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British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)

4th Session, 37th Parliament OFFICIAL REPORT OF DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (HANSARD) Monday, October 6, 2003 Afternoon Sitting Volume 16, Number 9 THE HONOURABLE CLAUDE RICHMOND, SPEAKER ISSN 0709-1281

PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Entered Confederation July 20, 1871) LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR Honourable Iona Campagnolo 4TH SESSION, 37TH PARLIAMENT SPEAKER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Honourable Claude Richmond EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Premier and President of the Executive Council ............................................................................................................Hon. Gordon Campbell Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations ..................................................................................................... Hon.

Greg Halsey-Brandt Deputy Premier and Minister of Education............................................................................................................................. Hon. Christy Clark Minister of Advanced Education................................................................................................................................................ Hon. Shirley Bond Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries..................................................................................................................... Hon.

John van Dongen Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations..................................................................................... Hon. Geoff Plant Minister of Children and Family Development ..................................................................................................................... Hon. Gordon Hogg Minister of State for Early Childhood Development...................................................................................................................Hon.

Linda Reid Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services ..............................................................................................Hon. George Abbott Minister of State for Community Charter ..............................................................................................................................Hon. Ted Nebbeling Minister of State for Women's Equality..................................................................................................................................Hon.

Lynn Stephens Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise ..................................................................................................................... Hon. Rick Thorpe Minister of State for Deregulation ..............................................................................................................................................Hon. Kevin Falcon Minister of Energy and Mines...............................................................................................................................................Hon.

Richard Neufeld Minister of Finance.........................................................................................................................................................................Hon. Gary Collins Minister of Forests................................................................................................................................................................... Hon. Michael de Jong Minister of Health Planning .....................................................................................................................................................Hon.

Sindi Hawkins Minister of Health Services.........................................................................................................................................................Hon. Colin Hansen Minister of State for Mental Health................................................................................................................................... Hon. Gulzar S. Cheema Minister of State for Intermediate, Long Term and Home Care ............................................................................... Hon.

Katherine Whittred Minister of Human Resources.................................................................................................................................................... Hon. Murray Coell Minister of Management Services ............................................................................................................................................ Hon. Sandy Santori Minister of Provincial Revenue..................................................................................................................................................... Hon.

Bill Barisoff Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General...................................................................................................................... Hon. Rich Coleman Minister of Skills Development and Labour......................................................................................................................Hon. Graham P. Bruce Minister of Sustainable Resource Management ..........................................................................................................................Hon.

Stan Hagen Minister of Transportation..............................................................................................................................................................Hon. Judith Reid Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection ............................................................................................................................ Hon.

Joyce Murray LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Deputy Speaker ....................................................................................................................................................................................John Weisbeck Leader of the Opposition .......................................................................................................................................................................Joy MacPhail Deputy Chair, Committee of the Whole..............................................................................................................................................

Harold Long Clerk of the Legislative Assembly ........................................................................................................................................... E. George MacMinn Clerk Assistant.........................................................................................................................................................................................Robert Vaive Clerk Assistant and Law Clerk ...............................................................................................................................................................Ian D.

Izard Clerk Assistant and Clerk of Committees ....................................................................................................................................... Craig H. James Clerk Assistant/Committee Clerk.................................................................................................................................................Kate Ryan-Lloyd Sergeant-at-Arms............................................................................................................................................................................. A.A.

Humphreys Director, Hansard Services ..................................................................................................................................................Anthony Dambrauskas Legislative Librarian ............................................................................................................................................................................ Joan A.

Barton Legislative Comptroller...............................................................................................................................................................................Peter Bray Published by British Columbia Hans ard Services, and printed under the authority of the Speaker by the Queen's Printer, Victoria. Rates: single issue, $2.85; per calendar year, mailed daily, $298. GST extra. Agent: Crown Publications Inc., 521 Fort St., Victoria, B.C. V8W 1E7. Telephone: (250) 386-4636.

Fax: 386-0221. www.leg.bc.ca Hansard Services publishes transcripts both in print and on the Internet. Chamber debates are broadcast on television and webcast on the Internet.

Party Standings: Liberal 75; New Democratic 2; Independent Liberal 2. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMBERS Abbott, Hon. George (L) ..........................................................................Shuswap Anderson, Val J. (L)............................................................... Vancouver-Langara Barisoff, Hon.

Bill (L)...............................................Penticton–Okanagan Valley Bell, Pat (L) ...........................................................................Prince George North Belsey, Bill (L)....................................................................................North Coast Bennett, Bill (L) ..............................................................................East Kootenay Bhullar, Tony (Ind. L) ...................................................................

Surrey-Newton Bloy, Harry (L).....................................................................................Burquitlam Bond, Hon. Shirley (L).......................................... Prince George–Mount Robson Bray, Jeff (L) ........................................................................Victoria–Beacon Hill Brenzinger, Elayne (L)..................................................................Surrey-Whalley Brice, Susan (L)............................................................................... Saanich South Bruce, Hon. Graham P. (L) .................................................

Cowichan-Ladysmith Campbell, Hon. Gordon (L) .............................................. Vancouver–Point Grey Cheema, Hon. Gulzar S. (L)............................................Surrey–Panorama Ridge Chong, Ida (L) .................................................................. Oak Bay–Gordon Head Christensen, Tom (L) ............................................................... Okanagan-Vernon Chutter, Dave (L) ..............................................................................Yale-Lillooet Clark, Hon.

Christy (L) ....................................................Port Moody–Westwood Cobb, Walt (L) ................................................................................Cariboo South Coell, Hon. Murray (L) ..........................................Saanich North and the Islands Coleman, Hon. Rich (L)................................................Fort Langley–Aldergrove Collins, Hon. Gary (L) ..........................................................Vancouver-Fairview de Jong, Hon. Michael (L) ........................................Abbotsford–Mount Lehman Falcon, Hon.

Kevin (L) ............................................................ Surrey-Cloverdale Hagen, Hon. Stan (L) ......................................................................Comox Valley Halsey-Brandt, Hon. Greg (L)....................................................Richmond Centre Hamilton, Arnie (L)..............................................................Esquimalt-Metchosin Hansen, Hon.

Colin (L) .......................................................Vancouver-Quilchena Harris, Roger (L) .........................................................................................Skeena Hawes, Randy (L)............................................................... Maple Ridge–Mission Hawkins, Hon. Sindi (L) ........................................................... Kelowna-Mission Hayer, Dave S. (L) ..................................................................... Surrey-Tynehead Hogg, Hon. Gordon (L)..........................................................

Surrey–White Rock Hunter, Mike (L) ..................................................................................... Nanaimo Jarvis, Daniel (L)........................................................North Vancouver–Seymour Johnston, Ken (L).............................................................. Vancouver-Fraserview Kerr, Brian J. (L) ................................................................ Malahat–Juan de Fuca Krueger, Kevin (L)................................................... Kamloops–North Thompson Kwan, Jenny Wai Ching (NDP)................................

Vancouver–Mount Pleasant Lee, Richard T. (L).........................................................................Burnaby North Lekstrom, Blair (L)................................................................... Peace River South Les, John (L)............................................................................. Chilliwack-Sumas Locke, Brenda (L) ............................................................. Surrey–Green Timbers Long, Harold (L) .................................................... Powell River–Sunshine Coast MacKay, Dennis (L).........................................................

Bulkley Valley–Stikine McMahon, Wendy (L).............................................. Columbia River–Revelstoke MacPhail, Joy (NDP) ............................................................ Vancouver-Hastings Manhas, Karn (L) ..............................................Port Coquitlam–Burke Mountain Masi, Reni (L) ..................................................................................... Delta North Mayencourt, Lorne (L)............................................................Vancouver-Burrard Murray, Hon. Joyce (L).............................................................

New Westminster Nebbeling, Hon. Ted (L) ............................................ West Vancouver–Garibaldi Nettleton, Paul (Ind. L) ...................................................Prince George–Omineca Neufeld, Hon. Richard (L) .......................................................

Peace River North Nijjar, Rob (L).....................................................................Vancouver-Kingsway Nuraney, John (L)..................................................................Burnaby-Willingdon Orr, Sheila (L) .............................................................................Victoria-Hillside Penner, Barry (L)......................................................................... Chilliwack-Kent Plant, Hon. Geoff (L) ........................................................... Richmond-Steveston Reid, Hon.

Judith (L).............................................................. Nanaimo-Parksville Reid, Hon. Linda (L) ..................................................................... Richmond East Richmond, Hon. Claude (L)...................................................................Kamloops Roddick, Valerie (L)............................................................................ Delta South Sahota, Patty (L).......................................................................Burnaby-Edmonds Santori, Hon. Sandy (L) .............................................. West Kootenay–Boundary Stephens, Hon.

Lynn (L) ........................................................................... Langley Stewart, Ken (L)........................................................ Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows Stewart, Richard (L)........................................................Coquitlam-Maillardville Suffredine, Blair F. (L)..................................................................Nelson-Creston Sultan, Ralph (L) .........................................................West Vancouver–Capilano Thorpe, Hon.

Rick (L)............................................................Okanagan-Westside Trumper, Gillian (L)..................................................................Alberni-Qualicum van Dongen, Hon. John (L)..................................................Abbotsford-Clayburn Visser, Rod (L)...................................................................................North Island Weisbeck, John (L).......................................................... Kelowna–Lake Country Whittred, Hon. Katherine (L)....................................

North Vancouver–Lonsdale Wilson, John (L)..............................................................................Cariboo North Wong, Patrick (L)..............................................................Vancouver-Kensington LIST OF MEMBERS BY RIDING Abbotsford-Clayburn ........................................................ Hon. John van Dongen Abbotsford–Mount Lehman................................................Hon. Michael de Jong Alberni-Qualicum ........................................................................

Gillian Trumper Bulkley Valley–Stikine ................................................................ Dennis MacKay Burnaby North................................................................................ Richard T. Lee Burnaby-Edmonds.............................................................................. Patty Sahota Burnaby-Willingdon ........................................................................John Nuraney Burquitlam............................................................................................

Harry Bloy Cariboo North..................................................................................... John Wilson Cariboo South........................................................................................Walt Cobb Chilliwack-Kent ................................................................................

Barry Penner Chilliwack-Sumas ....................................................................................John Les Columbia River–Revelstoke .....................................................Wendy McMahon Comox Valley .............................................................................Hon. Stan Hagen Coquitlam-Maillardville............................................................... Richard Stewart Cowichan-Ladysmith .........................................................Hon. Graham P.

Bruce Delta North.............................................................................................Reni Masi Delta South...................................................................................Valerie Roddick East Kootenay .....................................................................................Bill Bennett Esquimalt-Metchosin .................................................................... Arnie Hamilton Fort Langley–Aldergrove....................................................... Hon.

Rich Coleman Kamloops ......................................................................... Hon. Claude Richmond Kamloops–North Thompson.......................................................... Kevin Krueger Kelowna–Lake Country .................................................................John Weisbeck Kelowna-Mission ...................................................................Hon. Sindi Hawkins Langley.................................................................................. Hon. Lynn Stephens Malahat–Juan de Fuca.......................................................................

Brian J. Kerr Maple Ridge–Mission ......................................................................Randy Hawes Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows............................................................... Ken Stewart Nanaimo .............................................................................................Mike Hunter Nanaimo-Parksville.....................................................................Hon. Judith Reid Nelson-Creston......................................................................... Blair F.

Suffredine New Westminster .................................................................... Hon. Joyce Murray North Coast .......................................................................................... Bill Belsey North Island.......................................................................................... Rod Visser North Vancouver–Lonsdale ........................................... Hon. Katherine Whittred North Vancouver–Seymour ..............................................................

Daniel Jarvis Oak Bay–Gordon Head......................................................................... Ida Chong Okanagan-Vernon .......................................................................Tom Christensen Okanagan-Westside................................................................... Hon. Rick Thorpe Peace River North ...............................................................Hon. Richard Neufeld Peace River South ..........................................................................Blair Lekstrom Penticton–Okanagan Valley...................................................... Hon.

Bill Barisoff Port Coquitlam–Burke Mountain......................................................Karn Manhas Port Moody–Westwood ...........................................................Hon. Christy Clark Powell River–Sunshine Coast............................................................Harold Long Prince George North ................................................................................. Pat Bell Prince George–Mount Robson................................................. Hon. Shirley Bond Prince George–Omineca .................................................................

Paul Nettleton Richmond Centre ..........................................................Hon. Greg Halsey-Brandt Richmond East ............................................................................ Hon. Linda Reid Richmond-Steveston ...................................................................Hon. Geoff Plant Saanich North and the Islands..................................................Hon. Murray Coell Saanich South...................................................................................... Susan Brice Shuswap ................................................................................

Hon. George Abbott Skeena ............................................................................................... Roger Harris Surrey-Cloverdale ....................................................................Hon. Kevin Falcon Surrey–Green Timbers.....................................................................Brenda Locke Surrey-Newton ..................................................................................Tony Bhullar Surrey–Panorama Ridge................................................... Hon. Gulzar S.

Cheema Surrey-Tynehead .............................................................................Dave S. Hayer Surrey-Whalley ........................................................................ Elayne Brenzinger Surrey–White Rock................................................................. Hon. Gordon Hogg Vancouver-Burrard .................................................................. Lorne Mayencourt Vancouver-Fairview..................................................................Hon. Gary Collins Vancouver-Fraserview .....................................................................

Ken Johnston Vancouver-Hastings......................................................................... Joy MacPhail Vancouver-Kensington .................................................................... Patrick Wong Vancouver-Kingsway............................................................................ Rob Nijjar Vancouver-Langara...................................................................... Val J. Anderson Vancouver–Mount Pleasant .............................................Jenny Wai Ching Kwan Vancouver–Point Grey..................................................... Hon.

Gordon Campbell Vancouver-Quilchena ............................................................. Hon. Colin Hansen Victoria–Beacon Hill ...............................................................................Jeff Bray Victoria-Hillside.....................................................................................Sheila Orr West Kootenay–Boundary ......................................................Hon. Sandy Santori West Vancouver–Capilano ............................................................... Ralph Sultan West Vancouver–Garibaldi................................................... Hon.

Ted Nebbeling Yale-Lillooet .....................................................................................Dave Chutter

CONTENTS Monday, October 6, 2003 Afternoon Sitting Routine Proceedings Page Introductions by Members ....................................................................................................... ............................................. 7153 Tabling Documents.............................................................................................................. .................................................... 7154 Office of the Conflict-of-Interest Commissioner, annual report, 2001 Office of the Auditor General, 2003-04, follow-up of performance reports, report No. 2 Office of the Auditor General, annual audit, year ended March 31, 2003 Office of the Auditor General, annual report, 2002-03 Office of the Ombudsman, annual report, 2002 Statements (Standing Order 25B) .............................................................................................................................. ............. 7154 Mental illness I.

Chong Alzheimer's disease T. Christensen Response to B.C. forest fires J. Les Oral Questions................................................................................................................. ......................................................... 7155 Spending on government communications J. Kwan Hon. G. Campbell Work of lobbyist on government energy plan J. Kwan Hon. R. Neufeld J. MacPhail Surgical services at Port Alberni hospital G. Trumper Hon. C. Hansen B.C. Rail partnerships and protection for employees P. Nettleton Hon. J. Reid Potential closing of Port Alberni hospital J. Kwan Hon. C.

Hansen Motions without Notice ......................................................................................................... ................................................. 7158 Response to B.C. forest fires Hon. G. Campbell Petitions...................................................................................................................... ............................................................... 7159 J.

Kwan Motions without Notice ......................................................................................................... ................................................. 7159 Response to B.C. forest fires (continued) K. Krueger Hon. M. de Jong Hon. G. Abbott Hon. B. Barisoff L. Mayencourt R. Lee B. Suffredine Hon. L. Stephens R. Hawes

D. MacKay Hon. S. Bond J. Bray Hon. R. Coleman K. Stewart J. MacPhail J. Kwan I. Chong G. Trumper Hon. S. Hawkins Hon. J. Murray P. Bell D. Hayer R. Stewart V. Anderson Committee of the Whole House................................................................................................... .......................................... 7184 Business Number Act (Bill 36) Hon. K. Falcon S.

Brice Reporting of Bills ............................................................................................................. ........................................................ 7185 Business Number Act (Bill 36) Third Reading of Bills......................................................................................................... ..................................................... 7185 Business Number Act (Bill 36) Second Reading of Bills........................................................................................................ ................................................... 7186 Health Professions Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 62) Hon.

S. Hawkins J. MacPhail L. Mayencourt S. Brice J. Bray Provincial Revenue Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2003 (Bill 42) Hon. B. Barisoff Skills Development and Labour Statutes Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 37) Hon. G. Bruce J. Kwan Pension Statutes Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 49) Hon. S.

Santori Committee of the Whole House................................................................................................... .......................................... 7199 Personal Information Protection Act (Bill 38) Report and Third Reading of Bills .............................................................................................. ........................................... 7199 Personal Information Protection Act (Bill 38)

7153 MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 The House met at 2:04 p.m. Introductions by Members Hon. G. Halsey-Brandt: Today in the members' gallery, I'd like to acknowledge a special visitor from Spain. Please join me in welcoming His Excellency José Ignacio Carbajal, the newly appointed Ambassador of Spain to Canada. This is the ambassador's first official visit to British Columbia, and I am pleased he has trav- elled to British Columbia to discover the many oppor- tunities our beautiful prov ince presents. He's accom- panied by his wife, Ms. Elisa Iranzo de Carbajal. Would the House please make them welcome. [1405] Hon. G.

Campbell: Today I have the honour of introducing the new director of the Hong Kong Eco- nomic and Trade Office in Canada, Mr. Bassanio So. Joining the Hong Kong government in 1991 from the private sector, Mr. So has served in various policy ar- eas and was most recently the principal assistant secre- tary for constitutional affairs of Hong Kong until he was appointed director of the Toronto head office. Mr. So is joined in the gallery by Mr. Kenneth Cheng, dep- uty director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and Ms. Catherine Yu en, principal consultant from the Vancouver office. I'm pleased Mr.

So and his party have had the opportunity to meet with members of the government this morning, and I hope the House will make them welcome. J. Kwan: There is a delegation of people from the west coast here today, who brought forward a petition lobbying for government to save the West Coast Gen- eral Hospital. The individual s are Jack McLeman, Hira Chopra, Nancy Czigany, Janet Pombert, Nelia Krikke, Harry Dhillon, Dorothy Aston, Carol Reynolds, Angie Brick and Alf Brick. Would the House please make them welcome. Hon. G.

Campbell: Currently, the United States of America is hosting the 2003 women's soccer World Cup. I think it's important that we take this opportu- nity to recognize the exceptional efforts of the Cana- dian women's soccer team. Eight of those players are from British Columbia. Christine Sinclair, Andrea Neil, Brittany Timko, Kara Lang , Silvana Butini, Katrina LeBlanc, Sharolta Nonen and Clare Rustad are all play- ers on the team.

The physio therapist, Paolo Borignon; the goaltender coach, Shel Brodsgaard; the assistant coach, Ian Bridge; and the equipment manager, Jamie Sales, all come from the province of British Columbia. Prior to this event Canada's women's soccer team had not won a single World Cup match. This year they won against Argentina, Japan and China. That took them to the semifinals last night. They were valiant, but unfortunately last night Sweden prevailed.

I can tell you, all of us in British Columbia will be watching them on Saturday, October 11, in Carson, California, as they take on the United St ates team for the bronze medal. They've made British Columbia proud, they've made Canada proud, and I hope the House will send them their best wishes. I. Chong: Joining us in the gallery today are five very special friends and constituents. Earlier we en- joyed meeting with you, Mr. Speaker, and now they are here to observe the proceedings of this afternoon: firstly, Mr.

Richard Burke from Berkshire Investments, who is joined by Michael O'Connor, a well-known leader in the community as well as being chair of the Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation. Joining them are three brothers who this past summer put on a celebrity gala weekend event that raised awareness for mental illness. They are Geoff, Russ and Bruce Courtnall. Would the House please make them all very welcome. Hon. B. Barisoff: Today I'd like to introduce Glen Ringdal, who's the CEO and president of BCADA New Car Dealers of B.C. Also, I'd like to introduce two con- stituents of mine, Dr.

Fred Hamilton and his wife Julie — who actually bought a dinner with me in the dining room earlier today — and their friends from Victoria, Hugh Davidson and his friend Aubrey Little. Would the House please make them welcome. Hon. L. Reid: We all have family and friends who make this job not just possible but enjoyable. In the gallery today — and I'd ask the House to please join me — is my three-and-a-half-year-old little girl, Olivia. She's accompa- nied by her grandmother, my mom, Catherine Reid. I'd ask the House to please make them welcome. B.

Lekstrom: It's certainly my privilege to be back in the House and have the opportunity on the first day to introduce three people who work very hard on be- half of the people of Peace River South in the north- eastern part of our province. Joining us in the Legisla- ture today are Mayor Evan Saugstad, district of Chet- wynd; Mayor Wayne Dahlen, mayor of the city of Dawson Creek; and the director for area E in the Peace River regional district, Mr. Tim Caton. Will the House please join me in offering them a warm welcome. [1410] Hon. R.

Neufeld: It's my pleasure today to introduce a f e w f o l k s f r o m w h a t w e c a l l n o r t h o f t h e r i v e r : d i r e c t o r Karen Goodings, chair of the Peace River regional district; Mayor Steve Thorlakson, city of Fort St. John; and Lenore Harwood, mayor of the district of Hudson's Hope. R. Lee: I am pleased to introduce Benny Cheung and Cindy Pau from Fairchild Media Group Ltd. They are here today for the reconvening of the House and to cover the visit of Mr. Bassanio. Would the House please make them welcome. I. Chong: I have another set of introductions today.

Visiting us today is a clas s of grade 11 students from Mount Douglas Senior Secondary, my former high

7154 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 school. There are 50 students . They are accompanied by their teachers Mr. Ponchet and Ms. Jones as well as an adult leader, Ms. Windjack. They've had a tour of the buildings and are now here to observe question period. So I hope the House will make please make them all very welcome. P. Wong: I would like to introduce Mr. Andy Gregor, who has contributed the last 15 years in the B.C. film industry as a speech trainer. Would the House please make him welcome. Tabling Documents Mr.

Speaker: Hon. members, I have the honour to present the following documents: office of the conflict- of-interest commissioner annual report 2001; office of the auditor general, 2003-04, report No. 2, follow-up of performance reports; annual audit, office of the auditor general, year ended March 31, 2003; office of the audi- tor general annual report 2002-03; office of the om- budsman annual report 2002. Statements (Standing Order 25

B) MENTAL ILLNESS I. Chong: This past July, a very special fundraising event took place here in Victoria — the inaugural Courtnall Celebrity Classic. It was an extraordinary weekend where $800,000 was raised in aid of the Greater Victoria Hospital Foundation toward a facility to combat mental illness. This fundraiser featured a gala dinner and a highly successful auction followed by a celebrity golf tourna- ment the next day at the Victoria Golf Club. The event was particularly poignant as it focused on the personal lives of three brothers who knew all too well the effects of mental illness.

The Courtnall brothers — Geoff, Russ and Bruce — along with their sister, Cheryl, and their mother, Kathy, shared their story with us. We were all moved as they spoke about how having to deal with mental illness changed and shaped th eir lives, their futures. I commend the Courtnalls for their courage to speak out and for raising awareness of mental illness not only locally but provincially and internationally. One out of five people in British Columbia will be affected by mental illness during their lifetime. No one is immune.

Mental illness can affect your family, your father, your mother, your spouse, your child, your friend, your co-worker or even yourself. Mental illness does not discriminate, and it affects all ages, genders, socioeconomic classes and ethnic backgrounds. Sadly, people with mental illness and their families still en- counter discrimination and stigma. This week is mental illness awareness week, and the goal is to provide edu- cation and information to raise awareness about mental health issues.

The more we know about mental illness, the better able we will be to seek help and speak openly, the better able we will be to offer support to individuals who should be supported and the better able we will be to ask for support and respect, because it's deserved. With the help of people like the Courtnalls, who are in the gallery today, awareness of mental illness is in- creasing and will continue. I hope all members in this House and individuals in the gallery will do their part not only during mental illness awareness week but every day. ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE T.

Christensen: Last nig ht, as m ost of u s were sit- ting down to dinner, a team of British Columbians on the other side of the world slowly walked towards the 19,340-foot-high Ohuru Peak, joining the ranks of other British Columbians, like the Premier and his family, who have ascended Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia.

Over the last six months members of the 2003 Ascent for Alz- heimer's team have been training physically and men- tally, speaking to community groups and raising funds to help increase awareness and to support research to overcome Alzheimer's disease. [1415] This year approximately 16,000 British Columbians will be diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease, joining over 50,000 other people in our province who face the daily challenges of living with Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia, a set of symptoms that includes loss of memory, ju dgment and reasoning, as w e l l a s c h a n g e s i n b o t h m o o d a n d b e h a v i o u r . I t a f f e c t s all aspects of a person's life — how he or she thinks, feels and acts. It taunts its victims and their families as it slowly steals the memories and personalities of its vic- tims and impacts their relationships with all who know and love them. One in four of us has someone in the family who suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

The Ascent for Alzheimer's symbolizes the moun- tainous struggle facing the victims of Alzheimer's and their caregivers. There is no known cause or cure for Alzheimer's, and although it is often considered a sen- iors' disease, the beginnings of the disease can now be detected in people in their thirties and forties. The 2003 Ascent for Alzheimer's team includes Elaine Wright and her 16-year-old son Cameron. Elaine was diag- nosed with Alzheimer's at age 47.

The other members are Lorraine Barker, Jim Hogg an, Judy Huska, Roslyn Kunin, Joanie McEwen, Enid Marion, Claude Rinfret and Kate Sladen, who I'm pa rticularly proud of be- cause she's my mom. Would the House please join me in congratulating all of these outstanding British Columbians on a job well done. RESPONSE TO B.C. FOREST FIRES J. Les: I rise today to pay tribute to the people of British Columbia and their great display of courage under fire.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7155 This summer the forest fires that consumed large areas of the province threatened the lives and homes of many British Columbians. A few lost their lives, and some lost their homes. We owe thanks to the heroic efforts of the firefighters and military personnel who saved so many lives and homes. Were it not for those who risked their personal sa fety and stood shoulder to shoulder against the ever-g rowing flames, the devasta- tion would have been even more tragic than it was.

I know I speak for many of my government caucus colleagues when I express my admiration for the peo- ple affected by the fires. Their unwillingness to give up should serve as an example to us all. Faced with devas- tating losses, families still came together and celebrated the fact that they had not be en physically hurt by the fires. As many said, a house can be rebuilt but a life cannot. The plight of these British Columbians did not go unnoticed. The Premier, with the support of his caucus members, made sure that all of B.C. was ready to meet the challenge.

He responded quickly and effectively by declaring a provincial state of emergency, ensuring that all available firefighting and military forces would be ready and engaged to stop the fires' spread. This timely response protected the safety of all who were threat- ened by the flames and was part of the provincewide effort to protect all the property that was possible to protect. The significance of this natural disaster was lost on no one, even those living in areas of the province far from the flames. Every single one of my colleagues was touched by this summer's events, as were their con- stituents.

The generosity displayed all across this great province in fundraising efforts has shown that British Columbians stand ready to help their fellow citizens and that they are prepared to work together in the re- building process. We owe ou r thanks to every person who contributed their time, energy or money to fight- ing the fires. I am honoured to speak on behalf of my colleagues today to thank the people of the fire-ravaged commu- nities for their great display of courage and resilience. May they serve as an example to us all. Mr. Speaker: That concludes members' statements.

Oral Questions SPENDING ON GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS J. Kwan: The Premier knows we ll the good people at National Public Relations. Perhaps he even recalls Randy Wood's kind words in his defence last January — speaking as a crisis management expert, of course. The Premier's office paid National Public Relations a total of $37,000 in taxpayers' money last year alone. Given that this Premier has the largest political com- munications staff in B.C. history working for him al- ready, what possible extra value could National Public Relations provide that was worth $37,000? [1420] Hon. G.

Campbell: I'd have to get the information on the specific contractual arrangements for the mem- ber, but let me just remind the member that, in fact, this government is spending substantially less than the government that she was part of spent on communica- tions. It is important, unquestionably, that we do communicate with the people of British Columbia, and we are doing that. But today, Mr. Speaker, as you will know from the budget documents — and the member opposite should as well — we're effectively paying $6 million less than the previous government was in 1992. Mr.

Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary question. WORK OF LOBBYIST ON GOVERNMENT ENERGY PLAN J. Kwan: The boss at National Public Relations, B.C. office, is Marcia Smith. On September 4, 2002, Marcia Smith registered as a lobbyist for an oil and mining in- dustry association, the Canadian Coalition for Responsi- ble Environmental Solutions. These guys don't like Kyoto, but they sure like oil and coal. It was Marcia Smith's job to lobby government on their behalf as the government was putting its energy plan together.

She really must be convincing — good enough that only five days later, the Minister of Energy and Mines hired her to work on this government's energy plan. Can the Minister of Energy tell us why he was pay- ing Marcia Smith to help develop his energy plan when she was also being paid by big oil to lobby on the very same energy plan? Hon. R. Neufeld: It's interesting that the member asks a question about energy in British Columbia, one of the bright lights in the pr ovince. Let me tell you, Mr.

Speaker, that we have an energy plan that we released last fall, which moves British Columbia forward into the future instead of into the past — like under the leadership of the last administration. B.C. Hydro just signed $800 million worth of contracts to supply clean energy in the province of British Columbia. And I stress "in the province of British Columbia." This wasn't in some other country, like the other administration did. We're actually building projects in the province of British Columbia for British Columbians.

We are moving forward with an excellent energy plan, one that just brought us in $418 million in British Columbia. That's three times higher than any land sale in Alberta has ever brought in… Mr. Speaker: Thank you. Hon. R. Neufeld: …and it is a record in Canada and matches the best fiscal year we've ever had in one month. That means we're moving ahead on a great energy plan for British Columbia. Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a further supplementary.

7156 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 J. Kwan: Perhaps the minister should have taken the question on notice. Let me just lay it out for the minister. Marcia Smith is paid by the big oil and coal association to lobby this minister and this government on the development of its energy plan. At the same time she was also being p a i d b y t h i s g o v e r n m e n t t o w o r k o n t h e s a m e e n e r g y plan. The contract that this government signed was a $22,000 contract for her to do this work. Does the min- ister see the problem at all — that there is a conflict here?

Does he see the problem — yes or no? Hon. R. Neufeld: Again, I don't want to go through all the points that I just went through, because I be- lieve… Interjections. Hon. R. Neufeld: Please — more, more. …British Columbians… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. R. Neufeld: …are very happy with the energy plan that this government, under the leadership of our Premier, released last November. It's an energy plan that takes us well, well into the future. The member over there is picking at straws, trying to find anything wrong that she can.

Unfortunately, they have not been able to, other than trying to mislead people in some instances. We have a very good energy plan in the province, one that's designed to take British Columbia well into the future, and we are looking forward to actually going along with that energy plan well into the future. J. MacPhail: Well, the minister is playing dumb. That's what my notes here say, but I actually don't think he's playing. I actually think he may be dumb on this one.

It's an outright conflict — it's an outright con- flict — for the minister to pay Marcia Smith to help him with his energy plan when she's already on the payroll of big oil and mining companies to lobby him on the same plan. [1425] But there's more, Mr. Speaker — new information. Two of National Public Relations top lobbyists, Mi- chael Goehring and Randy Wood, are also registered lobbyist for Accenture — National Public Relations employees lobbying for Accenture, the same folks who benefited from this government's privatization of B.C. Hydro. These two gentlemen report to Marcia Smith.

So while the government is busy negotiating a deal with Accenture and drafting the final energy policy, which included the Accenture deal, Marcia Smith is also lobbying for Accenture. She's also lobbying for big oil, and at the same time she's being paid by this minis- ter to advise him about the Liberal energy plan. Can the minister stand up now and tell us how this is not a conflict? Hon. R. Neufeld: Well, as normal, the opposition is trying to dig under every straw and everything to see what they can find that is wrong. Now they talk about Accenture. Isn't it interesting? The deal B.C.

Hydro has with Accenture will save ratepayers $250 million over ten years. Is that a bad deal? I think that's a good deal for British Columbia. It's also a business that's centred in Vancouver, that pays taxes in the province of British Columbia, hires…. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The minister has the floor. Interjections. Hon. R. Neufeld: It's my turn. I listened to you. Accenture will set up a business in the province of British Columbia. It will employ British Columbians. It will pay taxes in British Columbia. It will help keep the rates low for ratepayers of B.C. Hydro in the province.

I can't imagine anything that's better for British Co- lumbians than that, and that's a key part of our energy plan. Thank you. Mr. Speaker: Leader of the Opposition has a sup- plementary question. J. MacPhail: Well, I hope all those public affairs bureau employees are scurrying around right now to help the minister out of this little trap. If the minister…. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. J. MacPhail: Although, actually, the minister isn't confident that no conflict occurred, because he didn't answer the question.

Let me ask the minister this: will he agree today to release to the public all of the documents that Ms. Marcia Smith was involved with under this contract, and will he ask the Attorney General to do a full inves- tigation into how and why the government is paying oil and mining lobbyists, industry lobbyists, to help develop his energy plan? And if he won't, what's he got to hide? Hon. R. Neufeld: What have I got to hide? I'll tell you, this government has been more transparent than any government we've experienced in the last bloody decade. You want to talk about transparency?

That person talking about transparency should take a lesson from this government under the leadership of our Premier. We have been more transparent with things that happen in the province than they ever were. In developing our energy plan, we were as transparent as you can possibly get. We're moving ahead with an en- ergy plan that is excellent for British Columbia and will bring benefits for years to come, even though they just

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7157 about destroyed this province in the ten years that they were here. SURGICAL SERVICES AT PORT ALBERNI HOSPITAL G. Trumper: My question is to the Minister of Health Services. People in Port Alberni and the sur- rounding communities that depend on the West Coast General Hospital are very concerned about the planned temporary closure of nine acute care beds in the hospi- tal. They are further concerned that this may lead to a loss of surgical services provided in Port Alberni.

Will the Minister of Health Services assure the residents, who depend on the availability of health services, that their quality of care will not be compromised? [1430] Hon. C. Hansen: This is a subject that is very dear to me because I was actually born in the old West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni. I had the pleasure of being there for the opening of the new West Coast General Hospital just recently. The Vancouver Island health authority is under- taking a review of surgical services on the mid-Island.

I can reassure the member that there is no plan to remove surgical services fr om Port Alberni, and that will continue. But they are looking at where the best mix of services can be provided between Nanaimo and Port Alberni, and at the same time making sure that the communities of Bamfield, Ucluelet and To- fino, who also rely on West Coast General Hospital, will have access to the care that they need when they need it. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. B.C. RAIL PARTNERSHIPS AND PROTECTION FOR EMPLOYEES P. Nettleton: I have a question for the Minister of Transportation.

During the summer recess the member for Prince George North had a great deal to say to the media regarding the government's plan for B.C. Rail. For example, to the Prince George Citizen, September 9, 2003, the member was quoted as stating, when ques- tioned on the future of B.C.

Rail, that their concerns — that is the employees' — "really come down to succes- sorship and pension funds." The member for Prince George North further added: "When you really ground i t d o w n t o n u t s a n d b o l t s , I don't think they care that much about whose name is at the top of the paycheque as they do about the long-term security." My question to the minister is: does the member for Prince George North speak for the government on this issue, and further, is the minister seeking from the proponents or bidders some form of guarantee of job security and protection of pension funds for the B.C.

Rail employees? Hon. J. Reid: With the B.C. Rail partnership that we're looking at, the operating partnership, we've cer- tainly been engaged with the communities. We've cer- tainly been listening to th e concerns. One of those con- cerns is employment. The members from Prince George have very ade- quately represented their community, their concerns, as well as other mayors who are on the mayors' com- mittee that have been part of this process all along. There has been well-expressed concern.

The member knows that in the RFP proce ss, that was one of the ar- eas that has to be addresse d in the proposals that are put to government. Mr. Speaker: The member for Prince George– Omineca has a supplementary question. P. Nettleton: Well, I'm interested in that response, minister. If, as you claim, you're listening to workers as well as folks from communities along the line — if that is the case — then will this provision to which I've made reference be included in the strategic considera- tions in the finalized form of the terms of request for proposals? Hon. J.

Reid: The respect for those workers is part of the deliberations. It will be part of the evaluation as we work our way through the proposals. Absolutely. That's been there from the beginning. All the concerns they have expressed are part of the respect that we need to pay to workers. They have collective agreements in place, and all of those issues are part of the discussion. Yes, absolutely. There is a commitment that all those issues are part of the discussion. POTENTIAL CLOSING OF PORT ALBERNI HOSPITAL J.

Kwan: Before the election, the current member for Alberni-Qualicum campai gned hard to have the hospital in Port Alberni built. Indeed, she established a profile in the community on it. Now she and her government are shutting the hos- pital down and sending pati ents off to Nanaimo, the hospital with the longest wait-lists in the province. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. J. Kwan: No weasel words from the Minister of Health, please.

The question that should be asked from the member from Qualicum to the minister is: will he today commit, in front of the members from that com- munity, that he will in fact keep the hospital open and that he'll make that commitment to their face by meet- ing with them today? Hon. C. Hansen: Yes. [End of question period.]

7158 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. [1435] Orders of the Day Motions without Notice RESPONSE TO B.C. FOREST FIRES Hon. G. Campbell: I ask leave of the House to move a motion without notice relating to the recent forest fires in British Columbia.

A copy of the proposed motion has been given to the opposition and is in the hands of the Clerk. [Be it resolved that this House recognize: The heroic efforts of all firefighters and military personnel who fought and continue to fight the 2003 wildfires, the contributions of volunteers and donors across British Columbia in assisting the evacuees and helping rebuild communities; and the noble determination of those families directly affected.] Leave granted. Hon. G. Campbell: This summer our entire prov- ince was struck by the ferocity and the power of na- ture.

It was one of the worst wildfire seasons in our history . We w ere also awe d, however, by the spirit of British Columbians and their response. Today, as we observe Fire Prevention Week, we honour and pay tribute to that spirit. We saw the heroism and courage of those who fought the fires. Unfortunately, 334 homes were lost, ten businesses were destroyed, and 50,000 residences were evacuated — the second-largest evacuation in Canada's history.

In response, over 7,600 men and women from across Canada and indeed from south of the border and over 1,000 military personnel from our Canadian Armed Forces came to assist. Our forest fire service personne l, property protection per- sonnel, first nations firefigh ters and firefighters from the property protection divisions of 61 communities across B.C. dedicated themselves to protecting British Columbians. They all came and put themselves in harm's way to protect the public.

As I speak today, we must remember that three people lost their lives in airplane and helicopter crashes as they tried to help fight the fires from the air. I'm sure the hearts of the Legislature go out to the families of Ian MacKay, Eric Ebert and Ben von Hardenberg, but thanks to our firefighters' efforts, not one single mem- ber of the public or resident that was evacuated lost their life through this horrendous summer. We saw the spirit of British Columbians and the determination of their families and communities, and we saw British Columbians band together and be neighbours.

As one of the women I visited in one of the evacua- tions said to me, she had thought she was from the town of Kelowna, but she realized that everyone in British Columbia was her neighbour as she went through that horrendous expe rience. There were 2,000 volunteers that were involved to help evacuees. In Kamloops, in Kelowna, in Cranbrook and throughout our province people banded together to offer support and comfort at a time of incredible family stress to people that live in our province. We saw the spirit of British Columbia and outpouring of support from across the province.

We saw as Telus rushed to make sure people had phone cards and Internet connections to make sure they could connect with their loved ones. We saw the efforts of London Drugs to provide things as simple as eye drops to make sure people could get through the difficult environmental time the fires cre- ated. Fifty thousand British Columbians were evacu- ated, and 4.1 million did everything they could to help. Mr. Speaker, as I'm sure you're aware, there have been cash donations that ha ve been large and small. There have been truckloads of toys, clothing and household goods.

Communiti es across the province offered whatever they could. As I mentioned, 61 com- munities provided personne l and equipment to help protect the properties of their fellow British Columbi- ans.

Together with the federal government we were able to provide assistance at that time, and we will con- tinue to work in partnership with the federal govern- ment, the local government and regional governments to try and ensure that people can get through this very difficult time of their lives. [1440] We've launched a full public and open review, a no-holds-barred review that asks people to say clearly what they think could have been done better but that also, hopefully, will recognize the things that were done exceptionally well.

It's important to note that to- day, as I speak, there are 570 firefighters still working in the forests of British Columbia. They're cleaning up over 290 fires as we speak today. Those people con- tinue to work on behalf of us. I think the real message of all of the activity through the summer was how fortunate we are to live in a province like British Columbia, how fortunate we are to have citizens that are as generous as those who live in our province, how fortunate we are to have a public service who will put everything aside in the service of the public they were asked to protect.

I be- lieve this was a time of great difficulty for all of us, but I also think it's a time that we should celebrate the work British Columbians did. We had people from Crown corporations, from across all arms of government, trying to be sure we could deal with this in a way that was as positive and supportive as possible. To all of those people, I say thank you.

To all of the volunteers who came from literally all over the prov ince to the areas in the Kootenays and the Okanag an and the North Thomp- son Valley, who were going through that exceptional time, to all those who came to offer their support, I say thank you. Let the legacy of this summer be a legacy that we can build on, a legacy that says that in the midst of danger, British Columbians will dig down and bring

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7159 out the best they have to offer on behalf of their fellow citizens. J. Kwan: I seek leave to table a petition. Mr. Speaker: Please proceed. Petitions J. Kwan: I rise to present a petition signed by over 9,000 people from the west coast who ask that the West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni stay open as a full-service facility, including surgical capabilities. Debate Continued K. Krueger: I rise to support the Premier's motion.

As you know, three of the major interface fires that our province experienced this summer were in my con- stituency of Kamloops–North Thompson. First, the McLure fire started. It looked like a small matter to begin with, but over the next 21 hours it turned into a raging monster that threaten ed the very existence of the town of Barriere and wiped out the community of Louis Creek, together with th e major employer of that part of the North Thompson Valley.

The Strawberry Hill fire started shortly thereafter, and so our forest firefighters, our Ministry of Forests personnel, were dealing with these two massive crises simultaneously. The little volunteer fire department from Barriere and the even smaller one from McLure fought the McLure fire for 21 hours straight, backing up all the way from McLure to Barriere, and it was a nightmare night for them. Their lives were constantly at risk. They were facing flames 500 feet high. At one point they were completely surrounded by fire and literally had to drive through fire to escape.

The Strawberry Hill fire raced off at 140 metres per minute and ran 12 kilometres in the first night, literally at the doorstep of Kamloops, just the opposite side of Highway 5 from the subdivision of Rayleigh, which had to be evacuated so rapidly that a call went out for boats to bring residents across the North Thompson River, because the smoke was too dense to use the highway. Fortunately, the smoke lifted, the boats weren't necessary, and everyone got out in safety. Heroes arose everywhere during the course of this emergency. There were B. C.

Hydro linemen out put- ting up new hydro poles to replace those that had burned down, while the fire was still burning around them. The Chu Chua, McLure and Barriere fire de- partments, under the leadership of Chief Al Kirkwood from Barriere, distinguished themselves in every way. People with stock trailers and pickup trucks tore up into the hills from Kamloops, picking up stock all over the endangered countryside, bringing them into the SPCA and to the Kamloops Exhibition Association where they were cared for until the threat had passed.

Members of the public came forward offering their homes and goods, offering their services as volunteers at the evacuation centres, helping in every possible way. The Barriere search and rescue department, all of them volunteers, were incredibly self-sacrificing. They were travelling between houses, knocking on doors, evacuating people, while their own homes were burn- ing to the ground. [1445] The firefighters, both private and government, the loggers, the emergency personnel — everybody distin- guished themselves. The SP CA was open around the clock, sent out a plea for help from the community and got it.

The search and rescue went around and fed animals that were left on the properties that were evacuated and would have starved or died of thirst without their help. NL radio, locally, devoted almost all their coverage full-time around the clock to com- municating information to my constituents, and we'll never forget that. Robbie Dunn, the owner, Jim Harri- son, the news director, and Angelo Iaccobucci, Bob Price and all the staff worked incredible hours and did yeoman service for us. The people down at the Thompson-Nicola regional district emergency centre also worked around the clock.

The provincial emergency program people un- der the leadership of the coordinator Rod Salem really distinguished themselves. The Canadian military as well — it was wonderful to see them arrive. Just when we were in the thick of all this and think- ing it's amazing how people are coping, there was a lightning strike at 18 kilometres on the McGillivray Lake Road — 18 kilometres from Sun Peaks. I talked to a Mountie that night. I was in the emergency opera- t i o n s c e n t r e a t f o u r i n t h e m o r n i n g , a n d h e h a d b e e n out to have a look at it. I said: "How bad is it?

" He said: "It's about 30 hectares, I think, and it looks really evil. It's just smouldering there like some kind of demon." It smouldered all night, and in the morning it came rag- ing out of the ravine it was in. They weren't able to touch it with aircraft because of the steepness of the ravine. They couldn't get to it with cats or heavy equipment. Out it came. The next thing we knew, it was threatening the community of Chase. It came within three kilometres of Chase, when as I said we had had a fire go 12 kilometres in one night previously. It was a very frightening time.

As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't want to take any praise for it, but the Premier is a hero too. He declared a state of emergency immedi ately. During the Salmon Arm fires of 1998, the Premier of that day turned the situation into a photo op an d went out to Salmon Arm to declare an emergency. Our Premier did it as a leader, did it immediately, marshalled the resources of the province, the country and the continent to help us. There were no politics involved. The Solicitor General is another hero. He phoned every day. He checked on us constantly. He got the resources whenever we needed them.

He created a provincial fire department, and very shortly there were 45 different municipal fire departments protecting the community of Barriere, and they saved Barriere — 800 homes. We all grieve for the homes that were lost, but we're so proud of them for saving Barriere.

7160 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 We've been looking big picture. I want to just give you a zoom-lens picture of one family, the Oakland family. They have the only permanent home at Neskonlith Lake, and it survived because of heroes. Mr. Oakland is on a disability pension. He's owned that property for 25 years. He inherited it as a boy. Now he's raised three boys of his own there, but he's disabled, and he doesn't have a whole lot of income. He painstakingly built this beautiful log home himself, and he didn't want to give it up. H e c o u l d n ' t a f f o r d i n s u r a n c e .

S o m e p e o p l e h a v e been pretty harsh about wh y folks didn't have insur- ance. He didn't have any money. It would have cost $3,000 a year to insure that home, and he couldn't af- ford it, so he didn't. He and his family determined they were not going to let it go. I've got a series of pictures he loaned me of this terrible yellow cloud of smoke coming up to his home and how frightening it was for them. At the last minute 13 people showed up — friends of his, people he used to work with at Adams Lake Lumber and other friends. They were determined his home was not going to be lost.

They fought that fire until the fire was 20 metres from the house. They were soaking it down. They were terrified, and they could easily have been killed. Then they had to run, and it was a class 6 fire at that point. As the fire chief from Kelowna has said, the standing orders for class 6 fires are: "Run for your lives." They had to do that, and they went and jumped in Nisk- onlith Lake — all 13 of them. The fire was creating its own weather, as these fires did — a huge raging windstorm — and debris was pounding down on them as if they were in a hailstorm.

The fire was sucking all the oxygen out from the lake, and they could barely breathe. The wind and the waves came up tremendously. They had taken boats, and the boats all sank. They had things they were hanging on to, to try and float, and they were all kicking together to try and get out into th e middle of the lake. They couldn't because the wind from the fire kept sucking them back. They began to think they were going to be drawn back into the fire. Someone showed up with a little putt-putt electric motor on a boat and managed to tow them out into the middl e of the lake.

They were out there for five and a half hours, kicking and strug- gling to keep from being drawn back into the fire. [1450] In the meantime, there was wildlife all around them. Everything was piling in to the lake to save its life. There was a moose swimming in circles around them. There were deer, bear , bats and birds. A little bird came and landed on Mr. Oakland's chest, and he tucked it under his chin. It stayed there for over an hour until it was strong enough to fly away. None of them was afraid of each other, because they were all in it together, just like British Columbians were.

It was a terrible time for them. Many times they thought they would die. Some of them were very close to hypother- mic, but they all survived it. It has been an awful experience for our constitu- ents, but the thing that really inspires people about the way it all turned out was the way British Columbians rallied around them. The new chief, Art Anthony, of the Neskonlith band spoke at the Chase public meeting we had, and he said: "We realized we were treated just like everybody else.

Everybody pitched in to help us, to save our people, and we really appreciate it." There's a new bond between people, between aboriginal people and everyone else, between all of us and the Chinese community with their generosity — the member for Vancouver-Kensington and Mr. Johnny Fong and the incredible fundraising drive that they led to contribute a quarter-million dollars to the North Thompson Relief Fund. We just feel a real kinship with British Columbians, and everybody who has helped is a hero.

George Evans and Derek Johnson, two businessmen from Kamloops, started that fund thinking they might raise $100,000, and it's well over $2.5 million. Their board is composed of people like Bob Holden from KPMG, a representa- tive from Fulton and Co., and many distinguished business people from around our area. Their commit- ment is a dollar in, a dollar out — no administration fees. All of the money is to go to the people who suf- fered losses.

Alberta farmers are organizing a hay lift, 400 tonnes that they're delivering themse lves to our ranchers who were burned out, and the Mi nister of Transportation and the Solicitor General once again have stepped up to the plate and waived regulations and changed things that they needed to change so that could be done. People have provided food and water and sup- plies, and the money keeps coming in.

We had disappointing news from Tolko last Thurs- day that they don't intend to rebuild the mill at Louis Creek, and I appeal to them to reconsider, to pitch in with the same spirit that has been demonstrated by British Columbians everywhere, to recognize that these people in Barriere and Louis Creek served them well for decades. They've suffered catastrophic losses, and they don't deserve to lose their employment, as well, and the hurt that will bring to that community.

I appeal to them to pitch in like everyone else and rebuild the North Thompson Valley, to consider a value-added plan, to join in the spirit of support and generosity of all other British Columbians and reward the loyalty of the people of the North Thompson Val- ley. The Minister of Forests has already been talking to me about a community forest for Barriere, more wood- lots for people in the Barriere area, more allotment to the North Thompson Indian band. All of these are efforts to try and help those people get back on their feet and make their community thrive again.

I've already spoken longer than I meant to, but there are so many people to thank, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that there are an awful lot of heroes here, and we appreciate every one of you. Hon. M. de Jong: Thanks, to the member for Kamloops–North Thompson and, of course, the Pre- mier. There are many in th is chamber, I think, who would like to place on the record their thoughts and

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7161 their thanks as it relates to the events that have taken place over the past number of months, so I will try to keep my comments brief. I t s e e m s t o m e t h a t y e a r s f r o m n o w , a s w e l o o k back on these events, we will necessarily be drawn to the numbers. We will think about and record the 2,700 fires. We will talk about the 8,000 or 9,000 or 10,000 firefighters who were engaged at any one time. We will talk about the incredibly abnormal number of interface fires that took place, challenging lives, threatening lives and property.

We will look at the money that was nec- essarily spent, closing in on the half-billion-dollar mark. [1455] Those will be the measurements by which we com- pare these extraordinary even ts and place them in his- torical context, and yet here, standing in close prox- imity to what has taken place, it is really things other than the numbers that leav e a lasting impression. As the member for Kamloops–North Thompson pointed out, it is those human stories.

It is the manner in which British Columbians rallied at a time when it took our collective resolve and, essentially, our collective re- serves to wrestle to the ground a natural conflagration that threatened an incredibly large geographic area of the province. Today is really a chance, at a time when fires con- tinue to burn…. Fires continue to burn, and there are still men and women battling blazes, conducting mop- up or cleanup work. Of course, the cleanup work will continue months and probably years into the future.

But it is a chance to say thank you and recognize some of those thousands of peop le, British Columbians, who in their own way — some large, some small — contrib- uted to us battling through this unforgettable, unfor- gettable summer.

To say thank you to the Forest Service personnel who marshalled themselves in ways that I am certain they hoped they would never have to marshal them- selves but in their heart of hearts were prepared to re- spond in the ways they were called upon to do — not necessarily the jobs they were accustomed to doing but remobilized from parts of the province where, happily, the fire situation didn't re ach the crucial and critical stages that it did in the Okanagan or the North Thomp- son Valley.

To thank the air crews who — in a professional way that all of us, I think, must admire — utilized the tools at their disposal and fought, whether it be as an initial attack on a fire or as a way of trying to contain the spread of a fire, and attacked those blazes in terrain that is difficult, in circumstances that are dangerous. And yes, there was loss of life. Three members of our aerial firefighting team died in tragic accidents. Our hearts go out to their families.

It is a time to say thank you to the first nations who, when their province and country needed them most of all, were there — no questions asked — to lend support in terms of personnel, equipment and locations for the establishment of fire camps, operational camps. It's quite a story. No questions, no bureaucratic hurdles, just a willingness to respond and be there and to lend whatever support was necessary. It is a time to say thank you to our Armed Forces.

We sometimes — as we go about our business in this chamber and our province and, I suppose, in this coun- try — forget the advantages that come with being members of a great team. Canada is a team; I like to think about it in those terms. In this past summer Brit- ish Columbia needed help from our teammates, and we got that help. We got it from the Armed Forces, who marshalled and deployed, again asking only one question: how can we help? We got that assistance from other provinces — from the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, the prairie prov inces, the Territories — again, asking only one question: how can we help?

And it's at times like this past summer when you appreciate and are reminded of the value that goes with being mem- bers of a great team like Canada.

The fire departments from across the province that the Solicitor General helped to forge into a single pro- vincial fire department, who asked only, "What can we do and where do you need us?" and then arrived on the scene from the four corners of the province — an extraordinary sight, an extraordinary effort. [1500] Some of those other organizations and individuals that were probably never on the television screen and never on the front page of any newspaper are people like the women in Okanagan Falls who spent hours, day in and day out, ensuring that those fighting the fires on the front line had enough to eat, making 200 lunches and 200 dinners and, in circumstances that would have challenged any of us, had fun doing it.

They were able to motivate their community by their example, by their enthusiasm and by their unswerving belief in the fact that we were going to — and did — overcome the challenge posed by Mother Nature. The commissionaires — s o m e o f t h e m c o m i n g o u t of retirement and back to active service after being in retirement for five, ten or 15 years and asking only, "How can we help?" — were there to lend the kind of logistical support that is so essential at a time like this.

The list goes on and on: the ice cream parlour and pizza house in Penticton that ensured our firefighters had enough to eat, enough ice cream to cool off at the end of the incredibly long sh ifts over such an extended period of time…. Everyone did their bit in the best way they knew how. We say thank you to them, and we say we will learn from your efforts. We will conduct a re- view, as the Premier announced at last week's Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting — a full review, a trans- parent review. We'll ask the difficult questions. Could we have done some things better? What are those things?

How could we do them better? Could we have communi- cated better? Could we have prepared better? If so, how? How do we place ours elves in a position where we can diminish, if not eliminate, the likelihood of events like this recurring? We will learn, as one would expect, after events of the magnitude that we were met with this summer.

7162 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 Today most members of this House, if not all, will simply want to join together and say thank you and place on the journals that record debates in this cham- ber our belief — and it is certainly my belief — that out of these extraordinary circumstances, British Columbi- ans demonstrated their incred ible spirit. In our history this surely was, collectively, one of our finest hours. Thank you from grateful legislators to those thousands and thousands of British Columbians who saw us through such a difficult time. Hon. G.

Abbott: It's an honour for me to rise, as well, and speak to the motion before us today. I too, like the Minister of Forests and the member for Kamloops– North Thompson and the Premier, want to say a heart- felt thanks for a job well done by a great many people, particularly in the southern interior this year, as we faced what was undoubtedly the toughest forest fire season that we have ever seen in this province. I had the good fortune to be born in British Colum- bia and to have lived here for 50 years now.

Every year, it seems, we have some challenges in respect to forest fires, but there is no questi on that 2003 will go down in history as the most difficult season to date. Hopefully, we never see another one like it, but we don't know that. [1505] In my own constituency of Shuswap we certainly had our share of forest fire challenges. As it turned out, one of the first fires near my home town of Sicamous was, relatively speaking, a small one in comparison with what was going to come later. We had the Cedar Hill fire between Falkland and Armstrong.

That was a very challenging blaze — one home lost in that battle, and of course, there was a constant threat throughout the season. Actually, that threat still exists. We still haven't had the kind of rains that would assure us the fire season is well beyond us. That potential still exists. We've had a very long period of drought, certainly one of the longest in history — hottest temperatures, least precipitation and so on. That led to enormous potential for fires. Fortunately for us, only part of that potential for fires was realized.

It could have been a lot worse had we had an unfortunate combination of lightning and other factors. I think we also benefit enormously from the skill and dedication with which the firefighters and a host of others helped to contain the many small blazes that threatened to become very large blazes — particularly across the Thompson-Okanagan, the Kootenay and other areas of the southern interior.

The potential for forest fires also obviously brought into focus that term "interface fires." A few years ago we wouldn't have known what an interface fire was — it's when the forest fire meets a community — and we are more and more becoming accustomed to the inter- face fire. Certainly we saw the greatest interface fire threats in Kamloops and Kelowna this year. It's a very difficult thing.

Hopefully, we will never see interface fires like we had in 2003, but again, the potential may exist in the future, and we're going to have to work hard as a province to ensure we are as well prepared as we possibly can be for such an event. One of the items I have in my office that I've kept since 1998 is a piece of melted aluminum from the 1998 fire that swept across rural Salmon Arm — the Silver Creek area. In 1998 we lost about a dozen homes to that forest fire. Again, it was a prelude, I guess, to the enormous challenges we were to face in 2003 in terms of that magnitude.

There were in 1998 and again in 2003 a host of peo- ple who worked together to ensure that the potential impact of those forest fires was not realized. Clearly, the outcome was devastating in any event, but these were among the people who helped to ensure that the full devastating potential of wildfires was not realized. Among the people that worked very hard — there's a huge number of volunteers, and others of my col- leagues have mentioned them — the folks in the evacuation centres were phenomenal.

Sometimes peo- ple even from out of provin ce volunteered to serve in those evacuation centres, and it was a remarkable ex- ample of communities pulling together to help people who were temporarily displaced by those interface fires. They did a great job. Enormous compassion and enormous humanity were reflected in the way in which the evacuation centres were operated. One of the other critical pieces in terms of commu- nity and provincial responses to the fires was the emergency operation centres.

In those centres we saw people like the local fire departments' representatives, representatives of the RCMP, representatives from all the local governments in the area. A host of officials worked together tirelessly, I must say. The folks in those centres were absolutely ex- hausted by the time the major fires had come under control. They were absolutely exhausted. They were tireless in terms of serving to ensure that the firefight- ers and the fire departments all had the resources that they need. It was an enormo us logistical challenge.

They rose to that challeng e and acquitted themselves most admirably in their efforts to help keep the fires and the impact of the fires on communities under con- trol. [1510] I think we also want to acknowledge the efforts of the search and rescue personnel, who were enormously valuable in helping to manage situations. The Minister of Forests mentioned the folks making sandwiches.

Well, there were an enormous number of church groups across the southern interior — I'm sure across British Columbia — who worked in many ways to help with the human needs that people experienced when they were displaced from their homes or were threat- ened with displacement fr om their homes. Countless service clubs in the Shuswap and right across the prov- ince contributed enormously to helping manage the impact of these devastating fires.

Of course, I think we should acknowledge, as well, the business community, which in many cases stepped up to the plate with fundraising endeavours and con- tributions of material and other goods that helped

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7163 enormously to make what is often an unmanageable situation at least more manageable, more livable, more human. They need to be thanked for that as well. Out in the field there's no shortage of people to acknowledge, salute and th ank here. Obviously, the forest fire fighters did a great job. Tireless efforts by the first nations across the prov ince who stepped in…. The Canadian Armed Forces were instrumental in assisting and did a fabulous job. All of the pilots.

The tragic loss of three pilots' lives was one example of the commitment and sacrifices that they make to ensure that, from the air, we are doing everything we can to contai n blazes. Structural fire- fighters, because of the interface nature of many of the fires this year, also have to be saluted, commended and thanked for their work. Right across the province volunteer and profes- sional firefighters stepped up to the plate. Often I would see travelling down the highway or in commu- nities fire trucks from literally every corner of the prov- ince.

I know that people took enormous comfort, enormous satisfaction in seei ng firemen and fire trucks from literally every corner of the province in their community to help them through what was a very, very tough patch to endure. I'll conclude quite quickly here, because I know there are a lot of my colleagues who wish to speak to this resolution, and rightly so. We learned a lot from the 1998 fires, particularly in Salmon Arm, which was brought to bear in the situation we had in 2003. The lessons were well-learned, I think.

Looking on as, obvi- ously, an interested observer, I was amazed at the effi- ciency, the speed, the th oroughness and the human- ness, all of which were a part of the response by offi- cials to an emergency situat ion. This is not something that we have a lot of time to prepare for. Often these things spring up quickly, without notice and in areas where we may not necessarily expect them. I think that a lot has been learned, and that contributed to an excel- lent response in 2003. But as others have noted, there are always things that we can do better.

There are always things we can and should learn from these very, very difficult and sometimes devastating experiences. I think we fully intend to do that, so I do look forward to hearing my constituents' views with respect to how they think the firefighting in the future can be undertaken, in some respects, in more effective ways. I'll look forward to hearing that. [1515] I do think we have to, at this moment in time, not only think ahead about what we can do better but also look back and say what great people, what great com- munities, what a great province and what a job well done.

With that, I do thank them all for those efforts, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to the mo- tion. Hon. B. Barisoff: Thank you for the time to speak about these fires. I know the Premier spoke about the province as a whole, along with the Minister of Forests. My colleague from Kaml oops spoke about the Kam- loops area, and my colleague from Shuswap spoke about that area. I'd like to just focus in a little bit on the South Okanagan. As it started out, we had the hottest, driest summer that we've had in a long time. That's nothing new for the South Okanagan, because we're used to that kind of weather.

But unfortunately for us in the Oliver area, we started out in early July with a firebug who started to light fires. Rod Parrent and the Oliver fire department, along with the B.C. Forest Se rvice, took quick action on a number of those fires and were able to prevent them from getting out of hand too far. They actually grew pretty fast, and we realized at that point in time how quickly these fires were growing. Shortly after that, on July 19 we had the Anarchist Mountain fire in Osoyoos. I guess that was one of the first major fires that started. We lost three structures and a couple homes up there.

I must say that Walter Lemke and the Osoyoos fire department just did an admirable job of keeping that loss to a minimum. In the early stages of what will probably be the worst fire season that we've ever seen, the B.C. Forest Service was there with everything they had, to bring that under control. I just can't give enough credit to the local fire- fighters under Walter Lemke and the Osoyoos fire de- partment. I know they were administered by the Oliver fire department. Then they were administered by OK Falls and all the way down the line. They prevented that fire from actually going very far.

During that whole interim period of time, we had the great fire down in the U.S. that was moving up towards Keremeos. We were actually surrounded by fire, knowing that it was going to be a bad season, but it didn't feel that bad at that time. Lo and behold, later on in July we got the Okanagan Mountain fire, and that truly came to be one of the biggest fires that we had in the province and took a lot of homes, and it took a lot o f e f f o r t b y a l o t o f p e o p l e t o m a k e t h i n g s h a p p e n .

I know that Mac Lockhart, the fire chief from Penticton, organized the initial stages in Penticton, and Grahame Baker in the fire department in Naramata were right in the forefront of it all as that fire moved in towards Na- ramata with the big fear of what was going to happen. Lo and behold, the small community of Kaleden, with Darlene Bailey and her fire department were there try- ing to help each other out and make sure things were happening. That very Friday — again, I must commend the Premier for taking the time — he came up to meet with the people in Penticton and in Kelowna.

That was the night that the big fire took off. The Premier was just out to do a press conference on what was happening in the Okanagan Lake fire, and my wife happened to phone me. She said: "If you're on your way home, you're not going to get past Vaseaux Lake because a major fire has just erupted at Vaseaux Lake." An osprey nest fell off the power lines, and the fire was running at 300 feet per minute. It was just taking off right up the moun- tain, so make sure I come around the opposite way. Well, you know, you've got to give credit to the OK

7164 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 Falls fire department. They were there trying to get it. That was another one. Everything was so dry that it just took right off. I've got to commend the people of the area, particu- larly the people around OK Falls and all the communi- ties. I used to try to make an effort of getting up there to talk to the firefighters after they came off shift or just to see them to give them a little bit of credit. OK Falls ladies auxiliary were there just preparing food. They were camped out at the elementary school in OK Falls.

There were people at the fire hall, ladies coming in and making cookies, suppers, and everything else just to keep people going, because it was a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day operation. [1520] Lo and behold, along comes the Canadian military. I tell you, they did an aw esome job of coming there to…. They camped out in the community park on the grass, and nobody was concerned about whether it was going to be damaged or whatever else. Everybody just pitched in and said: "Here's a great place to set up camp.

Let's set it up here and make things happen." I talked to a lieutenant commander, and he was indicat- ing how they were actually excited. They were coming back after a 12-hour shift, but they were really, cer- tainly, doing their job and what had to be done. In par- ticular, again, when I think of Bob Haddow and the OK Falls fire crew, they were there, it seemed, every day I went there. They were more and more tired because they were spending — we thought it was 12 or 14 — almost 20 hours a day there and going home, having a quick rest and coming back.

All the people that were contributing in the area kind of brought the commu- nity together to say: "Listen, we'll survive this. We'll make this happen." One of the things that im pressed me the very most was — in my visits to the different areas and what was happening — all the community support. We thank everybody from the B.C. Fore st Service for an admira- ble job of what they did and the local firefighters in taking their equipment from here, there and every- where. I think everybody in the OK Falls fire…. I counted.

There were seven or eight different trucks from different places around the province that had come to do the things that had to be done. During one of those visits, I had one of the B.C. Forest Service members come up to me. He said: "I just want to tell you something." He'd been in the Forest Service for 25 or 30 years and had seen it all. This was probably the worst he'd ever seen.

He said: "I want to commend your Premier." I looked at him, and I said: "Well, that's fine." He said that when the Premier came, he came with the attitude of: "What can we do to help?" He wasn't there to criticize; he wasn't there to lay blame or to do something else. He was simply there to ensure that they had the moral support for what was going on. He said: "We've never, ever seen that before." I guess internally I kind of felt really good about it. As we were standing there talking, one of the other senior Ministry of Forests personnel came up and actually said almost the same thing.

One said to the other: "Promise, we never talked ab out this before. We never said anything about it. It was just something that came about." That's the impression they got. I think that out of this, you've got to take that every- body worked together. There' s such a positive feeling about the work that went on — from the guys that were shovelling, trying to put out every little piece of fire, right to the Premier of this province, who was do- ing his part. I think the member from Kamloops men- tioned the Solicitor General. He seemed like he was on a road circuit. When you're in part of that circuit….

I know the Solicitor General was either in Kamloops or Kelowna or the South Okanagan. Meantime, he'd go back around, and he just kept circling around the prov- ince — I think over to Cranbrook. You know, I think he also did an admirable job in what was taking place. My thanks go out to everybody that contributed, because I know we're going to look to see where we might have gone wrong or where we can do things better. I know that's part of looking back. I know that if I could replay every one of my days of coaching bas- ketball, I certainly would do things differently.

I'm certain that when we start to look back at all of this, we'll find things we might have been able to do better, but you know, we're going to find that we did an awful lot of things exceptionally well. I think a lot of credit goes to the individual fire de- partments for what they did, but in the big scheme of things, it goes to the B.C. Forest Service. It was unprece- dented what was taking place, yet they kept everything under control. You know, there wasn't panic in the air. There weren't these kinds of things happening. It was a matter that they actually kept control of.

As one of the people that had the fires in their back yard, I've kind of seen that firsthand, and I truly think they should be commended. [1525] I know a lot of businesses suffered from what took place over the summer, and the tourists didn't come because of all the smoke we had in the valley, particu- larly in the South Okanagan. I want to tell you: that all changed on the weekend, wh en the winefest came and the Wine Festival started. I've never seen so many peo- ple back in the Okanagan, and I'm sure that's a credit to all the people of British Columbia.

They didn't come and interfere when the fire s were going on, but they certainly came and gave their support when it was needed. I'm sure they'll a ll be coming back. We cer- tainly want the hot, dry summers. We just don't want the fires. L. Mayencourt: It's an honour to stand here and speak to this resolution. I come from an urban area, but I got to witness some of the tremendous efforts by a large group of individuals — people like firefighters, community leaders and volunteers — in addressing the awesome effects of the wildfire season in British Co- lumbia this year.

Last week, as members of the Select Standing Com- mittee on Finance and Government Services, we trav- elled up to Kamloops, and we had the opportunity to

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7165 visit the fire control centre in Kamloops and also to fly over the towns of McLure and Barriere and the fire sites there and to visit the Strawb erry Hill fire site. While these locations represent just a small portion of the chal- lenges that we faced in British Columbia, it was amazing when you looked at the scale of what had happened. I want to say that I was really impressed with the people at the Kamloops fire station. I couldn't believe the expertise and the caring and the knowledge that exist in that facility.

I was impresse d by the technology they employed in British Columbia as a way of dealing with the forest fire problems. I am also really impressed with the volunteers that put together a response to this par- ticular crisis. I am speaking about both corporate and individual donors who rallied together to help. [J. Weisbeck in the chair.] I must speak about some people from my own rid- ing that contributed to this, as well, people who were willing to share their time and give what they had to the people who lost homes an d properties in our prov- ince.

One corporate donor I want to specifically recog- nize is Wayne Hartrick, the gentleman who owns repu- tations.com. Wayne, while sitting in his boardroom one day, looking at the North Shore mountains and the lush greenness of those, star ted to think about what it would be like if we were to lose the North Shore moun- tains to fire. He became committed to doing something for the people in the interior — to the people of McLure, Cranbrook and Kelowna — and so he got to work on creating a concert.

He worked with some peo- ple from our community: Joanne Wyatt of Telus Com- munications, Kristen Rabnett of CIBC, Linda Oglove of the 2010 bid committee and Paul Haagenson of the House of Blues. They decided they wanted to put a concert together, so they talked to Bruce Allen. Bruce Allen rose to the challenge, and he talked to his talented artist Bryan Adams — who was raised here in British Columbia — and they put together a concert series that is going to travel across this province.

They're going to go to Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver, and they're going to raise money for the fire relief fu nd, for the North Thompson relief fund, and also for the Salvation Army and for other charities that are needing support at this time. I'm really proud of the efforts of those people. There are also other businesses that have become corporate donors. I want to talk about Molson Canada, which has a program that's going to take place here in British Columbia on October 16. This is an ad kind of thing.

You want to go out and drink Molson Canadian on that day, because they're going to be giving $1 from every Molson Canadian that is sold in the province of British Columbia. A dollar from that is going into the North Thomson relief fund. That's like a contribution of $100,000 for one day's work, and I really salute them for what they're doing. Aside from corporate do nations there are many, many individuals that pulled together, made contribu- tions and have been extremely generous. Over the weekend I had the privilege of talking with Capt. John Murray of the Salvation Army.

He's a gentleman who has come and visited this Legislature. I've introduced him here. He has appeared before members of caucus. John informed me that the Salvation Army has set a private fund aside for those who have lost their homes in the fires.

For the 348 homeowners that lost their homes in these fires, the Salvation Army is going to send a cheque for $1,000 this week, and it is going to send a further $500 to them just ahead of Christmas so that they can know that the people of British Columbia really care about them. [1530] That money that the Salvation Army raised — $1.1 million in cash and $1.3 million in goods and services — is going to be distributed to people who really need some help and assistance ri ght now, and it is a demon- stration of the support of this whole province. I'm very, very proud of that.

I'm also proud of the people who worked really hard to see that people's needs were being met. Specifi- cally, I want to mention the Premier and the Solicitor General. Both of these ge ntlemen suspended their va- cation time, which they really deserved and really needed, and they went to work on supporting the communities that were affected by these fires. I really want to say that they are also great heroes in this prov- ince for what they did.

When I talk to people in my community, they say that was a demonstration of lead- ership they have not seen before here in British Co- lumbia, and they are appreciative of it. I'm proud to serve in this House with those two gentlemen. I also know that there were many, many mem- bers of this caucus who took time out of their vaca- tion and decided to work in their communities: the member for Kamloops–North Thompson, the member for Shuswap, the member from Okanagan Falls and many, many others who took time out of their precious time away from this Legislature to help their communi- ties.

I think that's something we can all be very, very proud of in this province. Sometimes in this chamber and in this Legislature we talk about the disconne ct, the difference between urban British Columbia and the heartlands. That's something that I'm particularly conscious of as I travel around the province, becaus e there are differences in this province. Sometimes there's a gap, a lack of under- standing about lifestyles in both of those different types of communities. I think the fires actually h e l p e d u s b r i d g e t h o s e gaps. I think the fires taught us that we're all British Columbians.

I think the fires taught us that we can be better and bigger than just our own little communities. We can be a province that works together, that bridges these gaps. I'm very, very proud to be a member of this Legislature, but more than anything else I'm proud to be a British Columbian because of the way that British Columbia responded to the fires. With that I'd like to yield the floor to other mem- bers who want to speak on this matter, but thank you very much.

7166 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 R. Lee: I would like to stand to add my voice to support the motion moved by the hon. member for Kamloops–North Thompson. This year British Colum- bia experienced the driest summer in 50 years, and the water level in some of the rivers reached the lowest level in 80 years. Consequently, it's not surprising to see that this province has had one of the worst summer seasons with fires caused by lightning and human er- ror.

In early August, for a trip planned months ahead, I travelled with my family to Barkerville, Prince George, Prince Rupert, McBride and Kelowna. Everywhere we went, we could see the indirect effect of the fires on the tourist industries. In some areas we saw the effect of the fires on jobs and air quality. Many families in the heartlands are directly af- fected by the interface fires. I was at the McLure and Louis Creek areas on September 20, together with 34 members of the Chinese Canadian community from the lower mainland, to talk to the families who were evacuees and to see firsthand the disaster area.

As Brit- ish Columbians we are all related, all interconnected like a human body. When part of the body is hurt, then we all feel the pain. The Chinese Canadian community brought in donations of a quarter of a million dollars to the North Thompson relief fund on that day. Thanks to the community members from Kensington and also to the member for Kamloops–North Thompson for their quick response. [1535] The support of hundreds of communities, business organizations and individuals from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam was behind the do- nations.

I would like to particularly mention the mem- bers from the Tzu Chi Foundation, who helped some families without house insurance, and the donation they gave to the three fire departments in McLure, Bar- riere and the Chu Chua volunteer fire departments. Thanks to the volunteers and firefighters and also the military personnel coming from across Canada, the fires in British Columbia are now under control. From my constituency of Burnaby, the Burnaby firefighters were among those who helped to fight the fires in the heartlands this summer.

They've also been in there helping fundraising for the relief fund by selling T- shirts. Fortunately, the fires this summer also brought out the best in British Columbians, as many of my col- leagues have said. In the months ahead, let's move forward together to help rebuild the affected communi- ties, to bring in more economic development and job opportunities to these communities. B. Suffredine: I r i s e i n s u p p o r t o f t h e m o t i o n o f thanks made by the Premier today. In emergencies we often react out of emotion and fear.

The urgency of a situat ion often causes us to use poor judgment instead of the right judgment. Later, when we analyze the events, we tend to be critical of the things that were done perhaps by us and by others. That's in part due to the fact that we have the benefit of hindsight and the luxury of time afterward. There will be a time for us to question things, but today I think it's important to focus on saying thank you to those who contributed so much. In my part of the Kootenays, which fortunately wasn't prominent in the news, we were really lucky to have hundreds of skilled professionals and volunteers.

Many people, when they thin k of the fires, think of areas like Barriere where the whole community was lost. While our hearts in my part of the Kootenays go out to those people who have lost everything, we also have to bear in mind why it didn't happen where we live. In Nelson-Creston there were thousands and thou- sands of acres on fire at one time. I believe the total is between 40,000 and 50,000 acres. We had a fire called Kutetl Creek that burned approximately one-third of the West Arm wilderness park. We had fires in Meadow Creek, Arrow Park , Burton and Kuskonook — all at the same time.

Now it's clear that when such a large portion of your community is burning, you don't have the luxury of being able to put enough resources on to put out all of those fires. What the Forest Service did was the only rational wa y to approach it. That was to pick the priorities and to put your resources on the things where people or property were seriously at risk. There was a fire between Nelson and Harrop that was a little over 12,000 acres at its largest. It was actu- ally between five and seven miles from each commu- nity.

It carried on for a number of weeks, with people being pretty nervous, understandably, about whether or not if a wind came up one of those communities could have been the subject of a fire like Kelowna. For- tunately, it wasn't. The fact that there was no interface fire in those communities or virtually in any other community in the Kootenays is a great credit to the skill and the decision-making of the Forest Service and the emergency centres. Recognition should also be given to the many community volunteers who pr ovided outstanding ser- vice during those fires.

Ther e were hundreds of people who donated in the efforts and who volunteered in the local provincial emergency centre. In Harrop, people like Rick Morley, who is a fo rmer conservation service employee, volunteered and helped put together an evacuation plan that was communicated to the com- munity one night at a community meeting I attended. Lynne Betts, another local person, served as a distribu- tion source to provide by e-mail copies of the most current fire information throughout the whole com- munity. [1540] Accurate information to all the communities was the most critical thing.

Our biggest enemy was rumour and misinformation. People needed to know what was happening, and both the Forest Service and the volun- teers helped that information reach them in a way that gave them confidence. Getting that accurate information was simply criti- cal. In Kuskonook, a little place about 15 kilometres north of Creston, a local pi lot, Michael Wigen, volun-

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 7167 teered some aerial time and did a video of the fire the day there was a public meeting, so the people at the public meeting could actually see for themselves on TV that evening what the fire looked like that day. That sort of information was extremely valuable in helping the community to approach things in a calm and ra- tional way. Evacuations were rare in Nelson-Creston — only one, at Arrow Park, where the entire community was driven from their homes and stayed out of their homes for a little more than a week. Community support was great.

All those people were accommodated. Not a single home was lost, and everyone evacuated was looked after for that entire time. I know people want the review promised by the Premier to proceed. So do I, and I'll make sure the views of my constituents are heard when that oppor- tunity comes. But today is about recognizing that this was a summer where nature was in charge, and the strategy employed to protect lives and property first was realistic and necessary. Out of every challenge, we learn something. This summer and the challenge it brought was no exception.

What we learned about our communities is the single most important thing. We saw the volunteers perform admirably and the firefighters courageously. We saw them work tirelessly day after day. I know some of the people in the PREOC centre had been working without a day off for over a month. To all of them, thank you may not be enough, but it's what we have and it's what we should do. What impresses me most is that in saying thanks to all of these people, it's probably more than they would have asked. So thank you to each and every one of the vol- unteers and the firefighters, and my greatest respect. Hon. L.

Stephens: It gives me great pleasure to rise to pay tribute to the many contributions of people from all across British Columbia as we debate this motion moved by the Premier earlier today. Really, on behalf of the constituents of Langley, I want to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to all the firefighters involved over this very long, hot summer, fighting fires throughout British Columbia — especially to the 47 members of the fire- fighters, male and female, from Langley who re- sponded to the call. We are all very proud of you.

Although Langley was very far away from the Okanagan and the Kootenays, our hearts go out to the many families who are homeless, who have lost valu- able possessions and are dealing with the trauma disas- ters such as raging forest fires can produce. Also the many hundreds of community volunteers who worked tirelessly to assist individuals and families who were affected by the fires — they all deserve our respect and admiration for a job well done. Our Premier visited the affected areas to demon- strate our government's support for those communi- ties.

The Premier's tireless ef forts with the federal gov- ernment and numerous visits are ongoing to convince the federal government of the need for relief dollars for B.C. communities and families. I join with my constituents and express my appre- ciation to our Premier for his leadership during this very difficult time, and to various other individuals in our government, particularly the Solicitor General.

It was under his leadership that the provincial emer- gency response program folks and other government agencies, including local governments, handled this massive undertaking with what looked like — to those of us looking on from the outside — military precision. Indeed, without the help of our military forces, the outcome may have been greater loss of life, personal property, valuable forest land and valuable parkland. [1545] It was a huge task to coordinate so many, and all of those agencies — including the pilots, the weather per- sonnel, the forest personnel — were magnificent.

In m a n y w a y s we w e r e a t w a r , a n d t o u s e a n o l d c l i c h é , this was really their finest hour. I know that at least 47 firefighters from Langley were part of this unprecedented effort, and I'd like to read into the record the names of those 47 who were in the Okanagan or in the Koot enays, and I'm sure there were others that perhaps are not on this list. But from the Langley city fire-rescue, there were Terry Alcom- brack, Jamie Burns, Mike Cameron, Murray Campbell, James Clark, Troy Collins, Tony Crawford, Bruce Dun- das, Mike Frew, R.

Gunn, Brad Hamilton, John Han- son, Murray Hess, Scott Kennedy, Bruce Kilby, Ryan Kilby, J. Kirbyson, Rob Leigh, Gord McGregor, Chris Miley, Brent Morgan, Colin Nystrom, Dave Robinson, Dan Skidmore, Mike Veitch and Barry Vignal. In the town of Langley: K. Anderson, D. Anline, M. Blair, S. Brewer, R. Clauso n, Jim Duncan, Bruce Fergu- son, Len Foss, A. Hewitson, M. Kernel, S. Mashi, S. Matterson, Rita Paine, Dave Palmer, P. Prudhome, Rob Sewel, D. Steeple, B. Ulle, H. Vanbroek, D. Witowitch and J. Witowitch.

Once again, on behalf of the constituents of Lang- ley, I want to express our sincere and deep apprecia- tion to the 47 firefighters fr om Langley city fire-rescue and the township of Langley and all the other women, men, firefighters and the m ilitary from across Canada and the United States for your bravery and heroism that was displayed this summer throughout British Columbia in the fire-ravaged parts of our province. Thank you. R.

Hawes: Like those before me, I too rise to put the v o i c e s o f b o t h m y s e l f a n d my constituents, actually, behind the congratulations and thanks that we would send out to those who worked so hard to stop the terri- ble fires of last summer. It wasn't just the communities that were directly affected by the fires that suffered the terrible, terrible consequences. Communities all over the province and families all over the province felt the effect, and some a lot more than others.

As volunteers, firemen, police- men and our soldiers pulled together to put themselves in harm's way — very typical of what happens in this

7168 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES M ONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2003 type of an event, where young men and women go forward without regard to their own safety to protect the lives and property of othe rs…. It's very, very typi- cal of what happens in these types of events. The Mission fire department and the Maple Ridge fire department, like many others around the province, sent volunteers. But I want to speak today just briefly about one that went, and that would be Ben von Hardenberg. Ben was a helicopter pilot who grew up in the Deroche area, near Mission, in my riding.

Ben, like the others, answered th e call, knew the risks and decided that he would put himself in harm's way to help quell the fires. He flew the buckets of water that many of us watching TV saw so frequently — the im- age of the firebombers and the helicopters flying over these fires. Every time you would see that, at least per- sonally….

I'm sure just about anyone else who saw it would think about the people who were inside those planes and inside those helicopters and the kind of danger that they had put th emselves into and the kind of bravery they were displayi ng as they just flew mis- sion after mission over these fires. [1550] So often in these events , tragedies occur that go beyond just what the headlines say. Ben von Harden- berg was about to get married. He was days away from being married, and he was just flying one of his last missions. Following his marriage, Ben was going to move to Australia to take up a management position.

He was tragically killed while flying a mission over one of the fires. For Ben, there isn't going to be a future. For Ben's family, who have been completely devastated by this, and for his fiancée, our hearts must go out. I just wanted to make sure that the memory of people like Ben von Hardenberg is recorded and not forgotten. These are the types of heroes that fought for us all summer, and tragically, three, including Ben, gave their lives.

On behalf of myself and my constituents, our hearts do go out to the von Hardenberg family and to Ben's fiancée, and our thanks for what he did for us and our thanks to all of the volunteers. I think we need to con- stantly remember that there are those who will give their lives, and we need to make sure they are not forgotten. D. MacKay: I'm pleased to stand in the House to- day in support of the motion on the floor. Our Premier has said several times that the greatest resource this province has is its people. At no time in our history as a province has this been more evident than this past summer.

I was appointed to the mining task force made up of 15 members of caucus under the very knowledgable and competent chair, the member for West Vancouver– Capilano. We were asked to discuss with the mining i n d u s t r y w h a t m o r e w e c o u l d d o a s g o v e r n m e n t t o bring back the industry. This required a great deal of travel throughout the summer months. We travelled through the interior, down through Kamloops and Ashcroft, Vernon, Merritt and the Coquihalla Highway area. This is where we got our first glimpse of smoke and an indication of what was to come.

We travelled on our next trip through the south- eastern part of British Columbia, where the fires were creating so much havoc. I recall my trip from Banff to Radium Hot Springs. I experienced firsthand what the fires were doing. We travelled through a burned valley and through an area that wa s still burning. The high- way was intermittently open ed and closed, and travel arrangements had to be put on hold and moved ahead. I continued on to Cran broo

Document details

Collection	British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	H1006pm 09
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	H1006pm 09
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	b596993c8729daf82fad0440ac4ce484ea50853d

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