2005 Legislative Session: 6th Session, 37th Parliament

HANSARD

The following electronic version is for informational purposes

only.

The printed version remains the official version.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

(Hansard)

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2005

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 27, Number 6

CONTENTS

Routine Proceedings

Page

Introductions by Members

Statements (Standing Order 25 B )

Safe schools

L. Mayencourt

White sturgeon fishery

R. Hawes

Raw log exports

B. Belsey

Speaker's Statement

Rules for questions in question period

Oral Questions

Long-term care beds in interior B.C.

J. Kwan

Hon. S. Bond

J. Brar

J. MacPhail

Hon. S. Brice

Logging truck operators labour dispute

P. Nettleton

Hon. G. Bruce

Highway maintenance and safety

W. Cobb

Hon. K. Falcon

Funding for long-term care beds

J. Kwan

Hon. C. Hansen

Reports from Committees

Select Standing Committee on Health

The Path to

Health and Wellness: Making British Columbians Healthier by 2010

V. Roddick

Select Standing Committee on Crown

Corporations, first report

K. Stewart

Select Standing Committee on Crown

Corporations, second report

K. Stewart

P. Nettleton

B. Penner

Tabling Documents

Final Report of the 2004 British

Columbia Judges Compensation Commission , notice of motion containing

government response to this report, and response to 2004 report of the

Judges Compensation Commission

Report of the Judicial Justices

Compensation Commission , September 1, 2004; notice of motion making

recommendations with respect to this report; and response to 2004 report

of the Judicial Justices Compensation Commission

Introduction and First Reading of

Bills

Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act,

2005 (Bill 3)

Hon. G. Plant

Attorney General Statutes Amendment

Act, 2005 (Bill 4)

Hon. G. Plant

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

B. Suffredine

G. Trumper

Hon. S. Bond

Hon. G. Abbott

D. Hayer

J. Bray

B. Penner

Hon. M. Coell

[ Page 11835 ]

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2005

The House met at 2:04 p.m.

Introductions by Members

J. MacPhail: This announcement pains me. It physically

pains me. Mike Smyth and his wife, Mary, gave birth to a 10 pound 13 ounce baby.

I can hardly think about it, but I do wish…. The new baby boy is named Seamus. I

would like to give my heartfelt congratulations to Mary — one, for being married

to Mike Smyth, and two, for birthing that baby. Declan is a proud brother.

[1405]

I also understand that congratulations are in order to a very

dear, close friend of mine, Gary Collins. I do sincerely want to offer Wendy and

Gary congratulations on the birth of their baby girl.

Hon. G. Bruce: On behalf of the government members I, too,

would like to offer our congratulations to both, and to the new British

Columbians to this great province. Of course, it doesn't pain me quite in the

same way that it may have pained you, but I, too, had my trials and

tribulations. I love to have children but fainted all four times.

J. Kwan: I dare say that the Minister of Labour has no idea

what labour really means.

There are a number of seniors who are visiting us today to observe

QP — that's question period. They're here today to demand that the government

fulfil their commitment to long-term care beds in British Columbia. They're

Alison Acker, Clara Halber, Max Halber, Sylvia Kerr, Bel Paul and Linda Siegel.

Would the House please welcome the seniors.

R. Nijjar: I have two recognitions to make. On behalf of my

colleague from Burnaby-Willingdon, who cannot be here at this moment, I would

like to introduce three constituents of his from Burnaby. Raz Ali, Husnia Hakimy

and Rahila Muhibi are here today in the Legislature. Would everybody please make

them welcome.

Also, it is my pleasure…. I know that on Valentine's Day we have

Valentine wishes for all our loved ones, but there's an equally important day

today. There's a Mr. Valentine, a Mr. Valentine Anderson, the MLA for

Vancouver-Langara, who is celebrating a birthday today. After 14 years in the

Legislature and 14 birthdays through this chamber, this will be his last

birthday in this House. He will have many more great birthdays with his wife,

Joyce, as he retires from the Legislature. Would everybody make the member

welcome. [Applause.]

Hon. J. Murray: I have a friend and new constituent in the

House today, in the gallery. It's Mr. Ashley Haslett. He's the communications

manager for the British Columbia and Yukon Hotels Association. Could the House

please make Ashley very welcome.

Hon. P. Sahota: Joining us in the gallery are 80 grade 10

students from the constituency of Burnaby-Edmonds from the great high school of

Burnaby South Secondary. The students today are accompanied by their teachers,

Ms. Moore, Ms. Ghani, Mr. Bobrowick, Ms. Lumb and Ms. Wilson. Would the House

please make them all welcome.

R. Hawes: In the House today we have representatives from

the white sturgeon sport fishing industry in the Fraser Valley. They are here to

talk to the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection about the proposed

listing of white sturgeon under the species at risk, endangered species

legislation. They are Fred Helmer, Vic Carro, Roger Dornam, Eric Christianson

and Frank Kwok. Could the House please make them welcome.

Additionally, we have Mr. Terry Raymond, chair of the Fraser

Valley regional district; Keith Warrener, the director of electoral area H,

which of course is Sumas Mountain; and Arne Zabell from the Hope–Sunshine Valley

area, who is an electoral area director. Could the House please make them

welcome. They're here to speak to the minister on the same issue.

[1410]

J. Wilson: Today I have the pleasure of a friend and

constituent who has come down to Victoria to visit us. I would like the House to

make my constituency assistant, Randy Davis, welcome.

Hon. K. Falcon: Today in the House I'm pleased to say we

are joined by the mayor of the village of Lions Bay, Douglas Miller. I would ask

the House to please make him welcome.

Statements

(Standing Order 25

b) SAFE SCHOOLS

L. Mayencourt: It is a privilege to stand in this House today

to speak again about something that I feel very passionately about, and that's

safe, caring and orderly schools.

As members of this House will know, for the last several weeks

I've been travelling around the province talking to students and teachers and

parents around the issues of bullying, harassment, intimidation and

discrimination in our school system. As we all know, those things are still

continuing today in our school system, and it's a shame. It's something I feel

very, very badly about — that kids in our school system can be subject to

racist, sexist or homophobic comments in the school system and that those kinds

of attitudes go unpunished and unaddressed by so many people in our province.

I think there is nothing more important than making sure kids can

get to their school and feel safe, know that they aren't going to be abused,

know that they aren't going to be targeted or face retribution because they've

decided to stand up to a bully. I think it's very

[ Page 11836 ]

important that we as a House do everything we can to help those kids that are

in great need.

In the time I've spent travelling this province I've been told by

many educated people that the incidence of bullying affects around 15 percent of

the students in our system. In each of the meetings I have had with students,

with teachers, with chambers of commerce, I have asked people to stand up if

they have ever been bullied. I asked them to stand up if they've ever witnessed

bullying and not known how to defend the person being bullied. I have never had

fewer than 80 percent of the people stand up. I say that the 15 percent we say

are affected by bullying is a deep, disturbing lie. It's time for the 80 percent

of us that have been affected by bullying, harassment, intimidation and

discrimination to take a stand, to end the bullying in British Columbia.

WHITE STURGEON FISHERY

R. Hawes: Under the federal Species at Risk Act it's law,

when a species is identified as being in danger of extinction, that they be

protected from all threats and that a recovery plan be put in place. The white

sturgeon is now being considered for addition to this endangered list, and if

listed, all sport fishery on this species, including the current catch and

release program, would be suspended.

Unfortunately, the federal bureaucrats considering this have not

recognized that there are several distinct species of white sturgeon, some of

which may be endangered and others not. One species inhabits the lower Fraser

from its mouth through the Fraser Valley and up to the Hells Gate and Fraser

Canyon.

An extremely successful sport fishing and guiding industry relies

on the ability to catch and release young adult sturgeon from this grouping.

This industry provides hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and contributes many

millions to the local economy and provincial tourism totals. Thousands of

international visitors are attracted annually to fish this great species, and my

home, Mission, is the centre of the industry.

Working closely with the conservation group chaired by Rick

Hansen, the guiding industry has been engaged in tagging and carefully nurturing

the sturgeon stock for many years. They've been able to document a significant

increase in the stock since the tagging program commenced, and there are no

documented mortalities among sturgeon as a result of the catch-and-release

program. The guides have become the eyes and ears of the river, and as one said

of the sturgeon: "These are our babies, and we'll do everything possible to care

for them." They are truly the watchdogs that report poachers and those who would

fish illegally.

If this species is listed as endangered, even catch-and-release

fishing would cease and the industry would die, the tagging program would end,

and the sturgeon would lose their protectors. Sturgeon can be unintentionally

caught in gill-nets, so the salmon industry could be adversely affected.

[1415]

Input on this can only be given to Ottawa until February 28.

Representatives from the sturgeon sport fishing and guiding industry are here

today to urge the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection to assist them in

saving their industry and properly protecting the fish stock. They want him to

join them in convincing Ottawa that only certain white sturgeon populations are

at risk. The white sturgeon in the lower Fraser River should not be listed as

endangered.

RAW LOG EXPORTS

B. Belsey: The forest industry in British Columbia's

northwest has faced some very difficult times over the last few years. Through

these difficult times there is no question that the export of raw logs has been

crucial in keeping many of the foresters and many of the related jobs from

disappearing. It is not our first choice, but raw log exports have kept families

working. Now the leader of the NDP is speaking out, telling the residents of the

northwest she knows what's best for them. She knows which loggers, truckers and

scalers should be working and which loggers, truckers and scalers should not be

working. First she says she needs to stop raw log exports, and now Carole James

is telling us that raw log exports are okay.

This may very well be the mixup between the message we hear in the

south and the message we're hearing in the north. It seems that on this issue

the NDP have some kind of a plan. Actually, we don't know what the plan is; it's

still a bit of a mystery. To be honest, it doesn't really sound like there is

any plan.

There is no mystery that raw log exports have kept hundreds of

people at work. There are approximately 2,000 people in the province that work

because of raw log exports. There's no mystery that without the exports,

struggling forest companies would be closed. There's no mystery that without

these jobs that companies have created for loggers and truckers, they would have

to uproot their families and move to other places.

A modest amount of raw log exports in the northwest is vital to

keep truckers, loggers, scalers, boom-boat operators, longshoremen, tugboat

operators, pilots, maintenance people and office staff. It keeps them working.

My constituents are waiting to hear just how many jobs the NDP

plan to cut when they reduce raw log exports. We're waiting to hear how many

jobs will be lost and how many families will be driven out of our community by

the NDP and Carole James. The people in the northwest need to know now.

Mr. Speaker: That concludes members' statements.

Speaker's Statement

RULES FOR QUESTIONSIN QUESTION PERIOD

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, I do want to take a couple of

minutes. I'd like to apologize to the House for

[ Page 11837 ]

having to repeat my statement of last week. However, judging by the media

coverage stating that I was shortening question period, it is apparent that my

message of last Thursday was either misunderstood or misinterpreted or both. It

was certainly misrepresented. Perhaps I didn't do a good job of explaining what

my intent was; therefore, I am compelled to go over it once more. Please bear

with me as I give it another try.

First of all, the one-minute time limit on questions and answers

is not new. We have been doing this for over three years. Let me repeat: there

is no change in this time limit for either side of the House. I fail to see how

this could be construed as shortening question period, as was reported, or

stifling the opposition.

Incidentally, I did a little research this morning and have

discovered the following: London has a one-minute time limit on questions and

answers; Ontario has a one-minute limit; Manitoba has 50 seconds; and in Ottawa,

which has a much longer question period than we do, the time limit for questions

and answers is 35 seconds and is strictly enforced.

The only change was an attempt to shorten the length of

supplementary questions and answers. A supplementary question is not a new

question. It is a follow-up to the main question and therefore should be

shorter. Also, supplementary questions are at the discretion of the Speaker, and

opposition members are the only members in this House to be afforded the

privilege of supplementary questions.

The object of the exercise is to try to get more people involved

in what is already a very short question period. I would at least like to

accommodate the independent members, who are understandably concerned about

their participation. On Wednesday last only three people managed to get a

question in, and that is not acceptable.

Question period is primarily for the opposition and non-government

members, and I must ensure that they are fairly treated. I also should mention

there is no rule excluding government private members from participating in

question period, when time permits.

[1420]

Oral Questions

LONG-TERM CARE BEDS

IN INTERIOR B.C.

J. Kwan: Last week Kelowna city council reported an

increase in homelessness amongst seniors. In one case a 90-year-old senior is

living on the street. The word "shameful" doesn't even begin to cover this. This

government cut residential care beds in the Okanagan. As he prepares to deliver

tomorrow's budget, can the Minister of Finance tell us where in the New Era

campaign document the Liberals promised to cut long-term care beds and put

90-year-old seniors on the street?

Hon. S. Bond: When we came to Victoria, we actually had a

facilities audit and interviews done so that we looked at every single facility

in the province. We wanted to make sure that seniors have the level of care they

require in the kinds of facilities they deserve. In fact, we have renovated or

added over 4,000 units to the province. We have said that we will continue to

add seats, and we will meet the commitment of 5,000 beds by 2008.

Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a

supplementary question.

J. Kwan: The Liberals knew what the state of the land was.

They campaigned on $139,000 per bed, and they fell short on that promise. The

2004 service plan of the interior health authority is very clear. This

government cut beds, one of which, no doubt, this woman would be pleased to

occupy in these cold winter months.

Again, to the Minister of Finance: how can he justify cutting

long-term care beds in the interior, leaving seniors out in the cold and some on

the streets?

Hon. S. Bond: Let's look at some of the facilities that

seniors were actually in when we developed a plan to begin to renovate and

develop new facilities across the province. Let's take a look at James Bay

Lodge, actually, right close to us here. In fact, the rooms were tiny — four

beds in a very small room. It was difficult to get wheelchairs in and out of the

rooms. There was no room for families to visit with their loved ones. James Bay

Lodge is going to reopen this summer. There will be 90 units, and in every

single one of them the residents will have a bathroom. They will have individual

and private rooms. In fact, the quality of opportunities for them will increase

significantly.

Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a

further supplementary.

J. Kwan: Prudent planning would have ensured that those new

beds were in place before you shut them down and put seniors on the street. What

doesn't the minister get?

Will the Minister of Finance commit today that he will release the

funding necessary to make sure that this poor 90-year-old woman and other

seniors like her in Kelowna and across this province will have a warm bed to

sleep in immediately? Make that commitment now.

Hon. S. Bond: This is the government that's added over $2.4

billion to health care since we arrived in British Columbia. Let's talk about

responsibility for long-term care planning. When we got to Victoria, not one

single FTE was assigned to planning in the Health ministry. Where's the

responsibility of the members opposite to have planned over the past decade?

J. Brar: We now have evidence from the interior health

authority that the number of residential beds in that community has decreased —

not just remained the same but decreased — in places like Kelowna. The Lib-

[ Page 11838 ]

erals promised to invest $682 million on long-term care. Last week we learned

they only spent $100 million.

Will the Minister of Finance tell this House why British

Columbians should believe their promise now, when they shortchanged seniors by

over half a billion dollars in the last four years?

Hon. S. Bond: As we move to transition, the opportunities

available for seniors in this province…. We want to make sure that seniors are

placed in the level of care beds that they require.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

Hon. S. Bond: In fact, wait times in the province in terms

of placement have dropped to 60 to 90 days, instead of a year under the previous

government.

[1425]

Mr. Speaker: The member for Surrey–Panorama Ridge has a

supplementary question.

J. Brar: No matter what you ask, the same answer is going

to come out, you know.

Tomorrow this Finance minister will table his budget. We know he

has shortchanged seniors by $582 million. I want to know how much of the surplus

came as a result of breaking the promise they had in the New Era document

for seniors.

Hon. S. Bond: This is a government that has added over $2

billion for the provision of health care across the province. In fact, health

authorities have actually seen increases to their budgets in excess of 12

percent.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

Hon. S. Bond: In fact, as we redesign this system, we are

looking at each facility and each bed, making sure that they meet the needs of

seniors in the province. We're going to continue to work toward that promise. We

will meet it by 2008.

J. MacPhail: So the government's explanation for breaking

the promise is that they're just gosh-awful incompetent — not, not telling the

truth. Nice answer.

Last week the capital regional district pointed out that this

government had no plan — no plan — to replace the beds the B.C. Liberals cut.

Same story in the interior. Not only did the government break its promise and

cut beds in the interior, but according to the health authority it still doesn't

have the money to add any new beds. Incompetence, I guess, is the answer — just

straight incompetence.

Will the Minister of Health release the money immediately to fund

new beds in the interior so that seniors don't have to live on the streets?

Hon. S. Bond: It's amazing to me that the member opposite

can stand up, as the previous Health minister, and take absolutely no

responsibility for the fact that little planning was done in this province in a

decade.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

The Minister of Health Services has the floor.

Hon. S. Bond: In fact, after a thorough review of every

facility in this province we determined that they needed to be replaced or

renovated. There is a plan in each and every health authority designed to make

sure that the needs of seniors are met in this province.

Mr. Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a

supplementary question.

J. MacPhail: All the health authorities have to do is table

the plans. We learned last week that there's no plan in the interior health

authority or in the capital regional district. Are they not telling the truth?

We'll see what happens in the budget tomorrow, although I don't

know how we could. It was the current Minister of Finance that made a mess of

everything. We'll see whether the government keeps its promise of over 5,000

additional long-term care beds by…. Is it 2008 or 2006? They're going to have to

allocate $190 million tomorrow, immediately, to keep their promise.

I want to get back to that 90-year-old woman on the streets in

Kelowna. Will the Health minister commit to immediately finding beds for this

woman and other seniors like her? Go out today, get those senior people living

on the streets, and get them a bed.

Hon. S. Brice: Of course, issues that surface as a result

of media reports leave one speculating about what the actual situation is. As

the member opposite knows, in this country every senior is either covered under

old age security or, if they are not eligible, they get funding from the

Ministry of Human Resources at the highest rate, which was increased by $70 just

recently.

The member knows that oftentimes situations about homelessness are

compounded with mental health and addiction issues. This is why our Premier

invited the mayor of Kelowna to join with him in a homelessness task force.

LOGGING TRUCK OPERATORS

LABOUR DISPUTE

P. Nettleton: A major protest closed streets in Prince

George this weekend, with talk of further job action. Northern interior logging

truck operators are

[ Page 11839 ]

demanding better pay and working conditions. These mostly small and

independent operators have suffered in silence for years as costs have

escalated, including fuel.

[1430]

Government has been complicit in allowing their friends in the

forest sector to record record profits on the backs of hard-working truckers and

their families. Forest companies have refused to negotiate directly and in good

faith with these very same truckers.

My question is to the Deputy Premier: what is the Deputy Premier's

position in addressing these inequities and resolving this dispute?

Hon. G. Bruce: Safety in the forest industry is important

for everybody. Of course, as the member will know, we started with a Forest

Safety Council. The Forest Safety Council first has dealt with the aspect of

fallers, now working in the silviculture side. I will be asking them to be

looking into the safety concerns relative to the trucking industry so that we

indeed have a safe forestry industry in all sectors, all aspects of that

industry.

Mr. Speaker: The member for Prince George–Omineca has a

supplementary question.

P. Nettleton: Yes, Mr. Speaker. For the information of this

House, this protest occurred outside the office of the Deputy Premier for a very

good reason. She sits on a committee with the Minister of State for Mining, and

they have been inactive. They have sat on their hands and made no attempt to

address this issue, while these people suffer.

My question is to the Deputy Premier. What is your position with

respect to the issues that I have brought to this House today — your position?

Hon. G. Bruce: As I mentioned and reiterate again, in the

whole aspect of the forest industry — whether it is trucking, whether it is

silviculture, whether it is falling — we've had a terrible record from the

standpoint of safety. We have far too many deaths in the forest industry, and

they need to be eliminated.

We have embarked through WCB and with the industry and the unions

— a whole coming together of all players — to try and make sure we can make this

industry safe and secure so that when you go to work, you know you're coming

home alive, well and healthy. This sector needs more attention, and we will be

instructing the members of the Forest Safety Council to be looking at that.

HIGHWAY MAINTENANCE AND SAFETY

W. Cobb: My question is to the Minister of Transportation.

In the Cariboo, many of my constituents are concerned about the maintenance and

safety during the winter season. I know that looking out there today we wouldn't

realize it, but in my riding it is still wintertime. I presented a petition last

week, and I had delivered a couple of boxes of letters in this regard.

The province has witnessed some extreme weather conditions this

last year, particularly in the 100 Mile House and Williams Lake area. My

constituents feel that the highway maintenance standards are not adequate to

meet today's needs.

Can the minister reassure my constituents that maintenance

standards on the highways are being kept and that they meet the needs of the

travellers today? If that is not found, will he review those standards and make

sure they do meet the standards of today?

Hon. K. Falcon: The member at the beginning of his question

actually hit the nail on the head. We have had severe — frankly, unprecedented —

weather conditions in the province in the last few weeks. Many of the

contractors, including the Cariboo contractor, have gone through a year's worth

of salt and sand in the last few weeks. Many of the crews have been working 24

hours a day trying to deal with these unprecedented conditions.

What I can tell the member, and I think the member will

appreciate, is that I have asked for a complete review from my staff. The member

will know that we now have maintenance contracts that can punish the contractors

for lack of performance. That means that if they do not meet the standards that

we set, we have financial penalties in place. I will get a complete review, and

I will let the member know the results of that review.

FUNDING FOR LONG-TERM CARE BEDS

J. Kwan: A simple question for the Minister of Finance.

Will he commit that he will put $190 million in the budget tomorrow for

long-term and intermediate care beds for seniors — yes or no? Less than 20

seconds.

Hon. C. Hansen: Tomorrow is budget day in British Columbia.

There is some great news coming for British Columbians in every corner of this

province.

[1435]

When you have seen the billions of dollars being added to the

Health budget, as the Minister of Health Services indicated earlier…. I can

assure the member that tomorrow in the budget there will be lots of good news

for those who want to make sure that we continue to have the best health care

system in all of Canada.

[End of question period.]

Reports from Committees

V. Roddick: I have the honour to present the report of the

Select Standing Committee on Health for the fifth session of the thirty-seventh

parliament, entitled The Path to Health and Wellness: Making British

Columbians Healthier by 2010 .

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

Motion approved.

[ Page 11840 ]

V. Roddick: I ask leave of the House to permit the moving of a

motion to adopt the report.

Leave granted.

V. Roddick: I move that the report be adopted. In moving

the adoption of the report, I wish to make the following comments. The Select

Standing Committee on Health report calls for more effective prevention

strategies that will help keep people out of the hospital systems, reduce crisis

care intervention, and create a healthier, more active and productive

population. Our work focused primarily on the triple threat of poor diet,

inactivity and obesity, and identified the roles that individuals, communities,

schools, businesses and governments have in reducing these threats.

As host of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, British

Columbia is in a unique position to capture the spirit and excitement of the

games to make all of us fitter and healthier. Our report makes practical

recommendations so that we may become the healthiest jurisdiction ever to host

an Olympic Games.

I appreciate this opportunity to move the adoption of the report,

and I would like to thank the many individuals and organizations who took time

to provide us with their thoughts. I would also like to extend my sincere

appreciation to all the members for their input and dedication throughout this

important process, which actually covered four years and three reports.

The Select Standing Committee on Health would also like to thank

research analyst and consultant Anne Mullens and everybody in the Clerk of

Committees office for enabling us to produce this excellent trilogy. Our health

is our life.

Motion approved.

K. Stewart: I have the honour to present the first report

of the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations for the fifth session,

respecting the reviews of the liquor distribution branch, Forestry Innovation

Investment Ltd., and Land and Water British Columbia.

I move the report be taken as read and received.

Motion approved.

K. Stewart: I ask leave of the House to permit the moving

of a motion to adopt the report.

Leave granted.

K. Stewart: I move the report be adopted. In moving the

adoption of the report, I wish to make the following comments. In its oversight

role, the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations reviews the annual

reports and service plans of British Columbia's Crown corporations in an effort

to enhance the accountability and improve the public performance reporting.

In our first report the committee made 15 recommendations to

ensure a clear and consistent approach across all Crown corporations in the

presentation of performance, financial and governance information. I would like

to thank the senior officers of the liquor distribution branch, Forestry

Innovation Investments Ltd., and Land and Water British Columbia for their

participation in the process.

Motion approved.

[1440]

K. Stewart: I have the honour to present the second report

of the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations for the fifth session,

respecting the reviews of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, the

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the British Columbia Transmission

Corporation.

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

P. Nettleton: I would like to speak to this report, if I

may.

Mr. Speaker: I understand the member wishes to debate the

motion on adoption?

P. Nettleton: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker: For now we'll just ask the question: the

report be taken as read and received?

Motion approved.

K. Stewart: Mr. Speaker, I ask leave of the House to permit

the moving of a motion to adopt the report.

Leave granted.

K. Stewart: I move the report be adopted.

In moving the adoption of the report, I wish to make the following

comments. The Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporation plays an important

role in ensuring that British Columbia Crown corporations provide clear and

concise reporting in their annual reports and service plans. To this extent, the

committee has made 14 recommendations pertaining to the presentation of

performance, financial and governance information in the annual reports and

service plans of B.C. Hydro, ICBC and the British Columbia Transmission

Corporation.

I would like to thank the senior officers of B.C. Hydro, the

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the British Columbia Transmission

Corporation for their participation in this process.

Mr. Speaker: And now the member for Prince George–Omineca.

[ Page 11841 ]

P. Nettleton: You're a patient man, Mr. Speaker. Thank you

very much.

I would like to speak to this report. I have voted against it and

spoken to it in committee. This is a debatable motion, so I would like to speak

very briefly, if I may, to summarize some of the concerns I have with respect

particularly to B.C. Hydro and BCTC.

B.C. Hydro has been played for the fool by U.S. interests and U.S.

protectionism as a result of the B.C. government's greed, obstinacy and

arrogance. B.C. Hydro is in distress under a $7.2 billion debt, amidst a

restructuring and realignment strategy with the western U.S. electricity grid

that went seriously awry. Just as California deregulated its electricity utility

industry and unwittingly set the stage for outsiders to manipulate the system to

their own advantage, B.C. foolishly went down the same path of deregulation.

B.C. Hydro, through its marketing division Powerex, blames

California's electricity utility destructuring and deregulation for that state's

losses as part of B.C. Hydro's defence for the huge profits Hydro made from

California's energy crisis over which they're presently being sued.

Was this resulting catastrophe at Hydro's…? Was it self-inflicted,

or was it aided, promoted and abetted by U.S. interests, which took advantage of

Hydro's desire to become a big player and an equal partner with the western U.S.

electricity utilities? Was it also a planned payback scheme led by those 11

western U.S. states — spearheaded by California and its Attorney General, Bill

Lockyer — for the Enron manipulation of the U.S. energy market they claim B.C.

Hydro also participated in and profited from?

Whatever the reason, Hydro's master plan for the future has

failed. We will soon see the wreckage floating up on B.C. shores, at the least

in the form of loss of credibility and continued bitter, ongoing legal

wrangling.

Personally, I am shocked even though I have, in a sense, predicted

such an event arising out of this major breakup and privatization of B.C. Hydro

and the handing over of Hydro customer services to a former U.S. entity now

based in Bermuda and calling itself a B.C. company. The wreckage on the shore

will be evidenced as the facts come out.

[1445]

It's time for the B.C. government and B.C. Hydro to come clean and

let the B.C. public know about this sorry state of affairs and the details of

this debacle, which is not over yet. This colossal mismanagement may well go

down as one of the biggest blunders in B.C. government history, making the fast

ferries fiasco look like a blip on the B.C. political scene. It could well be

that we are witnessing the collapse, demise and decimation of B.C. Hydro as we

knew it. Now B.C. Hydro's enemies hover like vultures to get a piece of the

spoils as the victim lies confused and wounded, not knowing which way to turn,

not able to discern friend from foe.

I'm deeply saddened by this turn of events, but it is one of this

government's own making through secret deals and a desperate grab for a bigger

slice of the American pie. This is the price of secrecy and concealing from the

public the true nature of this government's wheeling and dealing with a

much-loved and respected public utility — B.C. Hydro. It's about time this

government started putting the interests of British Columbians first and stopped

gambling with our future. This venture was a spin of the roulette wheel, an

expansion of the gambling nature of this government, which cares less about the

public good than it does about the elusive possibility to make a quick buck

today, regardless of what it robs from tomorrow and totally disregarding and

disrespecting the heritage of the past.

In conclusion, as I have said before, W.A.C. Bennett will be

turning over in his grave in response to this betrayal of public trust by this

present administration.

B. Penner: Mr. Speaker, as a member who served on this

committee I, too, would like to make a few comments on the report that has been

tabled in the House today.

First, I would like to make an observation about the report itself

and clarify for members. On page 5 of the report it talks about some committee

members expressing concern about B.C. Hydro's projected operating costs for

generating electricity from existing heritage assets. The concern there was

simply that B.C. Hydro is projecting a decrease in the cost per megawatt going

forward from $22 in 2003-04 to $20 and change in 2006-07. The concern was not

that it's not a worthy goal but merely that we question the ability to hit that

target, given increasing maintenance costs as these assets age. We know the

previous government did not invest very much in renewing those assets, and that

was the concern of the committee. I just want to re-emphasize that here.

In relation to the member for Prince George–Omineca's comments

about the debt, it is true that B.C. Hydro has been shouldering a debt of about

$7.2 billion for many, many years. That debt has been incurred over the last

several decades as the assets that we all benefit from today were built.

In terms of the dispute with California, it is unquestionable that

there are ongoing political machinations taking place in that state. I'm sure he

does not mean to suggest that he's taking the side of the Americans in this

dispute. It is very vexing and troubling for us in British Columbia, who believe

in the rule of law. My understanding is that B.C. Hydro operated according to

the rules that were in place, which Californians themselves imposed on their

state and their electricity purchase practices.

Furthermore, my understanding is that the U.S. Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission has fully investigated and exonerated B.C. Hydro in

relation to these dealings. It's quite understandable how people in California,

particularly at the political level, in an attempt to escape responsibility for

some of the problems they brought their own state, will try to find others to

blame for what happened in California. That's politics.

[ Page 11842 ]

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has looked at this, and I can't

understand any reason why they would take British Columbia's side of the story

for any reason other than those are the facts, because it is a U.S.–based

commission.

Finally, I point out that in British Columbia, in fact, what

happened in the 1990s was that — the member is correct — B.C. Hydro was

partially deregulated. It is under this government that B.C. Hydro has been

brought back to full regulation under the B.C. Utilities Commission. Even today

I think we're awaiting a decision from the BCUC with respect to a proposed power

project on Vancouver Island. That demonstrates again that B.C. Hydro has been

brought into the regulatory process by the BCUC.

K. Stewart: In closing the debate on this topic, I'd just

like to make a few comments with regards to the process that we took in this

committee. For those of you out there in the general public that would like a

fairly accurate recollection of what really went on in those committees, it is

all in Hansard . Fortunately, it's all there for you to read, and you can

read what went on in the committee.

[1450]

One of the things during this committee that we always ensured was

that everyone had an opportunity to say what they wanted and that time was left

for that. I think Hansard will clearly show that.

Before I close, I'd like to bring to your attention that this

committee has been recognized nationally for its openness in the way it has made

Crown corporations more accountable. Just recently, the CCAF — which is a

national body in public sector governance, accountability, management and audit

— has done a report with regard to this committee. It's quite flattering for the

citizens of British Columbia to know that they're being represented with that

type of clarity and transparency within their Crown corporation organizations.

I thank all committee members for their hard work and their good

questions in ensuring that those Crown corporations are held accountable to the

citizens of British Columbia. Thank you for that opportunity.

[1455]

Motion approved on the following division:

YEAS — 55

Falcon

Coell

Les

Chong

Locke

McMahon

Sahota

Christensen

Bell

van Dongen

Barisoff

Roddick

Wilson

Bray

Cobb

Lee

Thorpe

Murray

Plant

Hansen

Bond

Bruce

Brice

Abbott

Neufeld

Coleman

Penner

Anderson

Jarvis

Hogg

Nebbeling

R. Stewart

Hunter

Long

Mayencourt

Trumper

Johnston

Bennett

Belsey

Krueger

J. Reid

Stephens

Masi

Nijjar

Bhullar

Hayer

Lekstrom

MacKay

Halsey-Brandt

K. Stewart

Suffredine

Whittred

Sultan

Hawes

Kerr

NAYS — 2

Brenzinger

Nettleton

Tabling Documents

Hon. G. Plant: I rise to table and file documents. I table

the Final Report of the 2004 British Columbia Judges Compensation Commission .

I also rise to file a notice of motion in my name containing the response of the

government to that report. I also file and table the response to the 2004 report

of the Judges Compensation Commission.

I also rise to table the Report of the Judicial Justices

Compensation Commission , dated September 1, 2004, and a notice of motion in

my name making certain recommendations with respect to that report. I also table

the response to the 2004 report of the Judicial Justices Compensation

Commission.

Introduction and

First Reading of Bills

MISCELLANEOUS STATUTES

AMENDMENT ACT, 2005

Hon. G. Plant presented a message from Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act,

Hon. G. Plant: I move that the bill be introduced and read

a first time now.

Motion approved.

Hon. G. Plant: I'm pleased to introduce Bill 3,

Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2005. Bill 3 amends a number of statutes

to clarify provisions, correct inadvertent errors and make a number of minor

housekeeping amendments as well as to effect an aspect of the transition in

forest and range practices.

Specifically, Bill 3 amends the following statutes: Crime Victim

Assistance Act; Expropriation Amendment Act, 2004; Forest and Range Practices

Act; Land Title Act; Motor Vehicle Act; Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2004;

Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (No. 3); Park Act; Property Transfer

Tax Act; Refer-

[ Page 11843 ]

endum Act; and Small Business Venture Capital Act. I will elaborate on the

nature of these amendments during second reading of this bill.

[1500]

I move the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second

reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill 3 introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on

orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after

today.

ATTORNEY GENERAL STATUTES

AMENDMENT ACT, 2005

Hon. G. Plant presented a message from Her Honour the

Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Attorney General Statutes Amendment Act,

Hon. G. Plant: I move that the bill be introduced and read

a first time now.

Motion approved.

Hon. G. Plant: I am pleased to introduce Bill 4, Attorney

General Statutes Amendment Act, 2005. Bill 4 amends several Ministry of Attorney

General statutes to provide for greater flexibility and efficiency.

First, amendments to the Family Relations Act will provide

statutory authority for a child support service to recalculate child support

amounts based on updated or changed income information using the child support

guidelines. This will allow us to pilot and administer the process for updating

child support orders on a regular basis, based on changes in the paying parent's

income. Our objective is to provide an effective way to keep child support

amounts up to date without requiring parents to go to court to have the order

changed simply because the payer's income has changed.

Bill 4 also makes amendments to the Legal Services Society Act to

allow the Legal Services Society greater flexibility in its budgeting process.

Bill 4 amends the Offence Act by enabling fines to be prescribed for violation

tickets without requiring the prior consultation with the Chief Judge of the

Provincial Court. This amendment will increase efficiency, and it is supported

by the Chief Judge.

Finally, this bill makes minor amendments to the Provincial Court

Act. The amendment implements a recommendation made by the 2004 Judges

Compensation Commission that the highly successful senior judges' part-time

program be made permanent — a recommendation which government has accepted in

the documents I tabled earlier. This program was started in 2001 as a pilot

project. It allows senior judges to elect to sit on a part-time basis rather

than retire completely. We get the benefit of their experience, and we get to

use public dollars more efficiently.

I will speak in greater detail about these amendments at second

reading.

I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second

reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill 4 introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on

orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after

today.

Orders of the Day

Hon. G. Bruce: I call continuing throne response.

Throne Speech Debate

(continued)

B. Suffredine: I'll try to pick up seamlessly where I left

off on Thursday.

The next topic that I was wanting to speak about in terms of the

throne speech…. A broad and aggressive strategy for the province for the coming

decade is our strategy with respect to being the best in education. We're

committed to making B.C. the most literate jurisdiction on the continent, and

changes have been made to give school boards greater autonomy and to help them

direct resources where students need them.

[J. Weisbeck in the chair.]

All school districts have received funding increases of $863 for

every student since 2000-01 in spite of declining enrolments. In the coming

year, block grants will increase by $150 million, and that money will be

dedicated to providing library services and learning resources. Districts will

report annually on how they provide those services. The Action Schools

initiative, which is a great initiative to see children become more physically

fit, will extend to every school from kindergarten to grade 9.

In my riding, in places like Lister, Yahk, Edgewood and many

others, declining enrolment means that school boards have found difficulty

keeping schools open. This is a result not of changes in funding but of shifting

population patterns. Working with community school advocates and others to

examine new uses for those underutilized schools will benefit small communities,

where they might help fill needs for early childhood development centres, parent

centres, community libraries, seniors centres, day cares, diagnostic services or

even meeting rooms. These uses can revitalize schools as centres of learning,

community activity or child development.

[1505]

Next I'd like to touch on supports for the needy. Having the best

system of support for persons with disabilities, special needs, children at risk

or seniors is fundamental to us all having safe, strong communities. A strong

economy generates the revenues we need to help build the best system of support

in Canada for persons with disabilities, for special needs or for children at

risk. It allowed us to announce the single largest rate increase in history for

people with disabilities

[ Page 11844 ]

on income assistance. It also combined funding for autism and early childhood

development — to almost triple since 2001. It allowed funding for social housing

to increase by 38 percent since 2001.

This year even more will be done to improve our social safety net

for society's most vulnerable in British Columbia. The amount that people with

disabilities can earn without penalty while on income assistance has doubled.

It's now a $400 per month exemption. Those earnings exemptions are to be

increased even further next year, and I am pleased to say that that's in part

due to people from my riding coming forward and getting the issue heard. It's

important to people in our communities. It's important that we give them all the

opportunities we can.

Making British Columbia the best place on earth to live and to

play is an important goal. Nothing is more important to our quality of living

and lifestyle than our personal health. Leading the way in healthy living and

physical fitness can help take some of the pressure off our health care system.

Our aging population, new technologies, expanded health services and soaring

drug costs all create new cost pressures in health care each year.

We've had to revitalize our health care system. The process hasn't

been easy, but it was necessary. Improving patient care has always been and is

the guiding principle. There's much more that we can and must do, but we are

making progress. We have the longest life expectancy, the most universal

prescription drug program, the lowest smoking rate, the lowest smoking

prevalence among teenagers and the best record in curing cancer.

The number of doctors in training has doubled since we began, and

600 more nurses are now at work. Another 2,100-and-some new nurses are in

training spaces since 2001. Some of those nurses are at Selkirk College in my

riding. That's 50 percent more nurses in training since 2001 and 25 times more

nurse training spaces than were added through the entire 1990s.

There's also some new hope in that the recent federal-provincial

health accord will pump an extra $5.4 billion into British Columbia's health

care system over the next ten years. That will support major improvements in

home care. It will help reduce wait times for cardiac treatment. Wait times in

diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration will also be

improved.

We will increase investments in telehealth for rural and remote

communities and in new medical equipment and technologies. Telehealth and those

electronic imaging improvements are things which will greatly benefit small

communities, like Kaslo, Nakusp and even Nelson, in my region. They're going to

make a huge difference in the ability to deliver services and emergency services

in a very timely way.

British Columbia is, as we all know, the best place on earth to

work, invest and get ahead. We know that. Every one of us…. When you ask people

around the region — it doesn't matter which community they live in — that's

their reaction: where they live is the best place to live and to work.

Leading the nation in job creation and improving the standard of

living and growing opportunities are all possible with a strong economy. There

are 200,000 new jobs, and 97 percent of those new jobs are full-time. Many are

in high-paying sectors like forestry, energy, mining and technology. Forestry,

mining and small business are all back.

[1510]

In conclusion, there's one thing I did want to talk about. I

listened to the opposition. I was concerned when I heard the House Leader for

the opposition. She wouldn't talk about the future or their goals. She critiqued

what has happened, but she gave no vision of what could be. The NDP House Leader

gave us absolutely no vision for the future. She had two goals. She wanted to

make us afraid of the future, and she wanted us to believe that someone else was

to blame for it.

There's nothing to fear in the future. We have a plan to build a

future which will realize our goals and our true potential as the best place on

earth to raise a family, to live, to play, to work, to invest and to get ahead.

The time has come for us to move very boldly forward and to test the limits of

our potential. B.C.'s golden decade is in front of us, and the decade of decline

is behind us. Let's never go back.

G. Trumper: It is with great pleasure that I rise today to

respond to the Speech from the Throne. For the past few years this government

has worked hard to improve our economy, to provide more employment and to

provide a balanced budget so that we can enter a golden decade for British

Columbia.

Four years ago when I ran for the provincial government, I ran

because as mayor of a resource-based community I had seen the policies of the

previous government have a huge negative effect on my region — loss of

employment and lost opportunities. I wanted to be part of bringing a positive

change to British Columbia.

Before I continue, I do want at this time to thank my staff, who

get very little recognition. I want to recognize Maryann Washington, who is my

constituency assistant; Noreen Pelk; Margaret Souther; and Marilyn Hayden, who

has worked for some time in my Qualicum office, for all their hard work in my

constituency. I am very fortunate to have them, and I might tell you that from

talking to other MLAs, I obviously have a very busy office and need those people

in the office.

In my first response to a throne speech, I stated that the economy

of this province will turn around to enable us to provide the services we need.

Patients and students must always come first. School districts, colleges and

universities now have the ability to set the direction they want, to provide the

best training and education for the students and to provide the programs that

they need when they want them.

Our government lived up to that statement. We are on track to add

25,000 new post-secondary student spaces so that our students are able to get

the education they need in order to succeed. They're able to do it in four

years, for instance, rather than six years because the programs could not be

provided. I know that in my region, North Island College — which I have a great

[ Page 11845 ]

interest in because I was the first board member from our school district to

sit on the board, when it first came into existence in the seventies — is now

looking to expand its campus in Port Alberni and to expand its courses.

The government reduced taxes and other restrictions placed on

business in British Columbia. The results of the business-friendly environment

that British Columbia created are clear. There are more than 197,000 new jobs

than there were in December of 2001. Of those new jobs, 97 percent are full-time

jobs, allowing more people to support their families Unemployment hit a 23-year

low, and in my region it has been a long, long time since you could say that

unemployment was down below 10 percent.

[1515]

We all know that real estate prices are going up on Vancouver

Island and in British Columbia. This is particularly welcome news in Port

Alberni, where prices dropped substantially in the late nineties. We are now

seeing some of the highest increases on the Island. Actually, just in the last

few weeks, one of our real estate representatives, David Koszegi, received the

highest B.C. award from Re/Max for his sales last year, which is quite

surprising for a community of our size.

This increase in prices is a great benefit for the residents of my

riding, many of whom have made a substantial investment in their homes which

will now provide a handsome dividend. This is one of the benefits of the

economic recovery that the B.C. Liberals brought to our province.

Mining investment, mining exploration and mining jobs are coming

back to British Columbia. We now see exploration taking place in my riding which

stopped in the nineties. At one time I had friends of my son who were at UBC and

were doing exploration work for mining companies staying at my house in the late

eighties. I never saw them again in the nineties. It's really interesting and

exciting to see what is taking place.

The economic boom is more than job numbers, percentages and

ratios. It's about new opportunities for British Columbians so that we have the

social safety nets we need and so that those who have been on social security

are able to leave that and find jobs and start careers that support their

families. It gives them pride and the initiative to be able to take

responsibility for their lives.

All over my riding, from east to west, businesses are saying that

they are doing well. Some of them have had the best years that they have ever

had. Also in my riding we have had two large stores come to the town that I live

in — one very large grocery store and a Wal-Mart. They would not have come to

our region if they had not looked at the numbers and the things that were

happening in British Columbia and known that the economy was turning around.

That has provided a lot of jobs for people in my riding.

The economic recovery allowed the government to increase health

spending by more than $2 billion a year to ensure that health care would be

there for every British Columbian. I want to say that it hasn't been easy. As

the demands are greater, we've had to face a shortage of doctors and nurses due

to the lack of spaces being provided in universities for the last 20 years for

these students.

There is a shortage of general practitioners, for instance, in my

riding. I know that the search is on to attract new general practitioners to the

area. It is a great place to live and to raise a family, but unlike when my own

husband was in practice, so many doctors today are not wanting to have to put in

the long hours that they put in before. They want to be able to spend time with

their families. I can tell you that often my family used to say that at weekends

I appeared to be a single mother, driving the kids everywhere, all over the

place, to their various hockey games, swim meets, etc. Today these people who

are coming into the profession are putting their families first. They're also

wanting to be in places where they have more coverage and are not having to be

on call every other night. That brings problems to rural areas.

We do need the opportunity to have new technology. The health

technology has improved. We now have defibrillators on the ambulances in the

province, which is incredibly important when you consider the geography and the

distance travelled by the ambulance service in this province. In the hospital in

my hometown, we're getting digital imaging capabilities, which means that the

X-rays can be taken in the hospital and relayed to a radiologist in Vancouver or

Victoria and read. For communities outside urban areas, this can be a lifesaver.

We do need other technology. I am working with others to be able to have a CAT

scanner at West Coast General Hospital. This will help to improve the services

to patients in the region.

[1520]

We are considered, as someone has said, to have the healthiest

population of all the provinces. However, we are concerned about the growing

obesity in our children and must encourage all citizens to take more

responsibility for themselves and for their children's health. We should all

take it as a goal, as we work toward the 2010 Olympics, that each one of us take

steps to become more active and, therefore, healthier as we get older. On

Saturday I attended the five-year run-up to the Olympics, where all of us who

spoke at it encouraged our young people to take

part in the programs that are

available and are coming, to be able to make sure they are physically fit as

well as mentally fit so that as they get older, they will be able to not have

such a call on the health system, which, after all, is having issues in trying

to keep up with the huge demand that's there.

I'm also very pleased to see that we will be having a new

Premier's council on aging and seniors issues established. That hits rather

close to home, as I know that in the not-too-far future I will probably need

some services. We will examine how to improve seniors housing and home care. We

will look at how to improve seniors' independence and quality of life, and those

people sitting on that council will be those people that it affects.

[ Page 11846 ]

I have a high seniors population in my riding. In Qualicum Beach,

construction has already begun on The Gardens, which is a 225-unit seniors

housing development. Thirty of these new assisted-living units will be

subsidized by the provincial government through our Independent Living B.C.

program, and there are more spaces being made available in the Qualicum area at

another facility which will be opening very soon.

In the Alberni Valley there are more assisted-living developments

coming, and ground is about to be broken for a seniors housing unit in Ucluelet.

One of the big issues, though, on the east side of the island and the Oceanside

area is the need for a primary care facility of some type. We are working hard

with other agencies to have, hopefully in the near future, the services that

facility would provide, but we do need the buy-in of all the professional health

people to be able to do that.

We had 15 apartments open in Port Alberni that will allow people

with mental illness or drug addictions to live independently. These apartments

are, for people with mental illness, a safe place to live, which is important

for their well-being. There is somebody there seven days a week to make sure

that they are looking after themselves. There are plans in place to have a

similar facility in Oceanside.

With education, probably the best gift we can give our children,

we have been able to increase educational spending by $863 per student per year,

ensuring that our children will receive the education they need to succeed in

the future. We have taken steps to ensure that the new money goes to the

students and their needs.

The Ready, Set, Learn program. In school district 70 and school

district 69, the two school districts within my constituency, they have some

wonderful, innovative reading and literacy programs. I hope to see those

programs expanded so that every child in the region is able to take advantage of

them. We have Roots of Empathy, and we probably have the best alternate program

school in the region in school district 70. It's known as Vast. It's having a

great success with students who have not been able to operate in the

conventional school program.

I do want to say that it hasn't been an easy ride over the last

three years. Issues such as the softwood lumber dispute continue to plague the

forest industry in British Columbia and in my riding. After all, forestry is the

backbone of the economy in my region. We all need to remember that it is the

dollars created in resource communities that fuel B.C.'s economy. The government

does continue to make progress in this matter, although it's slow. More rulings

from the WTO have been secured in our favour, and I believe it is only a matter

of time before this issue is resolved in our favour.

[1525]

In addition to the progress made on the softwood lumber dispute,

the government is working to expand markets for B.C. lumber. One such program is

Dream Home China, which I spoke about earlier today. I joined the Minister of

Forests and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Services on a trade

mission to China. In China, a new dream home constructed of wood was unveiled.

This is important because ten million new homes are constructed each year in

China — five times more than in the United States.

Chinese people are, unfortunately, accustomed to concrete

construction, but demonstrating the benefits of frame houses will undoubtedly

convince many of these new home buyers to switch from concrete and cement to

wood, which will create more opportunities for our forest and woodworking

industries and also help to improve the air quality in China, as wood

construction is more environmentally friendly than the materials currently used

in Chinese housing. I can tell you that in Shanghai, we never, ever saw the blue

sky. The pollution is something that I haven't seen for many years.

This raises the issue of the need for ports to ship materials to

Asia. We do hear a lot about the efforts that are being made for the Prince

Rupert port, but in Port Alberni we have a deep-sea port which is very

underutilized. With improved road access to Port Alberni, materials could be

shipped to Asia a day quicker than from Vancouver. This government is studying

the Horne Lake connector to improve road access, and negotiations are also

underway for the revival of the rail connections on the Island, which could

certainly further enhance the opportunities for the port.

In my riding we have reaped many benefits from the economic

recovery, and I would just like to go over some that have come up in the past

year. As part of the recent increase to the emergency shelter program, the Port

Alberni hostel received funding for four cold- and wet-weather beds. I think it

is true to say that because of our climate, we have many people who come to the

west coast for the winter who have had difficulties in other parts of the

country, and sometimes those beds are taken up by people who come from out of

the province. These beds will be a life-saver for people seeking shelter.

The Port Alberni hostel provides many essential services to our

community and is able to bring individuals seeking shelter in out of the cold,

together. The rotary club in Port Alberni has actually taken the hostel under

its wing and is helping to fund some of the new changes that need to be done to

it.

One of the issues that I am most interested in is programs to

combat violence against women. This will be stepped up over the next few years

with new funding and will ensure that women all over the province will have

access to safe housing when escaping from abuse. I'd just like to point out that

not all transition houses have 24-7 service. We want to make sure that whether

it's a residence with four beds or whether it's one with 20, they all have the

same security and the same safety measures right through the province.

I also would just like to talk about a very innovative group

called Share Our Services in Parksville-Oceanside, which covers many services

that they provide in the area. They do some of the women's services

[ Page 11847 ]

out of that particular organization. I would just like to point out that the

only money they get from government is the programs that they have in contract.

They raise the money from a thrift shop they have, which raises over a million

dollars every year. That is what they fund all the programs out of — many for

children, for women, for providing Christmas gifts for children at

Christmastime, for providing needed services and needed clothing, etc. It's all

done mainly by volunteers. It's a wonderful program, and it is an example to

other places in the province.

Also, as I have said, forestry is the backbone of our economy. The

Premier announced a further $50 million for the forest revitalization fund,

which will help many of my constituents who have been affected by the

difficulties in our forests on the coast. We also now have the opportunity for

two community forests in Ucluelet and Port Alberni, enabling those communities

to have more control over their resources. They are some of the first community

forests to be awarded by this government. The region also received almost

$40,000 from the decision to return traffic fine revenue to municipalities, and

this new money for policing will go a long way to making our communities safer

places.

[1530]

It was 4 Circles Consulting that took over the training for jobs

program and community assistance contracts with the Ministry of Human Resources,

and this Thursday the minister will be visiting that particular firm. Through

this program, the provincial government is creating opportunities for my

constituents to get the training they need to take advantage of the 197,000 new

jobs that have been created.

In my constituency, we have a large first nations population, and

I am proud that our government provided the funding for first nations for

economic development opportunities. Money was provided for the Maa-nulth first

nations in my riding, and that money will help more of our aboriginals take

advantages of the opportunities our growing economy provides.

The Maa-nulth first nation is working toward a treaty. They have

an AIP in place. This weekend I attended a meeting where they signed a

memorandum of understanding with the Alberni-Clayoquot regional district so that

they could work closer together. I do believe that was a very positive step

enabling the two communities to work together.

A forestry agreement was signed last year between the provincial

government and the Sechelt first nation. This agreement gives the Tseshaht band

an opportunity to become very involved in forestry. It will grant the Tseshaht

first nation access to 236,000 cubic metres of timber over a five-year period,

and they will also get $2.18 million in revenue-sharing over that period of

time. The Dididaht, who are in my riding, with the Pacheedaht first nations, got

access to 300,000 cubic metres under a similar agreement in 2003.

Some of the technology we've previously talked about in health

also extends to education. I have communities on the west coast where it's very

difficult to get services to, particularly for education. They have small

numbers, so it's hard to get the numbers of teachers into the school there to

give them the variety of programs they need.

School district 70 was one of the first school districts that

helped put the Internet in place, out to the various places on the west coast

and to other rural communities in British Columbia. Bamfield Community School

and Wickaninnish Community School in my riding both got access to the Internet,

which is going to make a huge difference to the education of those children as

they go through the system.

In my first response to the throne speech, I said I know that in

four years' time, we are going to be able to look back and say we did the job we

were elected for and that there's a future for our children and grandchildren. I

hope it will encourage my sons and daughters to come back to British Columbia.

Three of them left and are in Alberta and, as a matter of fact, in New Zealand.

They left because of the state of the economy in the nineties, and I'm hoping

they will come back.

It takes time to change the direction of a ship. It cannot always

be done in a very short time. In four years, we have started, and we can now see

the results. We do have a vision for this province. We have a vision for the

future, for the well-being of all British Columbians, and my constituents look

forward to the golden decade ahead for us all in British Columbia.

Hon. S. Bond: I am delighted today to be able to respond to

the throne speech. I think it's a wonderful opportunity to reflect a little bit

on the past but also to look very much to the future, and I think that was

reflected in the throne speech we heard just the other day. Our Premier has a

vision, and it is infectious. He wants very much to share with all British

Columbians the great excitement we have for the future of the province.

Make no mistake about it. We have certainly had some very

challenging times in the province as we've moved forward with a plan. We have

had a plan. We recognized all along that it would require some very challenging

decisions to be made, but we knew that once those decisions were made and we

began to see the benefits, we'd be able to talk about the future of this

province in a way we haven't been able to do for a very long time in British

Columbia.

[1535]

In fact, we care deeply about the future of this province, because

all of us want our children, our grandchildren and those who come behind us to

inherit the province they deserve. We saw British Columbia go from first to

worst in so many areas over the last decade, and we are so pleased that we'll

now be able to look ahead, will be able to provide the kinds of sustainable and

important programs that are necessary for our children and for the future of the

province.

Our throne speech this year promises to move us beyond recovery

and back into a mode of discovery. We want our very youngest British Columbians

to discover the world around them through sight and sound — in fact, $76 million

through 2007 for vision and hear-

[ Page 11848 ]

ing tests for all newborns. How important is that? It's so important — so

that as our children move into the world, they have the opportunity — to make

sure all of the tests they need to ensure they have a future that's bright are

done. I'm very pleased that some of those initiatives will be through the

Ministry of Health.

We want to make sure our toddlers are able to discover new friends

through Roots of Empathy, a program that is highly recommended and certainly has

been supported significantly by our Minister for Early Childhood Development.

She has done such great work to make sure we all realize as British Columbians

that all of the work we do in terms of prevention helps us — helps individuals

but also helps the province as we move forward.

We also want our elementary and high school students to discover

the joy of a well-rounded education. We are going to be investing $150 million

in libraries, textbooks, art and music education, and in an expanded Action

Schools B.C. program to help us with the level of physical fitness.

We also want to look at our post-secondary students and make sure

they are able to discover their potential. We have increased funding for

colleges and universities by $132 million, and we are limiting tuition increases

to inflation. A brand-new scholarship will be created, the One World scholarship

fund, for them to help discover the world abroad.

We also want to reach out to our entrepreneurs. We want to help

them discover the Asia-Pacific market. We know that the B.C. trade and culture

centres will act as a starting point for new opportunities.

We also are creating a B.C. competition council. In my riding,

I've already heard very positive feedback to the fact that we know this is a new

area of opportunity for expansion for us. In fact, people in Prince George–Mount

Robson have recently looked to expanding their opportunities not just in the

Asia-Pacific market but in other countries such as South America. We know that

all we need to do is to give small business owners the opportunities, then get

out of the way and make sure we're allowing them to reach their full potential.

We are also concerned that our scientists continue to lead in the

world of discovery. We know it was in B.C. that we were able to map the SARS

genome. It was here in B.C. that the world learned the genetic code for

influenza A. With a further $100 million for the Michael Smith Foundation, as

mentioned in the throne speech, B.C. will continue to lead the world in the

areas of cancer research and genomics.

We've all been invited to discover a golden decade. One of the

things that the throne speech talked about was a commitment to help British

Columbians become healthier and fitter and to help us as we set personal goals.

Act Now is an initiative that will work across government ministries, not simply

resting with the Ministry of Health but making sure that as we work across

ministries in government, we're focusing on what we can do to ensure that

British Columbians lead healthier and more fit lifestyles.

We have commitments to make sure that the quality of our water,

our air and our parks will also be part of the Act Now strategy. We're looking

at an alternative energy and power task force to make sure we use the forces of

nature to generate power and improve the quality of our air.

We've also committed $120 million for the B.C. community water

improvement program and a further $16 million to implement the drinking water

action plan. Just recently — I believe it was on the weekend — an announcement

was made around a $6.5 million donation to the habitat conservation trust fund.

That will result in more parks and areas of conservation for us to explore.

[1540]

The Premier wants us as a province to pursue five goals, and I

want to spend just a minute or two talking about those goals.

The first goal is to make B.C. the best-educated, most literate

jurisdiction on the continent. Certainly, in my time as the Minister of Advanced

Education, I learned a lot about the issue of literacy, and in fact, many adults

in British Columbia are challenged. A significant percentage, over 40 percent of

adult British Columbians, have challenges every day doing things that many of us

take for granted — using an ATM machine, looking at their banking statements and

filling out the most basic forms. We need to have a concentrated effort in terms

of increasing the level of literacy within British Columbia.

We want to make sure the money we invest in new funding will

ensure that school districts provide the library services, textbooks, arts and

music programs and the services that our students need. We are going to expand

the Action Schools program in cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the

Ministry of Education. I have been lucky enough to participate in a very short

segment of the Action Schools program, and I can tell you that schools that

participate will certainly see positive results for their students. In fact, if

you exercise in the little segments that they've provided through Action Schools

B.C., you will be fitter. I certainly got a good workout when I was there.

We also want to look at new ways to use our underutilized schools

for the benefit of their community. Those buildings are assets that British

Columbians should be able to take advantage of. We want to look at using them

not just as centres of learning but also as centres for community activity with,

in particular, a focus on child development.

We are going to continue, as has been mentioned many times, adding

25,000 post-secondary student spaces by the year 2010, and we are looking at new

programs being offered across the province. One of the things we also have been

challenged to do is speed up credentialing in trades and in professions.

Most recently, there has been discussion about foreign-trained

medical professionals, and we are going to continue to work toward how we can

find a process that would speed up the credentialing in those

[ Page 11849 ]

absolutely critical areas for the economy and for the province.

Our second goal relates to how we provide supports to people who

actually need additional help. I've had very good feedback about the creation of

the Premier's council on aging and seniors' issues. The whole point of that is

for us to be able to identify areas where we can improve service to our seniors

— how we look at housing options and home care and how we consider even the

issue of mandatory retirement. As we can see throughout all the professions,

because of the bulge that's moving through the system, we know that's going to

be a challenge, and we're prepared to have a discussion about mandatory

retirement.

We also intend to increase the earnings exemption for persons with

disabilities, and this follows on our previous move to create the single largest

rate increase in history for persons with disabilities on income assistance.

We are also adding $37 million in new funding over the next three

years to ensure that women and children escaping violent and abusive

relationships have more 24-7 access to safe housing. The Task Force on

Homelessness will continue developing new strategies to tackle homelessness, but

with that, often, is a series of other issues that individuals are challenged

with — issues of drug addictions and mental illness. I know that my colleague

the minister of state that deals with these issues will continue the great work

she has done in terms of how we begin to address those in meaningful ways in the

province.

A third goal is to lead the way in healthy living and physical

fitness. There is absolute evidence that if we can deal with the issue of

prevention and if we can look at the issue of chronic disease…. It is absolutely

critical that we begin to address the health and lifestyle issues that British

Columbians face. We are facing a generation of young people…. For the first

time, if we don't begin to aggressively deal with the issues of obesity, lack of

exercise and healthy eating, we are actually in jeopardy of shortening our

children's life expectancy. That is a shocking statistic and fact in a country

and province such as ours. It's time for us to be aggressive and to be

innovative as we look at how to create a healthier British Columbia.

[1545]

One of the things my ministry is going to be considering as we

look at the Act Now initiative is that we're going to have a look at what the

United Kingdom is currently doing in their health care system. They have done

some incredibly innovative things, including the creation of personal health

guides, and what that does is allow the people of Great Britain to create health

care plans and lifestyle plans for themselves.

It means that citizens there will have the opportunity to work

with their physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and counsellors to create

personally developed health plans, where they can set targets and goals for

increasing their health and live a more active and healthy lifestyle. So my

ministry over the next number of months will be looking at how we can look at a

similar concept here in British Columbia.

As we have committed in the throne speech, we will be continuing

to reach our target of 5,000 beds as we provide for seniors across the province.

We are going to do that in a way that better serves the needs of the seniors of

today. We fully realize that previously, there were two options for seniors in

this province: you could either be at home or be in residential care. Seniors

today have told us that they want a variety of options. Some seniors require a

little bit of assistance. Others require complete help for 24 hours a day. We

are going to continue to build a model that reflects the needs and desires of

those seniors.

The other goals talk about leading the world in sustainable

environmental management. We're going to continue to build on the success we had

when we acquired and preserved Burns Bog. As I have mentioned, we are adding

$6.5 million to the habitat conservation trust fund.

We're also going to establish a conservation corps. It has a great

purpose, and not only that, it will provide work for some of our students. We

want the students and graduates in programs in this province to be able to work

in B.C. parks and wilderness as a new generation of conservationists, so $7.5

million will also be added to add up to 50 new park rangers and conservation

officers. We are going to continue in our strategies as we look at expanding the

living rivers strategy and make new investments in those areas as well.

We have said from the very beginning that one of the best health

care tools you can give a person is a job, and the other is a top-quality

education. We want to lead the nation in job creation.

As I mentioned in my earlier comments, we are going to launch an

Asia-Pacific gateway strategy so that we can make sure we take the products

created here in British Columbia to the world. We want to open new doors for

cultural exchanges, relationships and partnerships in education. We are going to

appoint an Asia-Pacific trade council that will give advice to government so

that we can go to the people who have expertise, who can give us the direction

we need.

We also, as I mentioned, want to create a B.C. competition

council. We believe we need to conduct a comprehensive review of B.C.'s

competitiveness in every single sector. We want to identify barriers for growth,

and frankly, we want to eliminate them.

As I also mentioned, we want to create a One World scholarship

fund. We want British Columbia's students to have the opportunity to earn their

degrees and diplomas in other non–G-8 countries, helping B.C. to create, again,

new relationships all around the world.

We are going to continue to focus on our transportation strategy.

This government recognizes the importance of transportation infrastructure to

the economy of British Columbia. As a lifelong resident of a northern riding in

the province, there is nowhere that that's more critical. We're going to open up

our transportation links to the Pacific by making sure that the port of

[ Page 11850 ]

Prince Rupert is addressed. We want to also expand the port of Vancouver and

improve cruise ship facilities all along our coast.

The goals are worthy ones. They are ones that British Columbians

deserve the government to focus on and spend their time delivering for the

people of the province.

I want to remind people about some of the things that have

happened in the province because we had a plan and because we stuck to it. You

simply have to read some of the headlines — over the last number of months, in

particular. We've seen that over the last number of years, in 2004….

[1550]

Let's take housing starts for an example. In 2004 the urban

housing starts in British Columbia increased 25 percent. That is the highest

number of starts in British Columbia for ten years. Multiple starts climbed 36

percent, while single-detached starts rose 12 percent. The good news is we knew

that if we had a plan and stuck to it, once we began to see the economy turn

around, we would begin to be able to build those programs that are so necessary

and important for British Columbians.

Let's talk about the development boom we've seen in the area of

small business. The Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development's major

projects inventory lists $62 billion in projects planned or underway in the

final quarter of 2004. That is up over 40 percent from the same period a year

ago.

Let's talk about jobs. B.C.'s unemployment rate has hit a 23-year

low in the province. In December, B.C.'s economy generated 17,300 new jobs —

half of all the new jobs created in Canada — and the unemployment rate dropped

to 6.1 percent, the lowest monthly rate since June 1981. Since December 2001,

B.C.'s economy has created 197,700 new jobs, the best job creation record in the

country. Of these new jobs, over 97 percent are full-time.

You simply have to look around you. There is more and more good

news as we continue to see the impacts of the work that has been done, that we

have committed to as a government, and of the plan we have put in place.

I want to talk a little bit about my riding and about the impact

that the work we've done has had there. I represent, and I'm extremely proud to

represent, the riding of Prince George–Mount Robson. Certainly, the northern

part of British Columbia has faced some significant challenges over the past

decade, and there would be many who would suggest it has taken far too long for

us to feel a sense of optimism and a sense of hope for the future again.

But that has begun to happen in northern British Columbia. There

are so many positive things we could actually reflect upon today, but I want to

give you some of the highlights as I look at my riding and the accomplishments

and things we've experienced over the last number of years.

When I look in the area of advanced education, which is absolutely

critical to the success of the province and to how we build a future that is

sustainable in British Columbia. I can't help but talk about how excited people

are about the new northern medical program. For the first time in this province,

physicians will be trained outside of the lower mainland of British Columbia.

We are so fortunate that in Prince George, 24 medical students

have arrived on our campus, and we have a brand-new medical facility there. They

are connected on a daily basis, using phenomenal technology, to two other

institutions in the province — the University of British Columbia and the

University of Victoria. Through that integrated model, students will be trained

simultaneously at three campuses around the province. That is leading edge. It

is unprecedented. In fact, we are being watched by North America as we move this

model forward.

The work that's being done in advanced education is phenomenal in

Prince George. That is very much due to the leadership of the president we have

at the University of Northern British Columbia, Dr. Charles Jago — and I can't

help but mention Dr. David Snadden, who has worked so hard to make sure that the

medical program has been delivered in the very short period of time we had — and

also the work at the College of New Caledonia.

Very recently at the college, we were able to create a trades and

technology centre with $6.46 million from the government, and it was recently

named in recognition of a person who has supported the trades significantly in

Prince George, Mr. John Brink.

I also want to congratulate the leaders at the College of New

Caledonia. We have a new president there. His name is Ralph Troschke. He is new

to the College of New Caledonia. We also want to recognize the president

recently retired from the college, Dr. Terry Weninger. In northern British

Columbia, we now have medical training, and we have the potential to be the

leader in trades training in the province, using the John Brink Trades and

Technology Centre that will be housed right beside the College of New Caledonia.

[1555]

I want to also recognize an education program that is a

partnership between high schools and the College of New Caledonia. It's the

career technical centre. I was recently absolutely privileged to be able to

speak at the graduation ceremony for dozens of students who are able to complete

one of their years of high school and also gain credit toward their first year

in a particular trade.

I had so many parents come to me and say, "We are so glad this

program was able to meet the needs of our particular young person" — who maybe

wasn't particularly geared toward an academic university degree. I can tell you,

it was an exciting night as literally dozens of students received that

certification.

I want to congratulate, in particular, a tireless worker on behalf

of students and in the trades, particularly related to the career technical

centre: Mr. Jim Rose. Because of his health, he is now stepping away from that

program, and there is a new coordinator. But he has done a phenomenal job and,

certainly, spent

[ Page 11851 ]

much time with me when I was Minister of Advanced Education discussing the

whole need to deal with trades training in a very new and innovative way.

I also want to speak briefly about health care achievements,

because it certainly has new relevance for me now with my new portfolio. Member

after member has stood up in the House, as they've provided their response to

the throne speech, and talked about the great news in education and health care

across the province.

I think it's important for us to share those examples and make

sure we remind British Columbians about how much work has been done by this

government, which made a commitment to make sure we protected and increased

funding to health care and education. That is precisely what we've done, and

I've certainly seen the benefit of that as I've looked at some of the issues

facing Prince George and Prince George–Mount Robson.

Just recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a tour that

looked at a new geriatric day hospital. I was so impressed with the concept and

the model that's being used now in the north. This new geriatric day hospital

will offer seniors clinical advice and education in how they can better manage

their chronic health conditions.

Seniors will have the opportunity to work with physicians, nurses,

physiotherapists and occupational therapists in one setting. The northern health

authority invested $185,000 in minor capital expenses and one-time costs to open

the geriatric day hospital and will continue to provide $185,000 a year to cover

operating costs.

In the village of Valemount, which is part of my riding, northern

health nurses have traded in their aging radios for cellular telephones to

better manage after-hours medical emergencies. Patients will still be able to

dial the Valemount health centre's emergency number if they need help, but the

new cell phone service will help nurses to make an initial determination quickly

about a patient's needs and to contact the appropriate resources for care.

The expansion of cell service in the Robson Valley has made the

switchover from radios to cell phones possible. Certainly, in working with the

village councils, it is important…. Cell phone coverage is something that some

people in urban ridings probably take for granted. In fact, until very recently,

the village of McBride has not had any cell phone coverage. After a great deal

of work and partnership with both the village council and the mayor, Mike

Frazier, we were able to see, for the first time, cell phone coverage in the

village of McBride.

Many parents pointed out to me in McBride the other day that one

of the most popular Christmas presents in McBride this year was cell phones. I

can tell you that the day cell phone coverage began in McBride, I actually got a

number of phone calls from McBride, with residents using their cell phones to

let me know that, indeed, it was working.

[H. Long in the chair.]

We also know we needed a plan for physician recruitment in

the north in particular. While there are challenges around the province and

continue to be some, we know that a plan is now in place for recruitment across

the north. As a result of that, the plan was developed by physician leaders.

We have had an excellent working relationship with physicians in

Prince George. We've had numerous meetings. My colleague the Minister of State

for Mining and I have had numerous meetings with physicians to make sure that we

were hearing the concerns of physicians and that our strategy was addressing the

concerns that had been expressed.

[1600]

General practitioners and specialists in orthopedics, internal

medicine, pathology, psychiatry and radiology — certainly, a part-time locum

there — have been successfully recruited in Prince George, along with

specialists in obstetrics, gynecology, emergency, pediatrics and pathology. A

plastic surgeon and an anaesthetist have also agreed to do long-term locums.

Mackenzie and Dawson Creek have new permanent general practitioners, and

specialists in internal medicine have been recruited to Fort St. John, Terrace,

Quesnel and Prince George.

We needed a plan; we needed a strategy. In fact, the new northern

medical program is designed on the principle that if you train students closer

to home, they are far more likely to stay there. We know that in the short term

we needed a solid plan for recruitment and retention of our physicians. But in

the future we know that as we train physicians in northern British Columbia and

they do their practical experience in those small northern communities, we are

much more likely to actually keep them in northern British Columbia.

Also landmark in the province and in my riding of Prince

George–Mount Robson is the agreement-in-principle that was reached with the

Lheidli-T'enneh first nation. It's appropriate that the Attorney General is in

the House as we speak, because incredible work has been done. I want to pay

tribute to the work that's been done not only by this government but also by

first nations government and municipal governments as well.

Interjection.

Hon. S. Bond: The Attorney General says it's very exciting,

and indeed it is. I am thoroughly confident that the agreement-in-principle that

has been reached with the Lheidli-T'enneh will lead to a final treaty with the

Prince George–area first nation.

I want to pay tribute to Chief Barry Seymour, who has provided

incredible leadership, who has been bold and aggressive on behalf of his people

but has been willing to sit down and to work with us as we move forward to find,

hopefully, one of the first treaties that will be signed.

I also should comment that the relationship between the first

nations government and the government of British Columbia, and also our

municipal

[ Page 11852 ]

council, is exemplary. We know that there has been much work — many MOUs

signed — as we look at how best to work together as different levels of

government in Prince George–Mount Robson.

Obviously, forestry is a key component of my riding, as we look at

the economy of that riding. We were delighted recently, when working with the

Minister of State for Forestry Operations and the Minister of Forests, that the

province contributed $25,000 to the city of Prince George for projects that will

reduce the risk of wildfire. The province also appointed a three-member task

force to devise a strategy for logging tenure, timber pricing and other issues

associated with salvaging beetle-damaged trees from Crown lands within city

limits.

Our municipality was facing a significant problem, and certainly

our residents were facing individual challenges financially. A number of

citizens within Prince George worked to bring this idea and this issue to

government's attention. In fact, we responded quickly, and we know that work is

moving forward.

We have had a number of significant issues in terms of telehealth

— all good news — as we look at how we link patients and facilities together

across the very large ridings that we have. When I think about my riding, I

think about how diverse it is, and yet I know people are concerned about the

same kinds of things. They want to ensure that their children have a future that

is sustainable and that we have a plan in place in this province to make sure we

are continuing to look at those things that would help us build a revitalized

economy. We want to make sure the future is prosperous and holds great hope.

One of the things that is significant in my riding is the

opportunities we find in terms of tourism potential. The Robson Valley is an

absolutely beautiful riding. I am proud to represent it. As you know, it is home

to Mount Robson. We have untapped potential in Prince George–Mount Robson.

The throne speech points to hope, to opportunity, and I am so

proud to be part of a government who has once followed its plan and now allows

us to look to the future with optimism.

[1605]

Hon. G. Abbott: Thank you for this opportunity to join the

throne speech debate today. It's always challenging to follow the Deputy Premier

in the speaking order. She, of course, is exciting, charming and charismatic,

and I absolutely refuse to be any of those things, so this is going to be tough.

Fortunately, I have got some good material to work with today in terms of the

throne speech, so that may be my only saving grace here.

The throne speech, of course, sets out for the provincial

government its vision and its direction for the coming year. In the case of our

current throne speech, which was delivered last Tuesday and which will be

followed tomorrow with the budget speech, it sets out a vision and direction

that I think is very ambitious, very exciting and, indeed, very balanced. What

the throne speech sets out to do is to build a prosperous, healthy society based

on three key elements that emerge for me, at least, in the throne speech.

The first of those is a dynamic economy. For those of us who were

in this House between 1996 and 2001, we remember all those dark days when a lot

of the economic reports, a lot of the economic indicators, were all going in the

wrong direction. They all pointed to the provincial economy going downhill.

Happily, that is no longer the case. We see in jobs, for example, record low

unemployment in the province. It has been 25 years or more, I think, perhaps

1980 or 1981, since we have seen unemployment figures the way they are in

British Columbia today. We have now close to 200,000 jobs which have been

created during the past three and a half to four years. We are now near 2.1

million jobs, full-time jobs, in the province. That is great news.

We're seeing investment recovery in this province again. The NDP

had us about number ten in Canada in terms of new investment. That has changed.

British Columbia is rightfully moving back to its position either at or near

number one in Canada in terms of new investment.

It is particularly delightful to see, Mr. Premier…. Sorry; Mr.

Speaker. I didn't mean to elevate you to that lofty office so quickly. It is

great to see mining back in British Columbia — $130 million in exploration

investment in the last year. That is the highest it has been for a long, long

time and up, I think, from $25 million in mineral exploration back in 2001.

We're on the way back. There are some 20 new mines somewhere in the process of

creation. Again, mines can be a tremendous source of wealth, of employment and

of investment in this province. It is absolutely delightful to see the mining

sector getting back on its feet in the province.

As well, of course, we have seen consumer confidence, business

confidence and small business confidence very strong in the province once again.

People are investing, they're moving back to British Columbia. The consequence

of that is new government revenues, new jobs and great opportunities for our

children and our grandchildren in this province once again.

The second leg, I would suggest, in terms of the throne speech and

that vision of a healthy prosperous society is a clean, sustainable environment.

Of course, there are lots of elements involved in that area of public policy,

some of which I'm certainly involved in as minister responsible for sustainable

resource management in the province. We have had, for example, the creation of

37 new parks in the province in the last year. Those 37 new parks are all over

the province, but I'm delighted some of them are in my constituency of Shuswap.

Again, I think it is remarkable, and it probably has been

understated to this point, but in the five land and resource management plans

which have recently gone through cabinet and which are out for

government-to-government discussion with first nations right now, there will be

about one million hectares of new protected areas added to the province. That

takes us to

[ Page 11853 ]

about 13.5 or maybe even approaching 14 percent of the land base in protected

areas, which likely, ultimately, will become parks or conservancy areas at some

point in the future.

[1610]

Again, that's just part of the attraction of British Columbia. We

have a remarkable natural setting in British Columbia, and it's a place where

the world loves to come to visit. Remarkable landscapes — and we're doing our

part as a government to ensure that those landscapes and those sensitive,

special, unique areas of the province are protected for the future. We're also,

at the same time, bringing certainty through land and resource management

planning, so that the mining sector, the forestry sector and the tourism sector

all have opportunity to build and grow across the land base in British Columbia

as well.

The third leg in terms of the vision for a prosperous and healthy

society is enhanced services, especially in the area of health and education.

Those are very, very important for my constituents in Shuswap and, I'm sure, for

the constituents of all the members of this assembly. Those enhanced services

range from assisted living, housing and, certainly, intermediate care

facilities. I know that in Shuswap we've seen new additions in Armstrong,

Enderby and Salmon Arm, and we look forward to really improving that area of

public policy. We've seen improvements in early childhood programs to ensure

that our kids get off to the best possible start in life.

One area that I find very exciting is the expansion of

post-secondary education across the province: 25,000 new spaces which the Deputy

Premier, when she was Advanced Education minister, announced last year. Some of

those spaces are going to be in the Okanagan-Shuswap area, and that's remarkably

exciting for young people in the Shuswap and in the Okanagan.

Not only do we see the addition of, I think, 4,500 new spaces at

UBC Okanagan beginning this fall; we also have expanded programs at a

reconstituted Okanagan College, with centres in Salmon Arm and Armstrong, among

other places, and of course the addition of Thompson Rivers University, the

former University College of the Cariboo. Again, expanded spaces, expanded

programs — very, very exciting. The young people coming out of high school in

Sicamous, Salmon Arm, Enderby or Armstrong have just great opportunities now to

get a world-class education within an hour of their home, generally speaking.

Realizing that very ambitious vision that has been set out in the

throne speech has not been easy. There has been a need on a constant basis to

exercise some fiscal discipline in this province, something that certainly was

not characteristic of that period which I, in my characteristically non-partisan

way, would call the dark and dismal decade of the NDP between 1991 and 2001. We

needed to reassert some fiscal discipline in this province so that we did have

the opportunity to enhance services and to build opportunities, whether it is in

the environment or the economy, for our kids and our grandkids.

We have achieved that fiscal discipline, producing now our second

balanced budget, likely to be introduced by the Finance minister tomorrow. We

have achieved that, notwithstanding a remarkable series of challenges, ranging

from the tragic events of 9/11; the SARS epidemic, which dramatically affected

tourism in British Columbia and Canada; the BSE crisis, with the movement of

cattle out of Canada and into the American market; the avian flu; the forest

fires. There was no end of challenges which faced the government and the people

of British Columbia in a number of areas.

[1615]

I do recall that when we saw the tragic events of September 11,

2001, the opposition said: "Well, time to back away from our commitment for a

balanced budget in 2004-05. Too tough. You can't do it." Well, we have done it.

We've brought fiscal discipline, and now we're starting to see the benefits that

flow from that. Now, instead of seeing more and more of our dollars going every

year to servicing the provincial debt, we now have some choices about what to do

with surpluses. We can look at lower taxes on a general or strategic basis; we

can look at paying down the debt; we can look at investing in enhanced medical,

educational and social services; or we can do some combination of all of those

three. The important thing is that we actually have some choices again — choices

that we had lost because of the absence of fiscal discipline in this province.

The throne speech, as I have noted, articulates a vision, and

we're going to have an opportunity on May 17 to test-drive that vision with the

people of British Columbia. We are going to have an opportunity to see whether,

in fact, the people of British Columbia want to see the direction and the vision

of this government continue to unfold. I'm confident that we will.

The Premier has been a great leader for this province. He has

brought that commitment that has seen us now achieve 97 percent of the promises

that we made in the 2001 election — 97 percent. That's a mark that I don't think

I ever achieved in school. I would have loved to have had a 97 percent success

rate. It is not something that has come easily, and it is only something that

has come as a result of the very strong leadership that has been exercised by

our Premier.

I've been very proud of what we've been able to achieve as a

government. I'm proud of what we've been able to achieve for my constituents in

Shuswap, and I'm going to be very proud to stand on my record and on the record

of the government come May 17.

May 17 will not be my first campaign; it will be one of many

campaigns that I have been a part of. Last October was the twenty-fifth

anniversary of my first election to office, not provincially but locally in

Sicamous and in the Columbia-Shuswap regional district. I've had the opportunity

to represent people in the Shuswap for a long, long time, since 1979. I'm happy

in submitting my record to the electors in Shuswap to say definitively that the

Shuswap is a better place to live, to work, to raise a family, to retire, to

invest, to create jobs

[ Page 11854 ]

— in every way. The Shuswap, I think, is a better place than when this

government was elected in 2001.

I've noted the changes in the post-secondary area, and those are

some of the ways that we have seen improvement in opportunities for young

people. We've also seen the renovation and upgrading of the old Salmon Arm

Senior Secondary that I attended back in the late sixties and early seventies.

That has now been renovated and upgraded to the new J.L. Jackson Junior

Secondary, and that's a nice achievement.

In the areas of housing and health we've seen some very, very

positive changes for my constituents. Just about three months ago I attended the

opening of Pioneer Square in Armstrong. It's a great, new assisted-living

facility for seniors and very much their home, very much a place where seniors

can enjoy independent living but with occasional supports from the medical

system. They're very, very happy with the range of services that are provided

there.

[1620]

I recently attended the opening of the Enderby Community Health

Centre. Again, it's part of the new model of services to British Columbians.

Also, very happy to recently announce the conversion or possibly the replacement

of the old Enderby hospital with new assisted-living units for Enderby as well.

In Salmon Arm we will see, in July, the completion of 75 units of

intermediate care that are being built and managed by the Good Samaritan

Society. That's very exciting. That will be followed by an additional 55 units

of intermediate care plus a conversion of Pioneer Lodge to assisted living as

well. There have been lots and lots of changes in the housing and health area,

which I'm very, very proud of.

In the area of infrastructure, I want to make a point of saying

how our commitments around infrastructure translate to services in my

constituency of Shuswap. I had the opportunity to be the minister responsible

for the Infrastructure Works program, at least the water and sewer portion of

that program, as Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services.

Over the years we've seen a number of important additions in terms

of infrastructure works in the Shuswap. We've seen water and sewer grants for

the Saratoga waterworks in the Columbia-Shuswap regional district in north

Shuswap. Salmon Arm's sewer upgrade to the tune of $1.4 million was a very

important project for the people and the district of Salmon Arm. We've seen a

new water-pumping station for Sicamous, water and sewer upgrades in Enderby, and

a drainage infrastructure improvement in Armstrong as well.

There have been a lot of changes in the transportation area as

well. These are big numbers, but they are also very important to people who live

there. There is an area just west of Salmon Arm called Carlin. Carlin School is

located there. For years, for decades, parents as they dropped their kids off at

Carlin School have had to make a left-hand turn in the passing lane of a

three-lane stretch of highway — very unsafe conditions. Fortunately, there were

never more than just minor accidents through there, but it was a very dangerous

situation and one that has cried out for remediation for a long time. Happily,

the Ministry of Transportation has in the last two years invested $13 million in

that project. Now there's a separate access to the school. Parents no longer

have to worry, as they take their kids to school, that they or a school bus

might be involved in a serious accident there.

We've also seen resolution of a very important issue for me and

for the member for Okanagan-Vernon. That is the Swan Lake interchange, which is

the boundary between Okanagan-Vernon and Shuswap. For a long time we've seen

logging trucks and others having to undertake dangerous manoeuvres to try to get

out onto Highway 97A from Highway 97B or C. That's been a very, very difficult

situation for those truckers and for others to try to get across what had become

one of the very busiest intersections in the Okanagan.

Again, fortunately for us…. I know that both the Minister of

Education — the member for Okanagan-Vernon — and I identified that as one of our

very highest priorities for our constituency. Happily, the Ministry of

Transportation came through with a $22.5 million project, which has now largely

addressed that issue. There is one more lift of pavement to go on, but the

project is very near completion and is a tremendous addition to safety and to

transportation efficiency in the North Okanagan–Shuswap.

We're also seeing long-overdue projects both east and west of

Salmon Arm and even in small areas, which are very, very important to people —

small projects but very important to people. Falkland has long been looking for

a pedestrian signal light so that elderly people on scooters, perhaps, or young

children crossing to go to school can now get a crosswalk signal to allow them

to get safely across Highway 97 and so that they can get safely to school or

into the store or wherever they need to go.

[1625]

Similarly, in Enderby there's been a long-term issue on Knight

Street, which is the pedestrian crossing for both the elementary and senior high

schools. That's been a long-standing issue with the folks in Enderby. In recent

weeks we have announced that in fact there will be a full signal light at Knight

Street so that kids are no longer going to be in jeopardy as they try to get

safely to school.

In the area of community infrastructure, sports and arts. There

have been lots of discussions in the throne speech about the importance of

physical activity and diet and so on in the health of our citizens. I know there

have been a number of very good projects that have been undertaken with the

support of the community Infrastructure Works program. Among those, I think it

is particularly worth noting, is $2 million from senior governments towards a

new Armstrong-Spallumcheen arena — one I'm sure will be very, very well used. I

know that when the old arena was losing its life, there was a lot of concern in

Armstrong and Spallumcheen about that. I think the $2 million that will be

coming from senior governments towards that

[ Page 11855 ]

arena will be pivotal in making that project a great success.

Down in the Armstrong area we've also added, I think, some $50,000

or $60,000 to improve the facilities at the Caravan theatre, which provides some

innovative arts programs for the North Okanagan–Shuswap. We've invested

considerably in the field house and change rooms for the Little Mountain Sports

Complex at Salmon Arm, one that my son enjoyed as a football and soccer player.

It is a great addition to the storehouse of athletic fields in Salmon Arm and a

great project to be supporting. I know that all of us who enjoy racquet sports

are looking forward to the addition of the racquetball centre in Salmon Arm

opening in June or July, I believe.

We have achieved much in terms of those areas — infrastructure,

transportation, health, education. In the full range, I think we have seen the

constituency of Shuswap benefit greatly from the fiscal discipline and the

innovative programs that we brought to government. Now we're able to enjoy the

fruits of all of that work.

Much has been done, as I have noted, and indeed there is more to

be done as well. That's why it is so exciting to be a part of the team that will

be going to the electorate on May 17 to, hopefully, get a renewal of the mandate

that we have.

British Columbia is a province that has been mightily blessed in a

great many ways. We probably have the most remarkable array of resources of any

province in Canada. One only needs to get to the top of a place like Silver Star

and have a look around, and you get a real sense of the ways in which we have

been blessed.

We have mineral wealth in our mountains. We have hydroelectric

power and, of course, tourism opportunities in our rivers and our lakes and in

the ocean as well. We've got oil and gas, principally up in the northeast of the

province, but all across the province we have mineral and other resources. Of

course, we have — and we should never forget it, notwithstanding some of the

challenges we have with the softwood lumber dispute and so on — a tremendously

strong, world-leading forest industry in the province, which I think we have

helped to put on a world-competitive basis once again.

[1630]

The challenges remain for the forest industry in terms of the

softwood lumber dispute, but I know the Minister of Forests is working very hard

to try to address those. Hopefully, they will be soon.

We've got great resources, and we've got great people. What we

need to continue to do as a government is to try to wed that informed,

constructive, beneficial public policy to that great resource base we have and

to the great human resource base we have in this province. As we do that, we

will begin to further realize the tremendous potential that exists in the great

province we are all so very proud of. I look forward to working with you, Mr.

Speaker, to achieve an even brighter day for British Columbia.

D. Hayer: It is an honour to rise today to speak to the

throne speech.

This throne speech, like others I have heard in this House since

being elected to government in 2001, continues a vision that has taken this

province from the worst to first in just over three and a half years. That is an

unprecedented accomplishment.

When we formed government in 2001, British Columbia had the worst

economy in the nation. People and their businesses were fleeing this province.

Today people are moving back to British Columbia in the thousands. We have had a

record-setting growth. We have a buoyant economy. Last year British Columbia set

a record for building permits: $55 million in new construction.

That speaks volumes for the faith people have in our economy,

faith in the way our go