2004 Legislative Session: 5th Session, 37th Parliament

HANSARD

The following electronic version is for informational purposes

only.

The printed version remains the official version.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

(Hansard)

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2004

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 20, Number 2

CONTENTS

Routine Proceedings

Page

Introductions by Members

Tributes

Sindi Hawkins

J. MacPhail

Introductions by Members

Tributes

Lori Wikdahl

R. Hawes

Introductions by Members

Statements (Standing Order 25 B )

Portable rent subsidies

J. Bray

B.C. Chamber of Commerce

D. Hayer

B.C. Hydro electricity plan

B. Penner

Oral Questions

Taxation of tobacco products

J. Kwan

Hon. G.

Collins

J. MacPhail

Trades training in B.C. and Red Seal

program

M. Hunter

Hon. S. Bond

Government aid for B.C. cattle industry

P. Nettleton

Hon. J. van

Dongen

Taxation authority

J. Kwan

Hon. G. Plant

National public health agency

K. Manhas

Hon. C. Hansen

Point of Privilege

J. MacPhail

Hon. G. Collins

Throne Speech Debate

J. Bray

Tributes

Winnifred Ariel Weir

W. McMahon

Throne Speech Debate (continued)

W. McMahon

R. Hawes

Hon. G. Abbott

P. Nettleton

Hon. B. Barisoff

Hon. P. Bell

V. Anderson

B. Belsey

H. Bloy

[ Page 8453 ]

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2004

The House

met at 2:03 p.m.

Prayers.

Introductions by Members

Hon. G.

Campbell: Today we're joined in the House by 35 Special Olympians and their

coaches. They're part of a 129-member team from British Columbia whose coaches

and mission will be leaving on Sunday for the Special Olympics Canada National

Winter Games in Prince Edward Island. It will start on February 16. The athletes

at these national games will compete for spots on Team Canada in the eighth

Special Olympics World Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, in 2005.

The

athletes' oath is: "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the

attempt." B.C. Special Olympics programs involve 3,400 athletes of all ages

and another 2,100 volunteers in communities across this province.

[1405]

I want to

welcome these guests and tell them that they are all true achievers. They are

all representing British Columbia. We know that they will do extremely well.

We're proud of their accomplishments, and we look forward to their continued

accomplishments as they go to P.E.I. for the national games. They continue to

make contributions and show leadership in their communities. I'd like the House

to make them all welcome and wish them the best.

Tributes

SINDI HAWKINS

MacPhail: I want to rise today on behalf of my colleague and me to

acknowledge another person making an Olympic, heroic effort. I know that the

government caucus has brought greetings and prayers to the member for

Kelowna-Mission, and I just want to say to the member for Kelowna-Mission that

those prayers are literally from 100 percent of us. If indeed you are watching,

first of all, get a life. But I think, actually, the member will be watching.

She has maintained her sense of humour. She has maintained a sense of compassion

that is quite overwhelming in this situation of adversity that she finds herself

in, and she has maintained a sense of inclusiveness, also, in her time of

adversity. I want to make sure she understands, along with everybody in the

Legislature, that the opposition is bringing our prayers on her behalf as well.

Introductions by Members

J. Bray:

I have two introductions. The first, joining us today in the chambers, is

somebody who is no stranger to this House, Terry Colburn, whose native name is

Iskaital. Terry has become a very active mental health advocate in Victoria. I'd

ask that the House again please make him very welcome.

My second

introduction is not of constituents but of two people without whom I certainly

would not be here. It's my pleasure again to introduce to this House my parents,

Evelyn and Marshall Bray, QC. I'd ask that the House please make them very

welcome.

B. Kerr:

In conjunction with my colleague from Esquimalt-Metchosin — who I think should

be at home in bed, by the way — it's my honour to introduce a number of people

visiting the Legislature. In this group we have 22 people who are from the Juan

de Fuca seniors centre. They have joined us today to see firsthand how the

legislative process works in B.C. and to take in the beauty and grandeur of the

parliament buildings. I'd ask the House to please make them feel very welcome.

Lekstrom: Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to inform

you and all members of a recent addition to our extended family here at the

Legislative Assembly. Mary Newell of the office of the Clerk of Committees gave

birth to a beautiful baby boy, Beckham Joshua Aspinall, on Thursday, February 5.

Please join me in sending Mary and her husband, Tony, our best wishes on this

very happy occasion.

Penner: I am pleased today to introduce one of the people who helps to keep

things running smoothly for myself and my caucus colleagues. Martina Kapac is

experiencing her first live question period ever today. I hope she finds it as

enjoyable as we always certainly do. Martina is one of our legislative

assistants working with us since August of 2003. Would the House please make her

welcome.

Tributes

LORI WIKDAHL

Hawes: I'd like to ask the House to acknowledge one of my constituents, Lori

Wikdahl, who probably many of you know has just finished a walk across Canada

for multiple sclerosis. Lori suffers from the disease, and every day that she

walked across Canada, I know she suffered with incredible pain and showed

incredible fortitude in completing this over a one-year trek across the country.

I would like to ask all the members of this House to join me in congratulating

Lori and assuring her that she has raised the profile of those that suffer from

multiple sclerosis.

[1410]

Introductions by Members

Suffredine: It's not very often that a member of my constituency ends up

viewing us in the Legislature. This week I have a young man from grade 12 in New

Denver who actually asked, as part of his job participation program, to follow a

Member of the Legislative

[ Page 8454 ]

Assembly around for this week. He's in the gallery today watching his first

question period. He's also on the Youth Advisory Committee to the Columbia Basin

Trust. Would the House please make him welcome — Alex Besinque.

Mr.

Speaker: Hon. members, it is indeed a pleasure for me to read a message from

the Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations.

"Since

my sudden diagnosis of leukemia, I have been overwhelmed by the kindness, the

support and the prayers I have received from friends, constituents and people

from across the province and beyond. In fact, I have been quite pleasantly

surprised by the kindness shown by the media, something I've not experienced

too frequently in my eight years at the Legislature.

"The

fact that there are so many of you wishing me well, thinking of me and praying

for me has truly lifted me. It has made my journey so much easier. I can't

tell you how much it means to me that I am not in this fight alone. I want to

thank the Premier, who has been a rock for me and my family. Your small acts

of kindness, like hooking up my hospital phone, to larger acts like covering

my responsibilities while I'm temporarily away mean the world to me and my

family. I'll never forget what you have done for me.

"Finally,

I'd like to say how incredibly wonderful my family has been. My sisters from

Toronto, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver, and my brother from Kelowna have made

sure I'm never alone. It's hard to imagine how we've spent so much time apart

in the past, because we just love being together. My parents give me strength

and hope that carry me through every single day. I am thankful for my

wonderful family.

"Mr.

Speaker, they say laughter is the best medicine, and believe me, I'm getting

heaping spoonfuls of it. On the first day my sisters flew in, they presented

me with the top ten reasons why they love me. I want to share the top three

with you. The No. 3 reason refers to the golf tournament my interior

colleagues and I do every summer for cancer care. So here goes. The No. 3

reason they love me is: 'Only you would help raise $200,000 for cancer care

and then spend it on yourself.' The No. 2 reason they love me: 'You're so

selfish. We only asked to borrow your cashmere sweater, and you want our bone

marrow.' And the No. 1 reason they love me: 'You'll do anything to stay the

slimmest sister in the family.'

"As

you can see, they're pretty warped, but they keep me in stitches and I love

it. Well, I must start my closing comments. I can almost hear the cries of

'Order, order,' and 'Time, Mr. Speaker, time,' coming from both sides of the

House.

want you all to know I am doing very well. I am strong in spirit and feeling

great. I am getting exceptional care at Vancouver General, as I did at Kelowna

General. People are writing and calling and asking me if there's anything they

can do. There is. Please consider being a blood or platelet donor. These days,

I know I am relying on the kindness and unselfishness of those people who take

the time to donate blood. I am so thankful for this life-saving treatment. If

anything good can come out of publicizing my leukemia, I would hope it would

be that there would be a profound increase in the number of available blood

donors. As hard as it is for me to accept, B.C. is a net importer of blood

from other provinces — provinces that have half or a quarter of our

population. I'm told that the leukemia unit I am in uses 80 percent of all the

platelets in our province and frequently has to call Winnipeg for more. It is

my hope that people will take the time to be a blood and platelet donor.

"Thank

you, Mr. Speaker. I hope to join you all as quickly as I can. I will tune in

regularly because, as I said, laughter is the best medicine. I know you will

all keep me entertained. See you soon, my friends. Please keep me in your

prayers.

"Sincerely,

Sindi

Hawkins, your colleague from Kelowna-Mission"

[Applause.]

Thank you

on behalf of Sindi. I know she and her family are watching today. That's very

heartwarming.

[1415]

Statements

(Standing Order 25

b) PORTABLE RENT SUBSIDIES

J. Bray:

Today I wish to raise an idea that some members in my community are exploring

— that of portable rent supplements. In most cases, subsidized housing

consists of rental units that are built, and the rents are assessed at market

rates. Then a subsidy is assessed to ensure that only a limited percentage of

one's income goes to cover that rent. In this model, the subsidy rests with the

housing unit, and the occupant receives the benefit. However, should the

occupant move, they lose the benefit of the subsidy.

This

creates several issues. First, because one must build the unit before the

subsidy is available, demand for low-income housing will always outpace supply.

Second, it creates the need for people needing low-income housing to move to

where it is available, in some cases moving from one community to another and

kids from one school to another. Third, it creates a disincentive to move once

in a subsidized unit. This can deter moving to another community for employment

for fear of losing the subsidy should the employment cease, thus having to go

back on a wait-list.

I would

like to see us explore a new option, which is having rent subsidies be portable

— in other words, attached to eligible families as opposed to the rental

units. There are some examples now, including Independent Living B.C. rent

supplements. However, they are still attached to units in private

assisted-living facilities. The concept I raise is where low-income families who

would qualify for a subsidy if they were in a subsidized unit can qualify for

the subsidy but apply it to any apartment in the community.

I would

like to explore whether the capital currently raised by non-profits, CMHC and

others that goes into building new subsidized housing could be shifted to the

subsidies themselves. I believe it could provide for many more low-income

families to qualify and receive subsidies, thus relieving some of the issues I

identified earlier. As cities like Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna deal with

higher and higher housing costs, we need to look outside the box for solutions.

[ Page 8455 ]

B.C. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Hayer: Today I want to honour the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce and

its 147 member chambers as they celebrate their annual Chamber Week. The British

Columbia chamber, the voice of business in B.C., began almost 140 years ago

right at the formation of this province in 1867. It is a guiding organization

for businesses large and small throughout British Columbia.

Chamber

members include people from every walk of life and virtually every ethnic group

and represent businesses from tiny one-person operations to huge corporations

employing thousands of people. More than 25,000 individual businesses are

members of B.C.'s chamber and are truly representative of the way our

communities develop.

As the

success of business is the lifeblood of society, a strong economic climate funds

those services that we expect in this province, such as health care, education,

transportation and social programs. It is the members of these chambers of

commerce who employ the people who pay taxes that provide benefits for all of

us.

Surrey is

well represented by the Cloverdale, South Surrey and White Rock, and Surrey

chambers of commerce. For many years I was on the Surrey Chamber of Commerce

board of directors. During 1997-98, I was its president.

As our

province's chambers celebrate this year's theme, "British Columbia

celebrates the best," I would ask this House to join me in thanking all

those who volunteer to serve on these boards. These volunteers are dedicated to

ensuring our economy thrives, our businesses are successful and our economy

provides the lifestyles we so appreciate in this province.

B.C. HYDRO ELECTRICITY PLAN

Penner: Most of us take electricity for granted except on those rare

occasions when it isn't available. That's when we realize how utterly and

completely our society depends upon this remarkable form of energy. There are

some folks, however, who don't take electricity for granted and whose job it is

to plan ahead. B.C. Hydro is currently developing its 2004 integrated

electricity plan. A better working title might be "comprehensive

electricity plan," because the task is to forecast demand for electricity

over the next 20 years and recommend how to meet future needs in a

cost-effective and sustainable way. B.C. Hydro's last plan, completed in 2000,

was an update to the 1995 integrated electricity plan.

[1420]

As you

know, under B.C.'s new energy policy, B.C. Hydro remains publicly owned and

continues to have a legal obligation to serve its customers. B.C. Hydro does not

have the luxury of being unprepared. The newly reinvigorated B.C. Utilities

Commission and other agencies will use the integrated electricity plan to assess

new power project proposals. The new energy policy requires all of this planning

to be done in the context of keeping electricity rates low, providing reliable

and environmentally responsible sources of electricity, and encouraging the

private sector to bring forward creative, innovative proposals.

Specifically,

B.C. Hydro has been given a target of acquiring 50 percent of all new

electricity from clean sources. Already since the 2001 election, B.C. Hydro

signed contracts to acquire electricity from more than 30 new made-in-B.C.

projects. Thirty-two are small hydroelectric run-of-the-river projects. Two

involve capturing landfill gas, which would otherwise escape into the

atmosphere, and one is B.C.'s first-ever commercial wind power project.

This is a

good start, but there's more to be done. The last major project, the Revelstoke

Dam, was completed in 1984, and in recent years B.C. Hydro has been a net

importer of electricity. Regional information meetings in recent weeks have been

held in 12 communities across B.C. seeking feedback on the draft plan, which is

posted on B.C. Hydro's website. In fact, I encourage all members of this House

to look at the draft plan, especially the

section that examines potential new

sources of electricity.

Doing

nothing is not a responsible option, as the California crisis of a few years ago

aptly demonstrated. We are blessed in British Columbia to have many good options

to choose from, and I look forward to many more positive projects in the near

future.

Mr.

Speaker: That concludes member statements.

Oral Questions

TAXATION OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS

J. Kwan:

Since this House last met, a lot has happened. The RCMP raided offices, raided

the Legislature, and no one — at least no one in this caucus — seems to know

why. A minister has resigned. A deputy has been fired, and a high-level Liberal

official with connections to the Premier is under investigation related to

untendered government contracts. Other contributors to the B.C. Liberals have

been found to have benefited from government write-offs on fines and fees.

However, I

want to focus today on a matter that I know the Finance minister tried to bury

before Christmas, a matter that he was no doubt pleased was overshadowed by the

news of the police sifting through his staff offices. Can the Minister of

Finance please tell us how much his government has collected on the cigarette

tax he announced in December?

Hon. G.

Collins: If the member means to date, I don't know that amount. I know that

on an annualized basis, it's anticipated it will bring in about an additional

$40 million.

Mr.

Speaker: Member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary question?

[ Page 8456 ]

J. Kwan:

The tax grab, as the Minister of Finance has said, I don't believe is enough to

get rid of the '03-04 deficit, but it certainly was worth the risk of offending

the Legislature if it meant that he could table his budget next week without any

new taxes being the focus. Can the minister tell this House what statutory

authority he relied upon to support his decision to increase the tax without

first bringing it to the Legislature for debate and approval?

Hon. G.

Collins: As I said on the date that this announcement was made, it was the

government's intention to introduce legislation to raise the tax on tobacco, and

it was anticipated that the legislation would take effect December 19, 2003.

That is what we've said. That is the basis upon which we used that. We did speak

to legislative counsel before making the announcement and were assured that it

was in order. However, if in some way I've offended the member opposite or any

member of the House, it was certainly not my intention to do that.

Mr.

Speaker: Member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a further supplementary?

J. Kwan:

It's no surprise, really, that this minister would bring in a tax without first

debating the matter in this House, and I think it just shows the level of

contempt that he has for British Columbians. Just in case the Government Leader

and Finance minister has not yet grasped the significance of his actions, let me

quote from a

section of the Constitution Act,

section 92: "In each

Province, the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to…Direct

Taxation within the Province in order to the raising of a Revenue for Provincial

Purposes."

It's a

simple question. What statutory authority did the Minister of Finance rely on to

override the Constitution Act and tax British Columbians without debate and

without the approval of the Legislature?

[1425]

Hon. G.

Collins: The fact of the matter is that the tax is not a new tax. It is a

tax that's been existing previously. It continues to exist. What we stated in

December was that it was the government's intention to introduce legislation in

this session this spring that would amend the rate for the tobacco tax, and that

it would be retroactive to December 19. Governments frequently raise taxes

retroactively.

MacPhail: We have a Minister of Finance that's sort of like the Prime

Minister. He doesn't know how much he's collected so far. Well, let me do the

math: $40 million annually for two months means this government has collected

illegally $6 million from the public. He cites as his source legislative

counsel. This minister could have introduced legislation on December 16. We were

sitting in this chamber, and yet he snuck through an illegal tax grab on

December 19 with no legal authority.

Let me

remind the minister again that the Constitution Act says that the Legislature

may exclusively make laws in relation to direct taxation. The Constitution Act

doesn't say: "An arrogant and desperate government bent on hiding its

taxation agenda on budget day can make laws in relation to taxes." It says

the Legislature exclusively. Does the minister have a learned authority that

trumps the Constitution Act? If not, will he apologize to this House today and

return the collected taxes that he's already got in his pocket — and that he's

done so without authority?

Hon. G.

Collins: The people of British Columbia let that member do the math for ten

years, and look where it got us.

The fact of

the matter is that the House will have the final say on the tax. That is the way

it goes. That's what I said the day the announcement was made. This Legislature

is the final body, according to the Constitution Act, that makes those

determinations. What I said was that it was the government's intention to

introduce legislation this session. We'll be doing that. I said that it would be

retroactive to December 19. It's not uncommon for government to levy taxes

retroactively. They do it all the time. Her government did it numerous times.

That is what's going to happen. We're not going to hide it either. It will be

fully presented in the budget next week, and I'm sure the member will be anxious

to see the balanced budget.

Mr.

Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a supplementary question?

MacPhail: The reason why the Finance minister cites no authority is because

he has no authority, and despite his protestations he is the first Finance

minister to do this. No previous government has done what he has done. In Ottawa

the Finance minister's….

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

MacPhail: No previous government has done it.

In Ottawa

the Finance minister's Liberal cousins have been caught handing tax dollars to

their friends. At least they collected those taxes legally before they handed

them over to their friends. The Finance minister won't even provide that

courtesy. With no authority, with no debate and with no precedent, the Finance

minister picked the pockets of British Columbians, and now he refuses to even

offer an explanation that's credible. Again to the Minister of Finance: will he

return every dime — $6 million and more — that he collected illegally from

British Columbians?

Hon. G.

Collins: As I've said, the final arbiter in this matter is always the House.

It is always the Legislature. I said that on the day; I say it again today.

Certainly, if the members of this House wish to defeat that legislation, then of

course the government would re-

[ Page 8457 ]

turn the money. The reality is that it will be up to the House, and I expect

that member to vote according to her conscience. If she wants to lower tobacco

taxes, I'll be anxious to see how she votes.

Interjection.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please. Order.

[1430]

TRADES TRAINING IN B.C.

AND RED SEAL PROGRAM

Hunter: My question is to the Minister of Advanced Education. Over the past

days I have had communication from employers and contractors in Nanaimo who are

concerned about what they're hearing about exam marks and the Red Seal

certification program and the program itself being at risk in British Columbia

as a result of that. They've also asked me about the continuation of

apprenticeship programs in British Columbia, because somebody seems to be

telling them that we're doing away with apprenticeship. Can the minister please

explain what we're doing to make sure we have a trades training program that's

sustainable?

Hon. S.

Bond: The integrity of the Red Seal process in this province is important to

this government. That's why, when there was an indication several weeks ago that

there may be issues with the exam process related to Red Seal, we moved

immediately to do something about that. The review has taken place over the last

number of weeks. I expect to have more specific information presented to me

through my deputy on Friday. But it is clear that some exams were adjusted.

The good

news, if there is any, is that the number of exams that were adjusted is a small

number. Most often the significance, in terms of the exam adjustment, was 1

percent. But during the course of that review, I asked the reviewer to look

back, using the databases that were available to us. We went back as far as we

were able to — as far as 1995 — and, in fact, we found that exams have been

adjusted in the province of British Columbia since 1995. Again, that information

will be provided in more detail by Friday, and I hope to make that information

much more public by Monday.

Interjection.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please.

GOVERNMENT AID FOR

B.C. CATTLE INDUSTRY

Nettleton: You never know who you'll run into the hallways here in the

Legislature. I was fortunate enough to bump into a senior staffer from the

Ministry of Agriculture earlier today, and I queried him as to the $16.8 million

that had been announced yesterday in the Speech from the Throne with respect to

moneys designated for ranchers hard hit by BSE. It's an issue with which I think

we're all somewhat familiar.

indicated, in fact, that the $16.8 million is not new money. This is in contrast

to a plain reading of the Speech from the Throne — I'll make reference to

that, if I may — which clearly conveys a different meaning entirely. The

Speech from the Throne, in fact, indicates that more will be done to help B.C.'s

ranchers recover from the BSE crisis. It goes on to state that in addition to

the $10.5 million in assistance already committed to the BSE program, a further

$16.8 million will be contributed to help farmers with respect to this crisis.

Now I'm wondering why it is the Premier chose to communicate this funding in

this way, with the resulting confusion with respect to this funding.

Hon. J.

van Dongen: Our ministry and our government are working with the federal

government and other provinces to provide substantial support to our producers.

We had estimates last fall of the additional cost to the government of all of

the BSE programs that we are doing, and we are confirming in the throne speech

that we have added an additional $16.8 million to the budget of our ministry for

the purposes of supporting our hard-hit cattle industry in British Columbia.

TAXATION AUTHORITY

J. Kwan:

The Minister of Finance cites legislative counsel as a source who reports to

the Attorney General. Does the Attorney General agree with the Minister of

Finance's legal opinion that he, the Minister of Finance, has statutory

authority that trumps the Constitution Act?

Hon. G.

Plant: Actually, I was sitting listening to those questions, remembering

when the members opposite sat in a cabinet room one day and imposed the death

tax on British Columbians — had to be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada to

establish that probate fees were really taxes — and then were dragged kicking

and screaming back into the Legislature finally to have the very debate which

the Minister of Finance has said we will have in this chamber when the time is

right, where it belongs, on the issue that has been addressed here.

[1435]

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please. Order, please.

NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCY

Manhas: My question is to the Minister of Health Services.

Interjections.

[ Page 8458 ]

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please, hon. member. We'll wait until we can hear the

question.

Please

proceed.

Manhas: My question is to the Minister of Health Services. The federal

government has committed to establish a national public health agency similar to

the U.S. national centres for disease control. British Columbia would be an

ideal location for that. We are an international gateway and a leader in

pathology research. We are already home to the highly successful and

world-renowned B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Can the

minister tell me what steps are being taken to ensure that British Columbia has

a lead role in establishing our Canadian national centre for disease control?

Hon. C.

Hansen: Actually, at the Health ministers' conference that was held in

September in Halifax, there was unanimous agreement and support by all health

ministers and federal, provincial and territorial governments to support the

initiative towards a national public health agency.

Subsequently,

there was a report that was done by Dr. David Naylor, who is the dean of

medicine at the University of Toronto, on the whole SARS crisis in Canada. He

proposed this national agency and set out the components that would be

desirable. Of the 20 components that he felt were desirable, the B.C. Centre for

Disease Control — the only centre of its kind in Canada — had 12 of those 20

components.

We had the

best record in Canada when it came to managing the SARS crisis. We read the

science in this province that produced the first gene-sequencing of the

coronavirus. The vaccine initiative that was triggered by our Premier following

on that is now leading the world in developing a vaccine for SARS. We have a lot

to offer in terms of the national public health agency, and I fully expect that

B.C. will play the pivotal role in that new national enterprise.

[End of question period.]

Point of Privilege

MacPhail: Mr. Speaker, you will recall that yesterday I rose and reserved

the right to raise three matters of privilege. I would like to address the first

one now.

Mr.

Speaker: Please proceed.

MacPhail: I would like to present to you what I believe to be a prima facie

case for the argument that the Minister of Finance has acted in contempt of this

Legislature and its primacy by violating the fundamental principle that a tax

cannot be increased or implemented before it has been presented to the House.

I would

like to first refer you to a press release dated December 19, 2003, that was

issued by the Minister of Finance. It is titled Province Increases Tobacco

Tax . Within this news release the Minister of Finance announced that the tax

would increase by 1.9 cents per cigarette. The increase went into effect at

midnight that evening, and to date this government has collected about $6

million in that tax — that new tax.

I want to

make it clear that I am not raising issue with the merit of the tax or the

increase, so the heckling of other members can stop on that issue. Instead, I

would argue that the minister…

Interjections.

Mr.

Speaker: Order, please. Order.

MacPhail: …violated the primacy of this House by unilaterally enacting

such a change without legislative authority. The tax increase was simply

announced. There was no legislation, no cabinet order, no motion to the Public

Accounts Committee. The minister acted without any authority.

For your

consideration, I would refer you to the Tobacco Tax Act itself,

an act that

establishes that this is a tax.

Section 2 of the statute clearly sets out the

tax rate for cigarettes and tobacco. The rate of tax is not set by regulation.

It exists as law in the Tobacco Tax Act.

To date,

the Minister of Finance has not brought this change before the House. Indeed,

yesterday he didn't do it. Today he didn't do it, and he's collecting millions

of dollars. He has changed a statute without support from the Legislature.

[1440]

Secondly, I

would like to highlight

section 92 of the Constitution Act of Canada.

Section 92

defines the exclusive powers of provincial legislatures. It states: "In

each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to Matters

coming within the Classes of Subjects next hereinafter enumerated; that is to

say, Direct Taxation within the Province in order to the raising of a Revenue

for Provincial Purposes." I would argue that the Minister of Finance has

violated this

section by not bringing the tax increase before the Legislature

for debate or approval.

Finally, I

would like to draw your attention to three sections of Erskine May's Parliamentary

Practice . On page 734 it states: "A charge, whether upon public funds

or upon the people, has to be authorized by legislation, and it must originate

in the House of Commons." Furthermore, on page 777 it states that charges

upon the people include: "…the imposition of a new tax, the continuation

of an expiring tax, an increase in the rate of an existing tax or an extension

of the incidence of a tax so as to include persons not already payers." The

Minister of Finance's feeble defence that this was not a new tax is swept away

by Erskine May.

Lastly, I

would like to cite page 778 of Erskine May, which states, "The increase in

the rate of a permanent tax must be initiated by a ways-and-means resolution for

that purpose" — not brought in six, eight, ten weeks

[ Page 8459 ]

after the tax has been collected, but initiated by a ways-and-means

resolution for that purpose.

Mr.

Speaker, the tax increase was announced on December 19. The Legislature sat on

December 16. It is beyond belief that between December 16 in the afternoon and

the morning of December 19, the government dreamed up this tax and said:

"Oh, let's grab another $6 million from the public of British Columbia

before the next budget is tabled." I know that's the defence of the Prime

Minister, the federal Liberal Prime Minister, and I hope it's not what this

provincial government is using as a defence as well.

The

Minister of Finance had every opportunity to bring this change before the

Legislature. In subsequent media reports he made it clear that this action was

not the actions of previous B.C. Legislatures. I have that news

article with the

direct quote of the Minister of Finance saying this is not what's done in B.C.

He made such comments in the Vancouver Sun on December 20 of last year.

He also argued that Quebec did the same thing a few weeks earlier.

The

article, and the

article merely reflecting the Minister of Finance's comments,

failed to mention that the Quebec National Assembly was sitting at the time they

raised the tax, and they actually introduced legislation. It slipped the mind of

the Minister of Finance to make that comparison.

Mr.

Speaker, I believe the material I have cited clearly illustrates there is a

prima facie case of contempt of parliament. It is clear that the Minister of

Finance acted unilaterally in increasing a tax that is defined by statute —

doesn't delegate it to a regulation by OIC. The actual tax rate is defined by

statute. In circumventing the Legislature, the minister has violated the

supremacy of the Legislature and our rights as MLAs to vote and represent our

constituents before the tax is announced and collected.

I have

before me a motion to present to the Legislature should you find a prima facie

case. I also table the documents which I referenced: the news release from the

Minister of Finance dated December 19, the Tobacco Tax Act that shows the

section in which the tax rate is clearly specified, the Constitution Act and the

Vancouver Sun

article to which I referred in which the Minister of

Finance is quoted.

Hon. G.

Collins: I understand the member has three motions of privilege that she

wishes to make today. I'd like to make it clear that I'll reserve the right of

the government to respond to them at a later date.

Mr.

Speaker: So noted. The Chair will take into consideration all the comments

made and bring back a ruling in due course.

[1445]

Orders of the Day

Hon. G.

Collins: I call Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne.

Throne Speech Debate

J. Bray:

I move, seconded by the member for Columbia River–Revelstoke, that:

[We, Her Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in session assembled, beg leave to

thank Your Honour for the gracious speech which Your Honour has addressed to

us at the opening of the present session.]

It is an

honour to again rise on behalf of the residents of my community,

Victoria–Beacon Hill, and respond to the throne speech. The

Lieutenant-Governor has laid out a comprehensive vision for British Columbia. It

is a vision that deals not only with the present but also with the future for

our children and grandchildren.

Bringing

out our best. That was the theme we heard from the throne speech. It is an

attitude that will drive this province and its people to new levels of

excellence. William James once said: "The greatest discovery of our

generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their

attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be." I am proud of the

revitalized attitude this Premier and this government have brought to the people

of British Columbia.

This throne

speech lays out an exciting world of opportunity for all regions and all peoples

to share in the wealth and potential of this great land. As government, we are

offering new structures and programs that will create hope and prosperity for

our children and the next generation. New programs that will promote

athleticism, art, music and culture to flourish in our young people in the

spirit of 2010 are examples of what a progressive government with sound fiscal

discipline can deliver to the public.

Goals of

adding 25,000 new post-secondary spaces by 2010 are the benefits of sound

government incorporating progressive social policy. The best preventative health

care measure is a top-notch education system for all. However, such positive

initiatives do not happen on their own. They require long-term planning and

execution of those plans.

Balancing

the budget is not the end goal but rather the foundation from which progressive

measures can be implemented. It is the predictable, stable surpluses that allow

government to meet the priority of British Columbians in a sustainable fashion.

This throne

speech was the fourth since the general election of 2001. To understand the

significance of this throne speech, I think it instructive to review what we

have heard in previous throne speeches and what this government has achieved.

H.G. Wells

once said: "In politics, strangely enough, the best way to play your cards

is to lay them face upward on the table." In the time leading up to the

general election of 2001, we did just that. We published our New Era

document. It laid out over 220 specific proposals for creating a prosperous and

exciting future for British Columbians.

The

political pundits thought us too specific — too many commitments. How could we

accomplish this? Well, the answer is simple. We followed our plan.

[ Page 8460 ]

In 2001 we

heard the following commitments and saw the following actions. To transform the

public policy process in British Columbia, we created government caucus

committees to ensure every MLA was directly involved in decision-making. We

brought in free votes so MLAs could effectively represent their constituents.

You know, in ten years of NDP government, I never remember one MLA once

exercising a free vote.

re-engaged the select standing committees of this Legislature to ensure more

access for the public to directly engage their elected officials. To ensure

public confidence in their government, we introduced real balanced-budget

legislation and real truth-in-budgeting legislation so the public could feel

confident that we are keeping the government's financial records the same way as

they would. In fact, this year ours will be the first government in Canada to

fully adopt generally accepted accounting principles in its financial records

system.

[1450]

We also

provided a dramatic personal income tax cut and that year provided over 17

additional tax cuts, including eliminating the much-hated corporate capital tax

and the tax on new machinery and equipment. We worked to eliminate backlogs and

delays in Crown land applications, and we started to encourage mineral

exploration. Previously, the NDP raised taxes continuously, and who did this

hurt the most, Mr. Speaker? Working families. Those earning $60,000 or less paid

the highest taxes in Canada. Under our tax relief, they now pay the lowest.

Mining and

the high-wage jobs that come with it were chased out of the province by the NDP.

Again, who was hurt the most? Working families in our smaller resource-dependent

communities.

In the

throne speech of 2002 we heard about the need to reduce the regulatory burden

faced by many in this province, so government continued with its goal of

reducing unnecessary red tape by one-third before May of 2005. We streamlined

and modernized the Labour Code to fit the current work world.

continued to focus on health care, including revising the Medical Services Plan

to bring lower premiums to over 230,000 low-income British Columbians. We fully

funded the mental health plan. We combined both mental health services and

addiction services into one envelope, and then placed that appropriately where

it belonged — in health care. We established the goal and method for doubling

the number of medical students graduating in this province.

In 2003 we

heard about several additional initiatives. One of the most progressive was the

Citizens' Assembly, which is currently looking at how British Columbians may

want to choose their elected representatives in the future. This initiative is

being watched around the world and is the most comprehensive form of

consultative democracy we have ever seen.

We also

heard a great deal about reconciliation with first nations and have seen several

agreements-in-principle signed with first nations, as well as numerous economic

initiatives to allow first nations communities to share in the wealth of this

province.

We also saw

a major integrated transportation strategy to deal with the need to improve our

infrastructure without unduly burdening future generations, who would otherwise

have to pay for it.

We embarked

on the most significant forestry reforms in 40 years to revitalize and stabilize

the number one sector of our economy.

Of course,

we also won the right to host the 2010 Olympics, which is already reaping huge

benefits for communities right across this province. These were bold

initiatives, ones the NDP never took on. Certainly Carole James, the absentee

leader of the NDP, has never evoked even a glimmer of what vision she has for

our province. In fact, all Carole James says again and again is that she plans

to have a plan. I say to her: "We have a plan, and it's working."

What does a

review of our actions as government mean? Well, Theodore Hesburgh said:

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision." In

2001 the Premier and this government had a vision for hope and prosperity for

this province. At this time every year the throne speech lays out the specifics

of how we will achieve this new era, and we have delivered.

With

131,000 new jobs, British Columbia has led the nation in job creation since

December 2001. More than 53,000 of those jobs came last year, 30,000 of them —

an amazing number — in the month of October alone.

Tax cuts,

deregulation and putting balance in the Labour Code have all helped bring

investors back to B.C. For the first time in six years, more people are moving

to B.C. from other provinces than are leaving.

B.C. is in

the top three provinces for investment intention, a key sign that the rest of

the world is again excited about the potential of this province. B.C. is

creating new businesses faster than it has in a decade. Business incorporations

were up 9.3 percent in the first nine months of 2003, following a 7.7 percent

increase the previous year. It is the best performance since 1994.

New housing

starts are up in B.C. They're up 25 percent this year, more than triple the

national average. B.C. is experiencing double the national average in capital

investment. More than 20,000 people on income assistance have joined the

workforce since 2001, and an additional 65,000 people are independent from

income assistance.

This year

we increased our housing budget to $153 million, the largest in B.C. history.

Since June 2001, we've committed funding to build 3,380 additional subsidized

units. Independent Living B.C. will help provide more than 3,500 units over the

next four years for seniors and people with disabilities who require assistance

with daily living.

[1455]

Our budget

and fiscal plan is on track, with spending under control and revenues rising. We

will balance the budget for 2004-05. What does this mean for B.C.

[ Page 8461 ]

families? As of this year, we will no longer be spending the tax dollars of

our children and grandchildren, because we will be balancing the budget. We are

seeing the rewards of laying out a comprehensive plan and following through on

the new-era commitments, even though they required tough decisions.

Now,

hearing opponents of this government, including Carole James of the NDP, all we

get is the tired rhetoric of failure. Carole James advocates for the policies

that would have restrained 80,000 people on welfare, preventing them from

becoming full participants in our communities. Carole James advocates for

policies that would have denied 6,000 British Columbia citizens increased

disability benefits. Carole James has told working families of this province:

"I don't want you to prosper from a revitalized forest industry. I don't

want you to prosper from the potential for offshore oil and gas, regardless of

what the science may say." Carole James does not even have the propriety to

advise British Columbians how much of their efforts she wants to tax. Carole

James, I suspect, cannot endorse this throne speech, because it is all about

success.

The NDP

know they cannot attract voters who are healthy, working and confident, and

whose children have a future in their own community. This vision scares the NDP,

because they depend on failure and fear to attract support. In the end the NDP

are more comfortable with old problems rather than new solutions.

This throne

speech offers evidence of existing success and a path for all citizens to

achieve their best. I see many positive elements of this throne speech for my

constituents of Victoria–Beacon Hill. Bringing out the best in our economy is

what Victorians have been doing for a while. We have a robust economy, with

unemployment around 5 percent, in part because the government is reducing the

regulatory impediment to investment. Just last night on TV, though, I saw Carole

James claiming that Victoria had "really high unemployment." Does she

even understand numbers? If she is this out of touch with the community she

wants to represent as an opposition MLA, just how out of touch is she with the

rest of the province?

Now, our

tourism sector will continue to benefit from bold initiatives, including the

Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, to bring more people to our region here

in the southwest.

Bringing

out the best in student achievement. One of the issues my constituents

frequently raise with me is their desire for a strong public education system.

The throne speech addresses this issue head-on. The budget for education will

grow by $313 million over the next three years. New graduation requirements

starting in September will raise our standards and provide more flexibility and

choice for students. Early learning and child care agreements with the federal

government will inject more than $70 million into programs for B.C.'s youngsters

over the next three years, giving our most precious resource — our children

— the best start they can have.

I am proud

that this government will launch a major new initiative to address literacy,

beginning with the creation of the Premier's advisory board on literacy. We will

also provide new funding for literacy initiatives and double the annual

contribution to the adult literacy cost-shared program. I encourage, and I'm

sure all other members encourage, the federal government to do the same.

Bringing

out the best in higher education. As a member of the Select Standing Committee

on Finance and Government Services, post-secondary education was a major theme

of our most recent report as a result of the prebudget consultations. In fact,

one of the main recommendations that we made to this House read: "…that

the government provide additional funds in future years for post-secondary

education as they become available." The people of B.C. spoke to our

committee, and this government has responded.

This

province will provide and add an additional 25,000 new student spaces to B.C.'s

colleges, universities and institutes by 2010. A comprehensive new strategy to

increase access to advanced education will be outlined. In addition, Advanced

Education's budget will be increased by $105 million by the year 2006-07. This

positive result in response to British Columbians' priorities was a direct

result of our re-engaging the select standing committees of this House, truly

accommodating the reports and providing the fiscal framework and the surpluses

to act on our citizens' priorities.

[1500]

Another

recommendation in our Finance Committee report was "that the government

complete its plan to bridge the digital divide and stay focused on technological

innovation," so I am pleased that the throne speech identifies that the

government will act to bridge the digital divide by providing broadband access

to 171 communities over the next two years through the provincial learning

network.

As an MLA

who continually meets with constituents in town hall meetings, I know the value

of this type of open dialogue. This is why I'm so eager to hear the outcomes

from the series of round tables, hosted by the Premier, engaging B.C. families

in discussions about their hopes and aspirations for the future, sharing their

views and their challenges and opportunities for both themselves and their

communities. I believe we as a government will hear many creative ideas and

solutions, and with a firm fiscal platform now established through a balanced

budget, we can act on those solutions, bringing out the best in the spirit of

British Columbia.

The

161-member Citizens' Assembly is deliberating on how best to elect members to

this chamber. It is a groundbreaking initiative of which British Columbians are

rightly proud, giving us an unprecedented opportunity to bring out the best in

our parliamentary system.

Now, I want

to spend a moment on the Citizens' Assembly. I believe it would be an

enlightening example of the difference between our government and the

[ Page 8462 ]

NDP. For ten long, arduous, inept years the NDP could have engaged British

Columbians in the concepts of electoral reform, but they did not. Once defeated,

they miraculously became enamoured of proportional representation — long after

the Green Party did, by the way — perhaps as the only method they felt they

might get some seats in this Legislature. On the other hand, as opposition we

committed to a new and unique form of electoral reform, and once elected, we

carried it through.

The

Citizens' Assembly does not just give consultative powers to 161 randomly

selected citizens. It gives them full power to suggest an alternative method of

electing MLAs. If they approve this change, it goes directly to all British

Columbians in the form of a referendum ballot on May 17, 2005. This is the first

time in the history of the Commonwealth that a government has empowered the

people to make historical change to the very foundation of our political

structure. In short, the NDP feared democracy, and this government truly

delivered democracy.

The Spirit

of 2010 and the theme of bringing out our best are not just catchphrases. They

represent the attitude that we as British Columbians can possess and that will

propel us to be the best we can be. I am proud of our Premier and of our

government for making the tough decisions now for the long-term benefit of our

communities, our children and our future. Our first three years in office have

laid the foundation. Now, with a positive and revitalized attitude, we must work

together to build the best B.C. possible. The throne speech lays out the next

phase in this plan, and together we will succeed.

Shoot for

the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.

McMahon: It is indeed my privilege today to second the motion made by the

member for Victoria–Beacon Hill. It is an honour to rise on behalf of the

residents of Columbia River–Revelstoke and respond to the throne speech.

Tributes

WINNIFRED ARIEL WEIR

McMahon: The Lieutenant-Governor has laid out a comprehensive vision for

British Columbia, but before I comment on this year's throne speech, I would

like to pay tribute to a very special Invermere woman who passed away on

February 3 at the age of 95. Winnifred Ariel Weir was a prominent resident,

community activist and contributor to the very fabric of our community. Born and

raised in Cranbrook, she moved to Invermere in 1929 to teach school.

[H. Long in the chair.]

She married

in 1932. At that time she was no longer able to teach, because a married woman

couldn't teach, so she raised her children and devoted herself to her community.

She was a founding member of the Columbia Valley Writers Guild, the Rocky

Mountain Toastmasters Club, the Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce, the

Invermere Businessmen's Association, the Invermere Public Library, the

historical society…. The list goes on and on.

[1505]

She loved

to write and in 1980 published Tales of Windermere , a historical novel

depicting the life and times of early settlers in the upper Columbia Valley. She

was the first editor of the Valley Echo in Invermere many years ago. She

wrote and directed plays for the community, and most recently she wrote a weekly

column for the paper, "Echoes by the Way." She received the Queen's

Silver and Golden Jubilee medals. She was a recipient of the Order of British

Columbia in 1999 and the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Association's life

achievement award that same year. The recognitions truly go on and on.

Winn's life

has been a tapestry woven with vision and determination. We are fortunate to be

left with the results of her hard work. She has left a special footprint on

Invermere and the Columbia Valley, and for that we are extremely grateful. She

will be missed.

Debate Continued

McMahon: I want to begin today by commenting on the driving force behind our

economy — our natural resources. Resource-based industries are the economic

backbone of this province, and although they waned at times due to poor public

policy and the economic climate, they are still an integral part of the economic

force. This is particularly true for the Kootenay, where communities and

families depend on the forest and mining industries for their livelihood. One

need only look to history to see the widespread contribution of the East

Kootenay resources to the local and provincial economy. The Sullivan mine in

Kimberley pumped nearly $20 million into the provincial economy. The Elk Valley

has historically been a hotbed for coal mining activity and continues to be an

enormous mining hub, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the region

and the entire province. But that's not all. Today we know the Kootenay region

has tremendous coalbed methane potential. This resource will offer new

opportunities for growth and jobs in that region.

Last fall I

stood up and spoke in support of a motion calling on the House to recognize the

immense contribution of resource development to the health and education

infrastructure of all communities. Without our resource-based communities and

industries, we would not have our prized services such as health care,

education, social services and services for families. These services exist

because we have strong and sustainable industries in this province that make it

possible.

We are

going to continue to implement our forestry revitalization plan and explore new

secondary industries, such as manufacturing and value-added products. Although

traditional resource industries have

[ Page 8463 ]

been the backbone of the Kootenay region, we also recognize that it is

necessary to diversify. That is why the Premier travelled to China and India to

seek new trade partners and explore new opportunities. We need to think outside

the box, and that's what this government is doing.

One

industry that has often been overlooked and now has great potential to be an

economic powerhouse is tourism. Tourism is a vital industry to British Columbia,

one that contributes nearly $10 billion to the provincial economy and offers a

host of employment opportunities to British Columbians throughout our province.

In the past we have not always recognized the full tourism potential of our

heartlands and back-country regions. However, this is changing rapidly. Most

tourists don't simply come to B.C. to enjoy the city life of Vancouver and

Victoria. They come to experience the natural beauty and outdoors that our

province has to offer. Tourists and travellers alike come to B.C. to experience

our back-country adventures, our mountains and ski hills, our word-class resorts

and our multitude of golf courses, and we have most of these sought-after

destinations right here in my own back yard in the Kootenay.

Even

Microsoft has recognized the incredibly high quality of golf resorts in our

region. The Microsoft Xbox Links 2004 golf series now includes Greywolf at

Panorama, one of only ten golf courses in the world that can be played on Xbox,

the most realistic computer game system on the market. Other courses include a

course in Hawaii and the course at St. Andrews.

We have

tremendous potential to develop tourism in B.C., particularly in the Kootenay

region, to make it one of the leading industries of this province, particularly

with the Olympics coming to Vancouver and Whistler in 2010. This truly is our

opportunity to shine, and I think it is an opportunity for the Kootenay to show

its colours. Last year Fernie was home to the world freestyle event, which

hosted world-class athletes. An opportunity as a training destination for

athletes is Panorama Mountain resort where the Canadian alpine ski team has been

training. Earlier this summer they were up at Farnham Glacier, just outside of

Panorama, where they trained for the very first time during the summer here —

right here in British Columbia.

[1510]

Through the

2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, Kootenay Knitting became a world-known

company overnight with its contract to supply CBC with vests and sweaters. Now

our small and medium businesses have an opportunity to market their own products

through the Olympic Games right here. Earlier today the Premier introduced our

Paralympians as they were on their way back east. Usually I have the privilege

of extending greetings to them in Kimberley, where they do a lot of training at

the ski hill there.

During the

2010 Olympic Games, all eyes are going to be on us. This is a marketing

opportunity in and of itself. In order to see our resources such as tourism,

forestry and mining thrive, we have put in motion an economic plan that is

beginning to see real results. We're seeing results throughout the province and

right at home. Communities in my constituency of Columbia River–Revelstoke are

making great strides and beginning to experience economic revitalization.

Invermere on the Lake and the entire upper Columbia Valley have continued to

prosper economically.

Local

resorts are continuing to attract investment through recreational property

buyers. Invermere has seen $19.5 million in new home construction over the past

two years, and property values have increased 11 percent on average in the last

year alone. In 2003, Invermere on the Lake's boundary was further expanded by

over 400 acres to allow a new resort-residential neighbourhood with over 10,000

new homesites.

The town of

Golden is continuing to develop its capacity as a provincial gateway community

and world-class tourism and quality-of-life destination. Last December the

provincial government, Golden and area economic development society, Kicking

Horse Mountain Resort and Tourism B.C. signed a memorandum of understanding to

develop a visitor information centre in Golden. Local financing partnerships and

land acquisition are nearing completion.

The MOU

brings the community one step closer to becoming a tourism hub in the East

Kootenay and will provide between six and ten direct jobs within the centre,

plus construction jobs. The Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has topped $100

million in investment in less than four years. A call for proposals to potential

developers by Land and Water B.C. is anticipated shortly and will result in the

planned development of approximately 102 additional homes in the community.

The 2003

year ended on a high note for Revelstoke and its economy. Positive indicators

included an increase in hotel room revenues by 14 percent between 2000 and the

end of 2003, an increase in housing sales by almost 100 percent from 2001 to

2003 — this trend is continuing into 2004 — increased local hiring by CP

Rail due to an improved business climate and increased investment encouraged by

the completion of the Mount MacKenzie resort master plan.

In the

coming years Revelstoke looks forward to several major economic development

initiatives, including the development of a major four-season resort at the

local ski hill, Mount MacKenzie, which will have a major impact on the local and

regional economy — Revelstoke looks forward to the provincial government

fast-tracking this project — the reopening of the Coldstream mine operated by

Orphan Boy Resources, and the marketing of lakeshore properties on both Lake

Revelstoke and the Arrow Lakes, which will have a positive impact on the local

economy. These are strong indicators that the economy is turning around and that

we're on track for a prosperous 2004.

When

talking about the economy, we often talk in figures and dollars and lose sight

of how these figures and dollars translate into the real world. A strong economy

isn't simply about investment figures, business and trade, balanced budgets,

responsible spending. It's about what that economy supports. We rely on a strong

economy and adaptable fiscal policies to sup-

[ Page 8464 ]

port and invest in services for people — services such as health care,

education and social programs for those who are less fortunate.

Striving

for a balanced budget and encouraging investment is not about slashing social

services and letting people fall between the cracks. It's about bringing in

revenue to pay for these very services that help prevent people from falling

through the cracks. We're investing in our services, and that's what we're doing

with health care throughout the province. The East Kootenay has seen a

tremendous amount of reorganization of health care over the last two and a half

years. At times it was a process riddled with growing pains.

[1515]

However,

I'm proud to stand here today and tell you that for the first time ever, we

truly have a regional hospital. East Kootenay Regional Hospital is now equipped

with nearly two dozen specialists. The interior health authority is currently

awaiting the arrival of four more specialists, and that's good news for our

area. This means that people can get the care they need when they need it, right

at home. In the past, Kootenay residents have travelled to as far away as

Vancouver or Calgary, which is much closer for us in the eastern side of the

province. But we now have specialists here, locally, to provide the services.

The

hospital has state-of-the-art equipment ranging from a variety of diagnostic

equipment to a telehealth video conferencing system. Telehealth video

conferencing, the latest in health technology, allowed almost two dozen patients

in the East and West Kootenays to avoid a costly trip to Kelowna to see a

specialist last month. This is ideal for people who are unable to travel, lack

transportation or are unable to afford travel to another health centre.

On another

note, the community of Kimberley is in the process of setting up a primary care

centre which will operate as a holistic health centre in this community. The

interior health authority is also working on the renovation of old facilities

and development of new facilities for seniors throughout the region.

The throne

speech highlighted some key initiatives that were undertaken in education, and

I'm excited about our investment in education. I assisted the Rocky Mountain

superintendent of schools for many years, and therefore education is a subject

close to my heart and one that I feel is integral to a strong and dynamic

society. As government, we recognize the importance of investing in the

education of our children, which is why we're committing $313 million over the

next three years to education. That's why we're adding 25,000 new student spaces

to B.C.'s colleges, universities and institutes by 2010. My constituency is home

to the College of the Rockies and Okanagan University College campuses —

interdisciplinary colleges that offer a wide range and variety of programs and

allow students to study closer to home. This is so important in rural British

Columbia.

Last fall

the Minister of Advanced Education committed $60,950 to the East Kootenay trades

pilot project in order to bridge the gap on skilled trades shortages. Our

government will continue to implement the new industry training model and work

toward offering flexibility and choice in all educational paths, whether they

are academic in nature or trades-related.

Not only

are we working to provide flexibility and choice in traditional educational

institutions, we're also working to bridge the digital divide. This is another

untapped educational resource and linked to the global community. However, many

communities across B.C. still don't have the broadband access to the Internet.

For example, the community of Parson, located in my constituency and close to

Golden, is one of the 171 communities without broadband access. That's 251

people who could benefit from technology. Kootenay caucus recognizes that this

is a regional issue and has met with a number of groups interested in seeing

broadband expanded to all parts of the Kootenay.

Lastly, we

are also investing in transportation infrastructure throughout the province.

Those of us who reside in the Kootenay understand the need for safe highways and

accessible routes across the province but also to our back-country destinations.

For this reason, I'm pleased that we're maintaining funding for the maintenance

of recreational sites access roads.

We're also

working hard to see the Trans-Canada Highway upgraded around Kicking Horse

Canyon. Upgrades to this highway have been a long time coming. We're investing

$60.5 million in the replacement of the Yoho Bridge, which began in July of

2002. The next phase of this project will be the $130 million replacement of the

Park Bridge. These projects, along with many other upgrades taking place on the

Trans-Canada Highway, will not only ensure safety but encourage efficiency.

It's vital

that we invest in resource-based communities and services like health care,

education, technology and transportation, but it's equally important that we

invest in our citizens. The people of this province are our greatest asset. This

year's throne speech identifies the strengths that we share as citizens and

areas that we need to work on as a community. We've been developing a variety of

partnerships with first nations, addressing treaty-related issues, economic

development and social issues such as child protection strategies and education.

[1520]

In my

constituency, the Shuswap first nation recently received $600,000 through the

provincial economic measures fund to support building a water reservoir and

delivery system for on- and off-reserve real estate developments. The first

nation will be working with the private sector by providing water services to

off-reserve real estate development that will provide approximately $150,000 in

annual revenue to the Shuswap band.

In a joint

economic development projects which will benefit the Ktunaxa-Kinbasket tribal

council and the Kootenay region. These projects involve greater participation by

the

[ Page 8465 ]

tribal council in forestry and tourism-related businesses, strategic land use

planning and coalbed methane exploration. Local first nations will benefit from

the economic stimulus of these projects, allowing them to better care for their

communities and families. This is what I call investing in people.

On another

front, we're investing in the futures of both young and old. Thanks to the

recommendations of the safe schools task force on which I sat, new provincial

standards for codes of conduct will be put in place to increase student safety

and reduce bullying in our schools. It's an important issue to students, parents

and teachers throughout this province. Every student should have the right to a

public education without fear of bullying, harassment or intimidation.

Young

people and adults alike should also have the opportunity to read and write.

Statistics on literacy in British Columbia are staggering and appalling. For

this reason I'm pleased that the Premier has announced a Premier's advisory

panel on literacy. This panel will serve to evaluate the key issues surrounding

literacy and, hopefully, provide suggestions for improvement. The more literate

our citizens, the more opportunities are available to them and their families.

Last fall

the provincial government awarded $35,000 to the Columbia Basin Alliance for

Literacy in the East Kootenay to continue support of literacy programs in the

region. They do a fantastic job on a small amount of money, so I'm extremely

proud of the work they do. It is through initiatives such as this one that we

can empower individuals and give them the tools to fulfil their potential. After

all, isn't that what we're all trying to achieve?

We're all

trying to fulfil our potential, whether it is as parents, educators, physicians,

nurses, tradespeople, lawyers. We're trying to do the best we can with what we

have. We're trying to support our families and offer our children brighter

futures and more opportunities than we had.

Isn't that

what we're trying to achieve with the bold vision set out in the throne speech

and the legislation we debate here in the Legislature? As elected officials,

we're here to make a difference not only to the economic and social fabric of

British Columbia but also to our communities and our constituents.

We are

committed to revitalizing the provincial economy and making British Columbia a

better place to live for all. The throne speech outlined the importance of

social responsibility. I think this is crucial to building a strong and

democratic society. As government, we are working hard to ensure that services

for families, women and society's most needy are available when needed.

I support

our efforts to address outstanding social issues such as drug addiction, mental

health and crime, but we can't do this alone. I look forward to working with

community groups and other organizations in an effort to address social issues

in our communities. I look forward to building on the partnerships that we have

already established. Most of all, I look forward to creating a brighter future

for our children.

In closing,

I would like to leave you with this quote by Henry Ford: "Coming together

is a beginning. Staying together is progress. Working together is success."

We must continue working together to find creative solutions to the issues that

bind us as British Columbians.

Hawes: I'd like to start by sending my best wishes to our colleague the

member for Kelowna-Mission. If she's watching, I wish she had something better

to do, because, frankly, there's probably something better on another channel.

However, get well and get back to us.

This

is a response to the Speech from the Throne, and first I want to ask the

rhetorical question: what is the Speech from the Throne? What is that all about?

The Speech

from the Throne is the way the government tells the world — it tells the

investment community, it tells the taxpayers and service users, it tells the

country — that this is our plan. This is how we intend to advance programs.

This is our overall plan for new services, for the delivery of services, for

advancing our province on behalf of the people who live here. It covers the

economy. It covers how we deal with first nations. In this throne speech it

covers B.C. Rail, forestry and mining, oil and gas. It covers the arts, the

Olympics. It's a broad-ranging document that covers pretty much everything the

government plans to do.

[1525]

The old

saying is: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." When we took office some

years ago, we knew and everybody in the province knew it was broken. Our system

was broken. We could see that from all of the statistical evidence, where we had

slid to being in last place in almost every economic indicator in this country.

We were in last place, our debt was skyrocketing, and we had deficits in spite

of what the previous government claimed to be a balanced budget. Anyone with any

sense looking at it knew that the balanced budget the previous government had

was based on unsustainable factors like high energy prices — inordinately high

energy prices; who can forget what we were paying for natural gas at that time?

— unusual transfers of money, high interest rates. There were a lot of

unsustainable factors, and in fact we were in what we called a structural

deficit that was fairly substantial and required immediate attention.

We began a

plan of change, of restructuring, in this province when we were elected several

years ago. That restructuring plan is well underway, and it is working. The

throne speech now continues to lay out the plan and how we are on track and

going to progress both through this legislative session and into the future.

There are,

according to our opposition, a number of impediments, a number of reasons why we

can't get on with our plan, why we can't deliver what's promised in the throne

speech. The first thing they like now, at this point, to talk about is scandal.

Scandals impede the government's means of moving ahead. In fact, everything we

do now is to try to divert attention away from the scandals.

[ Page 8466 ]

I want to

start by asking: what is a scandal? I'm thinking about what is now purported by

the opposition and some in the media to be scandals. These are things that

happened with employees of the government and that will happen in companies, in

free enterprise. It will happen at the local level; it happens in school boards.

People do things sometimes that are against the rules. A scandal becomes a

scandal in government when an elected official learns of something and tries to

cover it up or is directly involved in that.

In what are

now being called scandals by the opposition here, there isn't any of that

present. There isn't anything like what happened, say, with Bingogate with the

previous NDP government. There wasn't anything here like Casinogate, where in

the last government they tried — within government, elected officials — to

withhold things and had to have information pulled out like hens' teeth. In the

case here that the opposition likes to refer to now as scandals, we have some

employees that may or may not have done something wrong. No one really knows.

They impugn the reputation of these employees and everyone else, when everything

around it has said — including the police — that there is no government or

elected official involvement.

We don't

have scandals in this government. We have got things that we have dealt with in

a most appropriate way, and I'm thinking particularly of the Children and Family

Development ministry. The member for Surrey–White Rock, the Minister of

Children and Family Development, determined something was wrong in his ministry,

got the information, immediately brought it forward, brought in an audit team,

did exactly the appropriate things. This is not a scandal. In fact, this is

dealing with a problem within government with the highest degree of integrity.

I really am

offended, deeply offended, when I hear the Leader of the Opposition, the member

for Vancouver-Hastings, refer to what's going on in this government as scandals.

I am even more deeply offended when I think of the integrity of the individual

members of this government, the business people and the people who have spent

careers serving in police and serving at the local level in governments, working

in churches and working with the poor, people who are parents and grandparents.

These are people of high integrity whose reputations, I think, are being

impugned by the opposition every time they make these comments.

[1530]

[J.

Weisbeck in the chair.]

I find it

deeply offensive, and I think most of the people in the province and

particularly in my riding understand where this is coming from. It's frankly

disgusting.

Within our

throne speech the first and foremost thing of importance, as far as I'm

concerned, is that we're balancing the budget. We said right from the start,

when we got elected, that our plan was to balance the budget. We said this was a

huge priority. In fact, we've made it law that it must be balanced.

I'm getting

questions quite often at town hall meetings and such that…. People are saying:

"Why do you have to balance the budget? Why do you have to do it so fast?

What's the importance of a balanced budget anyway?" In fact, a couple of

school teachers two weeks ago somehow said that wanting to balance the budget is

just a banker's outlook and that there is something wrong with that. Well,

living within your means is a tenet that almost everybody in this province

understands. I can tell you that the seniors get it and have always gotten it.

Living within your budget is critical to ongoing survival both in your household

and, frankly, in government.

I can tell

you there is a mortgage plan — and I like to think of that as an analogy —

available for seniors, the reverse equity mortgage, where at retirement age or

whenever, if you have a home that has lots of equity and your income is down

because you retired, you can top up your income by pulling money out of your

house every month to live on. It's not very popular. Almost every senior I know

that I have ever talked to — and I was in banking for a number of years, and

that was one of the services that were offered…. I never had anybody take it

up. The seniors would say: "This is horrible. Why would I use the equity in

my house and spend my kids' inheritance so that I can live? I can't do

that." They couldn't bring themselves to do that.

That's what

we've been doing as a province for quite a number of years. We've been spending

our kids' inheritance. We've been living on our credit cards to buy our

groceries. That's what we've been doing. We've got $40 billion in debt, and I'd

like to challenge people to think of when that previous government came into

power. We had a debt of something like $17 billion, and they exited with over

$37 billion in debt.

I'd like to

challenge people to ask: "What did we get for that money? Where did $20

billion go over a decade? That's $2 billion a year on average. Did we get a lot

of new highways?" I'm looking at some of the members here from the north

part of the province, and I don't see them nodding their heads and saying they

saw some improvement in the roads. I'm not seeing anybody standing up, waving

their arms and saying: "Well, we got a lot of really good capital

investment for the $20 billion." That's mostly money that was spent on our

groceries. It's critical that we stop leveraging our future in this province and

leaving a huge debt for our children.

The second

part of that is that interest costs eat away such a huge amount of the

flexibility that government has to provide services. I think anybody can figure

that out. Once you get so far into debt that you're spending all of your money

servicing the debt, you can't pay your mortgage payment. You can't buy your

groceries. You can't buy shoes for your kids. You know, in this province, when

you get so high in debt that all of your money is going to service that debt,

you can't buy hospital services, and you can't provide services for the poor and

affordable housing and all the

[ Page 8467 ]

programs we all want. You can't fix highways when you don't have any money.

The last

one for balancing the budget, in my view, is the bond-rating agencies. We are at

the mercy of the people we owe money to. If we're not doing the right thing and

if we're not acting appropriately, our credit rating will be downgraded, much

like what happens in people's individual lives. If they step out of line with

their bank, either they get their loan called or often they'll see an interest

rate adjustment — up, because the banks set your interest rate based on your

risk.

Gosh, we

owe a lot of money, and if we don't get our budget under control, we are going

to see an interest rate increase because we will see a credit-rating decrease.

It's very simple. Today, because of what this government is doing, the

bond-rating agencies are holding our credit rating as stable. They are intensely

interested in what we're doing. They're watching very closely, but they're very

satisfied that we are moving on track to a balanced budget — and we are, and

we've done it with diligence in spite of a huge amount of opposition from some

quarters.

[1535]

How do you

balance the budget? That's pretty well reflected too, I think, in the throne

speech. You can get bigger revenues, build your economy, and you can reduce your

costs. I want to talk a little bit about those aspects of the throne speech.

Let's start

with the economy. Very clearly, this throne speech and some recent moves, in

fact, within cabinet in this government…. A very clear agenda is available for

anyone to see, and that is we're heavily, heavily committed to improving our

resource sector. We're going to bring British Columbia back to the leadership

role it traditionally had before that last bunch, for ten years, destroyed

mining and forestry. They have no interest in oil and gas, and clearly they also

had no interest in power and in the electrification of this province, because

there was no investment made there either and no commitment to investment.

The throne

speech talks, to start with, a lot about mining — what we're planning to do

with the mining sector, the work we're doing with the mining sector and the

commitments we're making to the mining sector. One of the things the mining

sector, like the forestry sector, is looking for is certainty on the land base.

It wasn't

that many years ago that the Windy Craggy mine people found a very large deposit

in the northern part of this province, invested millions — perhaps hundreds of

millions — of dollars, were ready to put a big mine in production that

actually would have paid this province a huge amount of royalties and would have

provided big employment at high, high incomes. The previous government decided

that it would become a park, so they just basically cut those people off. They

just informed them they were out — no mine and no compensation. To the mining

industry, it sent a signal that we were worse than a Third World country where a

coup from government at any time could just wipe you out. Well, that's what

happened here in this province. The signal went out around the world: this is

not a place to invest in mining.

Well, I'm

really proud to say that our Minister of Energy and Mines has worked very hard

to bring back the mining sector, to show them. Through the work of the Premier,

the cabinet and this government, we have demonstrated to the mining sector that

we are very serious about providing them with certainty on the land, with

stability, with a deregulation process in this province that will allow them to

get back to work and yet sustain the environment. I know of no mining company or

forestry company that wants to go out and destroy the environment, as some would

have you believe or have all of us believe, so I'm quite proud of what we're

doing around mining.

Where my

constituents need to look at is not to those who would say that we're destroying

the environment or that mining is terrible. They need to listen to what the

mining industry is saying. The mining industry is saying it's very happy with

the policies of this government. Finally they find a way to come back, and

hundreds of millions of dollars are now starting to come back into this province

in research and development, and jobs are returning in that sector.

Forestry

has been devastated for quite a number of years, but the same sorts of things

were happening for forestry under the previous government as was happening with

mining. We were taking tenured forests, where forestry companies had gone out

and invested money, and just pulling away their tenure and turning it into parks

with no compensation.

Sometimes

that was done, again going back to…. Earlier I was talking about scandals —

the Carrier Lumber scandal, which I think was a scandal, where the government

made some decisions that were clearly not legal decisions. They took away a

right from a family in Prince George to some tenure, and after many years and a

new government we have settled that. The previous government acted, I think, in

a way that showed the forestry industry that we in this province couldn't be

trusted.

[1540]

The

forestry revitalization that's underway in this province is going to put the

forest back to work. The declaration of a working forest in this province gives

some certainty on the land base to those who want to invest in forestry. It's a

tremendous step forward. On the coast, where my constituents are most affected,

we're moving to market-based stumpage system that's going to improve their lot

in life. The companies that provide jobs — and for me the most important thing

is the jobs and the people that live and pay for their groceries and support

their families on those jobs — need to have certainty.

I can tell

you I'm really pleased that there was a working group that looked at the salvage

industry in this province and came up with a number of regulations. I'm really

pleased to see in this throne speech that there is a commitment not just to a

salvage regime but to increasing the amount of salvage wood that can be held

under a permit on a direct sale to those who

[ Page 8468 ]

work in the salvage industry. There are quite a few of those in my riding,

and I'm hoping they have received that news already. I know they're going to be

extremely pleased.

The oil and

gas sector. The Minister of Energy and Mines has been successful in attracting

the biggest sale we ever had at one time of rights to oil in this province. The

oil industry is very excited about their future here under this government. To

me and to many in this province, the possibility of offshore oil and gas

exploration is just…. I mean, that's where a big, big part of our economic

future will lie.

The NDP

government has absolutely committed that it will never allow that to happen.

There is no point in even discussing it. I not only find that, for many in this

province, to be completely unacceptable, but I'm not hearing from the leader of

the opposition, Carole James, where the money is going to come from, then, to

pay for the programs she is promising. I'm still interested in hearing, but I

doubt if there will ever be an answer.

If we want

to build an economy here, we have to be able to power the province. We have to

be able to supply electricity at an affordable rate. We have been blessed in

this province to have B.C. Hydro, a legacy left by W.A.C. Bennett — a

tremendous, tremendous power supply that for over 30 years has not really seen

any significant investment. In fact, it has been used by previous governments as

a real cash cow, stripped of everything they could take out of it so that B.C.

Hydro was unable to reinvest in itself. Its transmission facilities are aging

and badly in need of investment, but that investment capital simply isn't there.

We have now

at times become a net importer of power in this province, especially when we

have low water years. There hasn't been any move to increase our capacity to

produce power here, because B.C. Hydro, frankly, hadn't the money. It was being

used again as a cash cow by particularly the previous government, so there was

no money left for Hydro to reinvest in itself.

We have not

just developed an energy policy for this province that will allow some

reinvestment by Hydro in itself, but we have invited the independent power

producers of the world to come to British Columbia and supply us with green

power to augment the power that we already produce for ourselves. They will help

invest in our transmission facilities, which have been segregated and are now

all fully protected. Although the opposition and many out there who have special

interests like to point to what's going on in Hydro and say somehow we're

selling it off, it is exactly the contrary.

In terms of

hydro rates, we have re-regulated Hydro so that the likes of a Glen Clark could

never again hold hydro rates and things like that to his personal pleasure to be

set in his office. Completely wrong — politicians should not be setting the

rates for things like hydro. We have re-regulated under the B.C. Utilities

Commission, a completely independent body, the way it should always have been

left.

[1545]

I can tell

you this. As a government, we know you can't freeze things like hydro rates or

insurance rates or university tuitions and not put more money in to subsidize

the inflation rate that these companies run under and not suffer serious

consequences. It doesn't make sense. The previous government politically froze

rates, trying to buy votes, and they ran us into huge difficulties. So we won't

be doing that.

Our energy

policy and our method of building the economy through rebuilding our resource

sector are going to work, particularly when you combine it with the reduction in

regulation that we have implemented — over 90,000 regulations. We removed many

of them — huge, huge impediments to investment in this province.

Another

huge impediment — the previous government didn't get it — was the corporate

capital tax and income tax. I often hear those who have special interests say:

"You gave a tax cut to the rich. That's why we can't have services."

If we're not competitive with our neighbours…. We have lots of evidence. We

saw for ten years how those who have money to invest in this province flee when

they can go to a friendlier tax clime. When you have a government that

continually points fingers, as though those who produce wealth are the enemy,

then those who produce wealth will leave. Why would they stay? That's what was

happening.

The

corporate capital tax, a deadly killer…. It didn't matter whether you made

money or not. If you had assets that were over a threshold, you were going to

pay tax on it. Absolutely ridiculous — removed by this government, not

understood at all by the previous government. That was one of the big factors

that totally killed investment from the Orient. Why would anyone make large

investments here and then start paying tax on their investments before they make

any money? It makes no sense. We have removed it, because we understood that it

was a killer.

On the cost

reduction side. Cost reduction comes in many forms, including service

realignment. That is one of the things that we hear the most about. That's one

of the places that, in the Speech from the Throne, is highlighted. We are

realigning many services, and with great improvement and over time, I think

people are going to understand that much of what we're doing, when it's all put

together, is part of a comprehensive restructuring plan that's going to move us

ahead to the forefront of all the provinces in this country.

I like to

think of what's going on here as an analogy — that this is a house under

renovation. We're renovating the house, but we're still living in it. I don't

know if you have ever done that, but if you have ever renovated your home while

you're living in it, it is mighty uncomfortable while the renovations are

underway. But when it's finished, by golly it's a pretty nice place to live.

That's what's going to happen here.

One of the

problems when you start a renovation job, particularly if it is a house you have

taken over from someone else, is that sometimes you will open up the walls, and

what's inside isn't very attractive. Sud-

[ Page 8469 ]

denly you've got a much bigger job on your hands than you originally thought.

That's part of an analogy I like to think about too. When we took over this

House from the NDP and opened up the walls, we began to see some of the things

they had done — some of the highly destructive things they had done that are

so difficult to bring under control, the labour contracts that they signed and

the little sweetheart deals they gave out. So many things that they did were

like ticking time bombs that keep cropping up and causing huge difficulties.

What we

have, in fact, is more than cost cuts. You hear from the NDP all the time about

cut, cut, cut. We are in cost containment, not cost cut. That's what we

particularly do. If you look at what we were left with, if you look at the

rising on a graph and if you look at where costs were rising versus where

revenue was rising, you could see very quickly where the deficit was going to

be. The secret was to bring the cost spiral back down so that it was at or below

where our revenue was rising. Unfortunately, the NDP left when the cost spiral

was just starting, and a lot of the things that they left…. To give some

examples, they didn't invest in highways for a decade. To catch up, somebody has

to make a huge investment, and you've got to make it in a big hurry. That's a

place where we have some increasing costs that wouldn't be on their books

because they didn't spend anything on highways for ten years.

We have

ICBC, which was losing money on the insurance side and making money on the

investment side. But when the investment side and interest rates subside, ICBC

is actually looking at losing money, and so we've got to have increases in

rates. But that was because we froze rates for so many years — nonsensically.

[1550]

Hydro. A 7

percent increase has just been approved, an interim increase — has just been

approved by the British Columbia Utilities Commission because they recognized

that frozen rates for that many years doesn't make sense and Hydro needs a rate

increase. That was a little gem left by the NDP.

Now you see

tuition fees — the same thing — in university programs. No increase for

years and no increase in funding to the universities means rising costs. Well,

we have to stretch out the programs. Four-year degree programs become five,

classes become more difficult to get into, etc., and the students now…. To

catch up, we see increases, and the students are angry about it. The increases

have only taken us to where the average is across the country, but they had to

come all at once because there was no rational increase because of a political

freezing of rates for a number of years — completely the NDP's style, but that

was left for this government inside the walls.

I look at

some of the specific ministries and some of the specific initiatives we're doing

within government, and I want to talk for just a second about Children and

Family Development. I remember in 1996 watching TV and watching Dennis Streifel,

who was then the MLA for my riding. He was the Minister of Human Resources. I

forget what it was called, but children and families was all mixed in, and the

Matthew Vaudreuil case came up. I still remember him being questioned on that.

He stood with no answers. In fact, the current member for Vancouver-Hastings

spun in her chair, and you could hear her. At home watching on TV, you could

hear her whispering answers to him because he was so flummoxed and knew nothing

about what he was doing.

A result of

that was that they split the ministry, and they took children and families away

from him. The Gove report showed a direction they couldn't follow, and children

and families has been a mess — everyone knows that — for years. The Minister

of Children and Family Development under this government for the last several

years, who has now stepped aside while there is an audit going on, worked

diligently, particularly with the community living sector, to make an agreement

to change governance.

You know,

it's amazing. I have talked to people from the interim board: Dave Driscoll, the

chair, former mayor of Port Moody; people like Heidi Gletchko from Abbotsford or

Brice Shuffleberger from my own riding, who is a self-advocate and is very

excited about the direction this is moving. These people live this every day.

They understand people with developmental difficulties. They work with it every

single day. They are extremely excited about where we are going in Children and

Family Development. That initiative is going to continue.

The

unfortunate thing is that when you listen to people like Carole James or the

Leader of the Opposition talk about what's happening there, they're diverting

attention away from the move to community living. They talk about Doug Walls.

Doug Walls was hired by the interim board to do a job, and he did it very

competently, I'm told by the members of the board. The difficulties he has

himself in, frankly, have nothing to do with the transfer of services to the

community living sector, and they're anxious to get on with this transfer. Any

delay that's caused by people like Carole James, frankly, is a disservice to the

people in this province who have developmental difficulties, and they should be

ashamed of themselves for the way they're conducting what they say.

I see my

time is up, and I have a number of other things that I wanted to talk about. I

know there are others who are going to talk about the many good things that are

in the Speech from the Throne. I'll just leave by saying that the direction the

government is taking has been set. We are not changing our course, and the

people who tell us to "hold the line and keep going" need not fear,

because that's entirely what we're going to do.

Hon. G.

Abbott: It's a pleasure to rise and join in the debate in response to the

Speech from the Throne. The first thing I'd like to do, Mr. Speaker, is

congratulate you on your continuing appointment as the Deputy Speaker for this

House. It is quite an honour. Congratulations on that.

[ Page 8470 ]

[1555]

Also, I

think one of the first things I want to do is thank the electors of the

constituency of Shuswap again for the honour I have had of representing them in

the Legislature since 1996. The Shuswap is a wonderful part of the world. As

well, it is a part of the world that I think is benefiting from some of the

important changes that we have brought about as a government and some of the

important improvements in economic and social life that we have tried to bring

about through the progressive policies we've undertaken.

There is

much good news in the throne speech both for citizens in the Shuswap and,

indeed, for citizens right across the province. If I was to attempt to identify

a dominant theme which emerges from the throne speech, in my opinion it would be

the importance of strengthening the economic and social fabric of British

Columbia. It is not enough to deal only with one side of the equation — the

social or the economic. It is important that we be strong in both areas. I

believe, in fact, that as a government we have achieved much in both of those

areas, and I think there is much that can be said and has been said in the

throne speech which will remind us of important changes that we've undertaken

and certainly important changes that are proposed and will be undertaken in the

months ahead.

Among those

ways in which we have attempted to strengthen the economic and social fabric in

the province, one important area is land use certainty. The Premier asked me a

couple of weeks ago now to undertake the leadership in the Ministry of

Sustainable Resource Management. That's a great honour for me and a challenge

that I'm very much looking forward to because, as the lead ministry with respect

to Crown lands in this province, sustainable resource management also has very

much a lead role in securing greater land use certainty across the province as

well.

What we

will be attempting to do is achieve, through working extensively with the many

and varied stakeholders in this province, an appropriate balance between the

need for economic development and the need for environmental sustainability in

the province. The goal in achieving that balance is to ensure that people who

live in communities all across this province — whether it is my home community

of Sicamous, Tahsis on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Smithers in the north

or Cranbrook in the southeast — have an opportunity to work in and around the

communities in which they live.

We have at

times seen, particularly after the legacy of the government we had in the 1990s

and challenges to our resource industries across this province…. We want to

work as hard as we possibly can to ensure that people in communities everywhere

in British Columbia have an opportunity to work in the forests of British

Columbia, in mines across British Columbia, in the tourism industry and many

other occupations that are such an important part of the economic backbone of

communities across this province.

One of the

very important elements in achieving land use certainty is to work very closely

with the first nations of British Columbia to ensure that they are included as

part of the solution to our needs in communities across the province. We want to

see first nations be full partners and participants in the economy, whether it

is in the resource extraction area, in manufacturing or in high-tech. In all of

those areas we want to see first nations assume a greater role. I'm very proud

to be part of a government that has worked steadily, studiously and vigorously

with first nations to ensure that, in fact, we can see them taking a stronger

role in the economic life of this province.

[1600]

I know my

friend and colleague the Attorney General, the Minister Responsible for Treaty

Negotiations, has made unprecedented progress in resolving some treaty issues

after a long period of inactivity in that area. He should be rightly proud of

what he has achieved to date there. We have great expectations that he will be

able to achieve more in the weeks, months and years ahead. He has also had the

lead on an economic measures fund, which I know has been used very strategically

and appropriately to try to strengthen aboriginal participation in our economy.

In my

former ministry, the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services, we

undertook a number of programs including a doubling of the First Citizens Fund

to $72 million, so that we could provide loans to aboriginal entrepreneurs to

create new businesses, to provide student bursaries for young aboriginal

students so that they could be students in the post-secondary system across B.C.

and to support the aboriginal friendship centres which are an important part of

strengthening the social lives of aboriginals, particularly off-reserve, in this

province.

We also had

the Aboriginal Employment Partnership Initiative, which again provides a bridge

between private and public sector employers in this province and the aboriginal

training programs that exist in this province, and I think we're looking forward

to great success in that area as well. On the issue of first nations and their

participation in the economy, I salute the Minister of Forests for the work he

has undertaken. Some of the early successes we've seen earlier with the Cowichan

tribes — just about a week ago now — where we are going to see not only

greater participation of first nations in the forest economy but also some of

the first revenue-sharing agreements in that area.

Finally —

certainly not finally in terms of the exhaustive list but a final one that I'll

note here today — there's the work that's being undertaken and has been

undertaken in the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in respect to

ensuring that first nations are a part of the land and resource management plan

development that has been undertaken and to ensure that they are very much

cognizant of and a part of the economic activities that are growing every day,

whether it's on the land or on the water in aquaculture operations and that sort

of thing. So first nations are a very key element in what we're undertaking here

in British Columbia, and certainly that's very much reflected in the comments in

the throne speech as well.

[ Page 8471 ]

There are a

host of other ways in which this government aims to strengthen the economic and

social fabric of this province. Among them is transportation, and I see the

former Minister of Transportation, who did a splendid job in that area.

[Applause.] We miss her over in this corner of the House, but she's certainly

still here. She did a great job.

Transportation

is, as she many times noted, a critical part of economic development in this

province. You can't develop strong, vibrant, world-class, world-competitive

industries unless you have a world-class infrastructure to deliver those things

to the markets, get people to their employment and get the resources out of

there and into places where they're transformed into higher-value products.

We've taken some very aggressive and bold steps as a government to ensure that

we do have that excellent infrastructure right across the province.

It's

important in all areas of the province. I'm certainly gratified we have had some

early and excellent projects undertaken in the constituency of Shuswap — the

Swan Lake project, which both the member from North Okanagan, now the Minister

of Education, and I were both very keen to see undertaken. It's the Swan Lake

interchange, which will modernize and improve the efficiency and safety of a

very busy intersection which is actually the border between the Shuswap and

North Okanagan constituencies. The Swan Lake project, about a $23 million

project, is going to be a great addition to our constituencies and certainly to

our communities.

[1605]

As well, we

have a $13 million project at Carlin Hill, which is for the first time going to

be providing safe access to Carlin School. For many years it's been very

difficult for parents driving their kids to school and for school buses, and so

on, to safely get their kids into Carlin School, and this very important project

is a great way to resolve some of those longstanding safety issues associated

with that area.

In the area

of forestry reforms, and others have mentioned those…. Forestry remains,

notwithstanding some of the challenges we have had in the forest sector over the

past few years, a great industry in British Columbia, a major employer in the

province. I salute the Minister of Forests for the revitalization that he has

committed to and undertaken with great vigour. I know that in communities —

whether it's Armstrong or Malakwa or Salmon Arm — as long as we have the

softwood lumber dispute hanging over our heads, there is always a sense of a bit

of a wet blanket on the forest industry in the province. Again, I know the

minister has worked very hard to try to resolve that dispute. Hopefully, we are

making some progress towards the resolution of that dispute, but obviously it's

a difficult negotiation and one that is not simply or easily resolved. I do know

that forestry has a great future in this province. Our forest industry is a

great employer, a great source of revenue, and it has a great future in this

province, I think, with some of the enlightened reforms and revitalization that

have been undertaken.

As well,

among the pieces of great news that were contained in the Speech from the Throne

yesterday was the announcement of three-year funding for K-to-12 education in

this province — $313 million. I am delighted to hear about that. I have the

opportunity to meet on a regular basis with the school board of school district

83, North Okanagan–Shuswap, and they've been very good about getting together

with me on a quarterly basis, telling me about the work they're doing and the

challenges they face, and so on. I think they are among the school boards in

this province that actually do an excellent job, but I know that extra resources

will be welcome. I salute the government for committing 313 million additional

dollars to ensure that our kids right across this province, regardless of

whether they live in a big city or the smallest town, have the opportunity to

access quality education from kindergarten to grade 12.

Another

great piece of news. I know my colleague the Minister of Advanced Education, who

is also here, will be looking forward to rolling out further information in the

weeks ahead about the 25,000 spaces that the throne speech talks about, which

will be brought into this province by the year 2010.

I'm

currently the father of two university students. Probably next year, as my son

graduates from grade 12, I'm going to be the father of three university

students. I do know that it takes pretty high marks these days to get into

post-secondary education. Hopefully, with these 25,000 new spaces, every kid who

is working hard and paying attention to their school work will have an

opportunity to access post-secondary education at any number of the many

excellent post-secondary educational institutions we have in this province. So

that's great news. The 25,000 new spaces is a very, very aggressive, very

substantial goal to try to achieve, and I salute the province, the government

and the minister for undertaking a bold measure like that and trying to ensure

that all young people in British Columbia have an opportunity to get the

education that they would like.

[1610]

The Premier

noted yesterday, in response to the Speech from the Throne — not in here, but

I read it in one of the newspapers — that education is in fact the best

economic development program that one could construct, and I certainly agree

with him. There are such strong, powerful and positive links between the kind of

education that people secure and their prospects for economic and social

well-being that there's really no dispute around it. I think by showing such

strong leadership in both the K-to-12 and post-secondary areas, the Premier and

our government are really leading the way in this country toward ensuring that

every young British Columbian has the opportunity to be the very best they can.

I think that's what we all, as parents, want to do for our kids, and I'm proud

to be part of a government that is working very hard to do precisely that.

There is

already, I would suggest or submit, some excellent news coming in, in terms of

results from the

[ Page 8472 ]

initiatives we have undertaken in our first two and a half years — going on

three years — in government in British Columbia. We are seeing, for example,

some spectacular job creation performance in this province. British Columbia

was, in fact, the number one job creation province in the nation in the year

2003, and we should all be proud of that — over 77,000 jobs created just in

2003. When you combine the jobs created both in 2002 and in 2003, we are now at

over 154,000 new jobs. We know that across this nation and across North America

and around the world, job creation numbers are not positive things. Yet somehow

I think we have helped to turn a corner here with some policies that have seen

new investment and new job creation, and obviously that's critical for our

future. Again, I think these numbers bode well for the economic turnaround which

we promised and which we are delivering for British Columbians.

Other

positive signs. One that particularly gratified me as a former Minister of

Housing in the province was the housing starts that were recorded in the year

2003 — over 26,000 housing starts, which is a great turnaround in that

industry. It wasn't a one-off or a fluke. We expect that the number will grow

even larger in 2004. We expect at least 27,000 new housing starts in the

province in 2004. That's excellent news. Housing, obviously, is a critical

element in people's lives. If we hope to have affordable housing in this

province, we need to have new housing starts. Again, we are delivering on that.

We're not

only delivering on market housing; we're delivering on non-market housing as

well, with $153 million that was invested last year. I expect a comparable

figure in the coming fiscal year as well. Housing starts are up 22 percent

overall from 2002. Our housing starts in British Columbia are three times the

national average. That gives you a good indication of what we're doing. When I

first was Housing minister back in 2001, people told me that if you see housing

starts turn around, it always leads to a broader economic turnaround. I think

that's true, and I think that is precisely what we are seeing.

[1615]

We had, as

well, a record in real estate sales last year: $24.2 billion in residential real

estate sales — up 22.6 percent and an all-time record in this province for

real estate sales. Again, that's something we can be proud of.

One of the

things often noted during that dark decade of the 1990s, when we were going in

the other direction economically and, I think, socially as well in British

Columbia, was that we had the exodus of people looking for better jobs — or

even a job, period — or economic opportunities in other parts of Canada. We

saw that trend reverse in 2003. We saw B.C. enjoy a net inflow of 2,600

residents from other provinces. That was the first time, actually, since 1997

that we were seeing a net inflow of people back to British Columbia.

There are a

number of reasons for that. With all those new jobs that have been created —

those 154,000 jobs — we've got opportunities that simply didn't exist through

much of the 1990s. As well, I think there is a sense of optimism, and that's

reflected, actually, in some of the work that the Canadian Federation of

Independent Business has done. There's great optimism that British Columbia has

a booming economy, that this is a place where you can come and invest and it's

welcome, where you can come and work hard and get ahead — because we brought

in some tax cuts and a tax regime that actually encourages people to work and

try to get ahead. It's seen very much as a favourable investment climate, where

people want to be here. They want to live here; they want to enjoy the health

and education systems we have here. I guess, when the time comes, it's a great

place to retire as well. We see a lot of British Columbians feeling very good

about their future.

We want to

do more. I don't think there is anyone — and certainly I wouldn't be among

them — in this government who would say we're yet where we want to be. When

one looks at the resources we have in British Columbia — both natural

resources and human resources — when one looks at all the things that we have

been blessed with, I think we all want to see even greater success. I don't

think that I or any of my colleagues will be resting on our laurels until we are

once again the number one economy in Canada. I think we can be that. We have

lots of advantages, both human and natural. If we can get a combination of those

human and natural advantages with progressive policies we have adopted as a

government, I think we can see a long-term and sustainable growth of our economy

here that will, I hope, in the years ahead make us once again the number one

economy in this nation.

I do,

before I conclude, want to make a couple of comments about the Ministry of

Sustainable Resource Management and what we will be aiming for in that ministry.

What we certainly want to do is bring certainty to our great land base in

British Columbia, and we've got a huge area of Crown land. Through the work of

the various land and resource management tables and other land use initiatives

that have been undertaken, we are beginning to see some dividends being paid as

we move towards certainty on the land. Four coastal land use plans have been

completed, which are delivering shellfish and finfish aquaculture investment to

the coast and creating jobs for first nations and communities along with spinoff

employment in other areas in those communities.

We are also

working vigorously — and the throne speech certainly highlighted this —

toward more resort development across this great province, particularly in the

heartlands of British Columbia. Among the recent successes is a master

development agreement signed for Crystal Mountain near Kelowna, which is opening

the door to $130 million. I suspect, Mr. Speaker, that you're particularly happy

about that one — $130 million in investment in a world-class vacation

destination and up to 700 new jobs for that thriving area of the central

Okanagan.

[1620]

A similar

agreement — and again I know that the Minister of Advanced Education is really

happy about

[ Page 8473 ]

this one — is with Canoe Mountain near Valemount. Do you say Valemont or

Valemount?

Hon. S.

Bond: Valemount.

Hon. G.

Abbott: Valemount. I've always said Valemont. I know we have a

difference of opinion on that point, and I suspect it's one that I'm going to

lose on by the sound of things.

In any

event, there's a furth