British Columbia Hansard — Tuesday, February 10, 2009

H0210pm-03

British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)

Fourth Session, 38th Parliament o FFicial rePort o F Debates of the Legis Lative a ssemb Ly (hansarD) the honourable bill bari So FF, SPeaker iSSn 0709-1281 Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Afternoon Sitting Volume 37, Number 3

Pro Vince o F britiS h colu Mbia (entered c onfederation July 20, 1871) lieutenant -Go Vernor h is h onour the h onourable Steven l. Point, obc Fourth Session, 38th Parliament SPeaker o F the leGiS latiVe a SSeMbl Y h onourable bill barisoff eXecutiVe council Premier and President of the executive c ouncil ......................................................................................................h on. Gordon c ampbell Minister of State for intergovernmental r elations ...........................................................................................................h on.

Joan Mcintyre Deputy Premier and Minister of education and Minister r esponsible for early l earning and l iteracy .........................................................................................h on. Shirley bond Minister of a boriginal r elations and r econciliation .................................................................................................. h on. Michael de Jong Minister of a dvanced e ducation and l abour Market Development ............................................................................. h on.

Murray c oell Minister of a griculture and l ands ..................................................................................................................................... h on. r on c antelon a ttorney General and Minister r esponsible for Multiculturalism .......................................................................... h on.

Wally o ppal, Qc Minister of c hildren and Family Development ..........................................................................................................h on. t om c hristensen Minister of State for c hildcare ................................................................................................................................................. h on. l inda r eid Minister of c ommunity Development ............................................................................................................................. h on. k evin k rueger Minister of energy, Mines and Petroleum r esources .....................................................................................................h on. blair l ekstrom Minister of State for Mining ................................................................................................................................................ h on.

Gordon h ogg Minister of environment and Minister r esponsible for c limate a ction .......................................................................h on. barry Penner Minister of Finance and Minister r esponsible for the o lympics .................................................................................. h on. c olin h ansen Minister of Forests and r ange ....................................................................................................................................................... h on.

Pat bell Minister of h ealth Services ................................................................................................................................................h on. George a bbott Minister of h ealthy l iving and Sport .....................................................................................................................................h on.

Mary Polak Minister of h ousing and Social Development .................................................................................................................h on. r ich c oleman Minister of l abour and citizens' Services ................................................................................................................................ h on. iain black Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General .........................................................................................................h on.

John van Dongen Minister of Small business, t echnology and e conomic Development and Minister r esponsible for the a sia-Pacific initiative .................................................................................................. h on. ida c hong Minister of t ourism, c ulture and the a rts ...........................................................................................................................h on. bill bennett Minister of t ransportation and infrastructure ...................................................................................................................h on. k evin Falcon leGiS latiVe a SSeMbl Y l eader of the official o pposition ...................................................................................................................................................c arole James Deputy Speaker ..............................................................................................................................................................................Sindi h awkins Deputy Speaker .....................................................................................................................................................................k atherine Whittred a ssistant Deputy Speaker ...............................................................................................................................................................Sue h ammell Deputy c hair, c ommittee of the Whole .......................................................................................................................................... h arry bloy c lerk of the l egislative a ssembly...................................................................................................................e.

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

James c lerk a ssistant and c ommittee c lerk .................................................................................................................................... k ate r yan-l loyd Sergeant-at-a rms .................................................................................................................................................................................

Gary l enz Director, h ansard Services ............................................................................................................................................................Jo-a nne k ern l egislative l ibrarian ............................................................................................................................................................................ Jane t aylor l egislative c omptroller .......................................................................................................................................................................

Dan a rbic

alP habetical liS t o F MeMberS a bbott, h on. George (l) ........................................................................ Shuswap a ustin, r obin (nDP) ................................................................................ Skeena bains, h arry (nDP) ....................................................................Surrey-n ewton barisoff, h on. bill (l) ............................................Penticton–o kanagan Valley bell, h on.

Pat (l) ...............................................................Prince George n orth bennett, h on. bill (l) ...................................................................e ast k ootenay black, h on. iain (l) ......................................................Port Moody–Westwood bloy, h arry (l) ....................................................................................burquitlam bond, h on. Shirley (l) ....................................Prince George–Mount r obson brar, Jagrup (nDP) .....................................................Surrey–Panorama r idge c ampbell, h on.

Gordon (l) .........................................Vancouver–Point Grey c antelon, h on. r on (l) ......................................................n anaimo-Parksville c hong, h on. ida (l) ..................................................... o ak bay–Gordon h ead c houhan, r aj (nDP) ........................................................... burnaby-e dmonds c hristensen, h on. t om (l) ..................................................o kanagan-Vernon c hudnovsky, Dave (nDP) ........................................... Vancouver-kensington c oell, h on.

Murray (l) ....................................Saanich n orth and the islands c oleman, h on. r ich (l) ............................................Fort l angley–a ldergrove c onroy, katrine (nDP) ...........................................West kootenay–b oundary c oons, Gary (nDP) .........................................................................n orth c oast c ubberley, David (nDP) ..............................................................Saanich South de Jong, h on.

Michael (l) ................................... a bbotsford–Mount l ehman Dix, a drian (nDP) ............................................................Vancouver-kingsway e vans, c orky (nDP) ..................................................................n elson-creston Falcon, h on. k evin (l) ..........................................................Surrey-c loverdale Farnworth, Mike (nDP) ............................. Port c oquitlam–b urke Mountain Fleming, r ob (nDP) ................................................................

Victoria-h illside Fraser, Scott (nDP) ...............................................................a lberni-Qualicum Gentner, Guy (nDP) .........................................................................Delta n orth h ammell, Sue (nDP) .................................................... Surrey–Green t imbers h ansen, h on. c olin (l) .................................................. Vancouver-Quilchena h awes, r andy (l) ............................................................

Maple r idge–Mission h awkins, Sindi (l) ..................................................................k elowna-Mission h ayer, Dave S. (l) .................................................................... Surrey-t ynehead h erbert, Spencer (nDP) ..................................................... Vancouver-burrard h ogg, h on. Gordon (l) ......................................................

Surrey–White r ock h organ, John (nDP) .......................................................Malahat–Juan de Fuca h orning, a l (l) .............................................................k elowna–l ake c ountry ilich, o lga (l) .......................................................................... r ichmond c entre James, c arole (nDP) .........................................................Victoria–b eacon h ill Jarvis, Daniel (l) .................................................... n orth Vancouver–Seymour k aragianis, Maurine (nDP) ............................................e squimalt-Metchosin k rog, l eonard (nDP) ........................................................................... n anaimo k rueger, h on. k evin (l) .....................................k amloops–n orth Thompson kwan, Jenny Wai ching (nDP) ...........................

Vancouver–Mount Pleasant l ali, h arry (nDP) ........................................................................... Y ale-lillooet l ee, r ichard t . (l) .......................................................................burnaby n orth l ekstrom, h on. blair (l) ....................................................... Peace r iver South l es, John (l) ............................................................................c hilliwack-Sumas Macdonald, n orm (nDP) ....................................c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke McGinn, Jenn (nDP) .........................................................

Vancouver-Fairview Mcintyre, h on. Joan (l) ........................................ West Vancouver–Garibaldi Mack ay, Dennis (l) ....................................................... bulkley Valley–Stikine n uraney, John (l) .............................................................. burnaby-Willingdon o ppal, h on. Wally, Qc (l) ........................................... Vancouver-Fraserview Penner, hon. barry (l) .............................................................c hilliwack-k ent Polak, h on.

Mary (l) ...............................................................................l angley Puchmayr, c huck (nDP) .......................................................n ew Westminster r alston, bruce (nDP) ................................................................

Surrey-Whalley r eid, h on. l inda (l) ...................................................................r ichmond e ast r ichmond, c laude (l) .........................................................................k amloops r oddick, Valerie (l) ..........................................................................Delta South r outley, Doug (nDP) ......................................................c owichan-l adysmith r ustad, John (l) .......................................................... Prince George–omineca Sather, Michael (nDP) .........................................

Maple r idge–Pitt Meadows Simons, n icholas (nDP) ................................... Powell r iver–Sunshine c oast Simpson, bob (nDP) ...................................................................c ariboo n orth Simpson, Shane (nDP) .....................................................Vancouver-hastings Sultan, r alph (l) .....................................................

West Vancouver–capilano Thorne, Diane (nDP) .................................................c oquitlam-Maillardville Thorpe, r ick (l) .................................................................. o kanagan-Westside t revena, c laire (nDP) .................................................................... n orth island van Dongen, h on.

John (l) ............................................a bbotsford-c layburn Whittred, k atherine (l) ........................................ n orth Vancouver–l onsdale Wyse, c harlie (nDP) ...................................................................c ariboo South Y ap, John (l) .......................................................................r ichmond-Steveston Vacant .............................................................................................. c omox Valley Vacant .......................................................................................Peace r iver n orth Vacant ....................................................................................

Vancouver-l angara liS t o F MeMberS bY riD in G a bbotsford-c layburn .................................................... h on. John van Dongen a bbotsford–Mount l ehman ...........................................h on. Michael de Jong a lberni-Qualicum .............................................................................

Scott Fraser bulkley Valley–Stikine ...............................................................Dennis Mack ay burnaby n orth .............................................................................. r ichard t . l ee burnaby-e dmonds ..........................................................................r aj c houhan burnaby-Willingdon .....................................................................

John n uraney burquitlam .......................................................................................... h arry bloy c ariboo n orth ................................................................................ bob Simpson c ariboo South................................................................................. c harlie Wyse c hilliwack-k ent.....................................................................h on. barry Penner c hilliwack-Sumas ..................................................................................

John l es c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke .................................................. n orm Macdonald c omox Valley..............................................................................................Vacant c oquitlam-Maillardville............................................................... Diane Thorne c owichan-l adysmith ...................................................................

Doug r outley Delta n orth ......................................................................................Guy Gentner Delta South..................................................................................Valerie r oddick e ast k ootenay .......................................................................... h on. bill bennett e squimalt-Metchosin .........................................................Maurine k aragianis Fort l angley–a ldergrove ...................................................h on. r ich c oleman k amloops ................................................................................c laude r ichmond k amloops–n orth Thompson ............................................ h on. k evin k rueger k elowna–l ake c ountry ................................................................... a l h orning k elowna-Mission .........................................................................Sindi h awkins l angley.......................................................................................h on.

Mary Polak Malahat–Juan de Fuca ....................................................................John h organ Maple r idge–Mission ....................................................................r andy h awes Maple r idge–Pitt Meadows ........................................................Michael Sather n anaimo ......................................................................................... l eonard k rog n anaimo-Parksville .............................................................h on. r on c antelon n elson-creston ................................................................................ c orky evans n ew Westminster .................................................................... c huck Puchmayr n orth c oast.......................................................................................

Gary c oons n orth island .................................................................................. c laire t revena n orth Vancouver–l onsdale ............................................... k atherine Whittred n orth Vancouver–Seymour ...........................................................

Daniel Jarvis o ak bay–Gordon h ead ............................................................ h on. ida c hong o kanagan-Vernon ..........................................................h on. t om c hristensen o kanagan-Westside .........................................................................r ick Thorpe Peace r iver n orth ......................................................................................Vacant Peace r iver South ...............................................................h on. blair l ekstrom Penticton–o kanagan Valley................................................... h on. bill barisoff Port c oquitlam–b urke Mountain ...........................................Mike Farnworth Port Moody–Westwood .............................................................h on. iain black Powell r iver–Sunshine c oast ................................................. n icholas Simons Prince George n orth .......................................................................h on.

Pat bell Prince George–Mount r obson ............................................h on. Shirley bond Prince George–omineca ................................................................. John r ustad r ichmond c entre ................................................................................. o lga ilich r ichmond e ast ..........................................................................h on. l inda r eid r ichmond-Steveston ..............................................................................John Y ap Saanich n orth and the islands ........................................... h on.

Murray c oell Saanich South ........................................................................... David c ubberley Shuswap ...............................................................................h on.

George a bbott Skeena .............................................................................................. r obin a ustin Surrey-c loverdale .................................................................h on. k evin Falcon Surrey–Green t imbers ..................................................................Sue h ammell Surrey-n ewton ................................................................................. h arry b ains Surrey–Panorama r idge ...................................................................Jagrup brar Surrey-t ynehead ...........................................................................

Dave S. h ayer Surrey-Whalley.............................................................................. bruce r alston Surrey–White r ock ............................................................. h on. Gordon h ogg Vancouver-burrard ....................................................................Spencer h erbert Vancouver-Fairview .......................................................................Jenn McGinn Vancouver-Fraserview ...................................................h on.

Wally o ppal, Qc Vancouver-hastings ....................................................................Shane Simpson Vancouver-kensington ........................................................David c hudnovsky Vancouver-kingsway..........................................................................a drian Dix Vancouver-l angara ....................................................................................Vacant Vancouver–Mount Pleasant ......................................... Jenny Wai ching kwan Vancouver–Point Grey .................................................h on.

Gordon c ampbell Vancouver-Quilchena ..........................................................h on. c olin h ansen Victoria–b eacon h ill .......................................................................c arole James Victoria-h illside ..............................................................................r ob Fleming West kootenay–b oundary ........................................................ k atrine c onroy West Vancouver–capilano ............................................................. r alph Sultan West Vancouver–Garibaldi ................................................h on.

Joan Mcintyre Y ale-lillooet ......................................................................................... h arry l ali Party Standings: l iberal 42; n ew Democratic 34; Vacant 3

CONTENTS t uesday, February 10, 2009 a fternoon Sitting Routine Proceedings Page introductions by Members ................................................................................................................................................... 13583 Statements (Standing order 25 b) ........................................................................................................................................ 13583 Pacific north coast integrated management area G. c oons t ourism r ichmond service awards J.

Y ap r eport on Surrey sex workers S. h ammell l unar new year celebrations r . l ee r anching industry in b.c. h. l ali Forestry initiatives J. r ustad oral Questions ....................................................................................................................................................................... 13585 Government action on gang violence c. James h on. G. c ampbell l. k rog M. Farnworth c all for bail process review M. Farnworth h on. G. c ampbell t ourism Minister communications with constituents n.

Macdonald h on. b. bennett Jordan's principle and first nations housing c. t revena h on. t . c hristensen o lympic Games security costs h. b ains h on. c. h ansen o lympics Games costs h. b ains h on. c. h ansen Motions Without notice ....................................................................................................................................................... 13591 a ppointment of Sergeant-at-a rms h on.

M. de Jong Second r eading of bills ........................................................................................................................................................ 13591 Finance Statutes (Deficit authorization and Debt elimination) a mendment a ct, 2009 (bill 48) (continued) n. Macdonald J. n uraney c. James h on. i. c hong l. k rog h on. J. Mcintyre M. k aragianis D. Mackay G. Gentner r . h awes M. Sather

13583 tueSD a Y , Februar Y 10, 2009 The h ouse met at 1:33 p.m. [Mr. Speaker in the chair.] Introductions by Members C. Wyse: it is indeed my pleasure today to welcome two longtime friends of mine who have come down today for the throne speech, which was originally sched- uled. They couldn't change their travel plans and other arrangements, so they are here to see us. With that, i would like the h ouse to extend an extraordinarily warm welcome to two of my lifelong friends from the Williams l ake area, Josh Williams and a l Matthews. Hon. R.

Cantelon: i'd like to introduce five individuals to the h ouse who are joining us from up-i sland: r udi van den broek and his son William from Port a lberni, and brian Pettit and his son ian from n anaimo.

These two families know firsthand the challenges of living with diabetes. in addition, i welcome c atherine t urner, who is joining us from c ourtenay. c atherine is the chair of the n ational a boriginal Diabetes a ssociation. i thank these five for being with us today and creating awareness about diabetes. in c anada we are fortunate to be leading the way in diabetes research, but that doesn't mean that living with it doesn't pose its own challenges. Through awareness and prevention, we can work to reduce the risks and challenges of living with diabetes. i ask the h ouse to please give them a warm welcome. D.

MacKay: Sunday when i flew down, there were two people on the aircraft from Smithers, and i see them sitting in the gallery today. i would like the h ouse to welcome for the first time into this chamber, into the h ouse, Mike and l isa bovill from Smithers. Welcome. Hon. G. Abbott: i have three special guests in the gallery today: my wife l esley, my mother irene a bbott- o'b rien and my stepfather l loyd o'b rien. [1335] i've promised that i would be well behaved in the l egislature today.

That is something my mother saw relatively few times during my youth. but given that being well behaved still sets quite a low bar in the h ouse, i'm sure it will be a lively day. Please, would the h ouse make the guests especially welcome. J. Rustad: i'm very pleased today to introduce to the h ouse Judy and Gary blattner, some good friends of mine from Vanderhoof. Gary has travelled down as part of the Farm a ssessment r eview Panel meetings. They're here to watch how things proceed in the h ouse today. Would the house please make them welcome. M.

Farnworth: it's my great pleasure to be able to introduce to the h ouse the crop of interns who will be working with our caucus this year. Following in the tradition of great interns who have worked for us in the past and have always done a terrific job, we look forward to working with James bagan, Shawn c ourtney, James c ybulski, Michael Gudaitis and n iya k arpenko. Would the h ouse join me and our side in welcoming every single one of them. Statements (Standing Order 25b) Paci Fic north coa St inteGrateD Mana GeMent area G.

Coons: it's an optimistic time to be living and work- ing on the coast of british c olumbia. The Department of Fisheries and o ceans, as mandated through the o ceans a ct, is now working collaboratively with all of us who have vested interests in our area. From the beaches of h aida Gwaii to Prince r upert's coastline and south to the passages of northern Vancouver island, this is the Pacific north coast.

Forging ahead with a planning process for P nciMa, which is the Pacific north coast integrated management area, we now have an avenue that will provide local community members and other stakeholders with a vital forum for dialogue. i'm sure we all agree that we must participate with all levels of government in an integrated way to manage our coastal resources. a recent poll found two pertinent things — that nine out of ten british c olumbians are not only concerned about the state of our oceans, but they also believe that we can have both a healthy environ- ment and a healthy economy.

The intent of the marine plan for P nciMa is to establish an ecosystem-based management plan for the region, one that provides for the long-term sustainability for future generations. but this cannot be done without the involvement of all levels of government. in December 2008 a memorandum of understanding was signed by DFo and coastal first nations. This pro- vides a model that guides planning efforts between DFo, coastal first nations and the n orth c oast–Skeena First n ations Stewardship Society working together.

This is a fantastic first step, but to date, believe it or not, not all stakeholders have signed on to fully participate in this important process. Many on the north coast and central coast are surprised that our provincial govern- ment is absent from this M ou . Given the considerable role that the province normally plays in these kinds of governance arrangements, including the jurisdiction they

british c olumbia Debates13584 t uesday, February 10, 2009 have over the thousands of kilometres of marine fore- shore as well as tenures and licences, many believe that the province cannot stand idly by and be an observer. We must sign on and become a full participant of PnciMa. touri SM rich Mon D Ser Vice a War DS J. Y ap: on Sunday, January 25, i had had the honour of attending the t ourism r ichmond Service a wards that were held at the Gateway Theatre in r ichmond.

During the evening these individuals, who had given so much of their time and effort to delivering service excellence in r ichmond's growing tourism sector, were formally recognized. r ichmond is the fourth most popular british c olumbia tourism destination after V ancouver, Victoria and Whistler.

Those persons involved in the r ichmond tourism industry are second to none. eight awards were given out during the course of the night, and i'd like to recognize the winners for their accomplishments. c arol McGannon of the Days inn Vancouver a irport won the service excellence award in the accommodation sector. in addition, the Days inn's general manager c hrista Park won an award in the tour- ism spirit category.

The service excellence award in the attractions sector went to Dave and l esley k emp for their work at the Picture Perfect bed and breakfast. a donis brigola and Simon Grecica, both drivers with u niversal c oach l ines, won the service excellence award in the transportation category. [1340] Sous-chef kyo l in won the service excellence award in the food and beverage sector for his culinary skills at the r iver r ock c asino r esort.

The service excel- lence award went to Patrick l i of t booth in r ichmond c entre. t ed t ownsend, senior manager of corporate communications with the city of r ichmond, won the Partnership a ward, and Gerry Weisner, chef at The boathouse r estaurant, won the extra Mile a ward. Mr. Speaker and all members of the h ouse, please join me in congratulating all the winners of the t ourism r ichmond awards.

They exemplify the great customer service that is essential for r ichmond and indeed for our province to grow our tourism economy, especially as we work these coming months towards welcoming the world to the 2010 games. rePort on Surre Y SeX W orkerS S.

Hammell: When we think of our mothers, daugh- ters, sisters, aunts or wives or partners, most of us do not have to consider the horrors of drug addiction, homeless- ness, violence or abuse or worry every day about dangers of life on the streets. u nfortunately, this is not the case for families of street sex workers in the city of Surrey. i would like to bring to the attention of members a report entitled "e very l ife Matters: Voices of the Street Sex Workers in Surrey, british c olumbia." With funding from the Vancouver Foundation and the national crime prevention strategy, Surrey Women's c entre and Surrey girls published this report that describes the working and living conditions of the women who engage in sex work on the streets of north Surrey.

The report is written as much as possible in the words of the women who participated. a s i read, i was touched and awed by the ability of the women to survive. For each woman, poverty is the economic impera- tive, and money for sex is the transaction created by the imbalance of social and economic power between women and men. eighty-five percent of the women on the streets were sexually abused as children. in the case of the Surrey street sex workers, this power imbalance is compounded by poverty and drug addiction.

The recommendations in this document place respon- sibility on each level of government. only by working together can we make a difference in the lives of the street sex workers not only in Surrey but in all of british c olumbia. i asked Sonya boyce, executive director of Surrey Women's c entre, what she thought was the most import- ant message within this document. She said that these women are not expendable. Y es, women are not expendable, hon. Speaker.

The families of the daughters, mothers, sisters, wives and partners would agree with her. i invite all members of this h ouse to read the report and take a copy back to their communities. lunar ne W Year celebrationS R. Lee: r ecently hundreds of millions of people around the world, including many in british c olumbia, celebrated the lunar new year and the arrival of the Y ear of the o x.

For many of the world's people, the lunar new year is the most important holiday of the year. a s more newcomers of a sian backgrounds make their homes in b.c., this colourful and lively celebration takes on more importance here as well. That's why i'm so pleased to see many members of this h ouse, including the Premier and the l ieutenant- Governor, join in the Vancouver c hinatown celebration by participating in the lunar new year parade.

Many members also attended the dinner in the evening. i'm sure all members will help me thank the organ- izers: the c hinese benevolent a ssociation of Vancouver, c hinese c ultural c entre of greater Vancouver, Vancouver c hinatown Merchants a ssociation, Succe SS, Vancouver c hinese Freemasons society and the Shon Y ee benevolent a ssociation. it's important to note that while we celebrate the trad- itions of a sian c anadians, we also recognize the history

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13585 of a sian settlers in british c olumbia. r ecent history records that 50 to 70 c hinese from Macau arrived in n ootka Sound in 1788 to help construct a schooner, the North West America, and built a two-storey fort. t o put it in perspective, only four years thereafter, in 1792, did c apt. George V ancouver make his first journey to burrard inlet. [1345] When we gathered in Vancouver's c hinatown for the new year's parade, we celebrated more than just the arrival of a new year.

We celebrated what for many is a new life in b.c. but also the long history of a sians in the best place on earth. ranchin G in Du Str Y in b.c . H. Lali: a ccording to the a griculture Ministry's own data, the provincial government's expenditures in the agrifood sector have been steadily declining since the 1980s as a percentage of the agrifood and agriculture GDPs. it has dropped from 17 percent in 1986 down to 4 percent today. r anching is a renewable resource. The beef industry's annual contribution to the b.c . economy totals $1.4 billion, and the annual sales of cattle and calves is $350 million.

My constituency of Y ale-l illooet, known as ranching country, is home to the largest single-holding ranch in the world, the Douglas l ake r anch, with its 20,000 head of cattle. r anchers are telling me that the ranching industry of b.c . is in big trouble and is looking for help. u rbanization, fragmentation and unbridled development have encroached upon agricultural lands. Growing communities, global warming and dwindling water resources are hurting ranching in b.c., especially in the southern interior. Without adequate water resources, the grass doesn't grow, cattle lose weight and ranchers lose money.

Population growth and the conversion of cattle-grazing grasslands into farmlands for growing crops have impacted negatively on the beef industry and ranching. l ately pestilence and diseases like mad cow, bSe, have given a scare to b.c.'s ranching community. The meat industry regulation is stifling the ranching industry in b.c.

Small-scale rural meat producers dependent on farm-gate sales of their meat to help their bottom lines have been selling their product for generations without health-related incidents or government interference. n ow hundreds of local ma-and-pa producers have been driven out of business due to Mir. l ocal ranchers dependent on 4-by-4 vehicles, large trucks and machinery for daily operation of their ranches in Y ale-l illoet are telling me that the carbon tax may be the straw that breaks the camel's back as hundreds of ranchers across b.c. face the real prospect of bankruptcy. r anchers never ask for help. r anchers are angry, and they now want help from their governments in Victoria and o ttawa.

Fore Str Y initiati Ve S J. Rustad: The forest industry is going through one of the worst downturns in b.c.'s history. c ombined with the economic challenges we're facing, it's hard to be optimistic about the future of forestry. h owever, there are some bright spots that are helping to support fam- ilies and communities. b.c. is well known for quality forest products, and we continue to be one of the largest exporters of wood products in the world. This has led to some great announcements that will continue to expand export opportunities.

We've been working with the Mongolian government for the past 18 months to supply 48 town- homes worth $4 million through a Forestry innovation investment project. in Shanghai the government approved a plan to renovate 10,000 city apartment buildings and to utilize wood. This is an example of the inroads we're making into c hina's market. e xports of b.c. wood products to c hina were valued at more than $166 million in 2008. c loser to home, the people of Fort St. James are celebrating c onifex's recent announcement that it will begin production at the old Pope and t albot mill in March.

This is great news for my constituency as well as an example of budding optimism in the forest industry. More importantly, close to 200 people who have been out of work for more than a year will begin going back to work. on other fronts, our government is leading the way in bioenergy. The b.c. bioenergy strategy offers a great opportunity to diversify our forest industry while help- ing b.c. return to being self-sufficient in electricity. it's also a critical component of helping us to capitalize on opportunities created by the mountain pine beetle infestation.

Success comes when opportunity meets preparation. o ur government is working with the forest industry to help it get through today's challenges, to set the stage for future growth and build the opportunities that'll bring future success to our forest industry. Oral Questions Go VernMent a ction on Gan G Violence C. James: Y esterday the Premier called gang violence appalling. What's appalling is his a ttorney General's hands-off attitude to gangland killings. Y esterday the a ttorney General blamed the public for the problem. "it's everyone's fault," he said. My question is to the Premier.

When is his govern- ment going to stop blaming others and start taking action to end gang violence on our streets? [1350]

british c olumbia Debates13586 t uesday, February 10, 2009 Hon. G. Campbell: What we've seen over the last few days and, frankly, over the last few months has been simply unacceptable. The level of violence that's taking place on our streets is doing serious damage in people's lives. Families like the Schellenbergs live there, and they have to deal with the damage of this incredible activity to them. We have to make it very clear, and we will make it very clear. We have made it very clear. in british c olumbia gangs are not acceptable.

We're going after gangs, and we're getting them out of our province. l et me say that we have to take action on this. We've added 915 police officers. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Hon. G. Campbell: We have an integrated Gang t ask Force. We have an integrated homicide task force. We are bringing together all of the players, and it's obvious we need to do more. We will need more police officers. We will focus them on gangs, and gangs in british c olumbia should know this: if you're here, we're coming after you, and you're not acceptable in our neighbourhoods, in our communities — anywhere in our province.

Mr. Speaker: l eader of the o pposition has a supplemental. C. James: i'd like to ask the Premier where he has been for the last two years. We've seen… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. C. James: …the appalling numbers in the last few weeks, but this isn't an issue that has just happened in the last few weeks. This issue has been going on for at least two years. l et's take a look at this government's record: ten cor - rectional institutions closed, youth services cut, fewer courthouses in british c olumbia. n o wonder b.c. has become c anada's safe haven for organized crime.

So again to the Premier: why won't he table today the gun violence report, and when will he actually act — not words, not platitudes, actual action — to deal with gang violence today? Hon. G. Campbell: i think the question the l eader of the o pposition should ask herself is: where have she and her party been? in the last two years we have added literally hundreds of police officers. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Premier, just take your seat for a second. Members. We're not continuing until we can all hear. Members. Premier, continue. Hon. G.

Campbell: in the last years we've added over 950 police officers. The thing that distinguishes our side of the h ouse from that side of the h ouse is we've added hundreds of police officers. They voted against every single one of them. We have brought together the integrated homicide task force, the integrated Gang t ask Force. We have added 16 prosecutors that are focused specifically on gang-related activities. We need to add more, and i hope that this time the opposition votes for the resources so we can keep our communities safe in british c olumbia. interjections. Mr.

Speaker: Members. l eader of the o pposition has a further supplemental. C. James: This is what we always see from this Premier and from this government. When something becomes a political problem for them, they all of a sudden put words out there, and there's absolutely no action behind them. it's time for action, not words for the people of british c olumbia. t wo years. i'll give the Premier a list of things he could have done. h e could have worked with… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. C. James: …the federal government to get tough on sentencing. h e could have actually established…. interjections. Mr.

Speaker: Members. Members. [1355] C. James: The Premier could have established a dedi- cated team of experienced c rown prosecutors whose mandate is to put these violent criminals in jail. h e could have actually listened to the police who wanted change. h e could get serious about regional policing to fight regional gangs. So again my question is to the Premier. Why now has he stepped up with words? Why has he failed to act for the last two years on this serious issue? Hon. G. Campbell: W ell, that's incredible. h ere we have a l eader of the o pposition who claims to be concerned

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13587 about gang violence and activities in the province, and she doesn't even know what has been taking place. What has happened is…. l et's work with the federal government. This govern- ment has been advocating that the federal government have stricter crime laws for the last four years. What has the opposition done? The nDP has fought every single one of those changes in o ttawa.

So i hope that the l eader of the o pposition will call her boss, Mr. l ayton, in o ttawa and say: "Get on with it and have stricter laws so we can keep people where they should be." The l eader of the o pposition… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Hon. G. Campbell: …says we should have a dedicated group of professionals. We have an integrated Gang t ask Force. We have an integrated homicide task force. We have an organized crime task force, and it's made up of exceptional police officers from the rcMP and independ- ent police forces so we can focus on those things.

The l eader of the opposition says: "c all for changes in federal laws." We have been advocating that. We would love to hear the opposition advocate that, so we have changes in bail laws so if you're caught with a gun when you're on bail, you're put in jail in c anada. interjections. Mr. Speaker: t ake your seat for a second. L. Krog: Y esterday the Solicitor General said: "i reiter- ate that gun violence is the number one…issue for the a ttorney General and i.

We are calling on police, crown counsel, the judiciary — everyone involved in this jus- tice system — to act appropriately…." i had no idea he was setting the Premier up for that weak theatre today instead of real action from the government on the issue of crime violence. a decade ago there were ten active gangs in british c olumbia. There are 129 today — 129, hon. Speaker. So i'm asking this question. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. L. Krog: The Solicitor General has called on every- body but the government to do something, to pitch in.

So what is he going to do today to confront gang vio- lence in the streets of british c olumbia? Hon. G. Campbell: Well, let's be clear. a s i said, we've added hundreds of police officers. if we need to add more, we're going to. We're going to add additional spe- cial prosecutors. That's important as well. We've already done that, hon. Speaker. We're going to do more. We have to do more in the courts. We have to work with the courts.

So the opposition, the critic, can stand up and say: "We all have to do it." it's time for the opposition to get on side. h ere's the h ouse l eader for the opposition: "We need to have criminals off the streets, behind bars for a long time." a nd then the opposition…. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members, we're not going to continue. Minister. c ontinue, Premier. [1400] Hon. G. Campbell: it's big talk from the opposition.

The government is going to invest $185 million in building a facility that will house 360 criminals, and what do we hear from the opposition? a n opposition candidate that opposes it; a member of the opposition party, who happens to be a mayor, who opposes it; the opposition, who opposes it. We're going to build it, because you actually have to get these people off the streets. That's what we're going to do. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Member has a supplemental. L.

Krog: That's pretty rich, coming from this Premier. t errace c ommunity c orrectional c entre. r ayleigh c orrectional c entre. h utda l ake c orrectional c entre. Mount Thurston c orrectional c entre — i'm looking for a glimmer of recognition from the government benches — all facilities that this government closed. This Premier stands up in this h ouse and says: "We're going after the gangs." h on. Speaker, where are you going to put them if you've closed all the prisons?

So just maybe this Premier would stand up and admit today in this h ouse that it was his government's policies of closing correctional centres, of closing courthouses, that helped contribute to crime and gang violence on the streets of british c olumbia today. Hon. G. Campbell: h ere's the fact. We have a piece of zoned land for a correctional facility. The government is ready to invest $185 million in that correctional facility. That correctional facility will take 360 criminals off the streets and out of our neighbourhoods. it will make our streets safer.

So the question is actually very simple to the l eader of the o pposition: are you for it or against it? is the party going to fight it, or are you going to fight crime?

british c olumbia Debates13588 t uesday, February 10, 2009 interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. M.

Farnworth: Well, it's nice to see the Premier on his feet addressing this issue after what has been an eter- nity of silence on this issue from him. it's gang violence that we're talking about. it's gun violence that's running rampant in communities across this province, and the public wants action. i'd like to give, for the Premier's edification, a quote this morning from one of the police chiefs on the front line of this issue, from the chief of West Vancouver police, k ash h eed: "This is arguably the most pressing social problem in Metro Vancouver, and what we've been doing for the last five years hasn't been working." This govern- ment's policies have failed for the last five years.

This Premier stands up here, and he says: "o h, go call Jack in o ttawa." Well, i've got news for him. Why doesn't he stand up… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. M. Farnworth: …and talk to his own Solicitor General, who once ran for the federal l iberals, and tell him to talk to his counterparts? Why doesn't he stand up and tell his caucus that it's unacceptable to have a Solicitor General stand up in this h ouse one day and say, "We don't need any more resources to fight gang violence," and the a ttorney General stands up a week later and says: "Y es, we do"? Mr. Speaker: Question. M.

Farnworth: So my question… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. M. Farnworth: …to the Premier is simple. When will he stand and deliver a strategy in this chamber that addresses the issues of gang violence in this province today? [1405] Hon. G. Campbell: h ere's the strategy. More police officers — the opposition's opposed to it. Stricter, tougher federal laws — the opposition has worked against them. Jails that we can put criminals in — the opposition's against it.

We all have to work on this, including the opposition. it's all very well for the h ouse l eader to get up and pump himself up and get all red in the face. The fact is that people want action. We're going to provide them with that action. We have. We're going to keep doing it, and we're going to get our streets safe. Mr. Speaker: Member has a supplemental. call For bail ProceSS re Vie W M. Farnworth: We want more police. We're short 600 rc MP officers in this province. We have called…. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Just sit down for a second. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. interjections. Mr.

Speaker: if members want to ask questions back and forth, we can just continue that way. c ontinue, Member. M. Farnworth: We've called for greater resources for the c rown, yet there is still no dedicated group of c rown prosecutors whose focus is solely on organized crime. interjections. M. Farnworth: Sorry. Y our a ttorney General will tell you otherwise. We have called for tougher sentences, and we have still yet to see any action from this government. instead, we get mixed messages. My question to the Premier. h e says he wants to do something. Well, will he offer this one thing to british c olumbians today?

Will he at least commit to a review of the bail process in british c olumbia and making it more stringent? interjections. M. Farnworth: it's one of the things that we could be doing, hon. Member. i know you don't think it's enough, but the public is asking for it. My question to the Premier is: will you commit to a review of the bail process in the province of british c olumbia today to tighten it up, to seek changes that keep people off the streets, behind bars?

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13589 Hon. G. Campbell: a s i said earlier, there are 16 dedi- cated prosecutors. W e will add to the number of prosecutors. We think it's important. There are over 950 new police offi- cers. We will add to the number of police officers. The member stands and says: "We're for them." They just vote against the dollars that will actually pay them to go to work. We've been working. We've been calling on the federal government to change bail requirements. We've been clear about that.

We've said that if someone is on bail and they're caught with a gun, then we have to reduce the remand situation. We've asked the federal govern- ment to make those changes. We are demanding the federal government make those changes. We are work- ing with the federal government to get those changes. There is one group in the federal parliament who is opposing those changes. it happens to be the nDP . touri SM Mini Ster co MMunication S With con Stituent S N. Macdonald: a fter refusing to stand in the h ouse yesterday… interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. N.

Macdonald: …the Premier tried to excuse the con- duct of the Minister of t ourism out in the hallway, saying that the minister's most recent e-mail is in some way dif- ferent from the one that got him fired two years ago. n ow let's compare these e-mails. in the first, the minister calls the president of the Fernie r od and Gun c lub a self-inflated, pompous a merican know-it-all and an a merican spy. in the recent e-mail he calls an award-winning Fernie tourist operator a bigot, ignorant, shortsighted and of questionable intelligence.

So my question is to the Premier. h ow is this type of conduct now acceptable for a member of cabinet? interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Hon. B. Bennett: i'm happy to respond to the member, although i wonder whether the people of british c olumbia really think this is a matter that's important enough to be debating in the h ouse today, given what we just discussed. [1410] l et me say that i am proud to represent the riding of e ast k ootenay. a s i said yesterday, there will be a choice, a clear choice, for people, and we'll get on with that fairly shortly and know the result of that on May 13.

For now i think what's important is for me to say that this province has, in fact, since we were first elected, doubled the budget for tourism. We took it from $25 million to $50 million. We also gave ubcM $25 million. They have disseminated that money out to communities. We gave destination marketing organizations an extra $12 million, and we also created legislation from which resort communities could also access hotel room tax. in short, i would put our record up against the oppos- ition's record when they were in government any time on our support for tourism. Mr. Speaker: The member has a supplemental. N.

Macdonald: That is a minister being cut loose. The Premier wouldn't even stand up and defend him. h e wouldn't even stand up and defend him. i am confident that the people of k ootenay e ast will pass judgment. i also know that it is the Premier who chooses cabinet, and with his choices he sets a standard.

The h ouse l eader, in a visit to cranbrook, twice described the Minister of t ourism as "nasty." being nasty is discouraged in most leadership positions, but clearly in this Premier's executive council it is not only tolerated, but it's a point of pride. t o the Premier. h e said that this conduct was unacceptable in 2007 when he accepted the minister's resignation. Will he stand up today and explain why he now thinks the minister has the right to attack citizens? What has changed? interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Hon. B. Bennett: The member knows quite well what nasty is, as a matter of fact. Mr.

Speaker, i was in the tourism industry for over 20 years. i know how it works. i can empathize with all tourism operators in the trials and tribulations of that industry. but i also know, having been minister now for about eight months, from talking to the c ouncil of t ourism a ssociations, from talking to the wilderness tourism organizations, to the cruise industry, to the airline industry, to the hotel industry, to the restaurant industry, that every single one of those components of the tour - ism industry will tell you one thing. They will tell you: "Please, don't take us back to the 1990s.

Please don't give us an nDP government." They know that this govern- ment has been so much better for the tourism industry than those guys ever were in the 1990s. JorD an'S P rinciP le anD Fir St nation S hou Sin G C. Trevena: l ast year the Premier made a very big announcement when his government signed on to

british c olumbia Debates13590 t uesday, February 10, 2009 Jordan's principle, which puts the health and safety of first nations children above jurisdictional squabbles. So when i brought to the h ouse last year the appal- ling conditions of housing on the reserve at t sulquate, asking for Jordan's principle to be enacted, the Gwa'sala- n akwaxda'xw First n ations hoped there'd be action, but instead the Minister of c hildren and Families said it was a federal issue.

Three months on we've still got kids in overcrowded, mould-infested homes at t sulquate, at a housat, at any number of first nations reserves across b.c. and on the i sland. i would like to ask the Premier: when will your gov- ernment act and put Jordan's principle in place to put children first? Hon. T.

Christensen: We are day in and day out acting on Jordan's principle and putting children first across british c olumbia. if any situation comes to our attention where a child on reserve requires services and a jurisdictional dispute between the federal and prov- incial government is interfering with providing those services, services will be provided. [1415] We are working with the band on an ongoing basis, meet- ing weekly with respect to children from that band who are in care of the province so that we can have the band engaged in trying to find solutions to the challenges that face those families. but as the member well knows, these are complex issues, and housing is not the reason that chil- dren have been removed from homes, from their families.

W e are trying to reunite children with families, and we will continue working closely with the band to do that. Mr. Speaker: The member has a supplemental. C. Trevena: So the housing on the reserve is just fine. The fact that people are living in overcrowded, damp, mouldy houses, including many children — that's okay too. Y ou may be meeting the band regularly, but you're actually doing nothing. it's been brought to your atten- tion back in n ovember and ever since then.

The minister's colleague last May, the Minister of a boriginal r elations and r econciliation, said in this h ouse: "Jordan's principle is about the fact that it's child first, safety first." h e said: "l et's not get mired in jurisdic- tional disputes when the life or safety of a child is at stake." Mr. Speaker, i think the safety of children is at stake if they are living in overcrowded, mouldy housing because of poverty and because of inaction by this government.

So again to the minister — or preferably to the Premier, who actually celebrated Jordan's principle, as we all did: when will he live up to his government's commitment and put these children first? Hon. T. Christensen: i can confirm for the h ouse and for this member that the province is providing all servi- ces and ensuring that all services that are available off reserve are also available on reserve so that aboriginal children are treated the same as non-aboriginal children across our province and can be confident that they're receiving the services they require.

This government is working actively with the federal government to ensure that they are aware of housing issues on reserve and that they are dealing with those issues together with the province and with first nations so that we can all be confident that the legacy of poor housing on reserves is addressed. ol YMPic Ga Me S Securit Y co St S H.

Bains: Y esterday the Minister r esponsible for the o lympics admitted that the price tag for security will be far greater than $175 million. h e admitted finally — finally he admitted — that his ridiculous claim that the o lympics would only cost $600 million is just an olympic myth. n ow that the minister has admitted that he has not been upfront with british c olumbians…. The minis- ter knows the full and real cost, but he still won't come clean. My question to the minister today is this: will the minister let the people of british c olumbia know today how much the total o lympic security cost will be? Hon. C.

Hansen: The federal government through the rcMP have responsibility for the security plan and for the security budget. it is up to the federal government officials or the rcMP to decide at what time they would share that number with c anadians.

From our perspec- tive, we have responsibility for a 50 percent share of a small portion of the security budget, and we are working with the federal government to finalize the arrangement in terms of how we accept that responsibility. i can tell the member that i have been totally upfront. i would suggest that he go back and read the Hansard from estimates last year and the year before and refresh his own memory of some of the answers that i gave him, because clearly he has forgotten. Mr. Speaker: The member has a supplemental. ol YMPic Ga Me S c o St S H.

Bains: This minister should be given a new title: the minister of o lympic cost overruns. That's what fits this minister right away. Y esterday he said that we know the total o lympic cost except for security. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Members. c ontinue, Member. [1420]

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13591 H. Bains: Y esterday the minister said that we know the total o lympic cost except for security. h e said that's the one outstanding item that isn't included in the overall cost. Well, Mr. Speaker, what about the o lympic village? What about the convention centre? What about the Sea to Sky h ighway? What about the athletes village? What about the ra V line? What about the other o lympic-sized cost overruns? The minister knows the cost. interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. H. Bains: The minister knows the cost, but he's still hiding the total cost.

Will the minister do the right thing today and finally tell british c olumbians the true cost for the games? interjections. Mr. Speaker: Members. Hon. C. Hansen: a nd what about the o lympic vil- lage? t oday it's creating jobs for 1,700 men and women in british c olumbia. What about the Sea to Sky h ighway that's creating thousands of jobs in british c olumbia? What about the o lympic and Paralympic l ive Sites that are located in communities across british c olumbia from the northeast to the northwest to the southeast to the southwest, creating jobs for british c olumbia?

What about the 250,000 visitors who are going to come to british c olumbia for the o lympics? They're going to be spending money on hotels and taxis and restaurants — the biggest economic stimulus this province could hope for. Mr. Speaker, i know that it pains the opposition to know that their leader opposed the o lympics from day one. i know that the nDP cannot…. interjections. Hon. C. Hansen: They have to find any opportunity to slag the o lympics. i can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that they're out of sync with british c olumbians, because british c olumbians are getting excited about the o lympics.

We've got the 12-month countdown coming this Thursday. it is going to be an exciting time for british c olumbia. it's going to be the biggest economic shot in the arm that this province has ever seen, and it will truly showcase to the world that british c olumbia is the best place on earth. [a pplause.] [end of question period.] Motions Without Notice aPPoint Ment o F Ser Geant -at -arMS Hon. M. de Jong: o ver the past couple of days ser - vices have been rendered in this chamber under false pretences, and we need to address that by formalizing the appointment of our new Sergeant-at-a rms.

So with leave, i move, seconded by the member for Port c oquitlam–b urke Mountain electoral district, that the appointment of Gary l enz as Sergeant-at-a rms of the l egislative a ssembly by order-in-council 952/2008 be ratified in accordance with

section 39(2) of the c onstitution a ct. [a pplause.] l eave granted. Motion approved. Orders of the Day Hon. M. de Jong: i call continued second reading debate on bill 48. Second Reading of Bills Finance Statute S (De Ficit a uthorization an D Debt e li Mination) aMenDMent a ct, 2009 (continued) N.

Macdonald: i rise to continue with the debate on this legislation and to just speak from the context of one of the things that was said when the debate began, which is about the need to do this to protect things that are important to british c olumbians, such as health and education. [1425] The point i would make is that there's precious little example in the last seven years that that has been a pri- ority of this government. i've spoken about a number of items, but i would like to continue in the approxi- mately five minutes i have left to talk again about a few of the things over the past seven years that would point strongly to the fact that this has never been a priority for the b.c. l iberals. i left off talking about the need for a new funding formula that would recognize the challenges of rural districts and to point out that if you look over the past seven years, we had — quite inconceivably or surpris- ingly — school districts that for purely financial reasons were unable to have school for five days. instead they had to run it for four of the five days to save money, which is an incredible fact.

What is also, i think, important to note is that all of those districts were naturally rural districts. So not only

british c olumbia Debates13592 t uesday, February 10, 2009 are the 177 schools predominantly in rural areas, but you also have schools unable to run for five full days, and that was predominantly in rural areas too. [k. Whittred in the chair.] The last thing i would speak to is this fact, which i think is pertinent right now. t o run the education system effectively, you need to make the best of the talent and skills that we are all paying for. a s the Speaker would know, the bulk of cost for an education system is with those that we hire to look after our children and to make sure they're properly educated.

So it is incredibly important to make sure that that investment is wisely used and that we show respect and make sure that we draw out the talent and skills that these people have. in the last seven years i can hardly count the number of times this government has purposefully misman- aged that workforce. The cuts are very brutal not only on students but also on professionals.

The series of half-thought-through initiatives that this government has initiated are brutal as well. t eachers, educators and parents will be familiar with "the portfolios are in, the portfolios are out," without warning or any chance to prepare or plan; the c ollege of t eachers reorganization; the 30-minute Pe, which sounds quite interesting but in practice wasn't thought through.

So when the minister talked about this government stepping forward with this legislation to protect health and education, it's clear that for the past seven years this government has never had those as priorities. it's simply not the case, and we see it in other examples of mismanagement: the school planning committees that were not properly thought through — a concept that might work if they were thought through, but initiated without the proper consideration; bc eSiS, which is the provincial reporting system that simply has not worked in the way that it was. i was told, when i became a principal, by ian r obinson, who is an experienced and very well respected principal, that my job was to meet the needs of teachers, and that they would meet the needs of children.

When i think of my experience, i had the privilege of working with some incredible professionals who did just that. So in terms of dealing with education, the conclusion that you unavoidably come up with if you have followed public education in british c olumbia at all in the past seven years is that this has not been a priority, is not a priority and in the future is not likely to be a priority for the b.c. l iberals and for this government. Those are the wrong priorities, and the nDP and this caucus certainly have different priorities.

We would make sure that the problems i've identified are problems that would have solutions in the future. i also want to talk about health for the few min- utes that i have left. My experience in my part of rural british c olumbia representing r evelstoke, Golden, the c olumbia Valley and k imberley…. i represent com- munities, like many in rural british c olumbia and i think across this province, that have suffered terribly under this government related to health care. [1430] in my area we had the Golden and District h ospital degraded. We had the invermere and District h ospital degraded.

We had the k imberley hospital closed alto- gether. it was the manner of doing that that was not only poorly conceived, but also the manner in which it was done was highly offensive. The removal of local say — with the interior h ealth a uthority removing any local say in how these decisions are made — has led to decisions that simply don't make sense in the communities that i represent.

We can talk…. a nd i'm sure that the h ealth critic will raise concerns around food, home care, seniors care, cleanliness. a ll of these issues are things that are of critical importance to people in the area that i represent, and all of them are things that need to be improved, that we hear again and again are simply not up to the stan- dard that people need. This new legislation comes into place. it points to a two-year deficit.

Given that only two months ago we were assured that the finances…. t wo weeks ago we were assured that we wouldn't be in a deficit. it seems a bit absurd to be talking about what will happen in two years. i think there's no question that when you look at the initial legislation that we set out to change, it's essen- tially a stunt. a s soon as the government wants to go into deficit, they simply change the legislation when they do.

So it's a meaningless piece of legislation and, like i say, one of many stunts that we've seen from this government that does much to disillusion the public but very little to help them. So with that, i'm going to take my seat, and i thank the Speaker for the opportunity to speak on bill 48. J. Nuraney: i rise today to speak on bill 48, which is before this l egislature. before i speak about the merits of this bill, let me talk a little bit about what has made us come to this stage.

The last two years have seen some unprecedented economic conditions. r ecession throughout the indus- trialized world came about because of several economic downturns. Some of the elements that brought about this state of affairs were the high oil prices, high food prices and substantial credit crisis. These led to drastic bankruptcies of large and well-established investment banks, as well as commercial banks, in many nations around the world.

This crisis has led numerous economic indicators to swing downwards. one of the most damaging results has been the massive unemployment, with loss of income and declining revenues. a ny economic measure that

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13593 one must take must counter this economic tragedy and must address the issues of jobs and the welfare of people, and not just rescuing banks from their difficulties. This government, when it assumed office in 2001, made a conscious decision to be financially responsible and prudent.

We managed to eliminate a large structural deficit, which we inherited from the previous govern- ment, and to steer our way through by making some very difficult decisions. once we regained the confidence of our people and put measures in place to create a momentum of invest- ments and job creation, we realized a very healthy economic outlook, resulting in surpluses which were invested for the benefit of all british c olumbians. [1435] l et me digress at this stage and refer to some of the remarks that the member for c olumbia r iver– r evelstoke made earlier today. in his remarks he claims that we have underfunded education. h e says that public education was not, is not and never will be a priority of this government. l et me talk about some of the facts on this issue.

This government has invested the highest amount of dollars ever in education in this province. t oday the total investment in education stands at $5.67 billion. This is a 23 percent lift from the amount spent in 2000 and 2001. That is a fact. a nother fact in this matter is that this funding has resulted in an $8,118 per-student funding — again, the highest ever in the province. The member also talked about class sizes, saying that these class sizes are too high. The fact is that all 60 school districts have once again complied with the legis- lation to ensure a balanced class size and composition.

More than 95 percent of classes in british c olumbia — let me repeat; more than 95 percent of classes in british c olumbia — have 30 or fewer students, and 99 percent of classes have 32 or fewer students. a fact. a nother matter that he referred to was saying that we are not doing enough on school construction. The fact is that since 2001 the province has spent more than $1.4 billion to complete 73 new and replacement schools, 147 additions, 25 renovation projects and 20 site acquisitions across british c olumbia. l et me add that in my riding of burnaby-Willingdon, we have bene- fited from this investment.

The latest one is a $50 million new secondary school that will be built in my riding of burnaby-Willingdon. The member also referred to perhaps not enough progress being made in the matter of seismic upgrades. Fact: in March of 2005 the Ministry of e ducation announced a $1.5 billion seismic mitigation program. This is the most comprehensive approach to school seismic upgrades ever undertaken by a government in british c olumbia. h e also talked about supporting the needs of students who have special needs.

Fact: once again this government has invested the highest amount of dollars in support of the needs of special needs children. This government has now allocated close to three-quarters of a billion dollars — $739.5 million — to mitigate the problems and to address this matter of special needs for our children. [1440] We have done more in the field of education than any government has ever done in the history of british c olumbia. a ll this, Madam Speaker, did not happen by accident.

W e had a plan. it is important. in order to achieve long-lasting benefits, we must have a plan which not just the government but the experts in the field help to devise. o ur Premier, over the years, has set up various boards, round tables and public congresses and has consulted a very broad scale of experts who have helped us to develop these plans, which this government has imple- mented. We have seen the benefits of this exercise in matters of health care, education, transportation, social services, homelessness and many other endeavours of this government.

Madam Speaker, true leadership lies not only in apply- ing your successes for the benefit of all people but to be able to rise to the challenge every time we have a crisis. We fought the crisis of the tech meltdown. We fought the crisis of SarS. We fought the crisis of forest fires and also of the avian flu. These crises were overcome by sheer determination to face the problem and to find a solution. once again, we are faced today with a crisis which, if not dealt with responsibly, will result in perma- nent long-term harm to all british c olumbians. bill 48 deals with such a crisis.

We believed, and still do, that it is the responsibility of all levels of governments to live within their means. There are, however, services such as health care, education and social services, which must not suffer and must be protected in any event. What we are facing today in terms of declining rev- enues makes it virtually impossible to maintain the services without going into deficits. Deficit financing in today's economic situation becomes critical to create jobs and to protect the welfare of our people.

This bill will allow the government to deal with this crisis. in my opinion, this bill has provisions which do not give us a carte blanche. We are proposing a two- year exemption to

section 2 of the balanced budget and Ministerial a ccountability a ct. This amend- ment includes an automatic repeal in the year 2011. We are also proposing an amendment to the budget t ransparency and a ccountability a ct to require that an annual increase in consolidated revenue fund cash must be used to pay down the direct operating debt. The amendment also includes a prohibition against supplementary estimates until the direct operating debt is eliminated. This prohibition means that every penny of future operating surpluses under direct government control will go to eliminating the direct operating debt.

british c olumbia Debates13594 t uesday, February 10, 2009 We strongly believe in balanced budgets, and we are proposing these amendments today to ensure that this government returns to a balanced budget as soon as possible. This is a very responsible thing to do.

Madam Speaker, it is my strong belief that when our country or our province faces such crises, it is the solemn duty of us all to come together. [1445] We do understand that the opposition may want to play their roles as politicians, but this is not the time to play politics. i have always said that there is no room for politics when there is a serious matter of public policy. This is not the time to criticize and belittle the other.

For if that is the order of the day, i can stand here in this h ouse today and remind us all of the disastrous years of the nDP government when they took away every single opportunity from us and our children. This is not the time. i repeat: this is not the time for politics. a s i said, if it was, this is what i would be doing, but i'm not.

This is the time for action. it is the time to save our province from falling into an abyss because of conditions that are beyond our control. e very nation of this world is seriously pondering how to deal with this unprecedented economic crisis. it is also our duty to take action that will help us ride this out and to ensure the future of our province and a future that is desired by us all — that of prosperity, opportunity and optimism. C.

James: i rise today to speak to bill 48, a bill that gives the b.c . l iberal government the authority to break its own law, a bill that undercuts almost everything the Premier told british c olumbians that he believed in, a bill that severely damages the Premier's credibility and the remaining trust that british c olumbians have in him. bill 48 is more than simply an amendment to the balanced budget act; it's an indictment of this govern- ment's record.

This is a symbol of this Premier's profound hypocrisy, a Premier who built his political career railing against deficits; a Premier who, as we all know, sacrificed services to the most vulnerable in the service of his rigid and uncaring ideology; a Premier who made ordinary british c olumbians pay with deep cuts to their services. n ow this Premier wants them to believe, when his back is to the wall and on the eve of an election, that he really cares too much about education and health care to balance the budget. Well, british c olumbians aren't buying one bit of that. They understand the difference.

They under- stand the difference between a pragmatic and principled leader who adjusts to circumstances and an opportunistic Premier who will break with one of his deepest principles one day to hold on to power the next day. british c olumbians deserve better from their govern- ment. They deserve principled and pragmatic leadership in difficult times.

They deserve a government with the right priorities, and in three months, when british c olumbians go to the polls and they pass judgment on this government's record of arrogance and neglect, that is exactly what they'll get from this side of the h ouse in a government. They will get a government that puts them first from this side of the h ouse. They will get a govern- ment that understands their needs. The b.c. l iberals' core argument for this bill is as simple as it is deceptive. They want british c olumbians to believe that they didn't see this economic downturn coming. it was such a surprise.

The economic situation got so bad so quickly that despite everything they said up to three weeks ago, now all of a sudden they have to run a deficit. [1450] Well, let's take a minute to examine that claim. l ast week the Premier said he only realized a deficit was possible two weeks beforehand. h e said that he'd never faced a more difficult decision in his public life. n ow, let's all remember in this l egislature that this is a Premier who gave big tax cuts to the few and paid for them by cuts to the most vulnerable children in british c olumbia. a pparently, he didn't lose any sleep over that. but running a deficit in difficult times….

Well, that kept him awake all night, tossing and turning. That says something about the character of this government. but let's put aside that deep emotional pain. l et's put aside that deep emotional pain that this is causing the Premier. is the claim that he woke up just a couple of weeks ago believable? is it credible? n o. n o, it's not credible. it's preposterous. a nd if it were true, if the Premier didn't really realize that a deficit was necessary until a couple of weeks ago, then the b.c . l iberals are more arrogant and out of touch than any of us thought possible.

This economic crisis didn't take hold three weeks ago. it's been going on and gathering steam for months. t ens of thousands of jobs lost. in January alone, b.c. lost 68,000 full-time jobs — 68,000, the worst loss in all of c anada. in interior communities layoffs have been mounting for years — 20,000 forest jobs gone, 60 mills shut. The multiplier effect is astounding. These aren't simply numbers. These are individ- uals. These are families.

These are hard-working british c olumbians. i have stood with those workers. i stood with their families and communities across british c olumbia. i've heard their stories, and i've watched as they've tried in vain to get this government to pay attention. Y es, the scale of this downturn is unprecedented.

We haven't seen anything like it in our lifetimes. bankruptcies on the rise. ei claims rising. r etail sales plummeting. r evenues disappearing. h ome values plummeting. but the scale of this downturn only makes the Premier's claim to ignorance even more absurd. it only makes his inaction all the more inexcusable. h e must be the only leader of a government anywhere in the developed world who looked around at what was happening and decided that he was such a genius that deficits weren't necessary.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13595 i suppose it shouldn't be surprising, because the Premier's entire political career is centred on the idea that deficits are evil.

They're more than a fiscal decision; they're a moral decision. l eaders who run deficits are delinquents, addicted to spending, the Premier said, regardless of the ultimate cost. in fact, to prove how tough he was, in 2001 this Premier changed the balanced budget legislation to eliminate any provision that allowed for an unforeseen drop in revenues, to handcuff a government in exactly the circumstances that we now find ourselves in. The Premier played those kind of cheap politics right up until the end when the circumstances overtook him.

Madam Speaker, the Premier should be ashamed. h e should be ashamed. t o save face, to prove it to himself, to prove it to his party that he was infallible, the Premier pretended that he had everything under control. t ime and again he stood up and told british c olumbians that b.c.'s eco- nomic position was sound.

There wasn't a problem here. h e actually went on t V in o ctober and said deficits will never, ever happen. h e implied that b.c. was immune to the worst. h e said the revenues were holding up, and he offered a meek plan with very few specifics. a s other leaders started taking action, all this Premier could muster were a few accelerated tax cuts and some empty promises.

The Premier's so-called plan didn't even mention education. it had very little for struggling families, even less for forest communities. it didn't talk about affordable housing. it didn't talk about affordable transit. it said nothing about community infrastructure. [1455] l ike so much of what this Premier does, his plan was little more than a communications exercise, delivered with great fanfare one day and completely forgotten the next. The Premier's economic plan wasn't followed by action on the economy, but it was followed by something. it was followed by a plan to spend $365 million on a new roof for b.c.

Place. it was followed by millions more dol- lars flushed away on t V ads. it was followed by taxpayer bailouts of failed privatization schemes. it was followed by more of the same — the same kind of arrogance and neglect that is the hallmark of this government.

The Premier had a responsibility to lead, and he failed. h e had a responsibility to act, and he hid. h e had a responsibility to level with british c olumbians, but he ran from the truth. h e ran from telling the public what was going on. h e abdicated his responsibility. h e didn't lead. h e didn't level with the people of this province. h e abandoned british c olumbians at precisely the moment they needed leadership, and that's why on May 12, when british c olumbians go to the polls, they're going to return the favour, and they're going to abandon the b.c. l iberals when it comes to this election. o n May 12 they are going to reject eight years of broken promises.

They're going to reject eight years of the wrong priorities. They're certainly not going to be fooled by pre-election promises to protect health care and educa- tion.

The Premier can't go back to that well again. bill 48 allows the Premier to break his own law to run a deficit, but you'll notice in the bill there's nothing there that commits the Premier to keeping one single promise once the election is over. british c olumbians know very well that this Premier writes his health and education promises in sand. l et's run through a few of them: health care where and when you need it, a plan to reduce wait-lists and put patients first, 5,000 long-term care beds for seniors, smaller class sizes, more special education teachers.

Those are just a few of the broken promises that littered the b.c. l iberals' new-era platform. british c olumbians couldn't believe the Premier in 2001, they couldn't believe him in 2005, and there's no reason on earth they should believe him right now. n ow, this Premier can spend millions of dollars on t V ads, promising up and down that health care and education are going to come first.

We've seen that before. h e can unveil hundreds of hospital models with thou- sands of little tiny beds in those models, promising that every last one of them is going to be built. h e can deliver a budget next week that's going to forecast big budget increases for health and education. but as we all know, and as the people of this province know, every one of those promises is going to be measured against this Premier's record, against the heartbreaking stories of seniors who are separated after years and years of marriage because of this government's neglect and cuts.

These promises are going to be measured against the daily reality experienced by patients in overcrowded emergency rooms: code purple after code purple after code purple, brought on by years of b.c. l iberal neglect. e very election promise this Premier makes will be put to the test by parents whose children learn in overcrowded classrooms with too few resources and by post-secondary students who carry around crushing debt loads. it will be measured against the shameful inaction to help forest communities in their time of need and against this gov- ernment's eight years of arrogance and neglect.

The Premier can write his own get-out-of-jail-free card with bill 48, but bill 48 can't erase the damage that he's done. it can't rebuild the trust that he's lost. h ow could it? [1500] bill 48 doesn't retract the huge pay increases that the Premier gave his top aides, the same ones that he now says he's going to lay off. bill 48 doesn't take back the $365 million that the b.c. l iberals are spending on a retractable roof for b.c.

Place. it doesn't pay back the millions of taxpayer dollars the government spent on partisan ads. bill 48 doesn't house a single homeless person or help a single vulnerable child. it doesn't fund those long-term

british c olumbia Debates13596 t uesday, February 10, 2009 care beds the government hasn't built yet or a single new care home, and it certainly doesn't improve accountabil- ity or commit the government to come clean on the true cost of the o lympic overruns. bill 48 allows the Premier to run a deficit. That's it. in doing so, it makes a mockery of everything he said he stood for. it makes a mockery of his deepest political convictions.

What bill 48 doesn't do is absolve the Premier of his record. it doesn't restore lost trust. only a new govern- ment with a renewed agenda can do that. only a new government with the right priorities for difficult times can stand up for ordinary families. only a new, progres- sive, pragmatic and principled government can bring british c olumbians together around a shared vision for a better future. on this side of the h ouse we are determined and we are ready to provide that leadership to british c olumbians. The Premier's brand of politics is worn and outdated.

The events of the last few months have made that very clear. bill 48 symbolizes the fundamental hyp- ocrisy at the heart of this Premier's politics. Y es, at this difficult moment in our history british c olumbia does have to run a deficit.

That's clear, and that's responsible. but at this moment in our his- tory british c olumbia needs more than bill 48. a t this moment in our history british c olumbia needs a new government with new priorities and new direction that will stand up for it. in these difficult times the people of this province deserve a government that puts them first, that focuses on the fundamentals. That moment for change is fast approaching. in just three months the narrow and worn vision that marked this Premier's time in government will come to an end. a new

chapter for the people of british c olumbia will begin on May 12. Hon. I.

Chong: i am very pleased to rise in my place and speak to what is a very important piece of legisla- tion, to speak to second reading, which is the principle of why we're gathered here, why we're talking about this bill — to allow this government to bring forward a cred- ible budget. it's one that will, in fact, have a deficit but one that ensures the protection of health care and of education, areas that i believe both sides of the h ouse know need to be preserved. h owever, it sounds very much — like when i heard the rhetoric from the l eader of the o pposition — that they're not for the protection of health care, that they're not for the protection of education. because it would seem that they don't want to see a deficit budget.

She talks about it, but she didn't actually say she supported the legislation. i'm still wondering where the leadership is on the other side of the h ouse. i'm still wondering whether she can actually take a position on anything, whether any of them can take a position, because we have only seen flip- flops on major decisions for the last four years. [1505] it just takes one person in that caucus to be a little uncomfortable. Then they all change their minds, and then they all have to flip back when a few others convince the rest.

That's what seems to go on in that caucus room. but i can tell you that in our caucus we work together. We deal with the difficult decisions, and we bring them forward. We bring them forward in this house. it sounded like the l eader of the o pposition felt that it was important to not change the legislation. She felt that it was important to leave it as it is so that they could, if they wanted to, change the balanced budgets into deficit budgets behind closed doors. That's what it sounded like to me — that they don't have to come to this h ouse, that they don't have to bring forward a piece of legislation.

That's not what we are doing. We actually are bringing in the legislation to allow us…. We're telling everyone.

We're telling the public and we're telling the opposition that we are going to bring in a deficit budget. it sounds like they don't think we need this legisla- tion. it sounds like they think they can just deal with this behind closed doors, and that's a pretty sad state of affairs on that side of the h ouse — to admit to that kind of behaviour. i want to talk a little bit about deficit budgets, because it's no secret that on this side of the h ouse that is not where we want to be. i have been here now for close to 13 years, and i can tell you that i've worked very hard to ensure that we have a government that can turn around an economy.

That's what we did when we formed gov- ernment in 2001. We said we would deal with the structural deficit. We said we would ensure that we could bring in balanced- budget legislation so that within our third full year we would have a balanced budget, and we did it. n ow bill 48 once again makes a commitment that within our third full fiscal year we in fact will bring in a balanced budget. We did it once before. We'll do it again. british c olumbians can count on that. So what can they count on from the nDP?

Well, i'll tell you what they can count on. in 1996, on the eve of an election, they brought in a so-called balanced budget. What did it turn out to be? Say it with me: fudge-it budget. That's what it turned out to be. We're not going to be doing that. interjection. Hon. I. Chong: o h, i hear "nonsense." That is a little too rich, even for that member, because in fact, it was a fudge-it budget. in fact, the Premier of the day, Glen c lark, said: "i guess we needed a little wriggle room." in fact, it was the Finance Minister — who had to take the job over from the Finance Minister of the day, who i

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13597 actually defeated — who said, "o h well, i guess we didn't quite have the right numbers," although all the officials, all the professionals in the public service, were telling them: "n o, i don't think you can put in that number. i think that forecast might be a little too high." but that's not what happened. The minister of the day overrode the officials. Then the subsequent minister did the same thing. i didn't expect it from that member, but he did, when he became the Finance Minister.

Then just after we finished debating that budget in that period in June of 1996 — July, then — he said: "o ops, a little wriggle room," and "i guess it's not really balanced after all." a nd there we got the term that was coined: the fudge-it budget. What are we doing today? We said no to fudge-it budgets. We said that we were going to reveal to the public exactly what needs to take place. We are going to say that we are going to change the legislation to allow us to bring in a deficit budget so that we can protect health care, so that we can protect education.

That opposition should heartily support bill 48, each and every one of them. a s they rise to speak, the first thing out of their mouth should be: "i support bill 48." but they're sounding a little reluctant in their seats. They're even sounding a little reluctant in the hallways. i really, really wonder where they're coming from. i really wonder what their plans are for british c olumbians. They say they want to take the leadership helm. They say they want to bring in credible budgets, but they haven't done it before. o ur record stands, and i will stand on the record that we have. That is balanced budgets.

That is to ensure that we add the dollars to health care and education. Some $8.3 billion in 2001 — that was the operating health care budget when we formed government. What is it today? it's over $14 billion — soon to be, i'm sure, over $15 billion. That's almost doubling. So what would the members opposite do? [1510] An Hon. Member: Vote against it. Hon. I. Chong: Sounds like they're going to vote against it.

Sounds like they're not in support of ensuring that health care and education budgets are there. i heard the comments that were made by our Finance Minister and Premier when they made the announcement a week ago about bringing in deficit budgets. Very difficult choice for both the Premier and the Finance Minister — in fact, for all of us on this side of the h ouse.

They said the only way we could bring in a balanced budget was to make massive reductions in health care and education. is that what the opposition would have us do? i would hope not, not when we have major expan- sions that are being planned to allow for better health care, to allow for good education, where the aboriginal students graduation and completion rates are, for the first time, rising. in my own area here in greater Victoria we have a massive expansion of the r oyal Jubilee h ospital, a new 500-patient tower, which is long overdue.

Y ou know, it's not the newest hospital. in fact, i think it's the oldest hospital in all of british c olumbia. if it's the oldest hos- pital, you wonder what happened in the 1990s. Why was it not dealt with back then?

Why was it neglected? because, you know, there were a number of members that were elected, and there were a number of cabinet members that were elected in the nDP of the day, but none of them saw fit to see the r oyal Jubilee h ospital renovated the way that we're going to see it renovated. i can tell you that all the physicians and all the health care professionals, all the workers are anxiously await- ing that.

Would they have us suspend the infrastructure spending in that area? a ll of us who work here, all of us as Mla s who come to this precinct for a number of months of the year…. if something should happen to us, we need that hospital. We need to be taken care of there, as do all the citizens in the greater Victoria area.

The $18.8 million being spent on the Victoria General h ospital emergency department will triple the size. n ow it might not sound like a lot of money, but it's import- ant dollars, important dollars that need to be invested. but would the nDP have us stop those investments? it almost sounds like it. i want to also go back to what we've done in the last number of years, the last seven years while we've had the honour of serving as Mla s and government members, in particular. o ver 100 tax relief measures have been introduced across a broad spectrum. individuals' per - sonal income tax reductions cumulatively total…. i've calculated it right here: $64.13 is the net amount we pay if we started with a base of $100.

With a 25 percent reduction, with a 10 percent reduction, with a 5 percent reduction…. So a person who might have paid $100 in b.c. taxes back in 2001 now only pays $64. Someone who paid a thousand dollars would now pay $641. Someone who paid $10,000 would now actually pay about $6,400. What do they do with that money that they've saved? That money is best used in the taxpayers' hands, and they can put it back in the economy, which is exactly what we need to do in this turbulent time — to have taxpayers have confidence to spend money to get our economy moving again.

So with the tax measures that we introduced, eco- nomic measures that were introduced in o ctober, that's going to allow that to happen — to allow a retroactive tax reduction. t ax relief for small business. We all say that small business is the engine of the economy. They hire the people. They get our economy going. The tax rate for small businesses now — 2.5 percent. n ow, that's the

british c olumbia Debates13598 t uesday, February 10, 2009 lowest it's ever been. before coming to this chamber, many of you know my profession was an accountant. i did tax returns for a number of corporations, and i've never seen it this low. n ever in my wildest dreams did i ever expect that that is how low we could reduce the tax rates. but you know, all of us who ever worked in small business and with small business know how important that is. it allows those small businesses to reinvest it in hiring people, again providing for more confidence in the economy. it allows for them to reinvest it in assets, to allow them to expand their business. [1515] There's one thing that's been said time and time again as we've gone through this economic slowdown, that others have said, third-party people have said, and people who have endorsed exactly where we're headed.

They've all said one thing: "Thank goodness british c olumbia diversified its products. Thank goodness british c olumbia diversified its markets. Thank good- ness british c olumbia had vision and looked ahead because, if not, we would not be the one jurisdiction in all of n orth a merica that they are pointing to that is in the best position to weather this economic storm." n ot ontario, not a lberta, not even c anada as a whole. british c olumbia, right here, right now — our province.

We're ready, and we're going to ensure that when the eco- nomic slowdown reverses itself, british c olumbia will once again take its rightful place in the lead as always. i heard the l eader of the o pposition talk about cred- ibility. c redibility is about a truthful budget. The only thing that the n DP were able to bring in was a fudge-it budget, not a credible budget, and we're going to hear a lot more about that because people will remember. They will remember that they depended on that government of the day to bring in a balanced budget, because they went out on the election trail. it was in 1996.

That's what they said they did, but it wasn't truthful, and it didn't happen. Y ou know, i also recall the number of plans that they had. First of all, i think it was called the Debt Management Plan, then the Debt r epayment Plan, and then the "we'd like to have paid down the debt" plan. i don't know how many names and iterations there were, but finally, you know, they just gave up. They didn't even have a plan to deal with the debt, and why was that? They didn't have a plan to deal with the debt because they had no idea on how to deal with the debt. So what have we done in seven years?

We have reduced our operating debt by almost a half. When we formed government in 2001, the operating debt was just over $15 billion. We've paid down that operating debt by over $7 billion. There's another $8 billion to go, but it was that government that built it up and had no plans to bring it down, which is perhaps one of the reasons why their claim to fame is credit downgrades. That's what we saw — credit downgrades. An Hon. Member: They were good at it. Hon. I.

Chong: They were very good at it, as my col- league said, because one after another, they'd get the next bond-rating agency to say: "o kay, we'll give them a credit downgrade. o h, and we'll give them another one, and we'll give them another one." but that's not our way, because we know that to be credible, to ensure that we could pay the least amount in debt servicing so that we can save those dollars and put them into critical, vital services that british c olumbians depend upon, we needed to ensure that we had a credible budget, but at the same time, a debt repayment schedule.

We worked on it, and i'm proud to say it worked, and that's why in 2006, after 20 years, finally a credit upgrade to triple-a for the province of british c olumbia — only matched by the federal government and a lberta. That is a great position to be in.

That is a position that we should be proud of, and that is what leadership in this province showed can happen. i just want to ensure that people who are listening to these debates know that this government is absolutely concerned about what is happening globally. e veryone has been pulled into this economic downturn. it was not in any jurisdiction in c anada, that i believe, of our own making, but because we trade and because we are also a very dependent trading country with other jurisdictions — of course, when they are hit with these changes, we will also be impacted.

We are not going to be immune to that, but we do have a sound banking system, and that's what i want british c olumbians to know. e veryone has indicated and the international Monetary Fund has said we have a sound banking system.

That probably is what is also going to bode well for c anada as a whole, but even so, c anada as a whole is comprised of many provinces so each prov- ince has an obligation — an obligation to do what they can to continue to instil that credibility, to continue to instil confidence in its people, and that's what we're doing here in british c olumbia. [1520] That's what bill 48 is about: protecting health, public services, education. british c olumbian families are depending on it, and british c olumbian families know that we can deliver on that. a lso bill 48, as i mentioned at the very start of my remarks, is about a commitment to return to balanced budgets by 2011-2012. a gain, you know, the nDP caucus, opposition members, may not believe it, but everyone who has seen our track record, everyone who has watched and monitored the fiscal discipline that we've had on this side of the h ouse should know that commitment is sound, and that commitment will be kept.

We are going to balance our budgets by 2011-12, because we have the fortitude to do so. We have the will, the determination, the fiscal discipline.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13599 The reason why i know this is because i've seen that fiscal discipline not just by the members on our side of the h ouse but by working with the very professional Finance official staff that we have — the Ministry of Finance staff. They bring us information. We actually listen to them. We work with them. We work with the e conomic Forecast c ouncil, and we will continue to do that over the period of the next number of years.

We're going to do it because that is what bringing in a credible budget is all about. n o one could have predicted what the impact of the global economic forces would have been. n o one could have predicted how quickly those forces would have hit british c olumbia. So when i hear the opposition mem- bers scoff — and that's what they're doing — about how we would not have known about this, well, we have relied on the officials.

We have relied on the economic forecasts, and even in December they predicted that b.c. would still have growth. it was only in January that they said zero growth, perhaps because of the loss of $300 million of revenues in a 24-hour period. n o one could have predicted that. Y et the nDP really thought that they could have predicted that. Then they probably should have been able to have predicted that they wouldn't have had a fudge-it budget, yet they did. So let's be clear. on our side of the h ouse a com- mitment to return to balanced budget is there in this legislation, and that's how strongly we believe it.

That's where we're going to get to. a gain i ask: do they support this legislation? The member for c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke, when he spoke, said that bill 48 is a meaningless piece of legislation. i hope he doesn't truly believe that. h e said that it is a meaningless piece of legislation. So is he going to vote for it or against it? n ow, that would be novel. h e says that it's a meaningless piece of legislation.

So if he votes for it, it sounds like he believes in meaningless pieces of legisla- tion, and if he votes against it, well then i guess he doesn't support the protection of health care and education. it's a bit difficult to really find out where the nDP caucus, the nDP opposition, is coming from on this debate. a re we going to see another major flip-flop this week? Well, it wouldn't be surprising.

We've seen them before. i guess we'll have to wait and see. i guess we'll wait and see how the other members respond to this piece of legislation and if they all agree with the member for c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke that it's meaningless. i don't think it's meaningless. i think it's very import- ant. i think it's very real, and i think it deserves support. it deserves support from all members of the h ouse, because it allows this government to run a tempor - ary budget, allows us to return to a balanced budget. it allows us to protect health care and education. When we formed government in 2001, hon.

Speaker, you will recall we went through a number of things within four months of being elected. Then 9/11 hit, and we all saw the devastation of what 9/11 did to the world and how we changed our lives to deal with that. n ot long after that we were dealing with SarS, which had a huge impact on one of the top three economic drivers of our economy — tourism. t ourism was ranking in the top three, and SarS hit. People said that how they dealt with it in t oronto versus how they dealt with it in british c olumbia here, in Vancouver, were two totally different stories. There was no one in the streets.

The stores were empty. Y ou could hear a pin drop, because they didn't know how to deal with that. [1525] h ere in british c olumbia, again, we knew how to deal with it. We had leadership, and we also had the benefit of working with a very, very sound professional ministry staff to ensure that we could get out the word to show that you could still be safe here. We went through SarS. There was a bit of an economic downturn in that par - ticular sector, but we went through it, and we survived. We also dealt with, for the first time, the bSe–avian flu situation and went through that again.

We really thought that gosh, after all those major setbacks, we couldn't possibly have any more things that could occur that could cause a disruption to our financial situa- tion. but then, guess what: a tragedy of all tragedies, the record forest fires in the o kanagan, and family after family being affected.

Y ou know, the nDP had none of this to deal with. in my recollection, they had one — one — item to deal with, which was the a sian tech meltdown. i think that was in '97 or '98, but they blamed that for the next three years as to why they couldn't balance their budget. but it wasn't about that. it was the fact that they had no fiscal discipline, no fiscal strength and fortitude to make sure that the difficult decisions that had to be made were made but, at the same time, protecting health care and education. They introduced programs that there were no foreseeable revenue streams for.

That's not going to be the part of our regime. We will ensure that british c olumbians do receive leadership, and bill 48 is about leadership. bill 48 is about ensur - ing that we can go forward and that we can continue to build this province in a way that will see us best weather this economic storm, as everyone is predicting. if there are unforeseen circumstances, once again i would ask the nDP how they would have dealt with this. They wouldn't have changed the legislation. They would have sat back, or they would have dealt with it behind closed doors.

That's what it sounds like. if, in fact, they believe that this legislation is mean- ingless, as the member for c olumbia r iver–r evelstoke just indicated, then i have a question. Does that mean that they would repeal this legislation immediately? if they're going to repeal this legislation, it means, then, that they would have to balance the budget.

british c olumbia Debates13600 t uesday, February 10, 2009 Where would they find the extra $2 billion for tax relief? Where would they find the extra billions of dollars for health care spending and the commitments that have been made to keep that infrastructure in place? What would they do to those economic drivers that are currently within our province? Would they shut down the oil and gas industry? Would they shut down the mining industry, which they did so well in the '90s? interjections. Hon. I. Chong: Y eah, we'd have two days of work done and devastate the economy.

What would they do for the rest of the week? What would they do to our transportation infrastructure? We have now a reputation in british c olumbia. We are c anada's Pacific gateway. That brand didn't happen overnight. We worked on that — the Minister of t ransportation, in collaboration with his federal counterparts in o ttawa, with the Prime Minister and the Premier — talking about ensuring that we take advantage of our geographic location so that we can be an economic powerhouse.

That didn't happen overnight. it was working together with others. i've seen how this nDP party works, because i was here in the '90s. They don't work with other people. The only people they listen to are their cousins in o ttawa. They have no intention of working with the federal governments of the day. i've seen them bash the federal government of the day. it doesn't matter what party. That's what they did. it's only their leader that they're listening to. l et's have a look at what their leader, their nDP leader, has done for this country. They're trying to create a coalition.

They're not supporting changes to tougher legislation on crime, which we were discussing earlier today. it sounds as if they want to reach into the pockets of taxpayers, take back all the relief that was once there and then put it to their pet projects. e ven during the last election, and i hope they've now fervently changed their mind on this, the nDP in o ttawa, which was then supported by the nDP here, said that they would bring in an inheritance tax. l et's forget that that happened in the last election. [1530] What do they have for british c olumbia? What plans do they really have?

They want to repeal this legislation? They want to drive investment out of this province? They want to drive people out of this province? i know there have been job losses, and we all know how devastating that is on families — to lose a job, to not be able to support your family. but the nDP would have that happen tenfold if, in fact, they were ever given the reins to form government. They would, in fact, drive jobs out of this province, as they did before. They have that record. i saw so many of my friends going to a lberta. What was the example?

That moving-trucks were going to a lberta, but they were coming back empty. That was the only company that was making any money in the '90s, because they were driving people to where there were more prosperous economies. We turned that around, and even though, as i say, there have been job losses, and even though it has been difficult, what i do know is that since 2001 we still have seen the creation of close to 400,000 jobs. a nd that is still a strong measure of success by anyone's record. [h. b loy in the chair.] What are we going to see from the n DP? c redit downgrades? More job losses?

More cost to service the debt as a result of the credit downgrade? n o dollars that can be invested in health care and education? is it going to be a "b .c. closed for business" attitude once again? We worked very hard to return us to a "b .c. is open for business" attitude. We worked very hard to make sure small businesses had opportunity in this province.

We had four years of strong surpluses, and i'm proud of those four years of strong surpluses in this province. i do find it very difficult, especially with the profes- sion that i have been trained in and the counselling that i used to provide for small and medium-sized businesses. i find it extremely difficult to run a deficit, but i am at least comforted by the fact that it is a temporary deficit. it is put in legislation that it will be temporary, and it is put in legislation that within two years we will have it back to a balanced budget. We are in unprecedented times.

Governments around the world have been quick to react. Governments around the world need to react, and we're doing so as well. For many economies, the deficit financing is a financial option to cope with today's economic chal- lenge, and we're doing just that.

For british c olumbia, it will mean the protection of health care and educa- tion programs that british c olumbia families depend upon. i recently attended two british c olumbia economic summits. i see my green light is on, so i will just have a couple of minutes to wrap up. but i want to talk about these economic summits — the one in Prince George, o pportunities n orth, and the one in Vancouver.

Person after person who spoke or offered their com- ments said the same thing. british c olumbia is in the best position to weather this economic storm. british c olumbia has leadership and vision. british c olumbia has shown fiscal discipline. british c olumbia will once again be the leader in c anada when it comes to coming out of this economic situation. Speaker after speaker actually applauded our government, and on May 12 citizens will also applaud this government.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, February 10, 2009 13601 L. Krog: i'm delighted to follow the Minister of Small business. She started off talking about the principle of why we're here, gathered in the l egislature to debate. it has nothing to do with principles. The principles that supposedly drove the Premier throughout his political career, that formed the backbone of this government's political position and posturing, was all about fighting the deficit and eliminating debt. a nd here we are, gath

Document details

Collection	British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	H0210pm-03
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	H0210pm 03
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	78c93afe8e25822ea1cfdeb35431aa7829231f2f

Source file is stored in the law ingest library (pdf).