differences in the two sides of the h ouse as highlighted by the previ- ous member's comments.

We do believe that the private sector — by us creating an open playing field, a fair play - ing field, an uncluttered playing field for the private sector — will, in partnerships versus alone, bring the creativity, the drive, the force and innovation to this sector that will lead the way. i see no reason that as the industry grows, b.c. should not be seen as a world leader. c lean and renewable power projects, along with ag - gressive conservation and b.c. h ydro's own projects, help to meet growing electricity demand, keep electric prices low and create jobs for b.c. families. l et's not forget that made-in-b .c. clean and renewable projects generate over 1,000 jobs in cities and small towns all across the province. a ccording to industry, these com - panies have already invested $5.4 billion in b.c., and this sector could attract another $25 billion. [1120] i'd like to talk just about a couple of sectors within the sector that i think are sometimes misunderstood.

The first is iPP . We hear that there has been a sell-off of prov- incial assets, and i just want to go on record and read into the record with clarity on that. r un-of-river water licences typically last 25 to 40 years, and at the time of the expiry of that licence, the water rights and any improvements to the land — those assets and the right to occupy — revert to the crown. There's not a sell-off, as is sometimes put forward.

There are currently 34 run-of-river power projects operating in b.c., i think, with an additional 28 or 30 under development. i think it's also important to note that in total, run-of-river projects impact 0.03 percent of b.c.'s rivers.

That's three in 10,000 rivers that are of suf - ficient size to support this kind of development. i think it's also important to recognize that all clean, renewable energy projects in b.c. are subject to a very rigorous regulatory process. in total, a typical run-of- the-river project will require more than 50 permits, licences, approvals and reviews from 14 different regu - latory bodies, including federal, provincial and local governments and first n ations. i also want to talk just briefly about geothermal — a very exciting sector within a sector, one which my city is very actively engaged in. it turns out that the soils in r ichmond are moist and very conducive to the geo - thermal exchange. i think, when we look again — as partners with cities, partners with first n ations, part - ners with developers even, who are building a grid in various cities all across the province that will tap into this — we have probably one of the cleanest renewable sources with next to no greenhouse gas emissions. i will just close, then, reminding this h ouse that we've just heard before me the member for Juan de f uca — who i think used the word "junk" in reference to this file, which was a very disappointing term.

We believe that we have every reason to be positive, if not excited, about our future. in this great province, led by our government that understands that partnerships and engaging the private sector is key to our success, we are very pleased to take a positive approach to this file and recognize that every morning in this province, under the leadership of this government, the opportun - ity alarm goes off. We're very happy to respond to that as an alternative to the opposition. D.

Donaldson: Well, i don't question the intent of the member for Peace r iver n orth about this motion, but unfortunately his government doesn't act like they be - lieve in two of the important concepts that are included there. There's a credibility gap, hon. Speaker. They're saying one thing and doing another. They talk about supporting families in this motion. Well, does supporting families mean closing schools? That's exactly what they've done. Many say it's the dir - ection set by the current Premier, who was e ducation Minister in the early part of the decade, which has caused this.

Does supporting families mean charging the $350 more per year, as the h St panel revealed last week, that families will pay under the hS t? a ll Mla s on that side supported the h St . They supported charging an extra $350 for families per year. So there's a disconnect there. a s far as clean power and carbon emissions that this bill addresses, let's look at the record of this government

british c olumbia Debates6752 Monday, May 9, 2011 on one of the biggest clean energy carbon emissions topics in this province, and that's oil usage. They're say - ing one thing and doing another.

They will not come out against the enbridge project — the pipeline project from the tar sands that's connecting the tar sands to the port of k itimat, the proposed pipe - line that will go 1,170 kilometres across this part of the province and across northern a lberta. [1125] Despite the fact that 80 percent of all british c olumbians support a crude oil tanker ban for b.c.'s northern coastal waters, this government will not come out against the enbridge project.

The enbridge project does not support renewable energy, it does not support clean power, and it does not support air, water, fish and wildlife on which families depend in the northwest part of this province. on the other hand, we on this side of the h ouse are for clean water and for wild salmon, and this government is for oil spills by not coming out against enbridge. l et's take a look at pipelines. We just had a spill of 28,000 barrels of crude oil in northern a lberta.

That was in the Peace r iver watershed just a couple of weeks ago. it went publicly unreported for four to five days. e ven though the technology was there — the line was scanned every year — they still had this spill. enbridge, an oil pipeline company, had a spill in Michigan last year of 3.3 million litres that went on for 18 hours before the company actually responded to warnings from locals. a gain, it's not technology that's going to be the answer. in Wisconsin, enbridge had to pay over a $1 mil - lion fine for 117 outright violations of permits to do with wetland and waterway protection — over $1 mil - lion.

So we have pipelines that could fail quite easily in the northwest. We have oil tankers on the coast that 80 percent of the people in b.c. do not want. We've had ex- amples of human error with large ships on the coast. We had the Queen of the North just a couple of years ago and the Exxon Valdez a couple of decades ago. t echnology cannot overcome the probability of a catastrophic oil spill — that this government refuses to come out against the enbridge pipeline. So the risks ver- sus the benefits are not worth it.

We have over 60 f irst n ations, coastal first n ations and interior first n ations, that will be impacted by the pipeline, and they've said no. They've done their due diligence. They've said no to this project. it is a provincial issue, and what does the current Premier say? She says the process is underway, and that's the reason for this government's silence on this project. Well, consider the process.

There's a joint review panel. it has three people on it: two from a lberta, one from ontario. e ven the Mackenzie pipeline had four people from the n orthwest t erritories on it, so at least there was a voice for the local people on that project. b.c. has no voice on this joint review panel, and yet this government says they don't want to come out in favour of or oppos - ing the pipeline. We need a b.c. voice on that review panel, and this government should come out against that process because b.c.'s voice is not heard on it. finally, hon.

Speaker, this government says they will not come out against enbridge because the process is underway. Y et in Prosperity, what did we hear from the current Premier? She said in her meeting with Prime Minister h arper shortly after she got elected: "i told him i'm interested in making sure we find a way to get that mine going in british c olumbia." This was before Prosperity had even submitted their second application to the review process.

So in one case she feels they can intervene on a review process. on another case, where it means much to the people of the northwest, much to the entire ecosystem — that is, the enbridge pipeline — she won't intervene in the process, and this government won't come out against enbridge. in the few minutes i have left i would like to say to the member that i recommend he withdraws this mo - tion until his government makes it clear that they are not in favour of oil spills and stands with us in support of wild salmon and clean water by strongly stating their opposition to enbridge and supertankers.

Then he can re- introduce this motion in a genuine manner after that. R. Lee: i am pleased to speak in support of this mo - tion put forward by the member for Peace r iver n orth. i base my support of this motion on the following three reasons. f irst, i believe that the government has a critical role to play in spurring innovation and cre - ating jobs. Second, british c olumbians in general are very supportive of reducing carbon emissions. Third, the development of renewable energy technology and the generation of clean power are good for the future of this province. l et me expand on these thoughts.

While no one will oppose more job opportunities for our citizens, some may be skeptical about the ability of innovation to cre - ate jobs. is there a direct correlation between innovation and job creation? a n

article in The Economist published ten days ago on a pril 28 has an eye-catching title. it says "Still full of ideas, but not making jobs." Well, it's refer - ring to the u .S. [1130] it's observed that the u .S. "ability to innovate and raise productivity remains reasonably healthy," but "the problem is that the benefits of that innovation and pro - ductivity have become…narrowly concentrated…." The key is to provide government incentives aimed at strategic manufacturing sectors. Those are good obser - vations indeed. l et's consider our situation in b.c. o ver the last ten years the b.c. government has well recognized the re -

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6753 newable energy sector as one of the most important sectors that we should focus on. The government in - centives are necessary to spur innovation in renewable technologies. t o capitalize on the global estimated $5.2 trillion green economy, as mentioned by the member for r ichmond c entre, our province has built up a strong base in clean energy technologies. They account for over 150,000 full- time jobs.

While the a mericans are waiting and still talking about it, british c olumbians are actually doing it — creating jobs with the green economy. investment in innovation should not be the privilege of governments.

Governments cannot do it alone, and should not do it alone. ideally, the government just pro- vides a bit of stimulation and lets the private sector do the heavy lifting. b.c. has invested $60 million in the ice fund, which has been successful in stimulating b.c.'s private sector in investing in renewable energies. a nother $35 mil - lion investment was put into the b.c. bioenergy strategy, which also helped to produce clean energy products such as wood pellets and biofuel research. Many projects around b.c. benefit from this in - vestment, including burnaby.

The l ignol biochemical demonstration plant just south of bcit is converting lignocellulosic biomass into fuel, ethanol, lignin-based products and other biochemicals. l ignol is currently working with industry and various government agen - cies to escalate its commercialization process. t en days ago, a pril 28, l ignol began sales of high-performance lignin for industrial trials. o ur province is blessed with plenty of natural re - sources, especially wood fibre. it's incumbent on british c olumbians to effectively and efficiently utilize it for our future.

We need more bioenergy innovations, such as the new biomass facility at the Sfu burnaby campus that converts construction waste and waste energy into heat and hot water for students, residents and facili - ties throughout the community. it will eliminate 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas every year.

Many clean energy companies are actually located in burnaby. f or example, Day4 e nergy, which designs and manufactures high-performance solar electric modules that deliver high power density, has head - quarters and manufacturing facilities right here in burnaby. ballard Power Systems, Xebec a dsorption, a zure Dynamics, t ekion Solutions and Xantrex t echnology are familiar names.

They have attracted much atten - tion from the international community interested in technologies, and put out products for clean energy production. ballard is a catalyst, as you know, for companies to locate in burnaby — for example, the fuel cell centre of excellence for Daimler and f ord, and also the Mercedes-b enz manufacturing facility for fuel cells.

Xantrex has a joint venture with Shanghai e lectric, in fact, to market advanced power electronics for the re - newable energy market in c hina. [1135] c ountries like c hina that depend on fossil fuels now are increasingly turning their attention to clean energy. l ast year i had the opportunity to visit Ming Y ang, the largest non-state-owned wind turbine manufacturers in c hina. in five years it has grown to 3,000 employees, in- cluding 400 r -and-D jobs within and outside c hina. it's making the 1.5-megawatt and also the three-megawatt turbines. a six-megawatt model is currently under de - velopment, which i believe is the highest-power model of wind turbine in the world. c hina has been moving very quickly to take on re - newable energy projects.

Y ou may know that c hina actually is the largest manufacturer of solar panels and has also become the world's largest maker of wind turbines. l ast year c hina reached the capacity of 25 gi - gawatts of wind power production. r esearchers from h arvard u niversity and t singhua u niversity have found that c hina actually could meet all of its electricity de - mands from wind power by 2030. bye-bye, coal. The whole world is moving rapidly toward renew - able energy and clean energy power. o ur province is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of this move- ment to create more jobs for our families.

Government policy is important in this regard. The nDP's record shows that they don't support the bio - energy strategy. They don't support biofuel production. There was not a single wind power project under de - velopment in this province under the nDP . i certainly hope that they can support this motion for a change. R. Fleming: i want to thank the member for Peace r iver n orth for submitting the motion for debate this morning.

We are fortunate to live in a province where unproductive debate about the existence of climate change is not a feature of public life. british c olumbians know full well the impact of changing regional temperatures in our lives — the im - pact on forest health, invasive species, drought, flooding and all sorts of things — that match the imperative to listen to the world scientific community, address green- house gas emissions and make steep emission reductions, which we are now a signatory to in world agreements — 80 percent by 2050. u nfortunately, b.c. isn't making enough progress. We also know that.

Despite lofty green rhetoric from this government, we were the only province out of ten, un - fortunately, in the last reportable year by the federal government to see greenhouse gas emissions rise in british c olumbia, when it declined or stabilized in other jurisdictions in this country. The government likes to talk about a low-carbon economy. i was curious that the introducer of the mo -

british c olumbia Debates6754 Monday, May 9, 2011 tion this morning actually talked about the incredible potential for fossil fuel development in b.c. rather than renewable energy, at least in the bulk of his remarks. We have a new Premier in this province who cheer - leads "low-carbon projects" like the a lberta tar sands pipeline for export to other parts of the world. She wants to break a moratorium that has existed for 40 years, through all kinds of governments of different political stripes in british c olumbia and c anada, on our north - ern coastal waters. She wants to break that.

She supports — and indeed has, right in the Premier's office, helping her transition into the job — representatives from the highest offices of the oil and gas sector, who enjoy lav - ish subsidies in the billions of dollars annually in british c olumbia. That's this government's so-called commit - ment to the low-carbon economy.

The question, really, this morning is: how does b.c. score in its position to take advantage of emerging, new renewable energy types — solar, wind, geothermal, tidal? i want to cover that a little bit in the couple of minutes i have remaining here. u nfortunately, british c olumbia is not among those countries that were early adopters in wind technology — countries like Germany, Denmark, even the u nited States to the south of us. They have already captured much of the manufacturing market on sophisticated wind energy turbines, and we are in a position where we are trying to play catch-up.

We're not a leader in wind energy. We have every advantage, as the energy critic this morning illustrated, of being a strong wind producer, aligning that with our fantastic legacy of hydroelectric reservoirs, keeping those assets and solving the prob - lem of intermittent wind energy with a reservoir that holds back water and making those complementary to one another. but we do not have that.

That's because this government is obsessed with dismantling the legacy of public power in british c olumbia. [1140] The reason we can't have wind and our hydroelectric resources complement one another is because there's a different set of shareholders. When the wind blows and the energy can be sold and put on to the grid and we could hold back the water in the reservoirs, suddenly you've got two sets of stakeholders that have competing economic interests, one public and one private. That's why we are a laggard on wind energy despite having tremendous capacity to be a wind energy leader.

That's because b.c. h ydro has been prohibited under this government's energy plans from being a player in the development of wind energy and indeed any type of renewable energy outside of the hydroelectricity legacy that it maintains and manages. When Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world, came knocking on this province's doors in 2006 to set up a manufacturing facility in Squamish, guess what the government said? n ot interested.

We turned down the biggest wind turbine manufacturer that would have created jobs in british c olumbia in an economically de- pressed region in Squamish when the forest industry was slumping and told them to go away. o ur deep-water ports. "We don't want your steel, we don't want to machine those parts, and we don't want to create turbines in british c olumbia." That's what this government did.

So we don't have thousands of green jobs in the wind sector like they do in c olorado and t exas and c alifornia and now ontario. o ur so-called c lean energy a ct has no requirements for wind energy companies to source and make parts here in british c olumbia. ontario's does.

Some 30 per - cent of a wind turbine has to be made in ontario. b.c. does not, despite our cluster of aerospace companies and manufacturers, which could grow if we had the right amount of incentives in place in b.c. ontario requires 60 percent of solar energy instal - lations to be made in o ntario. b.c . forgoes pursuing a green jobs strategy that could bring manufacturing jobs here for solar. That's why we have so little to show the world in solar energy.

Germany, with c anadian know-how, has installed 400,000 solar installations in buildings in that country. in british c olumbia, by con- trast, solar-energy-supplied buildings number in the hundreds, with only 30 homes in british c olumbia ac- tually selling into the grid. b.c. is not well-placed by the b.c. l iberal govern - ment to develop geothermal energy despite having one of the most bountiful potentials for the cleanest and most stable supply of electricity possible on the contin - ent. it is estimated that there are over 5,000 megawatts of potential geothermal energy here in b.c ., enough to light over a million homes, yet the c anadian, federal and provincial governments have not even invested in mapping studies in british c olumbia to further exam - ine that potential.

We have not provided the early-stage financial sup - port for emerging geothermal companies. That is why the u nited States, which does fund those initiatives, is now the world's biggest supplier of geothermal energy. ironically, a third of the u .S.-based geothermal energy comes from c anadian engineering and investment companies operating in the u nited States.

They cannot get the work here in british c olumbia. finally, tidal — around the world since the 1960s; in the Maritimes, moving ahead in n ova Scotia; in Scotland; but nothing in british c olumbia. in fact, b.c.'s first com - mercial tidal energy plant off of c ampbell r iver and the Discovery Passage has been shelved by the b.c. l iberal government because they consider the technology still unproven while the rest of the world moves ahead. f undamentally, the problem in british c olumbia — to fail to become a leading producer and manufacturer

british c olumbia DebatesMonday, May 9, 2011 6755 of renewable energy sources and clean technology — is that there is no link between british c olumbia's car - bon tax and renewable energy, none whatsoever. The non-renewable fossil fuel economy should, by existing royalties and taxes, support the development of clean energy in our economy, but instead b.c. subsidizes oil and gas to the tune of billions of dollars annually and supplies no support to the clean energy economy in british c olumbia today. M.

Stilwell: i rise to speak in favour of the resolution, "be it resolved that this h ouse encourage the government to…spur innovation in renewable energy technologies and clean power generation to reduce carbon emissions and provide family-supporting jobs in british c olumbia" — two goals important to all b ritish c olumbians. before i do talk about renewable energy, i think it is important to talk about natural gas — it's important to b.c. and our economic future — and to talk about what has been described as the natural gas revolution and how we will use natural gas as a bridge to a prosperous, low-carbon future. [1145] i am happy to see the member for Juan de f uca back because he left me with the impression he thought nat - ural gas was made out of dinosaurs. a nyways, we are all aware every day that energy need and usage escalates exponentially every year, and the costs of producing it do too. of course, that makes us even more aware in b.c. of the importance of the vast increase in so-called unconventional sources of gas re - serves not just here in b.c. and n orth a merica but in fact all over the world. a new joint report on the shale gas potential of the northeastern h orn r iver basin more than doubles the previous assessment of gas resources within the prov - ince.

The report was released on May 6 by the n ational energy board and british c olumbia Minister of energy and Mines. a s the minister said, "This report should provide british c olumbians with a sense of optimism about the future," and indeed it does. We are joining the natural gas revolution described by John Deutch in his

article entitled "The Good n ews a bout Gas" in Foreign Affairs, January-f ebruary. r eferring back to the word "innovation" in the reso - lution, of course it was significant technical innovation that has allowed extraction of shale gas to be possible and economical. Those innovations were the invention of hori- zontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Much is unknown about this resource, how it is formed and how it can be exploited economically with - out harming the environment, providing a rich incentive for future innovation here in b.c.

There is worldwide interest in providing affordable energy that emits less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, and b.c. can be a strong and credible partner in this. a s has been made clear recently, with more sources of natural gas available in the world, b.c. will have to compete to sell its gas into the market and, like all nat - ural gas exporters, will likely be seeing lower prices for it. We are going to be challenged to ensure that we are the beneficiaries of the natural gas revolution. This makes innovation all the more important.

The recently published Mit study called The Future of Natural Gas pointedly reiterates important consider - ations, including that natural gas availability will aid increased use, particularly in electricity production around the world; and in a carbon-constrained world, natural gas use will increase its share of energy use in the u .S., which is a big market for us where they also currently have a large domestic supply. importantly for our future revenues, the global gas market will change dramatically.

The report from Mit emphasizes the need for re - search, development and demonstration projects to advance the field that are worthwhile. The recommen - dations speak clearly to the need for more basic science and applied science with commercialization of new and innovative technologies that engage universities, col - leges and industries. importantly, however, the report also says that it would be a mistake to let natural gas crowd out research on other low- or no-carbon energy sources. a nd so we come to the clean energy race.

The race must ensure, of course, that clean energy becomes the best choice by vir- tue of low cost and low carbon. While we justifiably take pride here in b.c. of our en - vironmental policies, the big and emerging economies like c hina and elsewhere are working rapidly and mak - ing huge investments in clean energy. o ur investments in clean energy innovation here in b.c. and c anada need to be dramatically and immediately stepped up if we want to be partners in the energy world of the future. a ccording to Michael l evi in an

article called "Globalizing the e nergy r evolution," c hina is currently following the same pattern in the clean energy sector as it has in other sectors, namely making incremental process changes based on innovation developed abroad. The c hinese are also described as having a limitation that we, too, in c anada have, mainly having difficulty moving the ideas from laboratory to the marketplace, which is certainly food for thought when we talk about innovation. f urther, the author suggests importantly that major scientific advances are still most likely to occur in the developed world. The fact is that we are

Document details

Collection	British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	H0509am-03
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	H0509am 03
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	44744cae88ef6cbadb8261ff28f6132ebe8f0bf9

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