British Columbia Hansard — Tuesday, May 3, 2011 (39th Parliament, 3rd Session) (H0503am-11) (H0503am 11)

H0503am-11

British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)

Third Session, 39th Parliament official rePort of Debates of the Legis Lative a ssemb Ly (hansarD) the honourable bill bari Soff, SPeaker iSSn 0709-1281 Tuesday, May 3, 2011 Morning Sitting Volume 20, Number 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West Vancouver–capilano Thomson, hon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CONTENTS t uesday, May 3, 2011 Morning Sitting Page Orders of the Day budget Debate (continued) ..................................................................................................................................................... 6509 V . huntington G. h ogg J. brar h on. S. c adieux M. e lmore h on. k. f alcon

6509 tueSD a Y , MaY 3, 2011 The h ouse met at 10:02 a.m. [Mr. Speaker in the chair.] Prayers. Orders of the Day Hon. R. Coleman: i call continued budget debate in this h ouse. Point of Order B. Simpson: i rise on a point of order regarding the legislative calendar. a ccording to standing orders of this h ouse, the legislative calendar can't be changed without the unanimous consent of the h ouse. There is the Victoria Day in the standing orders.

The Victoria Day week the h ouse is adjourned, and yet, the legisla - tive website shows that the h ouse is sitting that week. i would ask the Speaker for clarification as to the sitting of the h ouse during the Victoria Day week. Mr. Speaker: Y es, i'll take it under advisement and get back to you. c arrying on — budget debate. Budget Debate (continued) V .

Huntington: i am happy to respond to the fiscal priorities we think the government is setting out for us this year. i must admit that it's a little difficult to speak to a budget that, although characterized as status quo, is all of a sudden supposed to reflect changes so recently made to ministries that we don't yet have their service plans or budgets. h ardly what i would call respect for one of the most important functions of the l egislative a ssembly — that of holding the government account - able for its fiscal priorities. before i begin my specific budget comments, i would like to join other members in the h ouse to congratu - late both the l eader of the opposition and the Premier on their recent victories. i also want to commend the Premier's interest in inclusive governance, and i sincerely hope this budget fiasco doesn't reflect on her attention to the democratic reform so badly needed in this place. [1005] The talented members of this h ouse must be given the opportunity to properly represent their electors, and changing the way we do business in the assembly must start with committed leadership.

The people of b.c. are eagerly awaiting proof that our new Premier truly in - tends to engage in meaningful change. [c. t revena in the chair.] h ow does one comment on a budget that is being treated like a minor annoyance by the government? a $40 billion budget which is tabled with severely limited hours of debate, is extended by interim financing, which doesn't even pretend to represent the true state of the ministries and which will be only given 90 hours of de - tailed debate. c ompare that 90 hours to the weeks spent scrutin - izing the budgets of ten years ago.

We now spend half the time our predecessors did examining the provin - cial purse. The decline of democratic oversight makes a mockery of accountability and opens the door for abuse to take a systemic foothold in the system. Just as disturbing is the fact that we haven't been able to track service plans because ministries no longer exist. We can't track program expenditures because we no longer know where the programs sit.

We can't deter- mine whether the budget reflects a government vision because we have no idea what that vision might be, other than the vague new phrase "families first," and even then we can't forget that this budget was drawn up long be - fore families first was the new government priority. So how do we hold government accountable? Does this budget prepare us for a difficult future, or is it still cloaking the truth with rhetoric?

The government that introduced this budget is, in some minds at least, osten- sibly representing a different direction than the one we had yesterday, but when we listen to the debate from the government side of the h ouse, we hear gratitude for the privilege of serving constituents. is there an election in the offing, Madam Speaker? We hear the same boasts that more money than ever before is being put into health and education.

We wonder whether anyone over there has heard that everything else, and even health and education, is suffering — the f orest Service, environmental protection, agricultural lands in the a gricultural l and c ommission, aquifers, public oversight, protection of children, access to justice. i have said previously that widespread economic change is before us and that government needs to open a critical discussion with the people of this province. The govern- ment mantra to do more with less is becoming nonsensical. The reality is that right now we are faced with less, and we have to do less with less.

The important issue before this government should be how we cause the least disruption to our social order during this transition to less. it is an issue with which this government refuses to grapple. The government tells us their new priority is families first. We assume, therefore, that most government de - cisions now have to pass through this filter. but how is family first defined? We don't know. What is defined as important to family? We don't know. c ertainly, some things are obvious: health care, education, safe com - munities, access to justice, the social safety net.

british c olumbia Debates6510 t uesday, May 3, 2011 but while we hear ad nauseam that more money is be- ing put into health care and education than ever before, we still have large school budget deficits, crowded class - rooms, overworked teachers, high illiteracy rates. We have overcrowded hospitals, long waiting times, insuffi- cient medical staff. So we know that increasing budgets are still not able to do the job we presently expect.

The fact is that we will likely never have the money to fix these problems adequately. o ur ability to treat dis - ease, our expectations of the education system, our need to protect the environment and to ensure justice is avail- able for all have outstripped our ability to pay, and it is time government admitted it and started that dialogue about our future. a s a society, we are just beginning to realize that we are going to have to lower our expectations. but as we suffer the reality, how do we go about preserving what people, what families deem most important?

That is the issue for leadership, and that is the leadership that is lacking. We need a public dialogue about the size and the kind of government we can afford. We need to debate the size and the kind of social safety net we can afford. We need to see a deficit reduction plan, one that is attached to the debt and which allows us to make our social adjust - ments over a long term. [1010] We need to know how to deal with the coming crisis, and we need leadership desperately. Where there is a vacuum in leadership, it will be filled. one of the most disturbing things i have read in some time is an

article in the a pril 27 Globe and Mail entitled "a s h ealth c are c osts Soar, business World Seeks a f uture." c anada's major financial institutions, joined by other large businesses, are funding the c anadian a lliance for Sustainable h ealth c are, a group organized by the c onference board of c anada. This group wasn't called together as a government task force. it wasn't called together as a royal commission. it wasn't contracted by elected officials or ministry staff. it is big business that decided it will no longer support the system as it is and that has set about plans to consider radical change.

So where government should be leading and in control, it is losing control of the policy issue. We will end up being forced to react to an industrial design for health care delivery. n ow, i'm the last person to fault a new and business - like examination of health care delivery, but what i fear is the leadership and policy vacuum that is being filled by corporate power. These policy initiatives should be in the hands of government and answering to the terms of reference set by government, but government has dropped the ball on health and in almost every other sector of our economy and society.

The failure to provide strategic leadership and the need to do with less is leading us down a very diffi - cult and dangerous path, and the increasing pressure of corporate influence is being felt in more sectors of our society. but aside from the strategic failure of leadership that so concerns me, there are, of course, particulars in the budget that specifically concern me and my constitu - ency and, indeed, particulars that in themselves make it difficult to understand what priorities the families-first platform really has in mind.

Without the strategic debate, for instance, what is best for families can be somewhat arbitrary. f or in - stance, is it better for families to keep business costs as low as possible, thereby encouraging employment, or is it better for families to have a higher minimum wage? i personally applaud the higher minimum wage, but does this government understand its impact on the employment statistics? a nd if so, has it a plan to ensure families don't suffer the economic consequences of a higher minimum wage?

Similarly, government has indicated that active out - door lifestyles and healthy living are among the tools that break skyrocketing health care costs. f urther, the public consultation for this budget found improving funding to b.c . Parks was a priority for many british c olumbians, who hate to see our park system de- teriorate and who value the benefit parks bring to provide — and here i quote from the government — "healthy liv - ing, jobs, tourism and community-building." Why, then, in b.c.

Parks' centennial year does this budget include a $660,000 cut to Parks, still struggling from a similar cut in last year's budget and a $2.5 million reduction in the 2009 budget? Does this help families stay healthy in a well-managed environment? or is that not part of the families-first plan? The finance and Government Services c ommittee also recommended an increase in the Ministry of a gri- culture operating budget.

Specifically, it recommended that the government "include…adequate resources to maximize the benefits of federal-provincial programs, such as a griStability and a grir ecovery, and to finance a branding program for b.c…as was recommended in the b.c. agricultural plan." instead, the ministry budget was slashed yet again, and i am dismayed to see funding for the a gricultural l and c ommission fall for another year, especially after the a uditor General found that lack of resources was al- ready challenging the commission's ability to deliver on its mandate.

The alc desperately needs more funding to properly conduct its monitoring and enforcement activities. in Delta South, for example, there is a serious problem with the dumping of fill in the alr . The alc cannot keep pace with the problem due to its lack of enforcement of- ficers. This government fails to understand that viable agricultural land is essential to both our food security and our options for locally grown food, both of which are vitally important to b.c.'s families.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6511 This budget fails to engage the people in a debate on how best to survive the inevitable economic realities we are facing.

The budget once again reflects a government that has ignored the necessity to lead the people of b.c. in a debate that will shape our future. [1015] We can face that future as strong and as united as we can possibly be, or we can enter that future with confu - sion and distress. it can be a disruptive and difficult time, or it can be an era guided by an organized and support - ive transition to less. it is up to government and the members of this place to choose the future that will protect not only the basics of our safety net but also the values of our democratic life.

This budget tells us that the time has come for the government to lead. G.

Hogg: Madam Speaker, i thank you for the op - portunity to speak to budget 2011-2012. i have some musings to provide with respect to my perceptions of the budget and what is contained therein. l ike others, i'd like to add my congratulations to the new l eader of the o pposition and to all of those who stood for that position — for putting their name forward; for putting their ideas forward; for giving us a chance to look at, understand and better comprehend the relation- ship that exists between the policy and people. a lso, my congratulations to the new Premier of our province — for her interest and intrigue, for her interest in putting forward the notions of families first and what that might mean and how that may well be reflected in some parts of the budget that we have before us. it's interesting to me the different perspectives that we have with respect to budgets within our own parties, within the l egislature, as we look at things from differ - ent perspectives and different senses of understanding. budgets provide unique abilities for us to see the same issue from different perspectives.

There's something known as the r ashomon effect. The r ashomon effect was developed with a number of people who were sitting and watching a movie of a car accident. Those people were asked after to look at and to tabulate what had taken place.

With 300 people looking and observing, there were almost 300 different perspec - tives on what had taken place. c ertainly, i think that that different understanding reflects the different perspectives we tend to see in this h ouse and around this province as we try and find, as politicians, where the common ground exists, where we find the commonality of understanding which gives the opportunity for political will, for change and for things to take place. one of my favourite anecdotes comes from a lbert einstein and Werner h eisenberg, who were two of the world's greatest physicists with the greatest under - standing of what took place.

They were sitting, back in probably 1929 or 1930, and h eisenberg said to einstein, "Y ou know, whether it's particles or people, we just have to observe them, and the principles will evolve. o ut of those principles will develop the theory," to which einstein said: "h eisenberg, you don't know what you're talking about." h e said: "Y our assumptions and your theories dictate what you see and how you interpret them. Things only become visible when our thinking makes that possible." What thinking makes our budgets possible?

What thinking makes our understanding possible and plaus - ible? c learly, the myriad perceptions and perspectives with respect to it really do tell us a whole lot about who we are and what we want to bring in terms of values and beliefs and structures to this l egislature and in terms of this budget. c ertainly, we're at the first time, probably, in recorded history where we have the metrics. We have the ability to understand what has taken place.

We have enough data now stored that we can learn from that, and things are changing so incredibly quickly that our ability to re- spond to it becomes much more challenging. in fact, i remember that einstein — i think in 1929, when he was teaching at the academy of science in berlin — went in to see his secretary to give the exam for the second semester and asked her to type the exam up. a s she was walking out of her office, she said: "Wait a minute, Dr. einstein. Wait a minute.

This is the same exam you gave for the first semester." h e said: " o h, that's true. h owever, all the answers have changed." What he was saying was that even back then we were moving so quickly that things became so different in terms of their understanding. [1020] i read recently that technology, in terms of infor - mation technology, is doubling every two years in our world today. That means if you're taking a four-year de- gree in technology, if you take the first year, by the time you're in the third year, that first year's worth of infor - mation will be obsolete.

So we are changing quickly, and it's very difficult to be able to develop budgets that are able to respond and lead that type of change that hap - pens so incredibly quickly. i had the privilege of being in israel last n ovember and meeting with Professor h azan from h ebrew u niversity. h e was saying that it's interesting that in n orth a merica or in western democracies GDP has become the focal point, the principle by which we evaluate what we're doing — our debt-to-GDP ratio.

That becomes the sig - nificant issue. h e said that in israel GDP is not an issue. h e said: "We can have momentous growth in GDP , but we throw the governments out." h e said that what's im - portant in israel is security. if you're a right-wing government in israel, your issue is security, and you want to build the army and get more tanks and get more planes and drones and things to

british c olumbia Debates6512 t uesday, May 3, 2011 manage things. h owever, if you're a left wing in israel, your issue is about ensuring that you negotiate secur - ity, but security becomes the underpinning,

whereas in most of our western democracies, it's GDP . So it's very interesting to look at what happens in terms of the different perspectives that different coun - tries, different cultures, different societies have in terms of how they look at the budgeting process and what grows out of it. The notion of traditional economics has been changed dramatically.

The notion of traditional economics was that everybody was rational. if you paid more money, you got better responses. c ertainly, the evolution of behavioural econom - ics, which came into being in the last eight or ten years, has changed all of that dramatically. in fact, the first psychologist to win a n obel Prize in e conomics, Daniel k ahneman, talked about the differences. h e basically said that we don't make rational decisions economic - ally, we don't make them personally, we make them for all kinds of irrational reasons and assumptions, and that that is a far better way and a more appropriate way of understanding what happens with respect to economics and what happens in terms of budgets — that we tend to be irrational and impulsive. n one of those things are considered in the rational notion of traditional economics, but they're starting to be understood now. in fact, subjectivity was never even looked at nor studied in the context of budgets or the context of understanding until recently, because subjec- tivity….

The academic community said: "i t's subjective. We can't measure it. Therefore, it's not worth looking at or studying." With the advent of new technologies, it's now be - ing studied. They'll put a blackberry on somebody and buzz them three times a day and say, "Where are you? What are you doing? h ow are you feeling on a ten-point scale? a re you feeling good, bad...?" They're starting to compare how one person is feeling over the course of a day, over the course of a week, and the changes that happen with that.

Through that, they'll be able to ana - lyze and look at, from a subjective sense, how people are responding and looking at it.

So the growth, in terms of technology, information and understanding of where we are, reflects what's happening in terms of quality of life and how that impacts us. c ertainly, if we look back at the evolution and de - velopment of quality of life and, particularly, of social capital and the evolution of social capital, we know historically that the development in c anada, in n orth a merica — particularly as written about and studied by r obert Putnam from h arvard u niversity…. h e talked about the dramatic changes that occurred with industrialization, immigration and urbanization — that we had that sense of quality of life that existed in small communities, the notion of everybody getting together at the grain elevator or the general store and talking about things and that that's where decisions were made. if somebody's barn burnt down, there was the barn raising. e verybody got together and did that. but with the changes that took place dramatically between about 1885 and 1910 in terms of industrialization, urbaniza - tion and immigration, all of that changed.

There was a creation of a new place. There was a new place to have that social capital. The new place was the evolution of service clubs. Virtually every service club — r otary, k iwanis, l ions, l ittle l eague, 4-h, all of those things — started between 1885 and 1910 in a response to de - veloping a place for us to get together, to have a quality of life to exchange. c ertainly, we're now seeing another change.

That crisis was through those elements — through indus - trialization, urbanization, immigration. n ow we have a new crisis, and it's sub-urbanization and the changes that are happening as we see things happening in a very urban setting and that interaction. h ow do we create that? because we now have people living in urban areas, but they're isolated in urban areas, where they push a button and open the garage door and are locked in there on their internet. h ow do we get that connectedness? h ow is it that budgets foresee that? h ow is it that budgets create? What can public policy do?

What can budgets do to ensure that we have the quality of life that becomes important in terms of that? [1025] Joseph Stiglitz was a n obel Prize–winning econo - mist, was head of the international Monetary f und and headed the Sarkozy commission. h e predicted the economic meltdown. h e said things like: "i nformation clearly affects behaviour. o ur accounting frameworks affect behaviour.

What we gather information about and how we describe it affects what we do and what we strive for." h e said: "a nd if GDP and debt-to-GDP is the measure — and, indeed, is the measure of virtually all the western democracies — then that is what we strive for." So we focus our policies and our budgets on things that increase GDP . but GDP is not a good measure of economic per - formance, nor of subjective well-being, nor of quality of life. Stiglitz reminds us that GDP does not measure what happens to our citizenries, our citizens.

GDP can increase while median income decreases. o ur GDP can be going way up, yet the median can be going down. Therefore, 50 percent of our population can be getting less income while GDP is increasing. GDP says nothing about sustainability. There are won- derful studies out of a rgentina in the early 1990s, where they were exploding in terms of their GDP and all the measurements with respect to that, but they were clear - cutting their forests, and a look at GDP did not anticipate and look at the notion that it was not sustainable.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6513 GDP looks at output within our province. Prior to 1990 it was GnP; it was gross national product. Gross national product looked at the increase in people's well-being or income within the province, within a juris- diction. GDP has dramatically changed that.

When we look at notions that look at privatizing the economic activity within jurisdictions, but much of the income from that activity goes outside the province, GDP goes up, but income within tends to go down. a wonderful example, i think, is in the u nited States, where about ten times the number of people per capita are in jail as in other industrialized countries, and some states spend more money on jails than they do on uni - versities. The jail expenditures contribute to GDP . That becomes part of the measurement.

So jails are good for GDP , but locking more people up may not necessarily be good for society. The u .S.a. spends more dollars on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other country in the world, and their health outcomes are much lower than other industrialized countries and, in fact, lower than many developing countries. The extra dollars, all the dollars spent on health care, show up as a contribution to GDP . if they become more efficient, more effective and more positive in their delivery of health care, their GDP would go down.

Y et i think most of us would argue and postu - late that that would be better for their people, the people of the u nited States. Greenspan, who headed the u .S. f ederal r eserve for 18 years and served five presidents, came with a famous mea culpa after the economic meltdown. h e said that he was wrong. u ntil the meltdown he was known as the maestro who had masterminded and masterfully handled their economy. h e had been an unbridled pro - ponent of deregulation and of free markets.

Greenspan admitted he'd made a mistake in believing that markets could and would regulate themselves. h is ideology had worked for 40 years. c ongress, when they brought him before them, said he got a number of things wrong. h e opposed legisla - tion to control complex transactions. h e kept interest rates too low for too long, and he failed to take action at the signs of trouble. h e admitted that more comprehen- sive regulation is justified, but he warned that there must be a balance between regulation and the freedom of the economy to function.

That's the delicate balance that i think we need to search for as we look at budgets, we look at regulation and we look at the models that we want to build on. Governments tend to use incentives to move things in one way and penalties in terms of things that go wrong, so we use regulation as part of that, legislation as part of that. [1030] in some ways, doing that, i think, takes away from the practical wisdom that needs to exist within our public service, within our political environments and, indeed, within our communities.

Practical wisdom, i think, is the ability to under - stand what needs to be done, the wisdom to know that and the ability to determine how to do it, and i think that becomes a significant challenge. but when things go wrong, we tend to, whether it's in the budget or whatever it might be, introduce a new piece of legis - lation that's going to prevent it from ever happening again.

So in 1929 when the stock market crashed the u nited States introduced policies and legislation that would prevent it from ever happening again, and they have now introduced two pieces of legislation which will prevent it from ever happening again. o f course, it will continue to happen again, because we don't have the ability to allow for practical wisdom to exist within that. Practical wisdom…. We tend to take away the value of people in different roles, whether it's teaching or whether it's a doctor.

When things go wrong in those areas, we tend to limit, again, the ability of them to be able to apply things. one example is it would make things more difficult for them to be able to act and react. i read about an example of a fellow who took his nine- year-old son to a baseball game. h e said: "i'm going to get a c oke, son. Would you like something?" The son said: "Well, i'd like a lemonade." So the father went off to the stand, and he brought his son back what happened to be a Mike's h ard l emonade.

The guy was probably a university prof and didn't know that Mike's h ard l emonade actually had alcohol in it and gave it to his nine-year-old son. Well, one of the security people noticed this, so he called the police. The police came and took the son away. They put him in an ambulance, took him to the hospital and had him checked out. There wasn't any alcohol in his blood. e verything was fine. but they called a social worker in just to make sure that there wasn't any type of misuse on behalf of the parent, and they wouldn't allow the boy to go back home. They took the boy.

The social worker, because of whatever regulations, made a deter - mination that the child should not go home until they'd done a home assessment to make sure that it was okay for him to return home. t wo days later the father appeared in court, and they allowed the boy to go home, but the father had to go and could not stay in the home while the rest of the investi - gation took place.

So the father was placed in a hotel. h e stayed in a hotel, and after about five days, everything was cleared up and they went home. but the irony of it…. f rom the police officer to the doctors at the hospital to the social workers to the judge — every one of them said that this was totally stupid; there's nothing wrong with this. but policies were put in place, structures were put in place to dictate that that was the outcome.

british c olumbia Debates6514 t uesday, May 3, 2011 a s we make decisions as governments to make sure that things don't go wrong, we create those types of environments where a common and practical decision- making process seems to get lost. u nfortunately, it was lost in that instance. Sometimes we create environments with respect to our budgets and the culture and the society where things continue to grow in that fashion.

We don't look at what makes common sense, what practical wisdom is, and we take away the authority of decision-makers to be able to do that within the application of a budget, within the carrying out of a budget, which becomes so import - ant in terms of what we need to do.

The treasury of england, h er Majesty's t reasury, had a working paper released last year in which they say: "Government needs to achieve an appropriate bal - ance between policies that promote our well-being and policies that maintain economic incentives to support innovation and growth." n ow, there's been lots of talk about what value GDP has, what value budgets have in terms of reflecting what's important to people. President Sarkozy appointed a commission to look at the measurement of economic performance and social progress.

They released their report at the end of 2009, and that report had, i believe, three n obel Prize–winners on it. it had r obert Putnam, who is the world's authority on social capital.

They actually looked at it and came up with a number of recommendations in terms of what we should be looking at. h ow do we start balancing that? h ow does a budget give flexibility to look at some of the things that become so important in terms of addressing the issues that reflect quality of life? [1035] i think the research is pretty clear that those notions around the budget and particularly the way we tend to measure it, the way that the media tends to carry it and portray it, the way that our populace, the citizens of our province, tend to look at it, tend not to feel engaged in, tend not to feel that it's an important part of what they see and understand….

The behavioural economists talk about something called the identifiable victim effect. basically, they say that we can't grasp things in a broad sense. i think it was Mother t eresa who talked about the notion: one per - son's death is a tragedy, and a thousand people's death is a statistic. There's not a visceral connectedness that happens with a thousand people, but there is a visceral connectedness that happens with one person.

So how do we start looking at our budget? h ow do we start looking at budgets more generally, that allows us to have that connectedness that is not just a cogni - tive understanding of what takes place but is actually meaningful and reflective of those things that connect with us? c ertainly, looking at behavioural economists, who started to look at the notions of climate change, they have said that from a psychological perspective, if you had to design a problem, if you're putting a problem together that very few people would care about, it would be global warming.

They say it's because it's way off in the future, it tends to happen to other people first, its lar- gest impact is not seen to be close to us, and anything we do as individuals is merely a drop in the bucket. it's that application of the psychological under - standing to policy and the visceral connectedness that becomes important. c ertainly, the

interpretation of our budget gives, i think, some flexibility for us to look at and to manage those things in ways that are important. behavioural change occurs when we become emotion - ally and viscerally connected to it, and that's the type of thing that flexibility refers to.

That's the type of thing that the Sarkozy commission looked at — ways that we can understand and look at things that make a differ - ence for us. one of the ways that we can address and start to look at some of the more intractable problems that we face as a society — given the increasing cost of health care, the demands on budgets and the demand that we've had on our budget here, with all of the challenge we have — is to look at the notion of social entrepreneurship, social in - novation, and what that presents for us. c ertainly, other jurisdictions around the world are starting to say that there have to be other ways that we can look at some of the most intractable social problems that exist. h istorically and traditionally, social problems, social issues, have been dealt with by philanthropists giving money to it, by faith-based organizations — churches, our temples providing money — or by the state.

Those are the three sources of funding that we look at for deal- ing with those people who need support. The development of physical capital has been through the business sector, and they've tended to work in sep - arate aisles, separate ways. They don't have a lot of interaction and connectedness. c ertainly, the models of social entrepreneurship being developed in Denmark and in england and to some degree, as well, in a ustralia and n ew Zealand…. a nd certainly President o bama has put a lot of money into it, as well, and our federal government is looking at it, as well as our provincial government.

We are showing some leadership in terms of that, and we're showing leadership because there are so many cre- ative social entrepreneurs that live in british c olumbia who are looking at ways of being able to manage and do things and create sustainability and different ways of dealing with these intractable problems. it's as simple as the Salvation a rmy putting together a used clothing store or a bookstore that feeds into it so that their money, all of the money that they generate from the fiscal capital system, goes to social purpose, goes to social good. h ow do we more broadly look at that? h ow do we look at that to deal with some of

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6515 the most challenging problems that exist in the world?

We have the ability now, because of the technology we have, because of the metrics we have, because of the in - formation we have, to look at that, to effect those types of changes. c ertainly, in british c olumbia there was recently a meeting of social innovators from across c anada, and the o ttawa Citizen, the newspaper, said that the Silicon Valley of social innovation is here in british c olumbia. it's here in british c olumbia because of the great initia - tives being taken by so many social innovators who are out there looking at, challenging, new ways of doing things, new ways of creating social innovation, ways of addressing some of, again, our most intractable of problems. a s a government, we are looking at and doing that and hopefully being able to manage and find some funding through our budget to address some of those problems and the social innovation that comes out of them. in terms of legislation and being able to look at dif - ferent forms of government, we have non-profits as one form of government and then the business model, and there's nothing in between. t o create a non-profit….

We say to the non-profits in many instances: "Y ou can't pay your boards of directors. Y ou can't make money. Y ou can't do three-year business plans. Y ou can't buy a franchise." [1040] n o business can function with the limitations that our legislation places on non-profits. We have to free them up to be able to actually do the things that they want to do — the challenges that they face and being able to manage that. We need to look at incentives that will provide them with the opportunities.

We provide tax incentives and tax write-offs if you're going to invest in a mine, but we don't if you want to invest in social good and social well-being. We need to look at images and options that will do that, and we need to be able to recognize that the challenges of our budget, the challenges of budgets in all the western democracies — indeed worldwide — are overwhelming. h ow do we in fact look at new ways of addressing these things, new ways of looking at the challenges that face us? h ow can we start to maximize the potential that starts to exist? in england they've started the first social impact bond.

They provide it with young offenders. They found that young offenders — i think it's between the ages of 18 and 25 — with a particular profile who are sentenced to less than two years…. When they're released, about 60 percent of them reoffend within the first year — a tragic comment in terms of our, supposedly, or their ability to rehabilitate, to give options and opportunities. So what they've done is they've said they've been able to quantify — because we have the technology now — what the costs are for that. So the t reasury board, the treasury of england, has issued a contract, and the con - tract went out.

The contract said that for every offender who is released that you can keep from reoffending for a year, we'll give you a 7½ percent return on the money that's invested. if you can keep it for two years, it'll be 14 percent. So there's a return. The t reasury board issues the contract. The con - tract in some instances is taken by the public service; in some places it's taken by a non-profit; in some places it's taken by what's called a community interest cor - poration — social purpose organizations. They provide the service. They go to the money markets, and the money is raised in the money markets.

They provide the service, and they go back at the end of the year and say: "h ere are the metrics. h ere's what we've been able to do. h ere are the numbers that we've been able to keep from reoffending." based on that, the government — the state — then provides the funding for it. So it's shifting the risk from the state, which doesn't seem to want to take risks with things, to outcome measures. So those types of things provide a dramatic difference. a nother example that might be working is type 2 dia- betics. We've got metrics on type 2 diabetics.

We know that they tend to go back to hospital on average three times a year. We know that with creativity and utiliza - tion of the budget, we can look at that differently. We know that if our numbers are large enough, we'll be cor- rect in terms of being able to address that. We never know who's going to go back to hospital three times a year, but we know that if we take 500 of them, we're going to be pretty darn accurate in terms of those numbers. We know what they will have cost us historically. We know that we can project that into the future. We can take that and….

Say they cost $20 million for the past five years. We can go to t reasury board and say: "h ere, we'll provide those services for the next five years. Provide us with a contract that we'll pay out at the end." Y ou take that contract; you go to someone like Vancity Savings. i've talked with t amara Vrooman and said: "if we did these types of things, what type of impact is that going to have?" She said: "We can raise $100 million to - morrow if we have those types of contracts." So we can leverage a lot of money into intractable social programs and pay them out at the end without taking the risk.

There's recently been a study across c anada on social finance, which has had people from all across c anada participating in that. They're saying that if we can lever- age 1 percent of the money which is now in foundations and pension funds…. if we can leverage that into social programs, that represents $33 billion in c anada, and there will still be a return on the money. Some of the areas in india where they've tried doing this, when they've gone out to the contract, they say: "Y ou

british c olumbia Debates6516 t uesday, May 3, 2011 can get up to 4 percent return on your money in this econ- omy" — which isn't bad — "if you want to invest in this social program." They give them the option of checking 4 percent, 3 percent, 2 percent, 1 percent or no return. o ver half of the people are saying: "i want zero. i get the tax write-off, and this is my contribution to social well-being.

This is my contribution to society." This is part of citizenship. c ertainly, as we look at the impact and the importance of citizenship in british c olumbia and under the british parliamentary system, that is so incredibly important — that we have that. it starts to build community. it builds volunteers. it builds social innovation. i see my time is almost up. i just want to finish by reading a statement that bobby k ennedy made just a few months before his death in 1968.

We still continue to gauge our progress and our lives through organiza - tions and our communities based on really narrow and, i think, shallow measures. [1045] k ennedy said: "We seem to have surrendered community excellence and com- munity values in the mere accumulation of material things. o ur gross domestic product…if we should judge…a merica by that… counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. it counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. it counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. it counts napalm and the cost of nuclear warheads and armoured cars for police who fight riots in our streets. it counts Whitman's rifles and Speck's knives and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

"Y et the gross domestic product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of our education or the joy of our chil- dren's play. it does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. it measures neither wit…nor… courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our com- passion nor our devotion to our country. it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." i trust that our budget gives us an opportunity to look at that in a more creative and positive fashion.

J. Brar: Madam Speaker, it's good to be back after a long time. We have been out of this h ouse for almost a year now, and it just feels good to be back. it's a real honour all the time to stand up in this h ouse and speak for the people of Surrey-fleetwood as it relates to the budget. but before i do that, i would like to say thanks to my staff at Surrey-fleetwood community office, r uby bhandal and Peter l eblanc. Thanks for your passion, commitment and extraordinary service you offer to the people of Surrey-fleetwood. i would also like to say thanks to my Victoria staff, Gurbrinder k ang.

Thanks for your able support and meaningful assistance to me almost every day when i'm here in Victoria. c oming back to the budget. This budget was intro - duced by the previous f inance Minister to just keep the government going until a new leader and new Premier was elected by the b.c. l iberal Party. Therefore, this budget was a status quo budget, just to pass the time.

What it means is that it does not introduce any new programs or significant spending initiatives. in fact, the budget continued to cut spending or failed to in - vest in key areas such as protecting vulnerable children, improving access to education and training, and pro - tecting the environment. So this budget was just to pass the time and was just a status quo budget. The first thing that Premier c lark did was to embrace this status quo budget without making any change.

That offers nothing to b.c. families, because it was just a status quo budget designed to run the government ship through the b.c. l iberal leadership convention. Therefore, the expectation was that the new Premier will introduce a new throne speech and a new budget based on her own priorities. This budget was prepared by the Premier Gordon c ampbell l iberal government, and this budget is embraced now by the new Premier c lark without making or changing any penny or adding any new pennies into this budget. Therefore, there's no change in this budget.

The question i would like to ask is: what is new for b.c. families in this budget? Similarly, Premier c ampbell's l iberal government decided to pay $6 million to b.c. l iberal staffers to end the b.c. r ail corruption case, and Premier c lark is also in favour of making that payment to the b.c. l iberal staffers. Therefore, nothing had changed. The third thing i want to say is that this budget in - cludes the much-hated tax known as the hS t . Premier c ampbell was in favour of the hS t , although he had to quit because of that. The new Premier c lark is also in favour of hS t .

Therefore, nothing had changed for b.c. families. There are a number of issues the people of Surrey bring so my office when it comes to the budget, so i would like to speak about those issues briefly. first of all, Surrey is the fastest-growing community in the province and probably in the country.

We welcome about 1,000 new residents almost every month into the city of Surrey, and we are way behind when it comes to building new infra- structure, new programs and services to meet the needs of a growing population. [1050] People of Surrey were hoping that this budget would provide some new funding to build new schools and new programs for the growing population. in 2001 when this government came to power, when Premier c lark was the Deputy Premier and part of this government, this government made the promise to the families of british c olumbia and to the families of Surrey to provide the best health care system when you need it and where you need it, but in fact, they did the op - posite.

They closed hospitals and they closed emergency rooms in the province. That was certainly not good for b.c. families.

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6517 The story of repeated announcements on delays at Surrey Memorial h ospital is a prime example of those. They did not care about the people in Surrey. in 2005 they made the promise to build the new emergency room for the growing population in the city of Surrey, and Premier c lark, who was then the Deputy Premier, was right here in this h ouse. The promise was made to build the new er and to start the construction in 2008 and complete the construction by 2010.

That was the promise given to the people of Surrey at that time. but after they won the election, they went back and changed the announcement, and they made another announcement to delay the start of the construction of the new er from 2008 to 2009. That was not the first time that they changed their mind.

They have made those announcements after an - nouncements more than ten times, and the people of Surrey have been waiting and waiting for the last about ten years for the new er and for the growing population to be served. a s of the last announcement they made, b.c . l iberals delayed the completion of the emergency room from 2010 to 2014, and the families of Surrey have to suffer for four more years. The interesting thing was that the new Premier, Premier c lark….

The first announcement she made in the city of Surrey was just to confirm the delay of the construction of the new emergency room, which is much needed by the people of Surrey, from 2011 to 2014. Therefore, for the people of Surrey nothing has changed under this new Premier, and we still have to wait for four more years for the new emergency room, which was promised to be completed by this govern - ment by 2010. That shows, Madam Speaker, that this government is completely out of touch when it comes to the health care needs of the people of Surrey.

The other issue which comes to my office is about edu- cation. a s i said earlier, because of a massive growth in the population of the city of Surrey, we are behind when it comes to building infrastructure in education as well. if we go to back to 2001 when Premier c lark was here, the promise was made by this government in 2001 that they would provide the best education system so that no child is left behind. but in fact they did the opposite. Premier c lark was the Deputy Premier at that time, and they closed almost 190 schools in the province of british c olumbia.

They left more than 15,000 classrooms which are overcrowded and over the class-size limit. in addition, they have downloaded many costs onto the backs of the local school districts, forcing layoffs of teachers and cuts to the very needed programs. School districts across the province are facing severe budget shortfalls. The Surrey school district has been hit really hard — really hard. The Surrey school district is the fastest- growing school district in the province.

The Surrey school district has grown by 2,700 students since 2005. [1055] This year alone 1,300 new students have entered the school system, yet Surrey has not received capital fund - ing to build new schools since 2005. i will repeat that Surrey did not get a penny to build new schools since 2005, even after having a significant number of new stu- dents in the school system. a t this point in time 7,300 students in the Surrey school district are now receiving education through portables — 7,300 students. a ll together, we have over 292 portables in the city of Surrey.

So if we are to build schools for those students, we need to build 12 new elementary schools to put these kids into the school system. h ow is that a good thing for families in Surrey, Madam Speaker? Surrey trustees have done a very good job keeping ad- ministrative costs low, and it's widely acknowledged that there is no fat left to cut in the next year's budget. but they are now in the difficult position of having to choose which program for what group of children to cut. it is not an easy job for them. The question we need to ask is: why is the provincial outlook so dismal in the Surrey school district?

There are some reasons for that. The first, Surrey has received no new capital funding, as i said earlier, for building new schools from the b.c. l iberals since 2005, despite experiencing continued growth in new students. Surrey is being forced to deal with its chronic overcrowding by adding more and more portables to the school system, and that costs almost $100,000 per year per portable. These funds come straight out of the school district's operating budget, money that should be earmarked for staffing and education programs.

The rest of the projected deficit is comprised of addi - tional costs to the hS t that will cost almost 3 million new dollars — $3 million to the Surrey school district. in addition to that, there's a cost for salary and fees the province has negotiated. Without sufficient funding, all programs in Surrey will suffer. c lass size will grow, regulation on class composition will be ignored, and programs for students with special needs may be elim - inated entirely. Meal programs at inner-city schools may also be eliminated. So the question we need to ask: how is that good for families in Surrey?

The last thing i want to talk about is the hS t . a s the people of british c olumbia know, the b.c. l iberals im- posed the h St on the people of b.c . before the election the b.c . l iberals made a very clear promise to the people of british c olumbia that they had no plans to impose the h St . but as soon as the election was over, they changed their minds. They changed their minds, and in fact they imposed the hS t just two months after the election. e ven after they gave a clear commitment inviting the c anadian r estaurant and f oodservices a ssociation,

british c olumbia Debates6518 t uesday, May 3, 2011 they also gave the commitment inviting the Greater Vancouver h ome builders a ssociation. but that was be- fore the election. a fter the election, things were different. They changed their minds and they imposed hS t on the people of b.c. [l. r eid in the chair.] So clearly, they were not telling the truth to the people of b.c. during the election, because they knew — they knew very clearly — that telling the truth meant losing the election at that time. n ow, we are talking about hS t in b.c.

The reality is that the hS t is hurting the people of british c olumbia. The hS t is hurting the small businesses and medium- sized businesses in b.c. as well, and there is no clear winner among the people of b.c. There is no clear winner among the people of b.c. The only one group of people who are going to win are the friends of the l iberal Party — big corporations — and no one else is a winner in this game. [1100] in fact, Madam Speaker, the hS t means it's a tax shift of $2 billion from rich corporations to the people of b.c. and small businesses of b.c.

That's a fact — $2 billion which was being paid before by the big corporations, by the wealthy people. n ow the people of b.c. are being forced to pay that. n ow the small businesses of b.c. are being forced to pay that money, and it's $2 billion. That's very clear, and that's why it's hurting the small business industry. it's hurting the restaurant industry. We know that. it's hurt- ing the taxi industry and the real estate industry, the veterinarians, the seniors as well the students and the family.

The list goes on. n ow we're up to that referendum, and we expect the government will provide the factual information to the people of british c olumbia so that they can make an in- formed decision when they go to cast their ballot for the referendum. Poverty is another issue. This is one of the richest prov- inces in the country — the province of british c olumbia.

We have the poorest child poverty rate in c anada — a shameful title that we have now held in each of the last seven years. f or the last seven years, we had the highest child poverty in the country, and that is shameful. f or al- most every group, b.c . poverty rates are higher than the national average, higher than every other province. n early one in every four kids in b.c. lives under poverty, and that's the effect. e very month over 24,000 children in b.c. use the food bank. What these num - bers tell us is that for a quarter of our kids, "family first" means nothing beyond a political slogan.

The number of estimated poor kids in b.c. is 121,000 children.

That is almost the same as the entire population of n anaimo, k elowna and Williams l ake combined. british c olumbia had the worst income gap between the rich and the poor among all the provinces because of the policies of the b.c. l iberals for the last ten years. i would like to remind the new Premier as well as the members sitting on the other side that seven prov - inces and two territories have poverty reduction plans in place already, and they have made a serious commit - ment to address the poverty issue, but b.c. l iberals have completely failed to make any commitment dealing with child poverty. b.c. has no poverty reduction plan and absolutely no specific commitment. a s a result, we are experiencing the highest child poverty in the country.

There's one thing i would like to ask for from the new Premier: to make a clear commitment to develop and implement a poverty reduction plan, to at least address child poverty in the province of british c olumbia. i would like to conclude my comments on the budget by saying that this budget does not address the needs of b.c. families. This budget does not address the needs of the people of Surrey-fleetwood, and therefore i oppose the budget when it comes to the vote. Hon. S.

Cadieux: a long with the members on this side of the h ouse, i would like to speak in support of budget 2011, but firstly, i would like to take a moment to congratulate both our new Premier and the new l eader of the o pposition for their respective elections. i thank them both for rising to the challenge in accepting the positions, and certainly we know that, for both, it takes a great deal of courage, commitment and sacrifice. a lso, before i speak to the budget, i'd like to reiter - ate what a pleasure it is to be back here and what an honour it is to serve and represent the people of Surrey- Panorama here in the l egislature. [1105] We live in such a wonderful country and in the best province in that country, and i think we should all feel fortunate to wake up here every day. it's a place in which we are free to express our views, to vote for our leaders in a truly democratic system and to strive to better our own circumstances and those of others in our communities. i'd like to thank my husband, Daniel, and my close family for their ongoing support and understanding of the demands of the jobs that we are elected to do and for my wonderful staff in my constituency, Sharon c rowson and Manjit Gill, who keep me informed of what's going on, keep things running smoothly when i can't be there and so compassionately assist with the folks who come to the office for assistance.

They do a tremendous job. a s well, we all know as elected members that it takes a team. i'd like to thank my riding association president, bill brooks, and members of the executive for their on - going support as well. i am remiss if i don't mention that i'm fortunate as well to live in a fantastic community in Surrey, one which

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6519 is growing faster than almost any other city in the coun- try. it's a community that's committed to supporting one another and exhibits that every day. i'd like to mention a few groups that are making a difference in my community. The Surrey–White r ock k idSport

chapter has just launched because participating in sports, especially for a child, helps cultivate life-long skills and valuable principles. in addition, it teaches working as a team. it teaches leadership, decision-making, critical thinking, hard work, dedication and self-confi - dence — all things which all of us strive to achieve. Malik Dillon is the chair of the Surrey–White r ock chapter, and he's joined by directors c liff a nnable and r ob Wesley.

They're looking for board members in the north part of Surrey and in the c loverdale areas, because all of Surrey is going to be included in this in - itiative. i just think that's fantastic and thank them for their commitment. u nfortunately, financial barriers do prevent some children from participating in sports, and k idSport does provide grants to help those kids participate in the sports that they wish to, so i think that's fantastic. n ot too long ago i attended the launch of ca Si, and that's the c ommunity a ction for Seniors independence. it's a pilot project in Surrey-n ewton, and they're pro - viding non-medical services to seniors who want to live independently in their homes and in their commun - ities.

They're doing it with a peer-based approach, and i enjoyed meeting the seniors who are taking part and who have helped shape the design of the project.

They are busy recruiting volunteers who speak a var - iety of languages to reach out to our immigrant seniors and let them know about what's available in the multi - cultural community in Surrey, and they're planning to introduce a skills bank that will enable seniors to volun- teer their services for other seniors in exchange for the services that they need. everybody wants to be as active in their communities as they can, and this gives everyone an opportunity to be active and help others at the same time. it's a great asset to our local community, and it's a project that our govern- ment has been able to support, and i think these projects are the sort of things that we can all be proud of.

People make our communities. They breathe life into the ideas. They make things happen, they build, and they give. it's important that, once in a while, we take time to recognize outstanding achievement. i always try to attend the local awards events in my riding and in Surrey, and there are always very accomplished, suc - cessful people being recognized. The winners often are talented business people.

They're recognized for the outstanding contributions they make in our community. o ur not-for-profit and voluntary sectors also have out - standing individuals that are recognized. i am pleased that at this time in the h ouse, i can recognize a few of the winners this year from the Surrey board of t rade Women in business a wards, because in this time of tough economic times around the world, i think we're especially fortunate to have so many caring individuals and community leaders who are stepping up to the challenge.

This year, in leadership, Jonquil h allgate from the Surrey u rban Mission was recognized, as well as beth barlow from Surrey libraries, and k arla Pearson, who is an accomplished businessperson in Surrey, also a member of a number of boards including the c entre for c hild Development.

She's been involved with the Surrey civic t reasures, the Stand u p for the a rts campaign, the cultural diversity awards, the children's festival, the food bank and the hospital. i think it's important that we recognize people like this who so selflessly give of their time. a lso this year, with the White r ock–South Surrey chamber business awards, they recognized Jackie Smith, the executive director of the Peace a rch h ospital and c ommunity h ealth f oundation, as the recipient for business person of the year. [1110] i think it's really fantastic that so many outstand - ing leaders in the not-for-profit community have been recognized for their contributions to our communities, because they are indeed invaluable.

Speaking of Peace a rch h ospital f oundation, with Jackie at the helm, it's no wonder that the foundation is able to excite and engage the community in support of health care projects. i recently attended the grand opening of the new maternity ward at Peace a rch.

That was just a fantastic example of the community coming together to support the priorities that they have. it's a $5.3 million major renovation and expansion that was funded by the c ommunity h ealth f oundation. it's heartwarming to see that kind of support in our communities, because we all care about these projects. i think when we all get involved, it makes them a lot less overwhelming. We have, as i mentioned, a number of truly exceptional people, but it doesn't stop.

They don't all support every cause, but so many support so many. it always takes one champion for each cause, and in Surrey-Panorama we have Debi r umley, who is co-chair of the Surrey–White r ock n ite of h ope gala benefiting breast cancer research. She's been doing this for a number of years now. This is just fantastic. it funds fellowship grants awarded to researchers in the field of oncology. With Debi at the helm, they've raised over $900,000 so far in our com - munity. i thank Debi for her contribution. She's not the only constituent of mine, though, rais - ing funds for fighting disease.

Parker was five when he was diagnosed with diabetes, and this year Parker, with the help of his parents, has set a goal to raise $5,000 for the teluS Walk to c ure event. i'm sure he'll well surpass his goal.

british c olumbia Debates6520 t uesday, May 3, 2011 it's not surprising there's so much energy around health care projects, but my constituency is blessed with a wealth of folks with other talents and passions.

Just last week i was able to attend e arthwise, which is a provin - cial art competition that was mounted to promote e arth Day values and raise awareness of environmental issues. it was sponsored by the Ministry of c ommunity, Sport and c ultural Development. it was the brainchild of an outstanding teacher, Marc Pelech, who is well known to many. h e's a teacher at Sullivan h eights Secondary and was a recent recipient of the b.c. c ommunity a chievement a wards. Marc has dedicated thousands of hours to civic policy and youth- focused arts programs in Surrey.

This was a truly neat program. it offered the oppor - tunity for students from around b.c. to demonstrate their ideas about the environment through art. Thomas n elles of Sullivan h eights Secondary won first place for his digital piece, Cultural Entropy, and it was amazing. in his own words: "The piece focuses on the year 2084. The e arth is now a bar - ren wasteland after apocalyptic nuclear war caused by man's fur- ther knowledge. a dam and eve are now the last few living crea- tures that are alive.

Whether this piece is seen as an eco-feminist analogy, a deconstruction of many iconic works or simply an alluring play on the effects of the human species, i invite viewers to think about what is coming from environmental degradation." h e goes on. but if you could see the piece, you would see a com - posite image made of 133 different layers of photographs. it's utterly amazing, and to think that such a young mind and such a young talent is able to put this great depth of thought into art gives me great hope for our future in terms of art and in terms of the thoughtfulness of our future leaders. h is use of words reminds me of another passion of mine, and that's literacy. i believe it's one of the most im- portant skills we can acquire as human beings. of course, it's not always attached just to reading and writing but to things like financial literacy or computer literacy — all things which benefit us in our lives. i wrote a blog on it not long ago and talked about the fact that words, in fact, are all around us and the im - portance of the ability of being able to read in accessing information that we need in our lives on a daily basis. [1115] l ibraries are certainly a tool that we can use to improve literacy. a lthough their form has changed dra - matically over time, certainly the use of our libraries has not. in 2009 there were a whopping 50 million visits to b.c. libraries. i'm a big supporter of our public libraries and was happy to be able to support some of their lit - eracy programs over the last years.

The 2011 provincial budget as laid out supports gov - ernment's commitment to fund vital public services and allow us to build for the future. it focuses spending on health care and social services — things we all care about in our own lives, things that we'll build on and complement with things we've been able to do despite the world's economic realities. it's always easy to get caught up in the hype and easy to focus on what we don't have or what needs improve - ment, but i think it's equally important to focus on what we can be proud of and thankful for. it's a lesson my father taught me at a few choice moments in my life growing up. it's a lesson that was validated for me and cemented in my mind during my trips to a frica and c entral a merica, so i'd like to take a few moments to celebrate a few things. i'd like to recognize that in Surrey we're recipients of some of the largest capital infrastructure spending in b.c.'s history and of service innovations that are build - ing for the future and for innovation and excellence. o ne of the constant challenges facing Surrey is how we're going to continue to provide health care for a rapidly expanding city. but we've accepted that chal - lenge.

We're celebrating the new t imber creek mental health facility; groundbreaking at the Surrey Memorial expansion; the Jim Pattison outpatient and surgery centre, opening this June. t ogether those things are adding three-quarters of a billion dollars to Surrey's health care system. That's something we can be proud of and happy about. Y ou've heard about families first and about how new projects will put family health care first. i think that's ex- citing. i think the fact that we've committed to everyone being able to have a family doctor by 2015 is exciting.

These are things that are going to improve families' ac - cess to the services that they require. There's something else we can be excited about. That's about 58 new classrooms in support of all-day kin - dergarten at six elementary schools in Surrey and in energy-efficient modular buildings, all in time for the 2011 school term. a t t .e. Scott e lementary in my rid - ing there's a $3.6 million investment in new classrooms and $2 million to seismically upgrade the school — ob - viously things that we want to see done but nonetheless things we can be excited about.

We are also seeing opportunities for advanced learning continue to grow around the province. Surrey is benefit- ing directly with the commitment to Surrey S fu's $10 million Podium 2 expansion, which will see new labs and classrooms, enhancing the capacity for learning, re- search and health promotion in high-tech programs. We're hearing a lot in the news about vulnerable people all of the time, about people who need help from the broader community. They may be people with dis - abilities. They may be seniors or refugees or the homeless.

This government has been helping. c onstruction is well underway for a new seniors facility called k insmen Place l odge. We've seen the opening of the first phase of the Maxxine Wright centre in Surrey, providing pregnant women and their children

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6521 a safe and supportive housing opportunity that includes prenatal and post-natal care. it's a great building with great people. if you're ever in the neighbourhood, i would recommend dropping off some donations of baby clothes, toys or diapers — lots and lots of diapers, be - cause they're always in need.

Surrey is also one of five communities that's receiv - ing homes that are being reconfigured into permanent affordable rental homes from the housing from the 2010 o lympic and Paralympic village. f reedom Place is providing new assisted-living units for young adults with physical disabilities.

We have a lder Gardens being built, in partnership with the YW ca, to cater to single mothers and their children in a supportive environ - ment to make sure that we can build their economic independence and prevent future homelessness or risk of homelessness. i think that people around the province do value the investments we're making. i think people do appreciate living in british c olumbia. e ven through these eco - nomic times, which have been tough, i think british c olumbians are betting on our future being bright. i don't prescribe to the glass-half-empty model. i prescribe to the glass-half-full. e ach month i am en - couraged to see houses being built and purchased in my riding, new families making Surrey-Panorama home. [1120] e ach month i see entrepreneurs opening their doors — new small businesses like that of Jay and a nne Son, owners of the new r eturn-it depot in my riding; or l imbers Dancewear, owned by brianne bland; or Sandy Johal's Panorama o ptometry; or the MVP Salon — n ick and Jodi Short opened up their business March 21. if there's a new office building that's filling up next to mine….

There are many new restaurants that have opened their doors to provide even more dining options for us in Surrey-Panorama. i'm sure that these business people know a good business climate doesn't happen by accident and that they appreciate this government's ongoing commit - ments to reducing the small business tax rate to zero by 2012, to doubling the small business tax threshold from $200,000 to $500,000, which we did, and those ongoing reductions to red tape and the streamlining of processes through things like bizPal, which help small business owners get their businesses running faster. i could go on about Surrey, because it's a fantastic place to live, but i recognize that the budget does matter for a great deal more than my community, so i'll switch gears for a moment to speak about my new responsibil - ities in the Ministry of l abour, citizens' Services and o pen Government.

The 2011 provincial budget, as laid out in f ebruary, supports government's commitment to fund vital pub - lic services and allows us to build for the future, as i said. it also provides opportunities for some flexibility for new priorities. one of those examples is in my min - istry, of course, and that is in volunteers and non-profit partnerships. i'm looking forward to working with the Parliamentary Secretary for n on-profit Partnerships on developing opportunities for non-profit organizations in the province. a s a busy volunteer myself, with a passion for what can and is and will be accomplished in and by the not-for-profit sector, this is an especially exciting oppor- tunity, and i'm tremendously proud to be the Minister of l abour, c itizens' Services and o pen Government.

The Premier set a clear mandate to communicate with british c olumbia in a more meaningful way, and i'm excited that works are already underway that allow us to do that. it's an exciting time for my ministry, and the budget supports three priorities that we're keenly focused on: families, jobs and open government. in a pril we an - nounced substantial changes to minimum wage, which did come into effect just two days ago.

Minimum wage increased to $8.75 per hour for most workers, and the training wage was repealed. r aising the minimum wage and eliminating the training wage — it's a fair and rea - sonable step forward in putting families first and in building the economy. We're committed to ensuring that it remains a fair rate for both businesses and employees. The wage will incrementally increase over the next 12 months to reach $10.25 an hour, and there'll be a review process in place to ensure that we are reviewing that on a regular basis.

Through WorkSafe and industry partners we're going to continue to cultivate a culture of safety that addresses workplace needs and encourages both employers and employees to engage and participate in these efforts.

We're going to continue to ensure that there's a balanced labour relations framework in the private and public sec- tors, providing a foundation for a stable labour relations environment so that businesses and workers prosper in british c olumbia. budget 2011 reaffirms government's commitment to funding vital public services and taking steps to protect the public services we deliver here in the Ministry of l abour, citizens' Services and o pen Government.

We want to make sure that people receiving services from government are doing that, and in the best way possible deliver it as efficiently and effectively as possible. My ministry acts as a conduit between government and the people of british c olumbia. We are respon - sible for service delivery, technology and access to information.

Shared Services b.c. is responsible for providing a wide range of cost-effective services and infrastructure to ministries and government organiza - tions. a s a reliable caretaker of provincial real estate, technology and purchasing services, we strive to pro - vide innovative, integrated and sustainable services at the lowest cost.

british c olumbia Debates6522 t uesday, May 3, 2011 a nother commitment that this budget continues to support is our commitment to expand connectivity in rural and remote communities in british c olumbia. internet access helps people access information and services where they live, regardless of the fact that they may live in rural and remote communities, and today 93 percent of british c olumbians have access to high- speed internet.

We'll continue to bridge the last mile in british c olumbia through the connecting citizens grant program launched in 2008. l ast year we committed $2.35 million to connect rural and remote communities to the internet, and we're cre- ating new opportunities for families by working with the private sector and other levels of government to ex - pand connectivity in communities and along provincial highways. [1125] We're focused on leveraging strategic telecommuni - cation solutions that can help the province realize its families-first vision, to capitalize on opportunities pre - sented by technology and to be a gateway to open government data, delivering quality services to citizens.

We look forward to working collaboratively with local community groups, all levels of government and the pri- vate sector, including small internet service providers, to achieve this goal. We recognize that the internet has changed the way people communicate, and by using new technology, we can better reach out to the public. This brings me to open government. The Premier has committed that this government will change the style and approach to governing. The open government plat- form is about a different way of doing government.

We want to hear directly from people, and we want british c olumbians to know that we're listening. We're taking their concerns and advice and acting on it.

We will pro - vide and enable citizens with opportunities to influence and improve policies that impact on them and on their quality of life. in order to do that, we'll be seeking to make government more open, outward-facing and ac - cessible to british c olumbians. i'm proud of this government's record of sound fiscal management and that we're building on that foundation. i look forward to the year ahead, to future opportunities and to the accomplishments we will achieve together. i am proud to invite all members of this h ouse to support the 2011 british c olumbia provincial budget. M.

Elmore: i rise today to speak against this budget. but before i focus on the negative impacts of this budget on the constituents of Vancouver- k ensington and the people of british c olumbia, i'd like to thank again my family and my partner a ngelina for their continued sup- port. i'd also like to acknowledge my hard-working staff in the riding, Maita Santiago, k elly r ead and Thomas l ou, and my legislative assistant here in Victoria, t eresa Scambler. i would also like to take this opportunity to recognize some of the highlights in my riding this past year. l ast May the neighbourhood where my community office is located, South h ill, celebrated its 100th anniversary. t o mark the event, local groups again organized their South h ill f estival, and my office was happy to act as their volunteer centre.

Through the South h ill business improvement association's arts committee, this past year also saw the unveiling of new street banners and a colourful new mural for the local South h ill public li- brary just down the street from my office, which i also used for my annual c hristmas card. a t the k ensington c ommunity c entre i would also like to recognize the staff and volunteers there for con - tinuing with their excellent programming and for again opening up their space for our mobile community office, our annual summer barbecue and numerous other com- munity events.

The riding that i am proud to represent is very diverse, and this was underlined in the different events held this past year. f or example, the Southeast Vancouver Seniors a rts c ouncil launched a new cookbook, The Mixing Bowl: Meals and Memories, a compilation of various re - cipes by seniors in the riding who come from all over the world. i was delighted to take

part in some of the events they had at the South Vancouver n eighbourhood h ouse leading up to the book's publication. The events were celebrations filled with music, dance and, of course, delicious food from the country being highlighted. in the summer the ever-growing filipino community made its presence felt with the first-ever filipino street parade and festival, entitled u nang h irit sa t ag-init.

The street parade featured colourful and dynamic floats by different groups, and they represented the different re - gions and cultures in the Philippines. f or lunar new year, i was also fortunate to be able to join constituents at events hosted by the local Victoria Drive business improvement a ssociation and commun- ity centres. i was also happy to have been able to host my second annual lunar new year potluck with local constituents. [1130] These celebrations, in addition to Diwali, the Polish h arvest f estival at the Polish c ommunity c entre and the Vaisakhi celebrations in the Sikh community, really contribute to our multicultural fabric.

Just last week i had the opportunity to attend now the seventh annual performance out of John o liver Secondary hosted by their multicultural club, an even - ing of performances and celebrations really celebrating the multicultural makeup of the school, John o liver, and also the community. So it's a great contribution towards Vancouver-kensington. but Madam Speaker, while our constituents delight in marking these celebrations, they're also vocal about issues impacting their lives. These are some of the issues

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6523 that have failed to be addressed and highlighted and pri- oritized in this budget. on the issue of child care, access to affordable, quality child care remains an important concern for the families in my riding. There's the story of a young family whose daughter won what the local paper called "a lottery," be- cause she received a spot in both the coveted Mandarin and f rench immersion programs being offered by the public school system. but because her mother couldn't line up before- and after-school care for either program, they had to give up both spots.

This is in addition to the stories and reports i've heard from stakeholders around the province in my capacity as deputy critic for child care. f or families, especially young ones, child care is a critical issue. it's often their single biggest expense after mortgages or housing costs, and yet this budget, again, makes no mention of the need for increased child care supports for families. There are more than 11,000 children on child care wait-lists in b.c. today. a s well, we have a growing number of women with infants and toddlers, nearly two- thirds, who are employed.

This is according to Statistics c anada figures from 2009. We've just seen a dramatic rise of women participating in the workforce. a ccording to the human early learning partnership at ubc , b.c . has enough licensed child care spaces for only 12 percent of the province's children. t oday only 71 percent of b.c . children arrive at kindergarten meeting all of the developmental benchmarks they need to achieve success, and 29 percent are develop - mentally vulnerable. a study commissioned by the business c ouncil of b.c. found that children who are not school-ready are less likely to be job-ready at grade 12.

This costs our econ - omy close to ten times the provincial debt, 12 times all that b.c. exported in 2008 and nearly 40 times what the high-tech sector contributed to our economy in 2008. it's a great oversight and, really, a missed opportun - ity in terms of not having a comprehensive child care system recognized, addressed, promoted and imple - mented here in b.c. a n a ngus r eid poll released by the Vancouver Sun in a ugust 2009 shows that only one out of ten british c olumbians with kids feels that they're able to afford daycare. in addition, low wages are leading to high staff turnover, and child care providers across b.c. cannot recruit and retain workers with wages run - ning as low as $9 an hour. a gain, the economic benefits of a child care system…. a ccording to the child care advocates of b.c., every dol - lar invested in child care programs increases our gross domestic product by $2.30. it's one of the strongest levels of short-term economic stimulus of all sectors. investing in child care also creates jobs. investing $1 million in the child care sector generates almost 40 jobs, which is 40 percent higher than the next closest industry and four times the jobs generated by investing in construction. in the short term 90 percent of the cost of hiring child care workers goes back to governments as increased revenue, and the benefits to our economy, our society — supporting parents and children — are just over - whelming, Madam Speaker. it's a missed opportunity for the budget to overlook that.

The missed opportunity of implementing a comprehensive child care program here in b.c. hurts both families and children. [1135] While we've seen the increase in subsidies, this bene - fits some parents, but again, it's not a comprehensive child care plan, and it does not address the issue of needing to increase availability of spaces. it also doesn't address the need to ensure that we have enough quali - fied early childhood educators. The total funding for child care is lower today. The provincial funding is lower today than it was in 2001. We haven't seen significant increases in this budget for child care.

This budget has failed to ensure that quality child care is affordable and also has failed to ensure that quality child care is accessible.

The refusal to invest in a comprehensive child care and early learning plan in this budget is, unfortunately, a wasted opportunity. a lso, in this budget we see decreases in funding to the Ministry of c hildren and f amily Development in import- ant areas of early intervention, intervention and support, and support to practice divisions in the ministry. it's troubling to listen to the Premier talking about putting families first while supporting this status quo budget that actually does little to improve conditions for children in poverty. b.c. continues to have the worst child poverty record of any province in the past consecu- tive seven years, from 2002 to 2008.

This indeed is a very negative mark on b.c., especially considering that with 121,000 poor children in the province, it's more than the total populations of c ampbell r iver, Squamish, Vernon and Mission combined. The hS t also continues to be a big issue in my rid - ing as well as for folks across the province. My staff and i often frequent local businesses and restaurants and cafes, and we used to visit very regularly a coffee shop just a few doors down from my office.

They had deli - cious muffins, and their coffee was always fresh. but since my office opened, that business has gone through two owners, and finally, a few months ago, the latest owner was forced to sell because business had really ground to a halt. Despite the long hours and hard work the family poured into the coffee shop, it wasn't enough for them to make a decent living. Small businesses throughout Vancouver-k ensington and across the province are just treading water in some cases, trying to keep their heads above water as they compete for the ever-shrinking dollars consumers have to spend.

With this $2 billion tax shift from corpora - tions to individuals, the hS t is like a hand pushing them deeper under the water.

british c olumbia Debates6524 t uesday, May 3, 2011 instead of helping small businesses thrive and survive, this government in this budget continues to try and falsely portray the hS t as something positive for the economy. Stories from across communities like mine expose this. c ertainly, the hS t has not been a benefit, as widely claimed.

With more than half of Vancouver-k ensington com- posed of immigrants, another critical issue for them is recognition of their foreign credentials. a s profession- als in their home countries, it is indeed a devastating financial and emotional blow for many when they face daunting barriers to their desire to also practise their professions in this province. a t my community office some of our volunteers are immigrants who were university professors, chartered accountants and nurses in their home countries, but because of their difficulty in having their credentials recognized, they're compelled to either start their edu - cation all over again or undertake other jobs, if they're fortunate to get one, unrelated to their education and experience. b.c. faces a shortage of skills in many sectors. a s such, allowing trained professionals to use their skills will only help our economy flourish.

The current foreign credentialing system needs to be streamlined so that we can create an environment that encourages these profes- sionals to maximize their skills for b.c.'s benefit. [1140] We haven't seen measures put forward in the budget to address this concern. c ertainly, whenever i go to com- munity events, it's something that's very striking to me and makes an impact not only in terms of the ability to contribute to our economy but also the personal impact for these individuals and their families, when they've been accustomed to practising in their professions and not having the ability to transfer their skills.

So certainly, it's an area, a priority area, that i think needs to be ad - dressed, which hasn't been addressed in the budget. The budget needs to reflect these concerns. [Mr. Speaker in the chair.] a s well, the issue of temporary foreign workers. This is another issue i'm hearing about more and more. it's re- garding the plight of temporary foreign workers, and especially as it relates to employment standards.

With f ilipinos comprising the greatest number of temporary foreign workers across c anada, after the a mericans, many have come to me in my office with their problems. b.c. is next to ontario as a top destination province for temporary foreign workers. in 2009 there were al - most 70,000 temporary foreign workers in our province. This is more than four times the number that were here in 2000. This exponential increase in the number of temporary foreign workers, however, has not been accompanied by actions needed to ensure that their human rights are protected.

There are no proactive mechanisms in place to ensure that the labour rights and contracts signed by the workers are actually being implemented. immediate and concrete steps that can be taken to protect and promote their rights and welfare include creating storefront resource centres for temporary for - eign workers, setting up a hotline that they can call to address their concerns and ensuring that legislation al - lows for them to form unions and organize collectively.

We haven't seen these issues, particularly focused on temporary foreign workers, addressed in the budget. u nless improvements are made to legislation regarding temporary foreign workers, many will continue to be ex- ploited and intimidated by threats of deportation if they dare register complaints. indeed, this was the situation with scores of workers i've met in the past year alone as i've travelled across british c olumbia. a fter complaining about not being paid the wages stipulated in their contracts or voicing concerns about substandard housing conditions, many workers were de- ported back to both the Philippines and Mexico.

While there are situations where some might protest when workers are made to live in substandard conditions and paid little wages — for example, filipino workers at Denny's filed a $10 million class action lawsuit over contract violations — many temporary foreign workers remain silent and are afraid to speak because of the faint hope that their employer might help them gain perma - nent resident status or because of the strong fear that they'll be deported. it's shocking that in this province we have a group of second-class workers who are vulnerable to a broad range of abuses.

While on paper it may be easy to say that they have the same rights as local workers, reality dictates that this is not the case. Mr.

Speaker, british c olumbia has now the third- highest number of immigrant landings. a ccording to a report card issued by Simon f raser u niversity, b.c . also received the lowest mark in terms of effectiveness of immigration services. c ertainly the area of provid - ing services to new immigrants is a growing area, i think — an area of high concern and also of a shortfall in the budget. in terms of priorities, on the issues of child care, the hS t , foreign credentials and labour rights for tempor - ary foreign workers…. This budget does not address these important issues.

The silence on these concerns is deafening. Most certainly, it means that this govern - ment is not serving or addressing the needs of families, immigrants, workers and consumers across Vancouver- k ensington and throughout british c olumbia. o ver the past decade this government has shown re - peatedly that it's out of touch with what matters most to british c olumbians. finding $6 million to bail out former political aides while cutting the court prosecu -

british c olumbia Debatest uesday, May 3, 2011 6525 tion budget by the same amount and court services by $9 million, including immigration and refugee legal aid services, is a slap in the face to constituents who already can't get the legal services they need. c utting student aid by $34 million and failing to invest in colleges and training slams the door against students trying to get an education so that they can contribute more to our society. [1145] While the Premier talks about family-first messaging, we haven't heard child care mentioned. being silent on these calls for child care spaces and programs that sup - port early learning and care certainly can't be excused.

The abolishment of the hS t , the streamlining of the recognition of foreign credentials and greater protection for temporary foreign workers simply isolate this gov - ernment further and further from my constituents and folks across british c olumbia. by supporting this budget, the Premier and her government turn their backs again on our province's most marginalized and vulnerable. f or these reasons, i repeat…. i rise today to protest this budget and to state that, along with my colleagues in the opposition, i commit to offering my constituents and british c olumbians real change that they can trust will represent their interests and their realities.

Mr. Speaker: Seeing no further speakers, the Minister of finance closes debate. Hon. K.

Falcon: i want to thank all of my colleagues in the h ouse for their comments on the budget. i'll offer a few comments of my own before i close off debate. l et me state to start off that there's just no question that we remain in uncertain times in british c olumbia. c ertainly, internationally the months and years ahead are going to be a challenge economically, and it is im - portant that we have a government and a fiscal plan that reflects the fact that there is a great deal of potential un - certainty that could impact future budgets. o ur budget 2011 reflects the most prudent course pos- sible. it lays a strong foundation for the decade ahead, and it confirms our government's commitment to increased investment in health care and education and responsible fiscal management. british c olumbians deserve credit for the assistance and the leadership they have shown, the in- novation they have shown, that has helped to see british c olumbia move forward in a way that leaves many other jurisdictions envious, to say the least. i listened carefully to the speeches from the mem - bers of the opposition, tried to sort of gather a common thread there. n ot surprisingly, what we heard was some of the usual nDP attacks on budget 2011, and it really reflected the same old nDP . i was hoping that with a new l eader of the o pposition we might start to see a bit of a new idea, perhaps some new direction, perhaps some new leadership in terms of moving away from some of the failed policies of the past. instead, what we've seen is a look backwards, directly backwards.

We've got a new l eader of the o pposition. i congratu- lated him for taking over last week — as you know, Mr.

Speaker — but it is worth reflecting that he was the archi- tect of the government that saw british c olumbia in the 1990s become a have-not province for the first time in our proud history, where we were forced to embarrass - ingly receive transfer payments from other provinces, just like many of the a tlantic provinces, because our economy was doing so poorly. t o see that the opposition is still stuck on promoting and encouraging discredited economic policies is surely a disappointment. interestingly, around the world left-wing and labour governments have embraced change. a lmost every - where around the world they've recognized that a competitive tax and regulatory regime is the underpin - ning of ensuring that you're going to have an economy that grows. instead, what we have is a new l eader of th

Document details

Collection	British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	H0503am-11
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	H0503am 11
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	968e649417867ee103f2fe221375e1fad8e1ea25

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