2006 Legislative Session: Second Session, 38th Parliament

HANSARD

The following electronic version is for informational purposes

only.

The printed version remains the official version.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

(Hansard)

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 10, Number 2

CONTENTS

Routine Proceedings

Page

Tributes

John Goyer

Hon. J. Les

Working dogs in B.C.

C. Wyse

Introductions by Members

Introduction and First Reading of

Bills

Education (Learning Enhancement)

Statutes Amendment Act, 2006 (Bill 33)

Hon. S. Bond

Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act

(No. 2), 2006 (Bill 30)

Hon. W. Oppal

Statements (Standing Order 25 B )

Bhimrao Ambedkar

R. Chouhan

Day of Mourning for workers

I. Black

Centre for Child Development in Surrey

S. Hammell

Working dogs in B.C.

J. Nuraney

2007 World Cup soccer in Canada

R. Fleming

Mandatory minimum sentences in justice

system

D. Hayer

Oral Questions

Emergency services in health care

system

C. Puchmayr

Hon. G. Abbott

Emergency services in Fraser region

R. Chouhan

Hon. G. Abbott

D. Thorne

Availability of beds in health care

facilities

D. Cubberley

Hon. G. Abbott

Hon. G.

Campbell

Health care services in Fraser region

B. Ralston

Hon. G. Abbott

Health care services in interior B.C.

K. Conroy

Hon. G. Abbott

Petitions

K. Conroy

Ministerial Statements

Referendum on electoral reform

Hon. G.

Campbell

L. Krog

Tabling Documents

WorkSafe B.C., annual report, 2005, and

service plan, 2006-2008

Committee of Supply

Estimates: Ministry of Tourism, Sport

and the Arts

Hon. O. Ilich

N. Simons

G. Coons

S. Simpson

Proceedings in the Douglas Fir Room

Committee of Supply

Estimates: Ministry of Community

Services and Minister Responsible for Seniors' and Women's Issues

(continued)

Hon. I. Chong

D. Thorne

R. Chouhan

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THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006

The House met at 2:04 p.m.

Tributes

JOHN GOYER

Hon. J. Les: I rise in the House today to pay tribute to Const. John Goyer, a member of the Abbotsford police department. Constable Goyer passed away recently after a long and courageous battle with ALS. Tragically, his disease was caused by injuries that he sustained during an on-duty fight while arresting a suspect. John had been a member of the Abbotsford police department since April of 1998, and he will be missed by the entire detachment.

Police officers like Constable Goyer are a thin blue line that stands between those who are law-abiding citizens and others. John was one of those good guys. He was a good police officer, the best kind of officer — motivated by a sense of duty, honour and integrity. Police are sometimes asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe. I can't imagine the sense of loss that his parents, his sister and his fellow officers at the Abbotsford detachment must feel.

Const. John Goyer made a difference. As a police officer he accomplished great things in both big and small ways every day. Perhaps most important, he led a life that was significant because every day he helped to make the people of Abbotsford safer. For that, he will always be remembered.

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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you convey to Constable Goyer's family condolences on behalf of all members of this House.

WORKING DOGS IN B.C.

C. Wyse: I would like to draw to the House's attention how impressed I was with the working dogs and the demonstration they put on outside of the House today. I was so impressed with their skills and with their ability to take my colleagues from the opposite side of the House and work them through their paces. They did it so efficiently. I would ask the House to recognize the service these dogs do throughout British Columbia.

Introductions by Members

D. MacKay: It is not every day I get a chance to stand up in this House and introduce some guests or friends, but I'm pleased to do it today. I've actually got two friends in the gallery today. One of them is from southeast Alaska. His name is Terry Otness, and he's from the city of Wrangell, Alaska. He is the community coordinator for the city of Wrangell with regards to the Alcan and Intertie. Accompanying Terry is Tom Fischer from Bellingham, Washington, from Tollhouse Energy Co. I would ask the House to please make both of these gentlemen welcome.

K. Conroy: It gives me a great deal of pleasure today to introduce two constituents who are actually in the press gallery: Lana and Dan Rodlie. Dan was one of the recipients who were recognized yesterday with the B.C. Community Achievement Awards at Government House. Dan has a very long history of community accomplishments, which was so deservedly recognized yesterday.

Also with Dan is his wife Lana, and the reason that a couple from Trail is in the press gallery today. Lana is a reporter from the Trail Times who is tenacious in ensuring community issues are brought to the forefront in the daily news. It is an honour to introduce them in the House today, and I ask you all to join me in welcoming them.

Hon. G. Campbell: It's my honour today to introduce to the House a special school from my riding: Ms. King's grade five students from Queen Mary Elementary School. That's the school my sons both went to. There are 60 students in the House today to learn about the history of government and parliamentary process here in British Columbia.

Queen Mary, as I'm sure everyone in the House knows, is known for its commitment to social responsibility — not just at Queen Mary. The Queen Mary Shares program is a sharing program for all students to participate in. It's intended to develop a greater awareness and contribution to the local and international communities.

I hope the House will make them all welcome, and say thank you to Ms. King and all of her students for coming and joining us today.

R. Chouhan: I would like to introduce Craig Langston. Craig is the president of the Cerebral Palsy Association of B.C and vice-president of the B.C. Aboriginal Network on Disabilities Society. Please join me to welcome Craig.

J. Nuraney: We have in the precincts today some people who are involved in training and working with working dogs. We have Allison Pringle, the director of communications from the Pacific Assistance Dog Society, shortly named PADS, and her dog Rex. We have Lilly La Mar, a client who uses a dog partner called Aspen. We have Bill Thornton from B.C. Guide Dogs. We have Derek Nicholls from Search and Rescue. We have Don Wrigley, the chair of advocacy communication for PADS. We have Pam Zimmerman, a dog instructor from PADS. We have Audrey Hill and Cora Thomson from St. John Ambulance brigade. May the House please join me in welcoming all these guests.

L. Krog: In the gallery today are two very active British Columbians, Jane Dyson and Margaret Birrell from the Coalition of People with Disabilities. I would ask the House to please make them welcome.

R. Cantelon: Visiting us today in the gallery are Bernard, Beverly and Jacquie Priveau, visiting us from Halifax. They're here to check out our weather and apparently some other things too. Let's please make them welcome.

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[1410]

J. Rustad: Yesterday I tabled a report of the Special Committee to Appoint an Ombudsman. Yesterday, too, was the final day for Mr. Howard Kushner, Ombudsman for British Columbia, who served this House and our province admirably for nearly seven years. As Mr. Kushner enters another phase of his life, I'd like all members of the House to congratulate Mr. Kushner for the passion he brought to the position of Ombudsman and best wishes for the future.

Hon. J. van Dongen: Today in the members' gallery we have a special visitor from Chile: Maria Eliana Cuevas, the newly appointed consul general at Vancouver, making her first official visit to Victoria. I ask all the members to please join me in giving her a warm welcome.

H. Bloy: Another member in the gallery today who joined us for the proclamation is Louise Crowe. She is manager, member services for British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association and a former neighbour. I ask the House to please make her welcome.

Hon. J. Les: I have the pleasure today to introduce some friends from Chilliwack. They are Ruth and Paul Friesen and Maxine and Corney Kurtz. They were in the House yesterday and apparently enjoyed themselves so much that they came back for an encore. Would the members please make them welcome.

J. McIntyre: I just wanted to introduce to the House today a class of about 70 students who will be arriving shortly from Mulgrave School, in my riding of West Vancouver–Garibaldi. They're being accompanied by their teacher Mr. Mark Steffens. I hope the House will make them welcome this afternoon as they do their tour.

R. Lee: Today 28 students, led by their teacher Ms. Sabina McCloskey from the Holy Cross Elementary School in Burnaby, are visiting the House. Would the House please join me to welcome them.

D. Hayer: We have in the precinct today over 100 grade six students from Erma Stephenson Elementary School in my riding of Surrey-Tynehead. Joining them are their teachers Ms. Heather Briske, Jennifer Visnjak, Mark Vilio, Maya Wingate; and Michelle MacFarlane, vice-principal, as well as 12 international students with their teacher Jules Verne from Mexico City. We also have many volunteering parents with them, helping them come over here to learn about our government system. Would the House please give them a round of applause and make them very welcome.

Hon. G. Abbott: It's a great pleasure to welcome to the members' gallery today an old friend and old hockey teammate of mine and — I think I can say without reservation — one of the finest left-wingers ever to be produced by the Sicamous Blues.

He has moved on from hockey to politics. He has done well. He is now the mayor of Salmon Arm, so it's a great pleasure for me to introduce His Worship Mayor Marty Bootsma of Salmon Arm. With him is Wendy Hunter. I ask the House to make them both welcome.

Introduction and

First Reading of Bills

EDUCATION (LEARNING ENHANCEMENT)

STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 2006

Hon. S. Bond presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Education (Learning Enhancement) Statutes Amendment Act, 2006.

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

Motion approved.

[1415]

Hon. S. Bond: I am pleased to introduce Bill 33. This act introduces legislative changes that will address class size and composition in British Columbia schools, and meets our throne speech commitment to ensure that all school districts live within class-size limits established in law. Amendments to the School Act will also define and recognize distributed learning and help school boards offer more choice to students who are taking their courses electronically. Finally, amendments to the Teaching Profession Act will enable the B.C. College of Teachers to collect statistical information for the release of its annual report.

The amendments set out the following: (1) new class-size limits for grades four through seven and for students with special needs, as well as new requirements for consultation and reporting and a mechanism to ensure that boards comply with the legislation; (2) a requirement that school boards enter into an agreement with the ministry in order to offer distributed learning courses; and (3) the kind of statistical information that school boards, the Francophone Education Authority and the independent school authorities will be required to provide to the B.C. College of Teachers.

These legislative changes deliver on government's commitment to build on our students' record of excellence, to balance the needs for smaller classes with the need to maintain flexibility, to ensure that there is accountability and transparency in the system, and, most importantly, to continue to improve our students' achievement.

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

Bill 33, Education (Learning Enhancement) Statutes Amendment Act, 2006, introduced, read a first time

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and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

MISCELLANEOUS STATUTES

AMENDMENT ACT (No. 2), 2006

Hon. W. Oppal presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2006.

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

Motion approved.

Hon. W. Oppal: I'm pleased to introduce Bill 30. This bill amends the following statutes: the Balanced Budget and Ministerial Accountability Act, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Land Act, the Land Survey Act, the Land Surveyors Act, the Land Title Act, the Oil and Gas Commission Act, the Personal Information Protection Act and the Utilities Commission Act.

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

Bill 30, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2006, introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Hon. M. de Jong: The tabling of Bill 30 represents the culmination of the government's legislative agenda for the present spring session, with one notable exception. That is legislation flowing out of the Hughes report, which members will have heard reference made to earlier.

I can advise the House that the Opposition House Leader and I have begun discussions around finalizing a

schedule that would see the work completed before the scheduled adjournment date of May 18. Those discussions will now continue, and I will have more to report to the House in due course.

Statements

(Standing Order 25

B) BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR

R. Chouhan: I rise today to commemorate the life of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. Born on April 14, 1891, Dr. Ambedkar was the champion of human rights and responsible for drafting the constitution of India.

In 1923 he founded the Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha, with the main objective of supplying education and improving the economic conditions of the depressed classes. With the slogan "educate, agitate, organize," he led a social movement to eliminate the caste system and rebuild Indian society on the basis of equality of human beings. In 1927 he led the march at Mahad Maharashtra to establish the rights of the untouchables to drink from the public charter lake. This marked the beginning of the anti-caste system movement, launching an era in which India's rigid class system began to be challenged.

[1420]

As a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council from July 1942, he was instrumental in making legislative changes to protect the rights of untouchables and workers.

One of his greatest contributions was in respect to fundamental rights and the directive principles of state policy, enshrined in the constitution of India. Fundamental rights provide for freedom, equality and the abolition of untouchability. The directive principles enshrine the broad guiding principles for the fair distribution of wealth and better living conditions.

Dr. Ambedkar continued the crusade for social progress until the end of his life on December 6, 1956. He was awarded the highest national honour, Bharat Ratna, in April 1990.

Please join me in celebrating Dr. Ambedkar's contributions to society and to human rights in the world.

DAY OF MOURNING FOR WORKERS

I. Black: I rise today to make a statement on a very sombre and very serious subject. Tomorrow flags will fly at half-mast at buildings across our province to mark the annual day of mourning for workers who have lost their lives or who have been injured as a result of their work.

Every year on this day we publicly renew our commitment to improve health and safety in the workplace. I know I speak for all members in this House when I say that we mourn the loss of the men and women whose lives have been cut short by work-related accidents or disease, and when I extend my deepest sympathies to their families and friends.

In 2005, 188 B.C. workers lost their lives to workplace accidents and occupational illnesses. Lately there has been much attention paid to forest-related deaths. Between 2000 and 2005 we've seen 146 fatalities and nearly 600 serious injuries in the forest sector.

These numbers concern me greatly. We've responded by implementing a number of initiatives to address forest injuries and deaths. For example, in 2004 the B.C. Forest Safety Council was established. It is made up of representatives of both forest employers and those who work in the industry. Certification programs that emphasize safety have been implemented through the council. WorkSafe B.C.'s truck safe strategy focuses on all aspects of the trucking industry, including logging trucks. A special forestry coroner has been appointed, as well as a forestry ombudsman. We will also see more safety officers in the woods over the coming months.

Nevertheless, we must never forget the tragedy of the loss of even one life, regardless of the industry. All of us must be unwavering in our determination to prevent workplace accidents from happening. I would ask

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all members in this House to now observe a moment's silence to remember those workers whose lives were taken much too early from their families, friends and colleagues.

CENTRE FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT

IN SURREY

S. Hammell: I recently had the pleasure of touring the Centre for Child Development in Surrey, a regional neurological facility that provides services to over 1,700 children and their families. The mandate of the centre is to serve children with developmental disabilities and special needs.

This is an amazing 40,000-square-foot building. In it there are wheelchairs with more gadgets than my new Smart car. One of those modern, adjustable, padded wheelchair marvels can cost as much as $20,000. I saw a variety of machines and computers that help children talk, write and hear. There is a large therapeutic pool where these children often feel their first sensation of physical freedom. This facility has small rooms, gyms and spaces with one focus: to help in the developmental issues of special needs children. Their motto is "Therapy, care and support under one umbrella."

[1425]

The presence of this facility, the equipment it houses and the service the staff provides tell us as much about ourselves as a society as it does about the children it serves. It talks to our value of inclusion, of including in our society the most vulnerable. Much of the money to build this treatment facility was raised through B.C. residents' donations to annual Variety Club telethons. Operating funds are provided mainly by the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the United Way and the centre's own fundraising campaigns.

I'd like to mention that we're on the eve of their big fundraiser. Next Sunday, April 30, the Centre for Child Development is hosting its fifth annual "run, walk, and roll for our kids" event at Bear Creek Park in Surrey. The event starts at 9:30, and the centre would like to see as many people as possible come out and join the fun. Everyone is welcome.

WORKING DOGS IN B.C.

J. Nuraney: Throughout history a certain animal has been chronicled as a source of legends and praised for its courage and devotion towards mankind. Today not only do these animals offer companionship and loyalty. They are also a lifeline for many people who need their help in everyday situations that we often take for granted. I'm talking about man's best friend, the dog.

Today at noon I had the honour to share the stage with the Solicitor General and proclaim 2006 as the year of the working dog in British Columbia. This proclamation recognizes not only these specially trained dogs but also the trainers and organizations who prepare the animals for years of dedicated duty enhancing independence for thousands of British Columbians. Working dogs act as eyes for the visually impaired, ears for the hard of hearing and assistants to the physically challenged, and provide emotional therapy to many, including hospital patients, nursing homes, residents and special needs students.

In addition, they help police protect our society, assist search and rescue teams to locate victims of disaster, and help our military operations, both at home and overseas. Without complaint, they carry out their duties, often with marked consequences in dangerous situations. Earlier this year a police dog named Nitro was killed in the line of duty in Vancouver. The grief over the death of this dog was as sincere as if a human officer had been killed instead.

Please join me in paying tribute to working dogs. They are more than just pets. They are skilled professionals who often go unrecognized and overlooked in providing physical, mental and emotional assistance to those whose lives are touched and improved.

2007 WORLD CUP SOCCER IN CANADA

R. Fleming: It's my pleasure today to speak about an incredible sporting event that will be hosted by Canada next year. In 2007 Canada will host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup of Soccer. I'm especially proud that the tournament includes a venue in Greater Victoria. The competition is going to take place in six Canadian cities. Along with Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and Ottawa, Greater Victoria will host matches in Centennial Stadium at the University of Victoria.

FIFA is soccer's world governing body. The under-20 men's is the second-largest global tournament of its kind — second only to the World Cup, which is being hosted by Germany this summer and which begins in 43 days and four hours from now. The Under-20 World Cup event gives us the opportunity to see some of the world's best young players. Many of today's biggest soccer stars made their first international appearances at under-20 tournaments. A preview of the calibre and quality of the game will occur in a month's time here in Victoria, when Brazil's under-20 team visits Centennial Stadium to play Canada's under-20 team before a sell-out crowd.

In 2002 Canada hosted the hugely successful FIFA Under-19 Women's World Championship, a tournament that profiled the talent of Canadian women players like Kara Lang and Christine Sinclair. I'm very pleased to say that FIFA's vice-president, Jack Warner, recently toured Centennial Stadium and expressed his confidence in Victoria's ability to host the tournament.

The World Cup Under-20 Tournament kicks off on Canada Day — July 1, 2007. TV coverage will reach almost 200 countries. The eyes of the world will be on Canada and British Columbia, and I urge everyone to attend matches and take

part in this great event.

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MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES

IN JUSTICE SYSTEM

D. Hayer: I was very encouraged last week to hear that the federal government intends to get tough on

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criminals, particularly in the area of mandatory minimum sentences. I have been advocating for minimum sentences for quite some time, especially for those convicted of using guns in their criminal activities.

Over the past few years there has been a marked rise in the number of gun-related incidents. In the South Asian community since the 1990s, almost 100 young men have been killed. Mandatory minimum sentences and getting tougher on gun-related crime hopefully will send a clear message of deterrence to reduce the number of deaths of both those who are involved in crime as well as innocent victims.

Sadly, there seems to be little in the judicial system to discourage thugs, because currently the deterrence simply isn't sufficient in our judicial system to scare criminals away from gun use. But if the Prime Minister follows through on his promise, then perhaps we can curb some of this violence and avoid some of the tragedy that is an inevitable cause of grief to so many innocent family members.

By establishing mandatory minimum sentences, we can hope to reduce the plague of drug trafficking, gun smuggling and gun-related violence. The only way to deter repeat offenders is to ensure that there is a deterrence beyond house arrest or community service. We all have to work together to send a strong and clear message that repeat offenders and violent crime are unacceptable — that if you are going to do the crime, you are also going to do time in jail.

Oral Questions

EMERGENCY SERVICES

IN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

C. Puchmayr: Today we learned without a doubt that the crisis in the health care system was created by design. For years the government and successive Ministers of Health have known about the crisis. Instead of taking steps to fix it, they made it worse. On top of that, they covered up the information. Doctors have been sounding the alarm bell for years. This government has not listened. This Minister of Health has called them alarmists.

Can the Minister of Health explain why this government ignored warnings from doctors in March of '03, December of '03, January of '04 and February of '04?

Hon. G. Abbott: I thank the hon. member for his question.

Emergency rooms are a very important part of our health care system, and they are frequently one of the most challenging areas in our health care systems. Certainly we work each and every day, as do about 120,000 people in the health care system, to provide the best of service — quality service, timely service — to British Columbia's patients that we serve.

There is much to be done — no question about that. We do receive submissions from medical personnel on a regular basis which would encourage us to improve the system, and we do. We work with them. I believe that notwithstanding the fact that British Columbia has a very good health care system — the Conference Board of Canada in its very comprehensive report pointed to that — there's plenty of room for improvement. We're going to work with all of the health care professionals, all of the health care workers, in this province to make it an even better system.

Mr. Speaker: Member for New Westminster has a supplemental.

C. Puchmayr: Earlier this week the minister denied a link between ER overcrowding and premature mortality. He said he didn't have the data, but as early as March of '03 the ministry began receiving evidence. In a 2003 letter from the BCMA, it states: "Some patients are dying due to emergency department overcrowding."

To the minister: what more did the government need? Why did they cut one in five acute care beds and throw the ERs into this crisis?

[1435]

Hon. G. Abbott: If the member wants to answer his own question, he need only look in the mirror to get the answer to that question — 3,334 acute care beds cut by the NDP government during the 1990s. That, I think, points to part of the issue.

I thought another part of the answer to the member's question came from Dr. Jack Burak of the B.C. Medical Association this morning on the Bill Good Show. "I think we have to look at the results of poor planning decisions by health care administrators in the past, for example. In the early 1990s a decision was made to reduce medical school enrolment by 10 percent. We're still seeing the effects of physician supply shortages not only in B.C. but across the country, and I think the same thing applies to nurses." That is from Dr. Jack Burak of the B.C. Medical Association.

Mr. Speaker: The member for New Westminster has a further supplemental.

C. Puchmayr: Many of us weren't in this government in the '90s, but I'll tell you…. I had children growing up in the '90s. I coached sports in the '90s. We frequented the emergency wards when incidents happened with our young children. I have never seen the emergency wards the way they are today — never.

On January 26 of '04, ER chiefs at the Fraser health region met with the former Health Minister. At that meeting the government received the following warning from ER chiefs. "It is our unanimous opinion that patients are sustaining morbidity and mortality as a result of poor access to care." The Minister of Health has denied this.

My question to the minister: are the ER chiefs alarmists? Are they making things up?

Hon. G. Abbott: We have received recently, and I'm sure we have received in the past, thoughtful and

[ Page 4124 ]

constructive suggestions from medical personnel across the province in relation to the emergency rooms in which they work. Most recently I received the planning document from, I believe, two doctors and a nurse who work at Royal Columbian Hospital. That report contained a number of, again, very thoughtful and constructive suggestions.

The one passage which was of concern to me and of concern to my deputy was the reference to morbidity and mortality. We have been reviewing that suggestion with the Fraser Health Authority, with the Ministry of Health and with the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

We have been unable to find any indication of accelerated morbidity, mortality as a consequence of conditions in ERs. Perhaps the member knows better, and if he has evidence or data or documentation, I would be glad to receive it.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

IN FRASER REGION

R. Chouhan: We know the government was warned in 2003 and 2004 about systemic problems in the Fraser Health Authority. We also know they were warned about the growing crisis at Royal Columbian Hospital on December 23, 2003. Dr. Haggard, head of the Royal Columbian ER, sent a letter to the former Minister of Health. That letter states: "We have had a very large number of documented cases where the delay in treatment actually caused harm. In some of these cases, it is our opinion that the delay was contributory to death."

Does the minister stand by his claim that there is no evidence linking overcrowding to patients dying unnecessarily in ERs?

Hon. G. Abbott: I just responded to that question, and I won't repeat the answer. I will point out, though, that in relation to hospitals around this province, we have made over the past four years an investment of over $100 million in emergency rooms alone. We will be making, in the three years ahead, a capital investment in hospitals across this province of $1.8 billion.

[1440]

As well, we have dramatically increased the number of health care professionals that are going to be available in this province after a decade of absolutely no increases in nursing spaces, 2,511 new nursing spaces in this province — a 62-percent increase in nurses. A doubling of the number of doctors that we're educating in this province.

If the member wants to talk about warnings, how about this one from a former Premier of this province, Premier Dan Miller, Vancouver Sun , December 17, 1999: "You can't deny that there were some problems this past week in emergency rooms. I don't think that constitutes a crisis. I think it constitutes a problem we've got to try to fix." That's from Premier Dan Miller in 1999.

Mr. Speaker: The member for Burnaby-Edmonds has a supplemental.

R. Chouhan: We have heard the minister ad nauseam self-congratulating about an overall increase in funding for health care. We also know the minister likes to stay in the past, but the time has come for the minister to come back to earth and face reality.

In 2004 the Fraser region ER chiefs took their concerns one step further. They wrote to all the local Liberal MLAs. In that letter, the doctors told the MLAs the problem was "as bad as ever." Perhaps some of those members, like the one from Burquitlam or Burnaby North, can share the letter after question period.

The B.C. Liberals were warned again and again that overcrowded ERs were jeopardizing patient safety. Can the Minister of Health explain why the B.C. Liberals ignored these concerns and neglected patients?

Hon. G. Abbott: Far from ignoring concerns, we actually assigned the highest priority as a government to providing quality and timely medical care to all British Columbians.

We have a very good health care system in this province, one that we can all be enormously proud of. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Absolutely, there's room for improvement. We are going to work, particularly after the successful conclusion of agreements, with the B.C. Medical Association, with the B.C. Nurses Union, with B.C.'s paramedics, with health professionals, with health care workers. We are going to work with all of those to build a better, stronger health care system for all British Columbians.

D. Thorne: We also learned today that Liberal MLAs actually met with the ER chiefs to hear their concerns. It would be interesting to hear from those MLAs after question period as to what they thought of that meeting. I bet some reporters would probably be interested in that as well.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Continue, member.

D. Thorne: Perhaps the member for Surrey-Tynehead would be willing to share his thoughts, when he heard doctors tell him that the crisis at that time in the Fraser Health Authority was the worst in Canada.

I know that the Minister of Health wasn't actually at the meeting, but perhaps he can explain to the rest of us why those MLAs were unable to convince their own government to take doctors' concerns seriously.

[1445]

Hon. G. Abbott: I thank the member for her question, provocatively posed though it is.

I'm glad she asked this question, because the member for Surrey-Tynehead is remarkably proud of the commitments we have made with respect to improving the emergency room at Surrey Memorial Hospital, including the addition of a minor treatment unit, which

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now sees over 40 percent of the pressure at Surrey Memorial Hospital moved through the minor treatment unit. The member is also proud of the over $200 million commitment that we have made for the years ahead to see a tripling of the emergency room, the addition of an out-patient hospital and a massive expansion of the services at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

The member for Coquitlam-Maillardville has a supplemental.

D. Thorne: I thank the minister for his most provocative answer.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

D. Thorne: Mr. Speaker, it looks like everybody knew there was a crisis, but nobody did anything about it. Two days ago the Minister of Health denied the existence of any evidence. He denied all the information that doctors have been giving his own government for over three years.

In January 2004 doctors told government that "the Fraser Health Authority is predicted to have a large growth in population in the next ten years, and we can't even cope with our current resources now." Despite that warning, the government has closed one in five acute care beds across this province, including a net loss of 200 beds in the Fraser region alone. Does this government really believe that fewer beds mean fewer people in need?

Hon. G. Abbott: I know precision is never the strong point of question period question-writers, and one should often expect to be taken out of context. In fact, just so we're really clear, what I have said over the past week and over the past year is that we very much welcome the thoughtful and constructive suggestions of doctors, of nurses — of all health care professionals and all health care workers — as we move forward to providing more timely and better-quality health care to British Columbians. That is something we will always try to do.

What I have corrected earlier on — and I won't repeat it here today — was that there is no data or evidence around the suggestions of mortality and morbidity increases. Again, what we are going to try to do, though, because emergency rooms are challenging places…. And let's be blunt about it. They can be very challenging places at times when there's an unexpected surge in illness or accidents.

We need to work to ensure we have the best possible flow of patients through emergency rooms. We are working on that each and every day, and I'm proud that we are working with all people in the health care system to build a stronger health care system.

AVAILABILITY OF BEDS

IN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES

D. Cubberley: The minister says that he responds to thoughtful and instructive suggestions, and yet he turns a closed ear to the suggestions coming from 12 ER chiefs about a crisis in the hospital system. Those warnings have come repeatedly from this sector in this part of British Columbia. The message was clear. It was: don't cut the beds. Add beds. Put beds back. We don't have enough bed capacity for the people showing up at the ER.

To hear this House make light of how long people are waiting to get care in emergency rooms across this province is shameful. You should be ashamed of yourselves — every one of them.

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You know, I'm sure you have wonderful accomplishments, but it's time to stop bragging and boasting about things that you are not getting done and problems you are not facing. You cite the Conference Board. I'll cite the Conference Board: "lowest female patient satisfaction rate for overall health care services in Canada, lowest female patient satisfaction rate for hospital care, lowest female patient satisfaction rate for physician care, lowest male patient satisfaction rate with community case care."

There is a message there, minister. Not everything is well in the hospital sector. When are you going to acknowledge that one in five bed cuts have created a crisis in the hospital sector?

Interjection.

Mr. Speaker: Member.

Hon. G. Abbott: Based on the question that I've just heard, I think if anyone should be ashamed about bed cuts, it is this group over here. It's this group over here, Mr. Speaker. This is the former government. This is the former NDP government of the 1990s that undertook the mother of all bed cuts in this province — 3,334 bed cuts.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members from both sides, the Minister of Health has the floor.

Hon. G. Abbott: To hear their Alice in Wonderland rejection of their own record is pathetic at best.

To have them misrepresent my words I find offensive as well. I have never disrespectfully rejected the advice of anyone in the medical care system — be they a health care administrator, a doctor or an orderly. I am proud to hear from each and all of them. They all have something to add to making this a better health care system in British Columbia.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Saanich South has a supplemental.

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D. Cubberley: Well, earlier in the same question period I heard the Minister of Health say that the NDP reductions in beds in hospitals were the reason this government cut one in five beds in hospitals. Now, that suggests to me the minister is standing on such a small piece of ground that he's going to fall right off it.

You have a crisis in the hospital sector which came about because of the cuts you made to beds. Crises demand leadership and action.

Interjection.

D. Cubberley: Well, was cutting more helpful? Did it make it better, member?

Crises demand leadership and action, and action and leadership can only occur when you acknowledge the problem you've created. When a government, a Premier and a minister are so heavily entrenched in denial, so willing and eager to avoid responsibility for their choices in the hospital sector, so eager to blame everyone else for the problems that they have created, no progress can be made in hospital emergency rooms.

Must people continue to die?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members.

Does the member have a question?

D. Cubberley: Should hospital staff continue to endure deplorable working conditions?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members, please.

Does the member have a question? Could he pose his question.

D. Cubberley: Yes. Must British Columbians accept that access to quality care in British Columbia hospitals is deteriorating just because this government is too proud and too arrogant to admit that you have mismanaged the hospital sector?

Hon. G. Campbell: Let's all recognize in this House that we're trying to build, and build on, the fact that we have one of the best hospital and health care systems in the country. Let's listen to the messages from doctors and nurses.

The message was this: we're not training enough doctors. So this government is getting it done. We've doubled the number of doctors we're educating.

The message was this: we're not training enough nurses. So we've added 62 percent to the number of nurses we're training in British Columbia.

The message was this: in the 1990s when the previous government cut medical technologists, we had to increase the number of medical technologists. We've increased the number of medical technologists.

The message was this: we had to improve the Ambulance Service and increase their training and make sure it was happening across the province. We're improving the Ambulance Service and increasing their training across the province.

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The message was this: there is no plan for equipment; there is no plan for capital plants. So what we have is a plan for equipment, and we're increasing equipment. We're increasing diagnostic procedures. We're investing in a new hospital in the Fraser Valley — $300 million. We're investing in a new hospital in Surrey, we're investing in a new hospital in Vancouver, we're investing in new emergency wards in Kelowna, and we're investing in new emergency wards in Prince George. This government is acting, and British Columbians are benefiting.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Members. Members.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES

IN FRASER REGION

B. Ralston: Perhaps we can return to the reality of this Premier's first term in office. In November 2004, Fraser Health Authority submitted a report to the Minister of Health stating that Surrey Memorial Hospital's emergency ward was "truly in a crisis situation." The government did nothing. They ignored the problem. They cut more beds at Surrey Memorial. In January 2005 the Fraser Health CEO sent out a memo stating that Surrey Memorial was short 110 beds. The government ignored the problem again. Instead of adding more beds, they fired the CEO.

When will the minister admit that his government ignored the warnings, denied the problem and actually deepened the crisis?

Hon. G. Abbott: I do thank the member for his question. I'm a little surprised it wasn't asked a year ago, but that's great. I'm glad to respond to it today, because our government is taking action on precisely the problem the member has just laid out. After a decade of neglect in what is one of British Columbia's fastest-growing areas of Surrey, we have seen huge investments in Surrey Memorial Hospital — $28 million allocated to date to improve the emergency room and to expand services at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Further, as I noted earlier, there's over $200 million to move Surrey Memorial from a hospital that was built to serve 50,000 to a hospital that will serve several times that population in the future — tripling the ER, adding acute care beds and adding the biggest out-patient hospital in the province. What doesn't the member from Surrey like about that, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker: The member for Surrey-Whalley has a supplemental.

B. Ralston: Well, Elayne Brenzinger was here a year ago, and that's probably the reason why I'm here now. Surrey MLAs….

Interjections.

[ Page 4127 ]

Mr. Speaker: Members.

B. Ralston: Brenda Locke was here a year ago. She didn't ask the question either.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Member for Surrey-Whalley, please take your seat.

Will the government members….

Member for Surrey-Whalley, continue.

B. Ralston: Back when other MLAs represented certain parts of Surrey, in February 2005, Baljit Bains died after being sent home from hospital because there was no bed for him. It was only after this tragedy and in the context of a looming election when the Premier began to visit Surrey for the first time in four years. The government finally took notice of the crisis in Surrey.

Apparently, the minister didn't learn from Mr. Bains's death. If he had, he wouldn't be brushing off the concerns by doctors at Royal Columbian as alarmist. How many more doctors need to sound the alarm before this government takes action?

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Hon. G. Abbott: Again, I'm surprised to hear these comments from a member who represents the Surrey region. I met yesterday with the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation. They are absolutely delighted by the now close to $230 million that will be invested in Surrey Memorial Hospital by 2008-2009. They're absolutely delighted by it. Yet the member continues to cast aspersions on that principal hospital, which I think has served Surrey remarkably well.

The member raises a case which — while sad, unfortunate and in some respects tragic — was in no way a reflection on the way in which Surrey Memorial Hospital has done business and continues to do business. Surrey Memorial Hospital is served by a wonderful group of dedicated doctors, nurses, orderlies and related health professionals. They do a wonderful job, and that member should be proud of Surrey Memorial Hospital, not castigating its performance.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES

IN INTERIOR B.C.

K. Conroy: Well, let's go back to the Interior Health Authority again, where hospitals were hit the hardest. The worst acute care cuts and the worst residential care cuts. Kelowna hitting code purple. Kamloops lurching from one crisis to another. Trail consistently overcapacity. Just like the Fraser region, the government ignored the warnings. According to Dr. Ralph Behrens from Fruitvale: "They have been given a lot of input, advice and warnings and have seemingly ignored them to date. Why did this government choose to ignore the desperate warnings from doctors for so long, and why did they deepen the crisis with massive bed cuts?"

Hon. G. Abbott: I'm from the interior of the province. I know well the challenges of serving a diverse range of communities across a large geographic area. It's very challenging. One of the great things about the Interior Health Authority — and I suspect the member would agree with me — is that they have been very good and very forthcoming about meeting with all members of this Legislature, regardless of what party they come from. But it's challenging. It was challenging in the 1990s as well.

I can tell the member that when I heard that my constituents in Armstrong-Spallumcheen would be losing their hospital in 1997, it was a very difficult time. When I learned in ministerial estimates for the Ministry of Health in 1999 — where the Opposition House Leader may have some remembering of this…. When we found out that Enderby and District Memorial Hospital would be closed, that was a very tough day as well.

There are not a lot of easy decisions to be made here. The Interior Health Authority and its many thousands of employees work very hard to provide the best of care to residents of the interior each and every day, and that member should be proud of it too.

[End of question period.]

Point of Order

Hon. M. de Jong: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

I know the member for Surrey-Whalley would not want to leave comments on the record that would mislead the House and his comments about the presence of the Premier in Surrey, as it stands, would so do. So I'd invite him to correct the record and withdraw the remarks.

B. Ralston: What I was referring to, Mr. Speaker, was the timetable of the Premier's visits to Surrey, beginning in January of 2005, which continued weekly. That was certainly unprecedented in his visits to Surrey. He perhaps visited occasionally, but certainly there was a noted stepping up of pace after January 2005. So if that's a misleading impression, I'll withdraw it.

K. Conroy: I seek leave to present a petition.

Mr. Speaker: Leave granted. Proceed.

Petitions

K. Conroy: I have a petition from 1,627 residents of the greater Trail area supporting the purpose of proactive Citizens Responsible for Organizing Winning Education.

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Ministerial Statements

REFERENDUM ON ELECTORAL REFORM

Hon. G. Campbell: I rise to make a ministerial statement. I rise to inform all British Columbians of an

[ Page 4128 ]

important change with respect to the timing of the referendum on electoral reform. That referendum will give all voters in British Columbia a second opportunity to choose between two models for electing their MLA — the current first-past-the-post model, or the single transferable vote model recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform.

As all members know, the government had announced in the throne speech of September that it intended to hold the second referendum in conjunction with the municipal election in November 2008. The timing of that referendum had been proposed to enable the newly created Electoral Boundaries Commission to complete its work and present two electoral maps, one for each voting system.

The commission's work and

schedule in this regard will remain unchanged. Its mission is clear: to produce an updated electoral map for our current electoral system and to produce an alternate map that would enable all citizens to know how British Columbia's electoral boundaries would be reconfigured under STV. The intent was to put those two maps clearly before the public at the same time as they vote on their preferred electoral system.

The government still feels strongly that when British Columbians next get a chance to vote on changing their electoral system, they should have a clear sense of how it would apply in practice. The STV system envisages larger constituencies with multi-member representation. One of the lessons of the last referendum on the electoral reform is that it will be of importance for people to know how many MLAs they would be responsible for electing under STV, and how their constituencies would be configured.

The government had expected that it would be possible to get this work done and resolve voters' preferred electoral map and model in tandem with the next municipal election in 2008, such that whichever model was chosen, it would apply for the next provincial election. This was a tight time frame that left only about five months to put a chosen electoral system and map into effect for the May 12, 2009, general election.

Since that time, the Chief Electoral Officer has raised a number of concerns about the practicality and cost of this timing. The Chief Electoral Officer is concerned with regard to the adequacy of facilities, a shortage of trained voting officials and differing voter eligibility requirements for local and provincial voters lists. He estimates that the costs of conducting a referendum in conjunction with local government elections in 2008 will be between $25 million and $30 million.

This is slightly more than the cost of administering a referendum as a stand-alone event and considerably more than administering the referendum in conjunction with the next provincial general election, which is estimated to be from $1 million to $2 million.

Finally, and most importantly, the Chief Electoral Officer has expressed concern about the short time between the referendum and the 2009 provincial election. This timing would require significant duplicate advanced planning and reinvestment in order to implement either outcome of the referendum. Elections B.C. would also need to be prepared to implement both sets of new electoral boundaries following the report of the 2005 Electoral Boundaries Commission.

As a result, the Chief Electoral Officer feels that there is a risk that preparations for the 2009 general election would be compromised, there would be confusion with voters, parties would have difficulty and candidates may have difficulty regarding appropriate voting procedures, electoral boundaries, candidate nomination procedures and financing limits.

By holding the referendum in tandem with the municipal election, the government had hoped to substantially reduce costs and to encourage a substantial turnout compared to a stand-alone election. It now appears clear that holding the referendum as either a stand-alone referendum or together with municipal elections would cost about ten times more than if it was simply held in tandem with the next provincial election. The government had wanted to be able to put a new electoral system in place, if it was so chosen by the people, in time for the next provincial election.

I recognize that this decision may disappoint some. However, the government believes it is best to heed the advice of the Chief Electoral Officer. As such, it is the government's intention to move the date of the referendum to May 12, 2009, in conjunction with the provincial general election. The new electoral map for the current system that will be produced by the Electoral Boundaries Commission will apply for that general election.

When British Columbians vote on STV on May 12, they will have before them the new electoral boundaries and representation plan that would apply. The government maintains its commitment to equal funding for active information campaigns for supporters and detractors of each model. We maintain our commitment for applying the same rules and thresholds for passing an STV system that applied during the 2005 election.

[1510]

If STV is chosen by the voters to replace the current electoral system in that referendum, it will now be implemented as scheduled for the 2013 general election.

L. Krog: Clearly, the leader of the government has listened to the Chief Electoral Officer. What is surprising is that this information has been available to the Finance Committee and therefore to the government for many months now, so the timing of this does come as a bit of a surprise.

The government should have been well aware that the increased cost, literally a doubling of costs — tens of millions of dollars — in order for the Chief Electoral Officer to prepare for the provincial election in 2009 was the result of this government's decision to put it in the form of a referendum so close to the upcoming provincial election in 2009.

However, having said that, the opposition compliments the Premier for listening. Listening is a very important thing in government. Without wishing to

[ Page 4129 ]

sound sarcastic at all, the government now has a golden opportunity over the next three years to listen once more around a couple of areas that might actually result in the enhancement of the confidence of the people of British Columbia in our electoral system.

The Leader of the Opposition last fall — the member for Victoria–Beacon Hill — introduced the Campaign Finance Reform Act, 2005. British Columbia, if it passed similar legislation this year, would only be 28 years behind the province of Quebec, only five years beyond the time the province of Manitoba wisely chose to bring in true campaign finance reform, and only three years past the government of the federal Liberal Party that brought in true campaign finance reform.

We on this side of the House suggest to the Premier: in the next three years — only three short years — bring in true campaign finance reform. Eliminate….

Mr. Speaker: Can the member direct his comments directly to what the Premier's comments were.

L. Krog: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Also give an opportunity, I would suggest, for the people in 2009 to vote in an election in which they have confidence.

Let us also consider the Lobbyists Registration Act. Let us remove the pall that lies over this Legislature after the raid on it.

Tabling Documents

Hon. M. de Jong: I table the 2005 annual report for WorkSafe B.C. and also the 2006 to 2008 service plan for WorkSafe B.C.

Orders of the Day

Hon. M. de Jong: Committee of Supply in both chambers this afternoon. For the information of members: in this chamber, the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts; and in

Section A we'll be continuing with estimates debate on the Ministry of Community Services.

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Committee of Supply

ESTIMATES: MINISTRY OF

TOURISM, SPORT AND THE ARTS

The House in Committee of Supply (Section B); S. Hammell in the chair.

The committee met at 3:20 p.m.

On Vote 40: ministry operations, $200,695,000.

Hon. O. Ilich: Before I begin my introductory remarks on my ministry's 2005-2006 estimates, I'd like to acknowledge staff from my ministry joining us today. With me today are the acting deputy minister, Jim Yardley; the assistant deputy minister for management services, Shauna Brouwer; and Linda Beltrano, also with my ministry. Other ministry representatives and those from the Crown agencies for which the ministry has responsibility will join us as appropriate.

Before discussing the detailed estimates for the ministry, I'd like to give a high-level overview of what we as a ministry are endeavouring to accomplish in the year ahead. Our province's renewed economic performance and confidence will provide a strong foundation for growth in our tourism, sport, and arts and culture sectors. By taking advantage of synergies among these sectors and developing strategies that enhance their capacity, we can reach new levels of achievement.

Our ministry is still relatively new — only 11 months old — but we are taking some significant strides towards our goal to double tourism in this province by 2015. As we look forward, it is just as important that we look to where we have come from, to celebrate the journey we have collectively shared as a province.

The year 2008 will mark the 150th anniversary since our founding as a colony. It's a time to celebrate 150 years of progress and positive change. It's a time to celebrate 150 years of hard work, vision and personal sacrifice. In every part of this province it's a time to showcase our rich arts and culture, to share our cultural diversity, to explore our cultural roots and heritage, and to come together in a renewed spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance.

Our ministry will lead our government's initiatives to bring together the resources, the community spirit and the creative energy to make this upcoming birthday an event to remember. This year's budget provides a $1 million lift to our heritage branch to support our 2008 celebration planning activities. We will work with all of our government ministries and agencies, we will involve our first nations communities, and we'll engage our community organizations in arts, culture, heritage and sport. Together, we'll develop the celebratory activities and legacies to mark this event in a way that invites every individual to share in the excitement.

The 2008 celebrations will identify undiscovered potential and new and creative ways to showcase our province. It will also provide an opportunity to focus on the heritage resources for which my ministry has responsibility. It will serve to celebrate the Cariboo Trail and Barkerville, which played such a vital role in our province's establishment as a colony. It will provide a basis for engaging British Columbians in their own rich history and heritage. From historic Hat Creek in the Cariboo to Fort Steele in the East Kootenays, we can work to enrich the exciting rediscovery of our pioneering days and make these heritage resources an even bigger part of our tourism product.

We will also continue to ensure the protection of our archaeological heritage. We will continue to exercise our authority through the Heritage Conservation Act to protect, wherever possible, and to educate communities, developers and citizens on how to best preserve this vital cultural resource.

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Our government has set as one of its key goals to dramatically improve the physical fitness of our citizens. We want to be the fittest jurisdiction in the world by 2010. One of the keys to encouraging more active lifestyles in our young people is to instil an early love for sport and physical fitness. That's one of the reasons we have been exploring innovative new partnerships to make more resources available to our amateur sport system.

Through Sport B.C., PacificSport and other provincewide sport organizations, we will dramatically expand funds available for Kidsport, sport travel assistance programs, support for coaches and coaching, and new resources to give our most competitive young athletes a winning edge. Since 1993 Kidsport has provided more than $1.6 million to help 16,000 children in our province overcome financial barriers that would have prevented them from playing organized sport. We hope to help as many as 2,000 more children each year so that they can learn the joys of participation and fitness through sport.

Limited financial means shouldn't stand between a child and the benefits of amateur sport and fitness. Anyone who has raised a family outside of the lower mainland can tell you about the costs associated with attending tournaments and sporting events outside their home community. New resources will be available to help young athletes and their families meet the increasing costs of traveling to and attending major regional and provincial competitions.

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This is particularly important to those who live in our smaller and more remote communities and to our promising first nations athletes. We want to bridge the distance these young athletes must cover to achieve excellence and personal success, and we also want to provide additional training and support for our thousands of volunteer coaches.

There are more than 5,000 coaches currently registered with the Coaches Association of B.C., and 98 percent are volunteers. Whether a young athlete participates for fun, fitness or medals, each and every one will have their experience shaped by the men and women who coach them. Providing new financial resources to these individuals and the organizations that train and certify them will go a long way to recruiting, training and ultimately retaining them and their skills.

Our ability to move forward and implement new initiatives to enhance sport participation and competitiveness will rely on volunteers. Today our amateur sport and athletic system relies on the efforts of 140,000 volunteers. But this is just one part of our broader volunteer sector. This week is National Volunteer Week. It's an opportunity to recognize the contributions of our volunteers to our quality of life. Here in B.C. our arts, culture, heritage, health, education and social support systems rely on more than 845,000 provincial volunteers. These individuals give of their time and energy in every community, in every possible way.

The ministry budget this year includes new funding to work with the volunteer sector. We want to ensure we are able to maintain and build on this significant contribution to our province in the years ahead. The volunteer sector is facing some significant challenges. One of these is the demographic shift to an aging population. We will work with volunteer organizations to find new and innovative approaches to attracting and retaining volunteers. That's one of the reasons we are contributing $100,000 to Volunteer B.C. to help this provincial organization to increase its capacity and take on a greater leadership role in our volunteer sector.

We also want to develop new ways to recognize and value the contributions of our volunteers. Simply stated, there are many vital organizations and services that could not survive without the contribution of volunteers. Our province's strong volunteer sector was one of the key factors in our winning bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, and it has also been this past year, as we have hosted some very high-profile sporting events.

The FIS World Cup for cross-country skiing at Sovereign Lake, near Vernon, is just one example. It attracted an estimated worldwide TV audience of 60 million and generated nearly $10 million of economic impact for that community. It brought out 700 volunteers, who are now experienced in hosting world-class international events.

The recent World Junior Hockey Championships in Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver drew international attention to these communities. They attracted 26,000 out-of-town spectators and generated $41 million in economic activity.

When Vancouver hosted the Grey Cup, more than 100,000 fans and participants joined a week-long celebration that pulled in $40 million to Vancouver.

Our government has been proud to provide financial support to these and other sport-hosting events. Our demonstrated success attracts even greater interest in the very competitive sport-hosting sector. We've increased our funding for sport-hosting activities this year and in coming years leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Planning for these events is already underway, but we are developing new strategies and tools to help our communities and our sport facilities attract even more events leading up to 2010 and beyond. I'm talking about the FIFA World Youth Soccer Championship in Vancouver and Victoria in 2007, the North American Indigenous Games in Cowichan in 2008 and the World Police and Fire Games in Burnaby in 2009.

I mentioned that the business of attracting high-profile international sporting events is a very competitive one, and it will require innovative and creative approaches. We are committed to providing this kind of support to our communities and sports organizations.

The B.C. Sport Event Hosting and Resort Guide is a new on-line tool that catalogues B.C. sports facilities and resorts. It provides extensive information about the capacity and features of facilities, resorts and communities, as well as key contacts at each. The response from the international sport decision-makers about the

[ Page 4131 ]

usefulness of the new tool was overwhelmingly positive. We will continue to help communities, and this will help choose them for hosting international sporting events. The investment in this new on-line promotional tool was cost-shared with Tourism B.C., 2010 Legacies Now and my ministry.

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Earlier this month a group of 150 leaders in our arts and culture sector gathered for a summit in Vancouver. I asked the assembled leaders to help my ministry develop a road map for the future that would better sustain our arts and culture sector. I'd also asked them to propose some priorities for building the kind of creative communities that will help attract and retain the bright, creative individuals who will drive our economy in the future. Their feedback and more discussion in the future will help to flesh out our strategy.

I share with them the strong conviction that arts and culture are activities that not only enrich our lives and reflect our society but generate significant economic value. This sector contributes more than $5 billion to our economy each and every year. It employs more than 78,000 people, and it's a growing sector.

The film and television sector alone last year contributed $1.2 billion to our provincial economy, and I want to point out that this represented a 50-percent increase over the previous year. Much of this increase is attributable to the critical mass of talent and expertise that has developed in Vancouver and throughout the province and to the tremendous job that has been done by the B.C. Film Commission. They've done a fantastic job marketing our diverse locations. It's also attributable to government's continued support of the sector through highly competitive film tax credits.

When we talk about gateways, we too often think about them as physical structures and infrastructure. Improved and expanded ports, airports and road networks will substantially increase our ability to attract even greater numbers of visitors. It will make it easier to move them freely to all parts of the province and country. Equally important are the cultural gateways that serve to attract and welcome visitors and new investment. Cultural attractions and a service orientation will provide quality experiences that keep visitors coming back year after year.

A renewed focus on training and development in our hospitality industry will help us fill the 84,000 new tourism jobs that are expected to come available in the next ten years.

This year we'll be providing funding to continue improving our network of Gateway tourism centres with construction of the Peace Arch and Merritt centres. B.C. serves as the Pacific gateway to Canada, and in the coming years we will be challenged to provide the type of visitor experience that will appeal to the growing Asia-Pacific tourism market. This means drawing on the cultural history we share with the Asia-Pacific, strengthening our ties and our understanding.

In 2004 Greater Vancouver welcomed 71,000 visitors from China. With approved destination status just on the horizon with this vast market, we can expect to see a dramatic increase in coming years. The prospect of 500,000 Chinese visitors per year by 2015 requires that we make changes and strategic investments today. With the tourism industry, we will develop specific strategies that will enable us to capture and derive tremendous benefits from this emerging new market.

We know that visitors to our province are looking to enrich their experience, to share in the wealth of arts, culture and history that we have to offer. We want to make full use of our competitive advantages in cultural tourism, ecotourism, agritourism, aboriginal tourism and resort tourism. We therefore recently announced a provincial contribution of $5 million towards the cooperative planning process to create a cultural precinct in downtown Vancouver. The planning will advance our goals to establish a new provincial Asia-Pacific museum of trade and culture and a new national gallery of aboriginal art, and we will further develop plans for a world women's history museum.

British Columbians travelling within our province currently represent more than 50 percent of our nearly $10-billion-per-year tourism industry. Growing a market we already know well — those British Columbians travelling within our market — makes sense. This year we will direct more resources to build innovative market campaigns to encourage more British Columbians to see more of B.C., both summer and winter. An increase in this domestic market of only 5 percent would represent a $250-million increase in our tourism sector.

The dramatic growth of B.C.'s resort sector has been an incredible success story in recent years. Today nearly $2 billion is spent each year by resort tourists — about 20 percent of total tourism expenditures. This is projected to keep growing as resorts expand from single-season to all-season use and new resort destinations and products come on line. There is currently some $4.5 billion in potential investment under review for major resort projects, with an additional $2 billion investment in the pre-approval phase of development, and our existing alpine ski resorts are projecting an additional $1 billion in new capital investment over the next two to five years.

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This is a significant sector that is key to delivering substantial revenue growth and employment to some of our most economically challenged communities. But resort development growth faces some significant and complex challenges. These include conflicts over land use, environmental activism, first nations consultation and negotiation, and competition for natural resource access. All of these factors impact an orderly development process and timely decision-making by various levels of government.

There is enormous financial capital tied up in these long-term investments, and the potential economic benefits to communities in our provincial tourism sector are substantial. We are committed to developing new approaches to help guide and support sustainable development for this sector and new processes to encourage timely review and input from various levels of government. At the same time, we'll help shorten the review and approval process.

[ Page 4132 ]

Review harmonization is another streamlining objective we are actively piloting with communities. So, too, is establishing new and innovative measures to ensure first nations issues are addressed and to provide new mechanisms to facilitate economic participation by first nations.

Increased certainty for proponents and investors is essential if we hope to continue to attract new investments so vital to our economic growth. We are committed to providing the resources necessary to continue to improve our administrative processes. At the same time, we want to do this in a way that continues to protect and responsibly manage our natural resources.

British Columbians enjoy an unparalleled access to nature. There are more than 1,200 forest recreation sites and 600 recreation trails located in all parts of the province under the management of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. The Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts has set a course for the future that will build on our strengths and draw on our potential and promise.

As we move forward, we want to use all of our resources strategically and efficiently. We want to organize ourselves in a manner that will best accommodate and support the activities of the many partners that we have in these sectors, and we want to continually focus on improving our own practices to ensure they deliver the best value for the taxpayer resources with which we have been entrusted. We have every reason to move forward with confidence, with optimism and with renewed vigour and sense of purpose.

N. Simons: To the minister: I think you've answered all my questions generally, but I'm going to go down to some specifics.

Interjections.

N. Simons: No, this isn't a bill.

I appreciate her presence here, and it's kind of nice that we're actually being able to talk about these important issues during B.C. Arts and Culture Week and B.C. Book and Magazine Week. It just seems like a nice coincidence. I'll be canvassing this very broad-ranging ministry in sections, starting with tourism and sport development.

I know that in recent weeks and months there have been some concerns about the challenges facing the tourism industry in terms of the number of visitors that will be attracted to B.C. — not because we don't have the natural assets but because of other issues such as high gas prices, the strong Canadian dollar and the recent tragic sinking of the Queen of the North . What's the minister's response to the suggestion that the tourism industry is facing challenges like no other that it has seen in the past, and what might the minister be doing to address these problems?

[1540]

Hon. O. Ilich: I think that we do recognize that there are some challenges facing the industry at the moment that have been brought about by external forces such as the strong Canadian dollar vis-à-vis the American dollar, high gasoline prices at the moment, some of the other things that are limiting people from travelling, as well as the border initiative. We're working on all of those fronts with our tourism operators and with our tourism agencies such as Tourism Vancouver and Tourism British Columbia.

Some of the things that we're looking at and that we're working hard on are potential improvements to the 1995 Canada–U.S. Open Skies agreement to provide American airlines and tourists with greater access to Canada. We are looking at improving our product positioning that protects the uniqueness and freshness of our tourism products, and we're dealing with Aboriginal Tourism on that.

Making sure that our products are compatible with changing traveller demographics and preferences. For instance, we're taking a look, more, at helping people develop products that appeal to our changing demographics — such as spas — that some of our older and, perhaps, well-off clientele would like. We are looking at strategies to target the 2.16 million California residents who have been identified as ideal tourists but who have never visited B.C. We are continuing to work on the approved destination status with China which, obviously, will open up a whole new market for us.

N. Simons: In the operating budget, tourism and resort development has seen another increase over what was originally projected to be $9.3 million in 2006-2007, to what is now projected to be $13.6 million in this fiscal year. Can the minister explain — and this is just part of the vetting process that allows us to understand fully what the plans are in the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts — what can account for this particular increase?

Hon. O. Ilich: The increase in the budget, obviously, is due to the fact that when we were first here, last time, we were a completely new ministry, and now we have some bigger plans to do things. The $13.6 million is due to a $1.5 million increase in resort development, a $1.3 million pro-rated transfer from Land and Water B.C., $1 million for recreation sites and trails, $1 million for advertising and $800,000 for tourism hosting.

N. Simons: In this year's plan, it appears that the $1 million for advertising is in comparison to nothing in the last year. Why is the tourism and resort development being allocated a million dollars for advertising this year?

[1545]

Hon. O. Ilich: That, actually, is some money that we've asked for in the budget to promote British Columbians travelling within British Columbia. That is in recognition of the challenges that the member opposite talked about earlier. We are going to try and promote people moving around the province a little bit more and seeing their own province.

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N. Simons: This is the

section of the budget of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts that seems to have seen the most dramatic increase. I'm just wondering: why isn't the funding for advertising being channelled through Tourism B.C.?

Hon. O. Ilich: The $1 million for the domestic campaign for advertising is because Tourism British Columbia focuses mostly on international campaigns. So we are going to be working closely with them, and we have increased their investment last year, as you may remember. In fact, we doubled the amount of money that we were devoting to Tourism British Columbia last year, but they had plans for that money, and they were doing mostly international marketing. We felt that if we added some money to that we could do some domestic campaigns.

One of the campaigns, quite frankly, that we're looking at, at the moment, is doing something to help with what has happened in the north coast with Queen of the North , so we wanted some money for a domestic campaign.

N. Simons: Presumably, the $1 million funding was allocated prior to the sinking of the Queen of the North . Has any particular sector in the tourism industry lost funding because of the reallocation of funding toward that area?

Hon. O. Ilich: No. Nobody has lost any funding because of the reallocation.

N. Simons: Can the minister describe what specifically — and with what measurements of success — that $1 million spending will result in to the ministry? What is anticipated in terms of programs for the $1 million? How will that be measured in terms of whether it is successful or not?

Hon. O. Ilich: The program is still under development. It's $500,000 for a winter campaign and $500,000 for a summer campaign. We're still working on what we're going to be doing with that, so it's still a work in progress.

N. Simons: Can the minister outline or discuss the status of the tourism charter that was mentioned in last year's service plan? What progress has been made on that charter to date?

[1550]

Hon. O. Ilich: As with many of the things that we have in the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, we have a lot of things that are still under development, and we're working on them. The charter is going to consist of two parts. One of them is a statement of the government's commitment to improve the foundations on which tourism is based. The other is the operational plan identifying ministry responsibilities and impediments and opportunities for ministries to work on, including a mechanism for annual assessment of progress. We are working on that. We're expecting that that will be finished later this year.

As the member opposite understands, tourism is influenced by many ministries in government that do not have specific responsibility for tourism. We're trying to identify those cross-ministry to make sure that we have buy-in from the whole of government, as well as other levels of government — such as municipalities — and businesses. We are still working on that.

N. Simons: Could the minister also describe the status and progress of the sustainable tourism summit mentioned in the 2005 service plan?

Hon. O. Ilich: We decided that the money for that summit could be better spent on other things. We decided that the tourism industries themselves, the tourism businesses themselves, were well organized, and they had a forum for dialoguing with government. We were not as fully committed into the planning of a tourism summit as we had been for the arts summit, which the member opposite attended. We have figured out some other ways that we can dialogue with tourism industries, and we're not going to be having a tourism summit this year.

N. Simons: In the 2005 service plan there is a performance target set for the percentage of commercial recreation land tenures processed within 140 days in 2005 and 2006. I'm wondering if those targets have been realized.

Hon. O. Ilich: The target was that 90 percent would be met within 140 days, and we are slightly under the target.

N. Simons: I'm curious to know whether or not the inability to meet that target has influenced the decision not to include it in this year's service plan.

[1555]

Hon. O. Ilich: It's not in this year's service plan, but we're still intending to meet that target.

N. Simons: Not to just shift gears but to speak a little bit more specifically about particular areas and the coastal tourism industry in particular. Has the ministry designed or developed any plans to address the hardship that will be experienced by tourism operators on the coast of British Columbia that are affected not only by the sinking of the Queen of the North but also by the massive increase in the cost of ferry travel?

I wonder if the minister might be able to explain.

Hon. O. Ilich: Obviously, the sinking of the ferry is a relatively recent event. We have been talking to tourism operators there to see what we could be doing to help. I have had several conversations with people there. We are participating with COTA, the Council of Tourism Associations, in an impact study that they are going to be doing to see what the long-term impact of this is.

[ Page 4134 ]

We also recognize that that area is obviously going to have a greater impact because of the sinking of the ferry than even the rest of the province has at the moment, because of those challenges we talked about earlier. So we are looking across ministry — across this ministry and with other ministries — at the moment to see what we can do to come up with a plan to deliver to that area.

G. Coons: Thank you, minister and staff, for being here.

Being the MLA for North Coast and the last couple of weeks traveling through the central coast and Haida Gwaii and being based in Prince Rupert…. It's a major concern, what's happened. When we have half the number of trips on the Prince Rupert to Queen Charlotte run happening, and we have a 60-percent reduction of core services on the Port Hardy to Prince Rupert run, along with a ferry that will bring half the number of tourists, it's devastating not only to my riding but — as you know and you've heard — through the whole circle route right through from Prince George, Williams Lake and all through the ridings up there.

I came here, hopefully, looking for something — either an aid package, some initiative or some strategies that we could discuss and bring back to the constituents. On Massett, the mayor talked about the island's blossoming tourism industry being set back ten years. The economy of the northwest may be at the bottom of Hecate Strait along with the Queen of the North . We're talking millions and millions of dollars, and that's from northern British Columbia tourism. I think it's time to get some action together.

[1600]

A B.C. Ferry spokesperson indicated on April 20 that as far as B.C. Ferries is concerned, it's too early to push the panic button. I disagree, and I disagree with the minister. They're looking at long-term impacts, and I think it's imperative that we look at the short-term impacts, especially this summer coming up. I would hope that the minister and other ministries do push the panic button, contrary to how B.C. Ferries is feeling.

The B.C. and Yukon Hotels Association talks about the devastating consequences for tourism. They voted unanimously in favour of demanding that all levels of government cooperate immediately and that the provincial government demonstrate leadership in addressing this crisis. My question to the minister is: in your searching out of initiatives and strategies — and what are they? — are you seeking out other governments to help out in this?

Hon. O. Ilich: Yes, as a matter of fact, we are. We do know that this is an issue, that it's a crisis for the people there. We have been talking to them. We have been talking to COTA. I have been talking to other ministries, and we have kept in touch with B.C. Ferries as well. What we're trying to do right now is finalize the plans. You'll probably see something coming out shortly from our ministries to help out. But I can't really tell you much more than that at the moment, because we haven't finalized all the plans yet.

G. Coons: I appreciate that. But again, when we start looking at the smaller communities on Haida Gwaii–Queen Charlottes and in Prince Rupert, and we look at the bus tour cancellations, the $7,000 or $8,000 kayak ecotourism cancellations, the hotels, restaurants, right down to the summer jobs for students all through the region, I hope that initiatives are put forth to help the region in all those aspects.

As far as the $1 million, the domestic campaign, the minister indicated some of that was going to go to the northern challenge. I'm just wondering if the minister can pinpoint how much their ministry may be putting towards the northern challenge, and specifically to the tourist associations in the communities, versus going to the whole northern B.C. tourism.

Hon. O. Ilich: We do take this very seriously. We are taking action on that. The money that we're looking at is going to be in addition to the $1 million. A portion of it will come from that $1 million, but we are talking to other ministries and other governments to see what can be done there to help.

Part of the issue, obviously, is that when you start talking to a number of people to ask what it is that you can do, you get a number of different answers. It is still a very recent event. We are trying to see what we can do and what would be the most effective and efficient thing to do to help people there. We are taking this very seriously. We're very concerned, and we are working very diligently to come up with something that will help.

N. Simons: I thank the minister for the answer. I wonder if it would be appropriate to have a working group set up, an interministerial one, to address not just the tourism concerns but also the economic concerns of the communities. I know that the member for North Island is very concerned about the impact on Port Hardy. I know that the north coast and my riding of Powell River–Sunshine Coast all feel the effects of what happens in the ferry system.

[1605]

Has anything formal been established in the ministry or in government to address this specific concern?

Hon. O. Ilich: We've had conversations on this with other ministers and staff in other ministries probably on a daily basis. We were talking about this about ten minutes before we walked in here for estimates, so we're well advanced on a plan. We are going to be announcing something shortly, and we are continuing to deal with people there.

I do want to assure the members opposite that we are taking this very seriously, and we are working very hard on something that will help the people there. There are a number of people that, of course, have different ideas, and as I said a few minutes ago, we want

[ Page 4135 ]

to make sure that what we do is the most effective way of helping.

N. Simons: I respect that the minister is taking this very seriously. I had no doubt. I was simply hoping that I would have a clearer picture, and I do. I thank the minister for that answer.

My next question has to do with the competing interests in some areas of our province between the wishes of tourism operators and tourism industry and the other land base industries such as the forest industry and the mining industry. I'm wondering: is there any formal approach to dealing with these conflicts of land use that seem to perpetually pop up? I'm speaking specifically about, for example, mining in the Sechelt Inlet and the many concerns from tourism operators but respecting the fact that we need other industries to sustain our economy. How does the minister reconcile those conflicts from the government's perspective?

Hon. O. Ilich: We recognize that there are often conflicting uses. I think I talked about that in my opening comments. One of the tools we're using is the land use planning process, and we're trying to make sure that we can resolve many of these conflicts ahead of time.

When they do erupt, we go into a process of consultation with the interested parties and with other stakeholders as may be required, to try and resolve them. What we are paying a lot more attention to is the land use planning process.

I also think that the tourism charter that we previously talked about is going to be addressing some of those issues.

N. Simons: Clearly, the land use planning process is going to contribute to some certainty not just for tourism operators and residents but for the industries that we rely on. I thank the minister for that answer.

[1610]

In mid-November the B.C. Wilderness Tourism Association commented to the minister in a letter that they were concerned about resource tenures. I'll quote specifically. It had to do with "the termination relationship to other resource tenures and compensation for takings."

I'm wondering. The Wilderness Tourism Association says that "these are fundamental business issues that stand in the way of achieving the government's challenge to double tourism over the next ten years." I'm just specifically asking if the minister could answer what the government's response has been to date regarding these issues raised by the Wilderness Tourism Association.

Hon. O. Ilich: We do recognize the importance of access to Crown land for tourism businesses, including the resort sector, and the need to have realistic and fair tenure provisions to facilitate financing, increased investment and, also, long-term commercial viability for the people that are involved in the tourism sector. Ninety-four percent of B.C. is still public land, and we have hundreds of back-country, nature-based tourism businesses depending on legal tenures to carry on their businesses.

What I can tell you is that we have, along with the Attorney General Ministry, already addressed four major industry issues. One was increasing the standard tenure terms from ten to 30, 50 or 60 years to facilitate financing of assets such as buildings, etc. We've implemented a clearer, fairer and more transparent process for government to exercise its right to change tenure management plans. We've changed to a system where rental payments are based on actual client day use rather than projected use. That's helped them a bit.

We've increased tourism business compliance with the Land Act from 40 percent to over 75 percent as a result of the commercial recreation tenure incentive program and through proactive compliance enforcement activities.

We are working with tourism operators. We understand that there are often conflicting tenure uses and demands. What we're always striving for is balance and fairness in the system so that people continue to be able to operate their businesses. We have to be balanced and fair about how we go about dealing with people and with their businesses.

N. Simons: Has the ministry developed an adventure tourism tenure security working group, as was requested by the Wilderness Tourism Association, or any similar working group?

Hon. O. Ilich: In answer to the member's question, yes, we have, in fact, set up that working group.

N. Simons: Can the minister tell the House who that group is made up of? Excuse the grammar.

[1615]

Hon. O. Ilich: I can tell you the members of that committee are Evan Loveless, Jim DeHart, Brian Gunn and Dave Butler — they're from industry; from our ministry, Linda Beltrano; from the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Ward Trotter; Dave Bacon from the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts; and two people from Parks, Ken Morrison and Karen MacDowell.

N. Simons: I appreciate that.

If I may move on to all-season resorts. You don't need a line change, as they say in hockey parlance? Very good.

Interjection.

N. Simons: You did? I'm the sport critic so.…

The 2005 service plan update notes that the ministry will be developing an integrated resort approval process to harmonize provincial and local regulation review processes. What work has been done to date on the integrated resort approval process?

[ Page 4136 ]

[1620]

Hon. O. Ilich: This is a process that was started a number of years ago, so we've done a number of projects already. One was a couple of publications. We've published Best Practices Guide for Resort Development in British Columbia . We've published a report called Transitions: Planning, Servicing, and Local Governments in B.C.'s Resort Communities .

What we're trying to do is harmonize the processes. Once we've had the lengthy process that we talked about yesterday on our approval process, what normally happens now is we send people off to go and talk to regional districts or municipalities. We're trying to bring in those people much earlier — first nations, as well — so that we have a much more comprehensive discussion and workplan at a much earlier stage. We harmonize our processes by not doing our process and then sending them off to another level of government. So that's one of the things that we're doing.

I can tell you that we continue to work with local governments and resort developers to come up with ideas to make the process a little simpler for people to get through, because we do believe that our process is too long. When we're taking a look at investment of the kind that the resort industry is capable of delivering, then we want to make sure that we're capable of giving answers in a timely manner.

[J. Yap in the chair.]

N. Simons: Can the minister tell the House when this process is likely to be completed?

Hon. O. Ilich: The process is complete. It has been signed off by the UBCM. We are implementing it with the Juliet Creek proposal.

N. Simons: For the benefit of those who've joined us in the gallery, I'm asking the Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts questions about the plan for the upcoming budget, the budget that's in place. My question has to do with resort development and whether or not one of the performance measures in tourism and resort development was to have these resorts' revenues reach a total of $4.2 million in 2005-2006. I'm just wondering. We've just finished that year. Did we reach that goal?

Hon. O. Ilich: We actually achieved $3.55 million.

[1625]

N. Simons: Has there been any explanation as to why the goal wasn't reached?

Hon. O. Ilich: I'm advised that we fell a little bit short because of two sales that did not complete. We can provide you with those details if you would like — at a future time.

N. Simons: Thank you to the minister for that offer. I'd be happy to see that, just to familiarize myself specifically with this particular issue.

Similarly, another performance measure in this area was for commercial recreational revenues to government to reach $1.8 million in 2005-2006. Can the minister indicate whether this goal has been reached?

Hon. O. Ilich: The actual came in at $1.99 million — so a little bit over.

N. Simons: More good news. That's good to hear. I'm refraining from making comments that are inappropriate considering the age of the gallery.

It seems that new targets have not been set in the new service plan. I'm just wondering if there's any explanation that the minister can offer for this absence.

Hon. O. Ilich: What we did was change the measures. We changed them to more effectively capture progress on outcomes.

What we previously had was all-season resorts revenues to government and the economic impact of international events and games. We changed that to a dollar amount of new capital investment and the ratio of incremental tax revenues to investment for major sport events. Both of those were changed.

Measures that stayed the same were the completion of resort development agreements, and two other ones — one that related to adult physical activity, and the proportion of nationally carded athletes training in the province. Those measures were kept and will be important gauges of progress for the ministry in the coming years. What we did was we went to measures that we thought would be more accurately reflective of what we were, in fact, doing.

[1630]

That does not mean to say that we are not continuing to track those other measures. They are still important measures, but we put in the service plan this year measures that were thought to be better measures.

N. Simons: To me it would seem somewhat strange to change the performance measures on a year-to-year basis because, really, what we're trying to do is to evaluate over that time. But if those measures are being recorded and documented and used for planning, but not in the service plan, I suppose that's another way of doing things. It just doesn't seem as out there, as clear to the community.

There's been another performance measure in the tourism area. That's the percentage of surveyed customers who are satisfied with all-season resort and commercial recreation services. The goal for 2005-2006 was to establish a baseline, and that's a good plan. But there's no mention of this performance measure in the latest service plan. I wonder if the minister can explain if this has been established.

Hon. O. Ilich: As the member opposite can appreciate, with a new ministry we took a look first, at the beginning, at what we were doing, and then we decided that maybe we should take a look at other things to see what we could be improving on and how we

[ Page 4137 ]

would measure that. So some measures were dropped, and some new measures were selected.

The guidelines for the ministry service plans also require that ministries have no more than 12 performance measures in their plan, so the ministry revised its measures to adhere to those new guidelines. The result is a more focused set of measures. There were 16 measures in the old service plan, and there are 11 measures in the new service plan. The new measures are more consistent with our goals and objectives.

I think it reflects the reality of constantly changing — well, not constantly changing…. We are still a new ministry, and we're constantly looking at how we can increase efficiencies and fulfil the goals and objectives that we have for the ministry.

N. Simons: Just to clarify: 12 performance measures per sector? Per strategy? Can the minister just enlighten me, please?

Hon. O. Ilich: The guidelines for the ministry service plans that are required of all ministries ask that we have no more than 12 performance measures. That was in an attempt to focus the ministries on things that were important to the ministry.

N. Simons: That brings me to the question I was going to have about aboriginal tourism strategy, where there are absolutely no performance measures. I'm sure that it's a question of priority. But in this particular ministry there are so many programs and strategies that I wonder if that arbitrary number of performance measures is more for the purposes of simplicity. It casts into doubt the reliability or the usefulness of performance measures, if they're limited to a certain number when, in fact, the issue is quite complicated.

This March the government gave $150 million to the Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia Association to start implementing its blueprint strategy. The money is to be spent on "coordinating media familiarization tours, publishing a cultural experience guide, updating tourism training guides and expanding the aboriginal tourism website." While the latest service plan mentions plans that the ministry has regarding aboriginal tourism, there are no performance measures directly related to it, despite the fact that there are numerous goals from the blueprint strategy that could be adopted — for example, increasing the number of market-ready aboriginal cultural tourism products.

If it's simply to do with the fact that the ministry had already reached its 12 measurable outcomes or performance targets, why has the ministry not included any specific performance measures in the very important sector of aboriginal cultural tourism in this new service plan?

[1635]

Hon. O. Ilich: Well, we agree that aboriginal tourism is very important to our province, and that is why we did give the council of aboriginal tourism $150,000. They had completed an aboriginal cultural tourism blueprint strategy, and they also wanted some funding to further develop that, which we gave them. We're going to be working closely with them in the future.

The aboriginal tourism council provides guidance and support to the aboriginal tourism businesses as they work to become market-ready, and the $150,000 really was to develop the further strategy. They will probably have some measurables within what they produce. It won't be part of our service plan and will never be intended to be part of our service plan.

N. Simons: If I mistakenly made it seem like the ministry had given $150 million to develop a strategy, I apologize for that. That did sound rather generous.

If I may move on to the issue of passports. I know it's an issue that the minister has taken very seriously, and I know that's very much appreciated in the tourism industry. I've heard that said to me on numerous occasions. The B.C. government made a submission to the Department of Homeland Security with regards to the proposed western hemisphere travel initiative, which would require American and Canadian citizens to show passports or other forms of secure documentation in order to enter or return to the U.S.

In January of this year, the United States government announced that instead of requiring passports, it will issue Americans cheaper travel ID cards for crossing the U.S.-Canada border.

In response to this move, the minister was quoted as saying that she was encouraged by the fact that it's not going to be onerous or expensive for Americans to come here. However, tourism and cross-border business coalitions have stated that they will remain concerned about the impact even these revised ID requirements are likely to have. COTA has said more needs to be done for low-risk travellers travelling by air and by water-based modes of transport. A bilateral business coalition — which is the Borders for Economic Security, Trade and Tourism — has said the plan still has grave implications for commerce, and Tourism Vancouver has echoed that.

My question to the minister is: what steps will the minister take to continue to encourage and lobby the appropriate governments to reconsider or find imaginative solutions to this potentially serious problem?

Hon. O. Ilich: We recognize the importance of the passport issue to our tourism businesses. We continue to lobby our federal representatives. I think our lobbying, along with other people that are concerned about it in other provinces, has been effective in at least raising the level of conversation. It was part of the conversation that Prime Minister Harper had with President Bush. So we have been, I think, successful in bringing it to the attention of the federal authorities.

[1640]

I think that it was made quite clear that the U.S. is not going to back off, and that they are concerned about their security. What we are doing…. Again, this is part of why we want to spend some extra money on promoting internal travel within British Columbia.

[ Page 4138 ]

We're concerned, obviously, about that situation, and we continue to write to them and press upon them what the possible pitfalls would be of every scheme they come up with, but we do know that they're not going to back off from the requirement to have passports.

Just this morning I saw in the newspaper — and this is obviously where I got this information this morning — that state legislators in the border states were concerned and were lobbying. They're probably the most effective at lobbying their own country. We are concerned about that — more than concerned. We're continuing to lobby. We're speaking to COTA and others as to what we can do to make sure it's not as big an impact. Advertising is one of them. Informing people in the United States who might want to travel here is one of them. The initiative on air travel, again, is one of them. It is something that is very important.

We continue to work with industry. We continue to lobby. We have been, as I said a few minutes ago, relatively successful in raising the level of the conversation and the awareness on that.

N. Simons: I appreciate that answer.

I guess it would be difficult for us to promote Canadians getting passports, and if the other country did the same…. We do want to encourage travel within our country, and there's that conflict as well. I'm sure that the ministry is looking for imaginative solutions that will encourage at least the border states and some — especially this province — to get passports if that ends up being what we have to do.

My next set of questions has to do with sport. Maybe this is the time the minister wants to do a line change — but possibly not. If so, I'll give the minister a few moments.

Under the sport section, last year's service plan lists as a performance measure that in 2005-2006: "The economic impact of hosting major sporting events…exceeds the provincial investment." The service plan also states that a reporting model for this measure was to be developed.

However, in this year's service plan there's a new measure. This measure has to do with the degree to which government investments in major sport and cultural events are leveraged by the private sector. Could this be another example of the ministry changing its performance measures and adopting new ones, making it more difficult to track success or failure of the particular goal of the ministry?

Specifically, why has the government dropped the previous measures?

[1645]

Hon. O. Ilich: You're absolutely right. We've had a line change back here on the team. I just want to introduce Charles Parkinson and John Mills from our sport branch.

In answer to the question: when we first started out, we had a measure that just indicated that we wanted to bring in more money than we put out on sport events, but that was before we had very good economic impact data.

Now what we've done is sharpened up that measure and the targets to be a bit more aggressive, so we're saying that for every dollar invested, we want to get three or even four back. That's one of the reasons why the measures were changed: because we have better data, better information, and we want to be making sure that we're investing money appropriately where it gets the biggest bang for our buck.

N. Simons: Presumably, on a year-to-year basis, the priorities and the strategies of government will change slightly. Consequently, one would expect that the performance measures may change as well. Is there any intention of sticking to particular performance measures from one year to the next so that the general public will be able to assess the success or failure of particular programs?

Hon. O. Ilich: I think the answer to the question is — and I go back to explaining again, and I know that the member opposite knows this — that the ministry is still under construction. As we look at these measures we say: "Well, are we actually measuring the right thing, could we be doing this a little bit differently, and could we be doing this a little bit better?"

Those are the things that we are constantly trying to improve on. Sport hosting obviously is something that we have been very interested in. I talked about that in my speech. Some of the events that we've been a part of have generated significant economic benefit for the community in terms of dollars that we've invested in return, and as we do more of these, I think we want to be able to refine that measure so that we are, in fact, getting the best bang for our buck.

N. Simons: I don't believe that the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts is in any different kind of position than other ministries, which are probably changing some performance measures as well. I believe that's really part of government: to adapt to the changes in priorities. I don't see that inherently as a problem in and of itself. Thank you for the answer.

I'm just wondering, specifically, if the government was successful in its goal to have the economic impact of hosting sporting events exceed the provincial investment in 2005-2006?

[1650]

Hon. O. Ilich: I can tell the member that we generated over $100 million worth of economic activity from an investment of about $3.5 million last year. For instance, the 2001 world curling championships leveraged a $250,000 provincial investment into a million dollars in provincial revenue. Those are the kinds of things that we're going to continue to be supporting.

N. Simons: I'm informed that we don't have a lot of time to cover a lot of very important subject areas. I'm just wondering if, at this point, I can…. Another line change, but I'm thinking I'd like to turn to the issue of

[ Page 4139 ]

volunteers and the area of volunteerism. I know that the minister has announced $100,000 to Volunteer B.C. to help it increase its capacity and "to take on a greater leadership role in B.C.'s volunteer sector." What specifically is expected from the ministry as some sort of measurable outcome in terms of that $100,000?

Hon. O. Ilich: The $100,000 that we gave to Volunteer B.C. went out just recently, and we provided that to them to assist in building the organizational capacity necessary for provincial leadership in the sector. One of the things that they're going to be doing is hosting a round-table discussion with key leaders throughout the sector on four key areas: recognition, sector capacity, engagement, and education and training. We can forward you a copy of the report that they're going to produce, if you want.

We've also provided resources to Volunteer Vancouver for their annual awards, because we think it's important that volunteers be recognized for their contributions. We've been meeting with a number of volunteer organizations, such as Volunteer Now, Volunteer Vancouver, Volunteer B.C. and the Centre for Non-Profit Management.

As the member opposite knows, there are approximately 20,000 not-for-profit and voluntary organizations in B.C., and there are almost a million volunteers that contribute almost 114 million hours of volunteer time. This is, as the member knows — because I think you talked about it in the House yesterday — the equivalent of about 72,000 jobs. There's lots of work that needs to be done, and we're still at the beginning stages of some of that.

N. Simons: Thank you for the answer. I suppose that this is not an area where there is a performance measure for volunteerism. Correct me if I'm wrong. The question, specifically, is: has there been a performance measure established in the volunteer sector?

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Hon. O. Ilich: Not yet. We are still working on what we're going to be doing with that sector and are talking to people about that.

N. Simons: Is that because the limit on performance measures is at 12 in this particular case?

Hon. O. Ilich: We're still in the beginning stages of working with this group. We know that nationally the trend is for decreasing volunteerism. I think, firstly, our simple measure is to increase volunteerism rather than watch it decline. Volunteers, as we both know, are very important. We're still just working with people that are involved in the sector to develop measures and targets, but we're not quite sure what those might be.

N. Simons: This is a question about another area under the purview of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, and that is forest recreation sites. I just have a couple questions on that. I'm hoping that doesn't cause any consternation on the part of her team.

In the previous estimates debate the minister said that she would be looking for additional ways to enhance forest recreation sites because she recognized how important they are to British Columbia. How much additional funding has the minister been able to secure for these sites?

Hon. O. Ilich: Our budget last year was $4,349,000 for operating. This year it's $5,370,000, so it's gone up a million. In addition to that, there's an extra $1.35 million for capital improvements.

N. Simons: Thank you to the minister for that answer.

Moving right along. The area of arts, culture and heritage will be the next area that I'd like to focus on.

We don't have an intermission. We could have a little league game on the floor here.

In last year's estimates the minister indicated that she would be asking for more money for the B.C. Arts Council in the next spring's budget. In 2005 the Arts Council received an additional $3 million in funding, as well as in the 2006-2007 budget. However, arts groups say that to catch up to levels of funding similar to the other provinces, the funding should be increased to a total of at least $30 million a year.

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Can the minister comment on the discrepancy that exists between the throne speech, when arts and culture were described as building blocks of innovation, invention and understanding, and the fact there was only a $3 million increase in the funding for arts, culture and heritage?

Hon. O. Ilich: The funding for the Arts Council is at $13.95 million this year, same as last year. Funding for culture altogether is up $1.9 million to promote cultural tourism and the creative economy. We recently gave $5 million to start the planning process for the new Vancouver art gallery, for the precinct in Vancouver where we're going to be doing a new museum.

N. Simons: I think 500….

Interjection.

N. Simons: Oh, $5 million. Okay, thank you. I think I heard $500, and I was hoping that was something else.

As the minister knows — and I know the minister has her own views on this — the Arts Council is probably the best suited to allocate and distribute funds to artists of all genres in British Columbia. I'm wondering if specifically, the minister will be urging her government to ensure that we don't remain in the lower half of provincial funding in this country and in fact increase funding specifically to the Arts Council.

Hon. O. Ilich: I think the ministry recognizes that arts and culture are important to our province. I think that we recognize the big role that they play in the creative economy, in our tourism and in all of the things that we do.

The member opposite participated in a planning session that we had — that I talked about in my open-

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ing comments — earlier this month where we gathered together 150 leaders of the arts community to talk about strategies to strengthen that sector. We remain committed to doing what we can in order to make sure that we have a viable arts and culture sector, including talking to the federal government to make sure that we get an increased share of money that they give out under the Canada Council.

We're going to continue to work very hard on that. We are expecting to have a blueprint strategy shortly from Max Wyman, which will guide us in doing that. We do believe that it is important, and we're going to continue to work very hard on that.

N. Simons: I applaud the minister for not only the arts summit and for getting people together from the various sectors of the arts community, but also for listening to the concerns that they have about funding for the Arts Council.

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I believe that lobbying the federal government is part of not only the government's role, but also the opposition's role. I think that we do have an opportunity to access funding from the federal government that brings us up to par with other provinces. I hope that that's a successful lobbying process.

Now, if and when the Arts Council funding is increased, does the minister believe that it would be important to add capacity to the Arts Council, as well, and not just the money that flows through it? The structure of the Arts Council, whether they're…. I understand, and I think the minister recognizes, that it's a very busy organization and an organization that requires people to work above and beyond, sometimes, the time that's allocated to them.

The capacity of the Arts Council, I think, is an important one for all artists in British Columbia, whether they be musicians, dancers or performers of any kind. My question specifically is: does the minister see the importance of adding funding to the Arts Council specifically to give it some more capacity?

Hon. O. Ilich: I want to stress that this is something that is of interest to me personally, as well as to the Premier. We did last year put out $25 million to the Vancouver Foundation in the arts renaissance fund. That actually put $5.3 million this year into the arts world in the province that we didn't have before. It was matched by the private sector, so that's an additional $10 million that wasn't there.

In addition to the Arts Council, there is quite a bit of money — it's about $14 million, so as much again as we have in the Arts Council — that goes out from gaming money to arts organizations. We also put money through Arts Now; Legacies Now also has money that they put into arts.

Nevertheless, we do know that it is an important part of what we do. As I said, we're going to continue to work on that. We're going to continue to work on trying to get as much money as we can from the federal government.

N. Simons: Is there any sort of written rationale for how money gets allocated through Arts Now, Legacies Now, gaming grants or the Arts Council? Is there any rhyme or reason to why some money gets funded to this particular area? It seems to me that the Arts Council, which actually sustains some of the smaller arts groups in smaller communities, is the appropriate agency to allocate funding. I'm wondering if the same…. I'll wait for the minister's response and follow up from that.

Hon. O. Ilich: We are looking at the programs we have inherited and have right now. We are taking a look at them and saying that we need to rationalize them and perhaps focus them on where we could be most effective with the money we do spend. That's work that's on