British Columbia Hansard — Wednesday, February 19, 2003

H0219pm-09

British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)

4th Session, 37th Parliament OFFICIAL REPORT OF DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY (HANSARD) Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Afternoon Sitting Volume 11, Number 9 THE HONOURABLE CLAUDE RICHMOND, SPEAKER ISSN 0709-1281

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

Greg Halsey-Brandt Deputy Premier and Minister of Education ....................................................................................... ..................................Hon. Christy Clark Minister of Advanced Education................................................................................................. ...........................................Hon. Shirley Bond Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations.............................................................. .................... Hon.

Geoff Plant Minister of Children and Family Development.................................................................................... ..............................Hon. Gordon Hogg Minister of State for Early Childhood Development.............................................................................. .................................Hon. Linda Reid Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services......................................................................... .................. Hon.

George Abbott Minister of State for Community Charter........................................................................................ .................................. Hon. Ted Nebbeling Minister of State for Women's Equality ......................................................................................... .................................... Hon. Lynn Stephens Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise ................................................................................ ..................................Hon.

Rick Thorpe Minister of State for Deregulation ............................................................................................. ............................................ Hon. Kevin Falcon Minister of Energy and Mines................................................................................................... ....................................... Hon. Richard Neufeld Minister of Finance ............................................................................................................ ....................................................... Hon.

Gary Collins Minister of Forests ............................................................................................................ .................................................. Hon. Michael de Jong Minister of Health Planning .................................................................................................... ............................................ Hon. Sindi Hawkins Minister of Health Services.................................................................................................... ................................................ Hon.

Colin Hansen Minister of State for Mental Health ............................................................................................ ...................................Hon. Gulzar S. Cheema Minister of State for Intermediate, Long Term and Home Care ............................................................................. Hon. Katherine Whittred Minister of Human Resources.................................................................................................... ............................................Hon.

Murray Coell Minister of Management Services................................................................................................ .........................................Hon. Sandy Santori Minister of Provincial Revenue................................................................................................. ................................................Hon. Bill Barisoff Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General ................................................................................ ..................................Hon.

Rich Coleman Minister of Skills Development and Labour...................................................................................... .............................Hon. Graham P. Bruce Minister of Sustainable Resource Management and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries ..................................Hon. Stan Hagen Minister of Transportation..................................................................................................... .................................................... Hon.

Judith Reid Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection..................................................................................... ....................................Hon. Joyce Murray LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Deputy Speaker................................................................................................................. ..............................................................

John Weisbeck Leader of the Opposition ....................................................................................................... ...........................................................Joy MacPhail Deputy Chair, Committee of the Whole ........................................................................................... .............................................. Harold Long Clerk of the Legislative Assembly .............................................................................................. .........................................E.

George MacMinn Clerk Assistant ................................................................................................................ ................................................................... Robert Vaive Clerk Assistant and Law Clerk .................................................................................................. ........................................................ Ian D. Izard Clerk Assistant and Clerk of Committees........................................................................................ ............................................Craig H.

James Clerk Assistant/Committee Clerk................................................................................................ ............................................ Kate Ryan-Lloyd Sergeant-at-Arms ............................................................................................................... .........................................................A.A. Humphreys Director, Hansard Services ..................................................................................................... ........................................

Anthony Dambrauskas Legislative Librarian.......................................................................................................... ............................................................. Joan A. Barton Legislative Comptroller ........................................................................................................ .................................................................Peter Bray Published by British Columbia Hansard Services, and printed under the authority of the Speaker by the Queen's Printer, Victoria.

Rates: single issue, $2.85; per calendar year, mailed daily, $298. GST extra. Agent: Crown Publications Inc., 521 Fort St., Victoria, B.C. V8W 1E7. Telephone: (250) 386-4636. Fax: 386-0221. www.leg.bc.ca/hansard In addition to printed transcripts, Hansard Services publishes transcripts on the Internet and broadcasts Chamber debates on television.

Party Standings: Liberal 75; New Democratic 2; Independent Liberal 2. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF MEMBERS Abbott, Hon. George (L) ....................................................................... Shuswap Anderson, Val J. (L) .............................................................Vancouver-Langara Barisoff, Hon. Bill (L)............................................. Penticton–Okanagan Valley Bell, Pat (L).........................................................................Prince George North Belsey, Bill (L).................................................................................

North Coast Bennett, Bill (L) ........................................................................... East Kootenay Bhullar, Tony (Ind. L) ................................................................. Surrey-Newton Bloy, Harry (L).................................................................................. Burquitlam Bond, Hon. Shirley (L).........................................Prince George–Mount Robson Bray, Jeff (L)......................................................................Victoria–Beacon H ill Brenzinger, Elayne (L) ...............................................................

Surrey-Whalley Brice, Susan (L) ............................................................................Saanich South Bruce, Hon. Graham P. (L)................................................ Cowichan-Ladysmith Campbell, Hon. Gordon (L)............................................. Vancouver–Point Grey Cheema, Hon. Gulzar S. (L) ..........................................Surrey–Panorama Ridge Chong, Ida (L)................................................................ Oak Bay–Gordon Head Christensen, Tom (L) .............................................................

Okanagan-Vernon Chutter, Dave (L) ........................................................................... Yale-L illooet Clark, Hon. Christy (L) ..................................................Port Moody–Westwood Cobb, Walt (L) ............................................................................. Cariboo South Coell, Hon. Murray (L) ........................................ Saanich North and the Islands Coleman, Hon. Rich (L) .............................................. Fort Langley–Aldergrove Collins, Hon.

Gary (L).........................................................Vancouver-Fairview de Jong, Hon. Michael (L)....................................... Abbotsford–Mount Lehman Falcon, Hon. Kevin (L) .......................................................... Surrey-Cloverdale Hagen, Hon. Stan (L) ................................................................... Comox Valley Halsey-Brandt, Hon. Greg (L) ..................................................Richmond Centre Hamilton, Arnie (L)............................................................Esquimalt-Metchosin Hansen, Hon.

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

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

Kamloops–North Thompson Kwan, Jenny Wai Ching (NDP) ...............................Vancouver–Mount Pleasant Lee, Richard T. (L).......................................................................Burnaby North Lekstrom, Blair (L)................................................................. Peace River South Les, John (L) .......................................................................... Ch illiwack-Sumas Locke, Brenda (L) ...........................................................

Surrey–Green Timbers Long, Harold (L) ...................................................Powell River–Sunshine Coast MacKay, Dennis (L)....................................................... Bulkley Valley–Stikine McMahon, Wendy (L).............................................Columbia River–Revelstoke MacPhail, Joy (NDP) ..........................................................

Vancouver-Hastings Manhas, Karn (L) .............................................Port Coquitlam–Burke Mountain Masi, Reni (L) ...................................................................................Delta North Mayencourt, Lorne (L) ..........................................................Vancouver-Burrard Murray, Hon. Joyce (L) ........................................................... New Westminster Nebbeling, Hon. Ted (L) .......................................... West Vancouver–Garibaldi Nettleton, Paul (Ind. L)..................................................Prince George–Omineca Neufeld, Hon.

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

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

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

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

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

Michael de Jong Alberni-Qualicum.......................................................................G illian Trumper Bulkley Valley–Stikine ..............................................................Dennis MacKay Burnaby North..............................................................................Richard T. Lee Burnaby-Edmonds............................................................................Patty Sahota Burnaby-Willingdon......................................................................

John Nuraney Burquitlam ........................................................................................ Harry Bloy Cariboo North ..................................................................................John Wilson Cariboo South .................................................................................... Walt Cobb Chilliwack-Kent ............................................................................. Barry Penner Chilliwack-Sumas .................................................................................

John Les Columbia River–Revelstoke....................................................Wendy McMahon Comox Valley .......................................................................... Hon. Stan Hagen Coquitlam-Maillardville .............................................................Richard Stewart Cowichan-Ladysmith .......................................................Hon. Graham P. Bruce Delta North.......................................................................................... Reni Masi Delta South................................................................................

Valerie Roddick East Kootenay .................................................................................. Bill Bennett Esquimalt-Metchosin...................................................................Arnie Hamilton Fort Langley–Aldergrove ..................................................... Hon. Rich Coleman Kamloops ....................................................................... Hon. Claude Richmond Kamloops–North Thompson ........................................................Kevin Krueger Kelowna–Lake Country...............................................................

John Weisbeck Kelowna-Mission ................................................................ Hon. Sindi Hawkins Langley ............................................................................... Hon. Lynn Stephens Malahat–Juan de Fuca .....................................................................Brian J. Kerr Maple Ridge–Mission ................................................................... Randy Hawes Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows .............................................................Ken Stewart Nanaimo..........................................................................................

Mike Hunter Nanaimo-Parksville ...................................................................Hon. Judith Reid Nelson-Creston.......................................................................Blair F. Suffredine New Westminster ..................................................................Hon. Joyce Murray North Coast ........................................................................................Bill Belsey North Island........................................................................................Rod Visser North Vancouver–Lonsdale.......................................... Hon.

Katherine Wh ittred North Vancouver–Seymour .............................................................Daniel Jarvis Oak Bay–Gordon Head .......................................................................Ida Chong Okanagan-Vernon .................................................................... Tom Christensen Okanagan-Westside.................................................................Hon. Rick Thorpe Peace River North .............................................................Hon. Richard Neufeld Peace River South .......................................................................

Blair Lekstrom Penticton–Okanagan Valley ....................................................Hon. Bill Barisoff Port Coquitlam–Burke Mountain.................................................... Karn Manhas Port Moody–Westwood......................................................... Hon. Christy Clark Powell River–Sunshine Coast.......................................................... Harold Long Prince George North................................................................................Pat Bell Prince George–Mount Robson................................................Hon.

Shirley Bond Prince George–Omineca................................................................Paul Nettleton Richmond Centre......................................................... Hon. Greg Halsey-Brandt Richmond East .......................................................................... Hon. Linda Reid Richmond-Steveston ................................................................ Hon. Geoff Plant Saanich North and the Islands ............................................... Hon. Murray Coell Saanich South...................................................................................

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

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

Gary Co llins Vancouver-Fraserview ...................................................................Ken Johnston Vancouver-Hastings .......................................................................Joy MacPhail Vancouver-Kensington...................................................................Patrick Wong Vancouver-Kingsway..........................................................................Rob Nijjar Vancouver-Langara....................................................................Val J.

Anderson Vancouver–Mount Pleasant............................................Jenny Wai Ching Kwan Vancouver–Point Grey ................................................... Hon. Gordon Campbell Vancouver-Quilchena............................................................ Hon. Colin Hansen Victoria–Beacon Hill.............................................................................Jeff Bray Victoria-Hillside.................................................................................. Sheila Orr West Kootenay–Boundary.................................................... Hon.

Sandy Santori West Vancouver–Capilano ..............................................................Ralph Sultan West Vancouver–Garibaldi ................................................. Hon. Ted Nebbeling Yale-Lillooet .................................................................................. Dave Chutter

CONTENTS Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Afternoon Sitting Routine Proceedings Page Introductions by Members....................................................................................................... ............................................... 4877 Tributes....................................................................................................................... ............................................................... 4877 F.C. Austin Pelton K.

Stewart Introduction and First Reading of Bills ........................................................................................ ......................................... 4877 Employee Investment Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 8) Hon. R. Thorpe Statements (Standing Order 25B).............................................................................................................................. .............. 4877 Long-term care services P. Sahota Heartlands economic strategy W. Cobb Olympic Games referendum S.

Brice Oral Questions................................................................................................................. ......................................................... 4878 Purchase of liquor by restaurants J. MacPhail Hon. R. Thorpe Education funding J. Kwan Hon. C. Clark Health care funding and recruitment of nurses K. Krueger Hon. C. Hansen 2010 Olympic Winter Games benefits to B.C. P. Bell Hon. T. Nebbeling Ambulance payment for transfer of long-term care patient Hon. K.

Whittred Ministerial Statements ......................................................................................................... .................................................... 4882 Tissue transplant safety and investigation into B.C. Ear Bank Hon. C. Hansen J.

MacPhail Tabling Documents .............................................................................................................. .................................................... 4883 Funding the Office of the Ombudsman, special financial report No. 1, February 2003 Office of the ombudsman service plan 2003-04 — 2005-06 Budget Debate (continued) ............................................................................................................................... ........................ 4884 J. MacPhail R. Sultan B. Kerr B. Lekstrom M. Hunter G. Trumper R. Visser

4877 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 The House met at 2:04 p.m. Prayers. [1405] Introductions by Members Hon. G. Halsey-Brandt: Today in the members' gallery we have special guests from Indonesia. Binarti Sumirat is the newly appointed consul general of In- donesia at Vancouver. She is accompanied by the dep- uty consul general, Bebeb Djundjunan. Today the con- sul general is in Victoria meeting with the Lieutenant- Governor and ministers of the government. Indonesia is an important market for Canadian com- panies to invest in and is an export market for our mining, power and energy sectors.

Please join me in giving her a warm welcome to this House and our Pacific province. J. Bray: Joining us in the gallery today are some wonderful people from my community who live at beautiful Somerset House on Dallas Road, overlooking the strait of Juan de Fuca. They're here today to watch the proceedings. I'd ask that the House please make them all very welcome. B. Kerr: I n c l u d e d i n t h a t g r o u p f r o m S o m e r s e t House is a person very close to me. She's taught me to balance life but live it to the fullest. At 89 years young, she has more energy than I could ever hope to have.

I'd like the House to make my mother feel very welcome. A. Hamilton: It's my honour to welcome to the House Duncan Malcolm, one of my constituents. Would the House please make him welcome. Tributes F.C. AUSTIN PELTON K. Stewart: It's with great sadness that I rise today to report the passing of a former member of this House and a past mayor of Maple Ridge. Mr. Austin Pelton passed away this morning at the age of 82. Austin rep- resented the riding of Dewdney from 1983 to 1991 with the Social Credit government. He served as the Minis- ter of Environment and was a longtime Deputy Speaker in this House.

Austin was a much respected and loved member of our community. He was in a very select group, one of only seven to receive the freeman status within Maple Ridge. An inspiration to many, including myself and to those who served with him — some who are still in this House today — Forbes Charles Austin Pelton was af- fectionately known as the Senator for his stately man- nerisms and reflective views. I hope the House will join me in sending condolences to his wife Louise and their family. Mr. Speaker: Noted. The assembly will respond.

Introduction and First Reading of Bills EMPLOYEE INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT, 2003 H o n . R . T h o r p e p r e s e n t e d a m e s s a g e f r o m H e r Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Em- ployee Investment Amendment Act, 2003. Hon. R. Thorpe I move that Bill 8 be read a first time now. Motion approved. Hon. R. Thorpe I am pleased to introduce Bill 8, the Employee Investment Amendment Act. The Em- ployee Investment Act is the governing legislation for labour-sponsored funds and employee share owner- ship plans registered in British Columbia.

The Em- ployee Investment Amendment Act will harmonize the treatment of all registrants under the act and strengthen the competition in the labour-sponsored fund market in British Columbia. The amendments will make it easier and more attractive for employee investors to participate in business successorship in- vestments by eliminating the need for unnecessary regulatory orders otherwise required for new labour- sponsored funds. This amendment supports the gov- ernment's commitment to reducing red tape in mak- ing it easier for individuals and small businesses to succeed in British Columbia.

I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today. [1410] Bill 8 introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today. Statements (Standing Order 25

B) LONG-TERM CARE SERVICES P. Sahota: Long-term care providers in our prov- ince provide incredibly important services to our health care system and to our communities through the care they provide for our seniors. Last week I, along with my colleagues from Burquitlam, Coquitlam- Maillardville and Burnaby-Willingdon and close to 15 long-term care operators, owners and administrators, met with the Minister of State for Intermediate, Long Term and Home Care. The minister heard their concerns and ideas for how this government can continue to develop the kinds of policies that best enable them to care for our aging population. They shared their ideas on how to

4878 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 improve care for our seniors and for the disabled in British Columbia. What we heard was encouraging. They told us that t h e c h a n g e s w e h a v e m a d e s o f a r a r e w o r k i n g . T h e changes allow them more flexibility and, more impor- tantly, make the facilities more responsive to seniors' needs. They also encouraged us to do more. They have asked for more input in the planning process that af- fects how well they can deliver services to seniors.

They asked us to work toward providing more options for assisted living that allow greater independence while ensuring that the level of care remains the same. I a m f o r t u n a t e t o h a v e s o m e o f t h e v e r y b e s t c a r e facilities in my riding from George Derby Centre to Normanna, the New Vista Society and the Nikkei Home, just to name a few. Every service is provided with an eye to making the facilities more home-like. For example, in the New Vista there is a community thrift shop and a community cafeteria.

These are facili- ties led by incredibly dedicated individuals who are involved in some of the most innovative initiatives aimed at improving the quality of the life of the people who live there. HEARTLANDS ECONOMIC STRATEGY W. Cobb: The numbers for a decade of decline are well known to the people in my riding. We lost thou- sands of jobs in the forest industry. The mining indus- try saw employment cut in half. We saw population decline. Building permits for construction of residential units dropped by 82 percent. These are only numbers.

What they don't tell us is the human side of the story about the people who had to leave town to find work. W i t h r e s o u r c e s a s r i c h a s o u r s , t h e r e i s n o e x c u s e f o r people being forced out of the province in order to support their families. We hear what the impact of losing families has on the education. Declining enrolment puts tremendous pressures on school boards, but it's also not easy for children who have to leave behind their schools, their teams and their friends. Working families deserve better.

The heartlands economic strategy is designed to make sure that families can stay together so that parents can have good-paying jobs, so that teenagers can finish high school and then decide what steps to take next. The investments being made in transportation are long overdue. Our roads and railways carry the wealth of this province, and they need to be repaired. I drive these roads every day, and that money will be well spent. Extending the mineral exploration credit will see investment returned in this sector.

Reforms to the forest sector, the creation of the working forest and the results- based forest and range practices code will help the in- dustry remain competitive. Forestry is our number one industry, and it's about time we treated it that way. Where are the heartlands, the opposition asks. That probably explains the neglect of this area for the past decade. I am proud to say I'm from the heartlands. Our government understands the needs and the desires of those families. They want to work hard, live where they want and enjoy life with their families. That's what we want to give them. OLYMPIC GAMES REFERENDUM S.

Brice: Today I have a memo, and it's a memo to the folks living in Vancouver. It's from a riding outside the 2010 plebiscite area, and the subject is "Vote yes." We in greater Victoria and all the communities on Van- couver Island say yes to the 2010 Olympic and Para- lympic bid. The memo goes on to say: "We ask you in Vancou- ver to use your ballot on Saturday to ensure that the IOC hears a strong, resounding yes coming from all corners of this province." [1415] Those of us who live in greater Victoria know better than most just what hosting a huge international event will do for the city.

We hosted the 1994 Common- wealth Games. We welcomed 63 nations, 2,450 athletes and hundreds of thousands of visitors to our games. The volunteers and the residents at large burst with pride at the amazing results of our efforts. Oh sure, leading up to the event there were the usual naysayers, the gloom-and-doom crowd, but by the time Her Majesty arrived at the opening ceremo- nies, even the most fervent skeptics acknowledged that this was great for our city, great for our economy and great for our spirit. Vancouver, don't let us down. Don't let our young people down. Catch the spirit.

Use y o u r v o t e t o h e l p m a k e i t h a p p e n . V o t e y e s , a n d t o - gether we will welcome the world again. Oral Questions PURCHASE OF LIQUOR BY RESTAURANTS J. MacPhail: Can the Minister of Competition, Sci- ence and Enterprise explain why he's threatening inde- pendent restaurants across B.C. with bankruptcy by taking away their ability to buy liquor on credit? Hon. R.

Thorpe: I take exception to the member's comments in using the word "threatening." What we are doing is making sure that the financial resources British Columbia has are directed to the priorities our government has established: (1) putting patients first in health care and (2) putting students first in education. Our government is committed to those principles, and this is what we're doing. Mr. Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a supplementary question. J. MacPhail: Maybe the minister didn't have time to pay attention to the question, and him taking offence at the word "threaten…." It's not my word.

It's the word of restaurateurs I've been meeting with over the past few days. Apparently, what's good for the government

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4879 is not good for small business. It's fine, as we saw yes- terday with the $3.8 billion deficit, for the government to use its credit card to rack up those record deficits, but small businesses — restaurants — are now, because of this government, not even allowed to buy a case of wine on credit. As the minister should know, restaurants, even very successful ones, operate on a small margin. At certain times of the year, right now being one, they need credit to stay afloat.

Restaurant owners are telling me this bone-headed Liberal policy is threatening them with financial disaster. Not my words — theirs. Again to the minister: when does he plan to back off his policy and save thousands of small businesses in B.C. from financial ruin? Hon. R. Thorpe: In fact, our government has taken proactive action in making sure that businesses, small and large, and individuals throughout British Colum- bia can prosper and make their own decisions. The member may have forgotten. We've reduced taxes to small businesses. We've streamlined WCB. We've put flexibility in the Labour Code.

We've reduced their personal taxes by 25 percent. We are making it easier and better to do business in British Columbia. We are meeting and talking with the restaurant associations, both the Canadian and the British Colum- bia Restaurant Association. We will not be changing our position on taking $2.5 million out of education and health care and giving it in credit card discounts, but we have altered for 90 days the single-bottle pick for small restaurateurs around British Columbia, and they acknowledged to me last night they were very thankful for that change. Mr.

Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a further supplementary. J. MacPhail: I'm sure the restaurateurs that are watching the minister right now will be incredibly dis- appointed. This is supposed to be a business-friendly government. That's what they announced with great fanfare yesterday.

As the minister notes, unlike any of their own rules around using credit, not only are they denying restaurateurs credit, but soon, as the minister notes, they're going to refuse to let restaurateurs buy anything less than a full case of one kind of wine or one kind of spirits. [1420] I don't know about the minister, but there are thou- sands of restaurants throughout this province that can- not afford to do that bulk purchase. Yes, the minister backed off for 90 days. Why? Because of the huge out- cry from restaurateurs.

Instead of just delaying the pain until June, why doesn't he just stand up, admit that the policy was stupid and anti-business, and for- ever stop the policy — put an end to it? Hon. R. Thorpe: With respect to the single-bottle purchase, we have amended that and extended that for 90 days. In the interim…. Interjection. Hon. R. Thorpe: E x c u s e m e , M r . S p e a k e r . I n t h e interim, we are going to enhance the private sector's involvement in…. Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Could we have some order, please. Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Please continue. Hon. R.

Thorpe: The enhanced bottle pick has been extended for 90 days. We are going to ensure that the private sector can provide that service to the private sector. That will be done within the 90 days. The Solici- tor General and I are working on that. That will be done. Let us be clear here. Our government has had to make tough decisions because of the financial ruin… Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. R. Thorpe: …you left this province in — $4.4 billion.

When I have to make the decision whether I'm putting dollars to health care or to education or to dis- counts for credit cards, I'm picking health care and I'm picking education — every day. EDUCATION FUNDING J. Kwan: For the Minister of Enterprise's information, the $4.4 billion deficit was his government's deficit. In the Premier's infomercial he said education fund- ing was going to go up by $100 million. British Colum- bians took him at his word and expected to see the money start to flow this year, but funding in public schools is going down by $13 million.

Can the Minister of Education explain why parents and students have to wait until next year before there's some relief for the failing schools? Hon. C. Clark: We just announced a $50 million injection of money into our school system. That's good news. Last year we announced a $42 million additional increase for school districts. The Premier announced a $100 million — and it's actually $107 million — in new base money that will be made available to our public school system. Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. C. Clark: The reason we have been able to make these savings and disburse this money to school

4880 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 districts is because for the first time in two generations in British Columbia, we have a government that is managing prudently and that is making sure we have every ministry come in on or under budget. The divi- dend for that means that rather than paying an extra $200 million to the banks, we can pump more money into health care, more money into education, more money into early childhood development. That's the benefit of good fiscal management. Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary question. J.

Kwan: Maybe the minister should actually look at the budget book, and she'll note that there is no in- crease in the education funding this year. Not only is the government cutting funding to the education sys- tem for public schools, but other education programs are also being impacted. The poorest and most vulner- able children are going to get hit the hardest. Funding for inner-city schools is being chopped by about $6 million — about the same amount of money, I might add, that the Premier plans to spend in extra spending for advertising, no less.

To the Deputy Premier: why is her government targeting the neediest children for deep cuts at a time when the Premier is boosting funding for infomercials, advertising, spin-doctoring? Hon. C. Clark: You know, when that member stands up after ten years of the most irresponsible gov- ernment in British Columbia's history, stands up here and says that our government — this government — is underfunding social programs, it is a disgrace. What we've done this year… [1425] Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. C. Clark: …is, in fact.… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. C.

Clark: Because of good fiscal manage- ment… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. C. Clark: …we have saved $200 million that would otherwise have been going to pay the banks for debt service and interest costs. That's the result of good, prudent fiscal management. The Premier was very clear. We are going to continue to fund those im- portant programs for kids who depend on school lunches, because we know that kids can't go to school and learn on an empty stomach. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order, please. Hon. C.

Clark: We're going to make sure we con- tinue to fund inner-city school programs. Interjection. Mr. Speaker: Order. Would the opposition please come to order, and question period will continue when that happens. Hon. C. Clark: Shall I start again? Mr. Speaker, I'll just conclude by saying this. It is a disgrace to hear that member get up and decry this budget, because what we've seen in this budget is the result of good, prudent fiscal management.

For the first time in generations we are on track with our budget, and for the first time in generations we are seeing the educational dividend, the social dividend, of making sure we manage our budgets well. Yes, we've got an extra $200 million. If she'd been in government, she might have chosen to spend that on fast ferries or something else. We chose in this government to pump that money into educa- tion, to pump that money into early childhood devel- opment, to protect kids in inner-city schools… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. C. Clark: …and we're going to keep on doing that.

HEALTH CARE FUNDING AND RECRUITMENT OF NURSES K. Krueger: My question is to the Minister of Health Services. The B.C. Nurses Union is falsely claiming that, as part of yesterday's budget, the gov- ernment is cutting back on health care across British Columbia. They also claim that these cuts will hurt patient care in the heartlands of the province. Once again we have the spectacle of a public sector union deliberately frightening vulnerable people, especially seniors. My constituents deserve to know the truth. Would the Minister of Health Services please set the record straight? Hon. C.

Hansen: I n f a c t , t h i s g o v e r n m e n t h a s added $1.1 billion to the health care budget since we took office. That's good news for all parts of British Columbia, and in particular the heartlands of British C o l u m b i a . W h a t w e h a v e s e e n o v e r t h i s l a s t y e a r i s a strengthening of services from region to region throughout the province as we consolidate services. That means we can actually do more in those regions

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4881 than we were able to do before. Fewer patients have to be transferred outside of those regions to come to Van- couver or Victoria, and that's good news for British Columbians in every single corner of this province. Mr. Speaker: The member for Kamloops–North Thompson has a supplementary question. K. Krueger: The B.C. Nurses Union is also claiming that the government has no plan for recruiting regis- tered nurses. The people of British Columbia…. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order, please. Order. Order, please.

The member for Cariboo South rises on a point of order. W. Cobb: Yes. I would like to hear the questions. Mr. Speaker: I think we all would. Question period will continue in a moment. K. Krueger: The B.C. Nurses Union is also claiming that the government has no plan for recruiting regis- tered nurses. The people of British Columbia, certainly including every member in this House, esteem our nurses tremendously and know what vital services they provide. Could the Minister of Health Services tell us what the government is doing to increase the num- ber of registered nurses in our hospitals? [1430] Hon. C.

Hansen: That, in fact, has been a tremen- dous good-news story over the last year and a half. The Registered Nurses Association of British Columbia pro- duced a report a few months back which shows that between June of the year 2001 — which was the time we took office — and October 31 of last year, there was a net increase of 1,255 registered nurses in British Columbia. The Registered Nurses Association of British Co- lumbia also has recently done a survey of graduating nursing students from British Columbia.

They did the same study in 1997, and at that time it showed that 18 percent of them were looking for jobs outside of British Columbia. Last year it showed only 10 percent were looking for jobs outside of British Columbia. It also showed that in 1997, only 25 percent of the graduates were able to find permanent nursing positions in this province. Last year when they did the same survey, 75 percent of our nursing graduates found permanent jobs in British Columbia. 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES BENEFITS TO B.C. P. Bell: Yesterday a certain member of this House didn't know where the heartlands were.

I'm from the heartlands, and as a member from the heartlands, I hear from many of my constituents that they're con- cerned about the 2010 Olympics and that they'll divert important infrastructure dollars away from the heart- lands into urban B.C. I think I speak for many heart- lands members and as the northern representative on the Olympic live site committee when I say that all of B.C. must benefit from the Olympics. Can the minister responsible for the 2010 Olympic bid tell us how he intends to ensure that all of the heartlands will benefit from the infrastructure dollars available? Hon. T.

Nebbeling: First of all, all British Columbi- ans will benefit from bringing the 2010 games to British Columbia. I think that the best way to deal with the question is to refer the member to the throne speech and to the budget speech. You will see that the throne speech and the budget speech are full of good things for the heartlands and other parts of British Columbia as well. The commitment that our province has made to start upgrading the much-needed routes throughout the province is a firm commitment. We will start with the first priority, which is the Kicking Horse Pass — $670 million.

This will open up the Kootenays. That's a commitment by this province. It's a commitment to- wards public safety, and it's also a commitment to- wards tourism, sports and recreation opportunities, because we will open up Canada's route into British Columbia by this particular upgrade. There's also a program that was introduced by the Premier during the UBCM. It's called the live sites pro- gram. We will make $40 million available for commu- nities throughout British Columbia who can, if they're interested, get involved during the time the games are in British Columbia.

The live sites will be provided with equipment. Some of the communities may choose the upgrade of a community hall. The whole purpose of this program is to make sure that… Mr. Speaker: Thank you. Hon. T. Nebbeling: …British Columbians will be part of… Mr. Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Minister. Hon. T. Nebbeling: …the games through coming together as community members. That, again, is a great thing for the heartlands. What is good for the heart- lands… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Hon. T. Nebbeling: …is good for all British Co- lumbians. Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

Thank you. [End of question period.]

4882 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 AMBULANCE PAYMENT FOR TRANSFER OF LONG-TERM CARE PATIENT Hon. K. Whittred: I rise to respond to a question taken on notice yesterday. Yesterday the member for Vancouver-Hastings asked a question regarding ambulance bills for the late Mr. Edward Laitenen. I am pleased to advise the House of the actions that have been taken since the member first raised that question last October. On October 28, 2002, the member opposite first raised the question in the House.

I advised her at that time that if she provided me with details, I would look into the situation. My office immediately contacted the interior health authority on Mr. Laitenen's behalf, and a patient advocate was appointed to resolve the issue of the ambulance billings. The office of the member oppo- site was notified. On November 7 the member for Shuswap con- tacted Mrs. Laitenen to also offer his assistance.

On November 19, 2002, the member for Vancouver- Hastings raised this matter in the House again, and I answered her question — contrary to her statement yesterday where she said I had taken the question on notice. I followed up the matter with the interior health authority, and they were working with the advocate and the family to resolve the issue. As a result of that intervention and with the assistance of the member for Shuswap, the situation has been resolved. As stated previously, Mrs. Laitenen is not responsible for any ambulance bills. Interjections. [1435] Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order, please. Hon. K.

Whittred: I have asked the B.C. Ambulance Service to notify Mrs. Laitenen of this in writing and to ensure final closure on this issue. Ministerial Statements TISSUE TRANSPLANT SAFETY AND INVESTIGATION INTO B.C. EAR BANK Hon. C. Hansen: A news conference was launched in Vancouver a short time ago to provide details around a Health Canada investigation into the opera- tion of the B.C. Ear Bank at St. Paul's Hospital in Van- couver. The review, which is still ongoing, has uncov- ered health and safety concerns that our government takes very seriously.

To some degree these concerns boil down to poor recordkeeping and a lack of clear documentation to show that appropriate screening of tissue donors and sterilization of tissue took place. While we have been advised by experts at Health Canada and by our pro- vincial health officer that the risk to patients potentially impacted by this situation is extremely low, the dam- age to the credibility of all those responsible for safe- g u a r d i n g o u r p u b l i c h e a l t h c a r e s y s t e m o v e r t h e p a s t two decades is real.

In fact, it is clear to myself, my health care colleagues and the Premier that these issues undermine the public's faith in the operation, management and regulation of tissue banks not only in British Columbia but across the country. It is not acceptable to me, to the Premier or to our government as a whole, and I know it is not accept- able to the people of British Columbia.

I want to make it clear today that we will take every action necessary to ensure that British Columbians have full confidence in the ability of our public health system to deliver safe, high-quality care and that their health and safety will be protected now and in the future. Before I explain some of the elements of our action plan, I'd like to clarify some of the history around the B.C. Ear Bank and the chain of events that led us here today. The B.C.

Ear Bank has been in existence since 1974, first operating out of the Vancouver General H o s p i t a l b e f o r e m o v i n g t o t h e f o r m e r S h a u g h n e s s y Hospital in Vancouver. Responsibility for the bank was transferred to St. Paul's in 1993, and it relocated the actual bank to the St. Paul's Hospital site in 1995. It served as a combination teaching lab and transplant tissue bank under the medical direction of the Univer- sity of British Columbia. The B.C. Ear Bank collected, processed, sterilized and stored bone and tissue.

The bank then sent these materials to hospitals across the country that requested them for both teaching pur- poses and for use in transplant operations on patients suffering from hearing loss. I understand that in September of 2002, administra- tors at Providence Health Care first became aware of concerns around quality control and standards of prac- tice at the bank, and they began to gather the facts. By the first week of October, Providence had launched a more formal internal investigation and advised Health Canada of its concerns. Health Canada subsequently launched its own review.

At that time, Providence sus- pended the B.C. Ear Bank's operations, and no tissue or bones have been collected or shipped since that time. I am advised that there is evidence of concerns re- layed between clinicians associated with the bank as far back as the early 1990s and again in 1998. I have also been made aware that broader concerns around the operation and regulation of tissue banks in this country are longstanding within the medical commu- nity.

In fact, in recent days I have been advised by health experts that for years they have lobbied the fed- eral government for a stronger regulatory framework in Canada and for clear standards to ensure that pa- tient safety is protected. As far back as the release of the Krever inquiry report in 1997, Health Canada be- gan looking at the risk of disease transmission from tissue transplants, and while the debate around stan- dards has dragged on, the potential risk to British Co- lumbians and patients across the country has re- mained.

O n F e b r u a r y 7 o f t h i s y e a r H e a l t h C a n a d a a p - proached the provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kend-

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4883 all, with preliminary results of its investigation, and Dr. Kendall launched a formal assessment to determine the level of risk to patients arising from Health Can- ada's concerns. Dr. Kendall immediately informed the deputy minister, who contacted me. [1440] Since that time we have been working closely with Health Canada to assist and advise in the planning of the notification and recall strategy, which is being an- nounced today in Vancouver.

Once the risk assessment was complete, the Premier was given a verbal tele- phone briefing about the issue on February 14, and both he and I were clear to officials on the need for immediate action to ensure full cooperation with Health Canada's investigation and appropriate notifi- cation of both patients and providers. The Premier also directed me to initiate a plan of action over the weekend to ensure that the situation was fully investigated, with paramount concerns at all time for public health and safety. The Premier was clear that this information is to be released this week, and that is what we are doing.

We were to release it in a manner that was responsible and mindful of patient needs. On Monday I met with the Premier, Dr. Kendall and ministry staff to discuss the situation. It was agreed that Dr. Kendall would develop a course of action, which I am sharing with you today. Dr. Kend- all's action plan includes the following steps: (1) that we call on Health Canada to launch a com- prehensive review to ensure a clear and accountable regulatory and accreditation framework for tissue banks across the country; ( 2 ) t h a t w e d i r e c t t h e B . C .

T r a n s p l a n t S o c i e t y , through the provincial health services authority, to prepare a plan to assume responsibility for the quality control and regulatory compliance of all tissue banks operating in British Columbia; (3) that we request that the B.C. College of Physi- cians and Surgeons review the practice of doctors in- volved with the B.C. Ear Bank and develop profes- sional guidelines for tissue bank physicians; (4) that we appoint an independent expert team to review the circumstances leading to this investigation and assess the activity of other tissue banks in the province.

The team would be expected to make public recommendations to government and the B.C. Trans- plant Society to ensure that these issues identified by Health Canada never occur again. Finally, Dr. Kendall recommends the expert team also review the role of the University of British Colum- bia in overseeing clinical research relating to tissue transplants and ensure that appropriate transition plans are in place when research programs are trans- ferred into clinical practice. Our government accepts these recommendations fully and will take action on each and every one.

At the request of the Premier, I am also writing to the federal Health minister to ensure that an independ- ent, comprehensive investigation is undertaken on this entire matter and to encourage swift implementation of any other measures they deem necessary to expedite this process and ensure that health of patients is pro- tected. Clearly, this is a matter of national importance, and it is appropriate in this circumstance that the fed- eral government, through Health Canada, take a lead- ership role on these matters while our own action plan is being implemented.

I want to make it perfectly clear that all of these actions do not preclude any other measures we believe may be necessary in the coming days and weeks to restore the public's confidence in our public health sys- tem. The health and safety of patients is paramount, and we will continue to work closely with Health Can- ada, our health authorities and our stakeholders to ensure the highest standards of patient care are in place and clear lines of accountability are drawn.

As this process continues, Providence Health Care has asked 87 hospitals across Canada and in two U.S. cities to return tissue and bone distributed by B.C. Ear Bank that they may have in their inventories. Physi- cians at these hospitals who used the materials are be- ing asked to inform their patients about these problems and to provide whatever clinical follow-up they deem medically necessary.

Let me repeat: the risk of transmission to patients who received these products is extremely low, and there have been no reports to date of disease transmis- sion attributed to any patient who received tissues processed or distributed by the B.C. Ear Bank. In fact, Dr. Kendall has advised that the actual risk of disease transmission attached to these close to 6,000 tissue samples identified in this investigation is about one in 100,000, and even though documents don't exist in every case, there is clear information that sterilization of tissues did take place.

We are fortunate the risk to patients is extremely small, but we cannot afford to be complacent. I can assure you today that this government must and will take action. [1445] J. MacPhail: I want to thank the minister for brief- ing me on the subject matter earlier today. It is, indeed, a matter of concern for all British Columbians and those who are outside of this province who now rely on or have relied upon this service. The tissues are vi- tally needed for reconstructive surgeries and have played an important role in our health care system.

When matters of safety and security are brought to light, it is incumbent upon all of us to work together to address the current concerns quickly and restore public confidence. We from the opposition are ready to pro- vide our support to the minister in his efforts to do so. Tabling Documents Mr. Speaker: I have the honour to present the fol- lowing reports: office of the ombudsman special finan- cial report No. 1, February 2003, Funding the Office of the Ombudsman; and the office of the ombudsman service plan 2003-04, 2005-06.

4884 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 Orders of the Day Hon. G. Halsey-Brandt: I call debate on the budget. Budget Debate (continued) Mr. Speaker: The debate on the budget continues. The Leader of the Opposition adjourned the debate. J. MacPhail: Following on with my comments of yesterday, I continue in my response to the 2003-04 budget. It's interesting. I spoke yesterday about what was not in the budget.

Of course, today we see the Minister of Education admitting that the $100 million is not in the budget for this year, but that's only one of the things that the pub- lic was misled about by the Premier and the Minister of Education. Not only is there not $100 million extra in the education budget this year, but there are many other things in this budget that the Minister of Finance did not talk about. Budget 2003 hurts the middle class, it hurts the poor and vulnerable, it hurts interior and coastal com- munities — no matter how much this government tries to rename those communities — and it hurts B.C.'s economy.

Six hundred million dollars in new taxes over two years — taxes that come directly out of the pockets of the middle- and low-income earners, taxes that come directly out of the economy, taxes that go to pay for the government's failing fiscal and economic agenda, taxes that break a fundamental promise the Premier made to lower the tax burden for middle- and low-income earners. In his television speech in which he raised taxes, he promised British Columbians $100 million in education this year — and nothing. But the tax increases are real. How did this come to pass?

How has a government that told British Columbians that it would cut taxes for middle- and low-income earners turned around and raised them over and over again on those very same British Columbians? [1450] It comes down to this. It comes down to the gov- ernment's desperate attempt to reconcile its promise to balance the budget while giving the biggest high- income tax break, tax giveaway, ever in the history of British Columbia. That tax giveaway didn't do the job that the Liberals thought it would.

It didn't spur the economy, it didn't drive business confidence through the roof, it didn't usher in a new era, and it most cer- tainly didn't pay for itself. In fact, the third-quarter report that was tabled with this new budget shows that income taxes, both from corporations and personal income taxes, are even lower than the underestimate of the second-quarter report. Every time this government reports, income tax revenue has dropped even further than they estimated. The tax giveaway blew a huge hole in the balanced budget that the government inherited, creating the biggest deficit in B.C. history.

In fact, even the Minister of Competition has lost sight of the fact that not only did they inherit two balanced budgets and a surplus, but it is his government that now has the largest deficit not one year running, not two years running, but three years in a row. It's this Liberal government that has tabled the biggest deficits in history. N o w , I k n o w y o u w o u l d n ' t b e a b l e t o f i g u r e t h a t out from reading the Vancouver Sun or the Province. They actually didn't report the deficit.

I think they re- ported the deficit once, but you wouldn't actually know that the deficit is at $3.8 billion as we conclude this fiscal year and that it's going to be $2.3 billion next year. Anyway, those are the facts. That is what happened because this government decided on day one to show, to demonstrate, no prudence but to give the biggest tax break to the wealthy in the history of British Columbia. At the same time, it added record debt to B.C.'s books. We didn't know that from yesterday either.

On track and on budget for this government means having the highest increase in debt in the history of B.C. as well. For some reason, that didn't get reported either. The Finance minister stood up and said, "Debt is down," and that's what got reported. What was missed in them being on track is the highest record of debt ever — the highest percentage ever as a percentage of GDP debt — in this province. That's what we're on track for. That's what they're celebrating as such good news. Instead, the budget, the tax break given in the first day the Premier stepped over the threshold of his new office….

He was backed into a corner. That tax break forced him to implement a regressive program of harsh cuts to pay for his big mistake. Instead, his big mistake has resulted in a shifting of the tax burden directly onto the shoulders of those who can least afford to pay. It's the biggest transfer of wealth away from the middle class and poor in B.C. history to the wealthiest. School property taxes are up. Gee, I wonder how the interior and coastal communities feel about that. Rural property taxes are up for the second year in a row. Sales taxes are up. Sin taxes are up.

MSP premi- ums are up, and of course gas taxes have gone through the roof at precisely the moment when fuel costs are already reaching record highs. This is not a stay-the-course budget. For anybody to be drawn into that misleading statement is foolish or deliberately trying to divert attention away from what's really going on here. This is an admission, a full- fledged retreat from the Liberals' promise to cut taxes, balance the books and maintain vital public service. Am I making up that little rhetoric? Is that rhetoric?

No, that's straight out of the New Era document. [1455] Here's how this government interprets staying the course. Taxes are up after they promised they wouldn't raise taxes. The budget deficit is at a record high after they said that they wouldn't run deficits, and public services are being cut to the bone. Yesterday I heard a pundit explain where someone said: "Well, they're staying the course, aren't they?"

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4885 This pundit said: "You know, if your child steals your credit card and leaves a note saying, 'I'm going out, and I'm spending $10,000 on your credit card, and you can't stop me,' and she comes home on Monday with the credit card and has spent only $9,000, do you leap up and say: 'Hurrah! Isn't that great'?" That's exactly what this government's trying to convince British Co- lumbians to do: to get praise for "staying the course." Taxes up. Debt up. Deficit at a record high, and public services cut to the bone. Stay the course. New Liberalspeak again.

Another addition to new Liberal- speak: stay the course. We have a list of new Liberal- speak now, and this will be added to it: stay the course. What that means for British Columbians…. But then again, what the government promised in the New Era document and what the government did after the elec- tion was safely behind them are two very different things. The Liberals' faith in right-wing, trickle-down, voodoo economics, a faith that was kept under wraps and unveiled only after the votes were counted, has damaged B.C. in ways that will take years to come….

It has damaged B.C. in such a way that this government is now forced to attack small businesses, to attack res- taurants to the point where they're facing bankruptcy. That's what this government is doing. I've already talked about the increased tax burden borne by the middle class, but that alone doesn't cap- ture the full magnitude of what this Liberal folly truly is. Not only are the middle class now expected to pay w e l l b e y o n d t h e i r m e a n s , t h e y a r e a l s o p a y i n g m u c h more for much less in service.

They're paying much more for a health care system that is not there where and when they need it. It was interesting to see the Minister for Intermediate and Long Term Care some- how say it was good news that because the opposition had raised a financial attack on a senior, it was now being taken care of. Not once did the member for Shuswap go to the Minister for Intermediate and Long Term Care and say: "I made a commitment to have this bill paid" — this ambulance bill of a poor senior with Parkinson's — "and you haven't delivered." Not once did the member f o r S h u s w a p d o t h a t .

H e d i d n ' t f o l l o w u p . I t t o o k t h e opposition to do that. In the coming days and weeks and months and years, you will see, over and over again, constituents being abandoned by their MLAs and, more and more, it being left up to the opposition to represent the interests of the constituents throughout the interior and coastal communities. Secondly, British Columbians are paying more for a post-secondary education system where the price of admission is putting education out of reach for their children.

Children who live in Trail or in Castlegar can no longer go to university or college, and they're pay- ing more — much more. British Columbians are paying much more to look after their parents. They're paying more for day care. They're paying more for auto insur- ance, and they're paying more for everything from a driver's licence to a hunting licence. When you add it all up, the small tax cut the gov- ernment delivered on its first day in office to middle- and low-income families is gone. My tax break was gone a long time ago. [1500] Interjections. J. MacPhail: Absolutely.

My tax break was gone when I paid… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. J. MacPhail: …my ICBC premium increases. When you add it all up, despite the hectoring… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. J. MacPhail: …of this illustrious executive council, the small tax cut is gone, gone, gone for middle- and low-income families — up in smoke to pay for a mas- sive transfer of wealth, opportunity and security away from the many and into the hands of the few.

This wealth and opportunity transfer is being felt throughout B.C. but especially in the interior and coastal communities, communities that have been re- branded the heartlands. The heartlands is the new name. It's now the name by the high-priced communi- cations… Interjections. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. J. MacPhail: …advisers who, no doubt, are keeping their tax cut. No doubt Martyn Brown still has his tax cut. No matter what this government tries to rebrand those communities, those communities are hurting — hurting in ways that we haven't seen since the 1930s.

I'll give some statistics from the government's own book in a moment on what's happened to those com- munities under their own government. Instead of help- ing those communities through the tough times, the government is helping itself to as much as it can possi- bly lay its hands on, making it harder for these com- munities to get back on their feet and to take advantage of new opportunities to rebuild the economy. Let me just demonstrate to all those who think their rebranding and their big tax cut for the rich would work. I want to talk about the Kootenays, actually.

Since this government brought in their huge budget last year, how many people are working in the Kootenays? There are 3,600 fewer people working in the Kootenays. How about the Thompson-Okanagan? There's an- other area that's been rebranded. How many people in

4886 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 the Thompson-Okanagan are working now because of this government? The comparison is not to my gov- ernment, because there would have been a lot fewer people working in the Thompson-Okanagan region. I've just compared it to last year — that's all. There are 3,700 fewer people working in the Thompson- Okanagan. In the Cariboo there are 1,800 people who are now not working, who were working when this govern- ment took office. In the north coast and the Nechako there are 1,100 fewer people working now than when this government….

Oh, where's all the hectoring now? Those are the statistics that demonstrate that this government has brought misery and hardship to the heartlands. Of course, the member who represents the Kootenays tries to justify it. Well, stand up and justify it. Stand up and justify why there are fewer people working now, since your government took over, than there were before. Just stand up. Tell the people of the interior how great it is for them. [1505] In the cities throughout this province there are fewer people working as well. But does the Premier admit to that? No.

The Premier obfuscates with statis- tics that are simply not true. If I hear the Premier one more time saying, "For the first time, two million peo- ple are working in this province," I'm going to have to stand up and tell him he's misleading the public. There are 31,000 more people in total working now than there were working at the beginning of their term — in one year — not the 78,000. There are not two million people working. There are about the same number of people working in this province — around 1.9 million — as there were in 2000. That's it. There aren't 88,000 new jobs.

There are 31,000 more people working, and they're not working in the interior and the coastal communities. They're not full- time jobs. There are 31,000 more people working at two and three jobs because of this government.

British Columbians living in the interior and coastal B.C. provide this province with its most important eco- nomic engine, but they're being treated like the gov- ernment's personal bank account — withdrawing money at will to pay off the huge credit card payments this government has racked up to pay for a reckless, high-income tax cut, very, very little of which found its way into the pockets of interior residents. The transfer of wealth and opportunity is also be- ing felt by those who start life with the least of each and who have suffered the most as the government dismantles the social safety net.

Unemployment amongst our youth is up dramatically since this gov- ernment took over — up dramatically all across the province. Child protection services for our youth have been cut by $136 million. Inner-city school funding is cut by $6 million — money to help kids who start life with the steepest obstacles to climb. Did we hear that in the budget yesterday? No. Just the same way that the Min- ister of Education wouldn't admit that there's no $100 million increase in education this year, she wouldn't admit that there's a cut of $6 million to pay for inner- city school funding.

I might add that there's less money now for inner- city school funding than the Premier has increased his own budget to pay for more advertising and spin. I can hardly wait for those members who represent inner- city schools to stand up and justify that. All those who were pounding on their desks yesterday with the good news, stand up and justify a $6 million cut to inner-city school funding while the Premier's advertisers get $6 million more. Income assistance is being chopped by a further $255 million, but it will work out just fine.

Unlike what the member for Cariboo South said in question period, there are more people leaving this province now than in the 1990s. They're leaving because they can't find jobs, and this government has ripped a hole so big in the social safety net that they can't feed and clothe their children. People are leaving British Columbia as we speak, because of the policies of this government. Let me say today that those cuts are going to make the hard lives of the poorest children in this province — the British Columbians for whom we should be re- serving our greatest compassion and generosity — much, much harder.

I see it every day in east Vancou- ver — parents and kids ground down by poverty, ex- hausted, demoralized, frustrated. Now, once again, with this budget they are the ones targeted for more pain. It's not fair, and it's not right to treat these people like they don't matter. You can't rename the poor. This government can't rename the poor and expect all the troubles will go away, like they tried to rename the interior and the coastal communities. [1510] The way we treat the most vulnerable amongst us measures the limits of our moral imagination.

Sadly, for this government, that imagination does not seem to extend beyond the narrow limits of its ideological pre- occupations. As I said yesterday, the government's approach is creating a meaner, less cohesive, less fair and ultimately less prosperous society. If British Co- lumbia is to flourish and prosper, we cannot afford to leave one person behind. Everyone, in every commu- nity and from every background, must have the oppor- tunity to make the most of themselves, to realize their own dreams and to give their kids the best chance they can.

If it is true that knowledge is the new source of wealth, then providing opportunity is the key to our f u t u r e . W h a t t h i s b u d g e t d o e s i s d r a w a l i n e b e t w e e n economic innovation and social justice when, more than ever, they need to go hand in hand. Yesterday the government and the members still continued to say we're on track. We're on track. We're on track to what? I read statistics earlier from their own book. Let me read some more. Here's what has hap- pened in British Columbia in the last year.

Manufactur- ing shipments are down, exports are plummeting, housing starts are up — thank goodness for the con- sumer — but non-residential building permits are d o w n b y a w h o p p i n g 1 7 p e r c e n t . T h i s g o v e r n m e n t

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4887 would be dead without the consumer. So what do they do? They take more money out of the pockets of work- ing British Columbians and thereby blow out the can- dle on the ability of a consumer to spend the money as the only group keeping this economy going. As long as this government insists on separating economic innovation and social justice, the new era continues to pit one group against the other.

As long as this government chooses winners and delights in mak- ing losers, the new era it promised — the hope and opportunity it says that it seeks — w i l l c o n t i n u e t o elude its grasp. I had a chance to read this document, the budget and fiscal plan, cover to cover today, and it was inter- esting to note, as a former Finance minister, how much of the government's spin is in a government document for the very first time in budget-making.

The public servants who used to work on this document deliber- ately kept things factual and to the point, but with this government, they've put spin and misleading state- ments throughout their fiscal plan, hoping that people wouldn't notice that debt is up the highest it's ever been, that the deficit is the biggest it's ever been, that the economy is not in recovery and that taxes have gone up.

The new era has brought forward a group of people who feel it's okay to use this public document to spin a message that British Columbians simply won't believe when they check their paycheque and check to see what they've got left in their pockets. There is so much that is misleading in this docu- ment and that was not told in the budget yesterday, but for the time being, it seems that the media at least — or some of them — are willing to give this govern- ment a chance to say that they are on track. Fair enough.

It's hard to wade through a budget with an opposition of this size and with the government mem- bers merely going, "Aye-aye, sir; oh yes, there's more money for inner-city school funding; there's more money for education," when indeed there isn't. It's hard for the public to understand what's really in the budget.

My colleague from Vancouver–Mount Pleasant and I will do our best during estimates to point out the hardship that is being foisted upon British Columbians, except those who are wealthy, and to try to give this government guidance away from their harsh ideologi- cal path toward one that treats and gives every British Columbian opportunity. [1515] R. Sultan: I have the honour of responding to the Finance minister's speech outlining the government's budget for fiscal 2003-04 and its fiscal plan for the two years after that.

The government's latest three-year projection pushes the numbers another year into the future. Such updating aside, the plan is remarkably similar to the plan presented last year. Anybody looking for evidence to support journal- ists' claims that this government is shifting gears to tax- and-spend mode — recalling in one example Glen Clark shovelling money off the back of a truck or claiming in another example that the Liberals are "changing course" — is bound to be disappointed. It would be more accurate to say this budget and the government are boringly on course.

Meanwhile, from the other side of the aisle, we've just heard the Leader of the Opposition dissect the minister's numbers. The former Finance minister did her best ably but, in the time available, seemed to have trouble finding a handhold among the current Finance minister's numbers. It's too bad opposition parties don't have an obligation to tell us what their budget would look like. Then we could at least say: let the bet- ter budget win. But wait a minute.

We do have two budgets to compare: the minister's budget just presented to this House and another budget which is a reasonable proxy for what the other party's would look like. I refer, of course, to the three-year fiscal plan presented to the world a couple of weeks ago by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, otherwise known as CCPA.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in full Sunday morning rectitude, calls its budget "the path not taken." The path not taken is a detailed blueprint of what our province's three-year fiscal plan would have looked like if there had not been a change of government 20 years ago. Its preparation has paralleled the government's own effort. Like the ministry, CCPA is staffed with expert economists. Like the ministry, CCPA has adopted the three-year planning cycle. Like the minis- try, CCPA is funded by B.C. taxpayers.

That's because the previous government, in its dying days, sent over more than $200,000 as a little grant among friends. But there's one big difference. CCPA celebrates its unflinching — I would say aggressive; some might say unrepentant — skew to the left. Thus, it's reasonable to believe that the path not taken closely approximates what we would have heard from the Finance minister yesterday if government and opposition had suddenly switched places. This seems reasonable, since the path not taken was, in fact, the path taken by the previous government.

If there had been a sudden switching of places, what would British Columbians be enduring today? The centre's claims are hardly modest. Under their al- ternative regime, we would have an increase in tax revenues — in fact, billions more, relative to the gov- ernment's own projections — lower MSP premiums, health care expenditures in lockstep with those de- manded by the Hospital Employees Union, rising edu- cation expenditures in lockstep with figures presented by the teachers union, higher social services spending, lower debt service costs and a balanced budget in 2004- 05 — just like the government. [1520] Wow.

You've got to hand it to these guys. They're fiscal geniuses. How do they do it? Easy. They cook the books. Now, hold on. Before you accuse me of resur- recting the phrase "fudge-it budget," let's look at their plan more closely. First, the spending side. Total spending in path not taken averages $2 billion a year

4888 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 higher than in the government's plan. That's 8 percent more per year on average. Next the revenue side. How do they pay for all this extra spending? With higher revenues, of course. Revenues in path not taken aver- age 12 percent more in each year than in the govern- ment's plan. That's an additional $2.8 billion per year they take out of the economy. Fiscally speaking, as my granddaughter would say: "Cool." Boost spending by 8 percent; boost revenues by 12 percent — ergo, balanced budget in a couple of years.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has once again demonstrated its famous trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Given those kinds of numbers, Glen Clark would have immediately called an election. Well, it's simple enough to see where the CCPA spends its additional money. Actually, let's call it "the centre" from now on. The letters CCPA, unfortunately, remind me too much of those letters you used to see painted on the side of the Soviet Union missiles in the good old days of Stalin and Khrushchev going through Red Square in Moscow. I'm sure this was unintended.

Where the centre spends its additional money is primarily on wages and benefits for its pals in the pub- lic sector unions. Sure, they camouflage it by saying it's for the patients and the kids, but after ten years of in- the-face, unabashed public sector rewards, we finally figured out who gets most of the cash. Where the centre gets its additional money is also simple to figure out. Relative to the government's fiscal plan, they raise 42 percent more money from personal income taxes and 120 percent more money every year from the corporate income tax.

Since it's hard to believe that more people will rush to live in British Columbia under the centre's tax regime or that more corporations will hasten to set up business here under their tax re- gime, we can only assume the centre intends to extract that money from those existing hardy souls who are sticking it out in British Columbia — CCP missiles notwithstanding. Welcome to the new society, folks. Oh, by the way, we're raising your personal income tax 42 percent, and if you happen to own a small business, we're more than doubling your taxes too. Look at it this way. In three years we'll balance the budget.

Those bond-rating agencies down on Wall Street and Bay Street, where all those nasty multinationals and trans- nationals hang out, will love it. What's wrong with this picture? What's wrong with this picture is that it doesn't take account of human nature. In the centre's view, taxpayers are sort of like that horse in George Orwell's famous parody of social- ism called Animal Farm. I'm sure many of you read that book. That poor old horse, a true believer in the social- ist dream, just kept working and working, regardless of the burdens the party apparatchiks loaded on him, until one day he keeled over and died.

Human beings don't behave that way. They move to Alberta. Before we leave Animal Farm, I can't resist quoting one final sound bite from the centre's "The Path Not Taken" White Paper: "We need to use the tax system creatively, designing carrots and sticks." Well, we've already seen this bad movie, and it was a multibillion- dollar flop. It was called "Carrots for the few; sticks for everybody." During the 1990s the NDP used the tax system like a stick to beat down our economy. While other prov- inces saw investments in their economy soar, invest- ment in B.C. dropped to the bottom.

B.C. led the coun- try in bankruptcies. Tens of thousands of highly skilled workers and their families left British Columbia to seek better opportunities elsewhere. The carrots were re- served for the public sector unions. Let's get back to the real world and consider the seri- ous economic and fiscal situation the Finance minister inherited, which this government is doggedly deter- mined to rectify. Let's look at the raw material he had to work with. The B.C. Progress Board, one of our Pre- mier's superb innovations, is a blue-ribbon panel of dis- tinguished private citizens advised by various experts.

It does good work. It puts out an annual report card on how British Columbia is doing relative to our competi- tors in Canada and the United States measured in terms of the economy, innovation, education, environment, health and social conditions. I recommend it to you — 150 pages long, lots of statistics and advice to anybody who really wants to figure out what's going on. [1525] While the Progress Board is oriented to the future, it also lets us learn from the past. It shows us where we've been for the last ten years.

What does the report card say about this economy the government and our Finance minister inherited? It says that in 2001, B.C. ranked tenth among all the provinces for the annual growth of GDP per capita. It says that in the ten years leading up to the election, B.C. ranked tenth in Canada in terms of improvement in real disposable income per capita. In terms of job creation, in the ten years prior to the election B.C. ranked tenth in Canada.

It says that when comparing with bordering American states — looking at ten indicators of economy, innovation and education — in no ne of them was B .C. in the " strong" category. To sum up, the Progress Board report card we brought home had "economic failure" written across it in big letters. The failed policies that created this dismal track record are the same policies that the centre and the NDP are still advocating. Talk about slow learners. Could we suggest remedial studies in economics?

As an interesting aside, another NDP policy para- dox is revealed in the Progress Board report, and at first glance it's a puzzler. In 2001, the report card says, B.C. lagged the national average in real personal dis- posable income per capita by over $500. But for six of the ten years between '92 and '01, B.C. had the highest real average hourly wage in Canada. How can this be? What it tells me is: elect the NDP, and they will boost your hourly wage, but guess what. Your average dis- posable income will go down. Great.

That's just the program British Columbians have been waiting for to help pay the rent and groceries. Moving into the future, let's consider economic performance under this new B.C. Liberal government. To borrow a phrase from the member for Peace River

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4889 North, every week there's more good news. Consider that during 2002, the economy created almost 80,000 new jobs. Since last year the number of people on in- come assistance has dropped by 55,000. More impor- tantly, of those, over 90 percent indicated they either had found work, had gone back to school or were in improved financial circumstances. I think that's a phe- nomenal statistic for any government to report, regard- less of political persuasion.

Because social assistance caseloads are down, re- sources have been freed for other productive purposes. For example, over the next three years almost a third of a billion dollars will be allocated to skills and devel- opment training for those still on income assistance. With the government's 25 percent income tax cut the first day on the job, British Columbians at the low end of the income scale now have the lowest base rate of personal income tax of any jurisdiction in Canada. Our opponents quickly glide over that fact when delivering their "tax cuts for the rich" rhetoric. [H.

Long in the chair.] Housing starts are up 25 percent, mineral explora- tion is up 25 percent, average weekly wages in B.C. went up three times faster than the national average, the health system has been stabilized, and so on. It's no exaggeration, in my opinion, to say that the public health system has in fact been saved. If it had contin- ued on its previous path and broken through the ceil- ing of consuming more than half of government reve- nues, I think something would have cracked.

While we're not yet out of the woods, we have put in place management systems that will ensure that health dol- lars will go where they're needed most and where they will deliver the greatest health care benefit.

Incidentally, those who think it was the folks in Ottawa who came riding to the rescue like the U.S. cavalry on the health care front the same day the minis- ter presented our provincial budget should consider that the health care money B.C. has been so generously granted by Ottawa after all that huff and puff, all that royal commission, all that debate, will sustain our health system for all of 92 hours. Despite the clamour from the public sector unions that this government is cutting health budgets, it is not.

Someone once called this propaganda technique "the big lie," and I think the big lie is in evidence when they deny the reality that health budgets actually went up $1.1 billion last year alone, as everyone in this House well knows. [1530] Turning to Pharmacare. The Pharmacare program has been saved. With costs going up 15 percent a year and the economy growing only 2 percent, figure out where we were heading with that one.

The Health min- ister's new Fair Pharmacare program will see benefits going to those who need them most — the exact oppo- site of the mean-spirited, steal-from-the-poor-and-give- to-the-rich story our opponents make up and, in fact, which we have recently been reminded of. Under Fair Pharmacare 280,000 low-income fami- lies will pay less than they do now. This will affect all ridings. Were you aware that in supposedly fat-cat West Vancouver, 15 percent of single women over age 65 are on social assistance? So this cuts across all rid- ings in the province.

Many young families with lower incomes will for the first time be supported in their drug costs, and the revised plan will end inequities where higher-income earners sometimes pay less for their drug costs than those with much, much lower incomes. Let's consider next what's happening on the educa- tion front. Education budgets are being increased by $143 million over the next three years on top of a one- time $50 million injection of funds in '02-03.

The "cuts" — and I put that in quotation marks — in education spending that the public sector unions keep screaming about turn out to be the difference between what they would like us to spend and what we actually intend to spend. That's their definition of cuts. What we actually intend to spend is a continuation of the growth in dol- lars per student of the recent past. Per-student spend- ing has grown about 10 percent over the past five years, about in line with inflation.

Frankly, the big problem with our education budget is that we have this magnificent education sys- tem, and British Columbians are not having enough babies to fill it up, so let's get busy. The Deputy Pre- mier, the Minister of Finance and even a member of the opposition are doing their best, but they can't do it all by themselves. They need help from the rest of us, so pitch in. On the advanced education front, $900 million has been committed to advanced education for access to research over and above regular colleges and univer- sities funding.

The government, in hard times — and we are in hard times; let's not kid ourselves — con- tinues to fund our critically important investment in the knowledge society. Finally, consider transportation and highways. At long last, the public embarrassment of the half billion wasted by the NDP on fast ferries will be behind us. I hope the auction recovers some portion of the taxpay- ers' money. The Minister of Transportation has a bold plan for highways reconstruction, new bridges and other infrastructure. Over $650 million of government money will be invested over the next two years, and that's just the beginning.

All evidence is that British Columbians have endorsed the means required to pay for it. Finally, the government has recognized the plight of the heartlands. I must say that thanks to my col- leagues, I have been reintroduced to the heartlands myself, and it is a wonderful and educational experi- ence. I think we too easily figure out what's happening in British Columbia is what we're happening to read in the headlines of the Vancouver newspapers that day, and that is not an accurate assessment of the genuine distress much of our heartlands has experienced.

The government's new heartlands economic strategy will bring new vigour and hope to that half of British Co-

4890 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 lumbia living beyond the enclave of privilege — at least as they would see it — which surrounds us here in Victoria and on the lower mainland. This is all, to borrow the phrase again, more good news. Do British Columbians approve? Well, McIntyre and Mustel says so. Between December and February, through two months all the pundits described as pun- ishing — and we know whereof they speak — party ratings soared, and so did the Premier's. How about that?

More good news. [1535] To sum up, the Finance minister has prepared in his characteristically competent and deliberate fashion a budget which stays the course, which will ensure that we have balanced the books beginning in '04-05 just like he said we would, which preserves our cherished health care and education systems, which offers hope to the heartlands — hammered by beetles, American protectionism and the NDP's legacy — and which, for the first time in living history, ministers actually pay attention to.

Consider this: all 20 ministries and the Premier's office came in on time, on or under budget ― a first in British Columbia. For all I know, it may be a first in Canada, although someone said maybe Alberta beat us to it. Beleaguered taxpayers of this province should say a little prayer of thanks to our Treasury Board officials, to the ministers responsible and to the custodians of the taxpayers' purse for making all of that possible. Under this minister, we have at least achieved credible expenditure control. Budgets are real budgets, and accounting standards, which….

Even the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a national organization, came out to Vancouver from Toronto recently and recog- nized the Minister of Finance as leading the nation in terms of the integrity of the financial reporting. More good news. Now, there's no good reason the minister's budget over the next three years can't be achieved. I sense a renewed sense of confidence in that, even among those not in this Legislature.

Yes, there are very tangible risks — softwood lumber, soft Asian economies, soft U.S. economy, rumours of war — not to mention coping with all that stuff pumped out by the Centre for Policy Alternatives. These negative external factors will continue to be a drag, but despite these handicaps, British Columbia's track record in adversity is excellent. The government is doing exactly what we said we would do. We are going to balance the budget in '04-05.

This is still the greatest place in the world to live, and thanks to this Premier, this minister and this government, all British Columbians have a new era they can be proud of. B. Kerr: It gives me great pleasure to stand up this afternoon and address the budget and speak in favour of the budget. Like my colleague from West Vancouver– Capilano, I, too, went back and compared some previ- ous budgets. Although I had no aspirations whatsoever for politics a number of years ago, I was involved with the executive of the chartered accountants, and I came over here to go into the lockup.

In the lockup we get to review the budget before it's presented to the House, but because they don't want any leaks, they lock us up and let us review it there until the minister stands up to give the budget. Now, this particular year it was very tough on my part. I had never been there before, so this was an abso- lute first thing for me. I didn't know how the system worked. This was a time that apparently there was a leak of the document, and we were given one hour to prepare our notes for that time. This was when, I be- lieve, Elizabeth Cull was the Finance minister — I think; I'm not sure.

I shouldn't say that. I'm not sure when it was. Nevertheless, I reviewed that particular document. I went through it, and there were certain things I was looking for — the same things then that I'm looking for now. I was looking for a road, a path, to a balanced budget. I was looking for a debt management plan. I was looking for a reduction in income taxes. There were a number of things we were looking for to stimu- late the economy and to show sound fiscal manage- ment. Believe it or not, that budget had those in there. I thought: this is great, and I'm going to give it 75 per- cent. I did.

I gave it a mark, and the headlines came out, "Chartered accountants give budget 75 percent," and this was used in the House to support the budget. The opposition member — I guess, the opposition Finance critic at that time, Fred Gingell — phoned me that very day and said: "Brian, I want to meet with you and your executive." I said, "Fine," so he came to meet with me the next morning and set me straight. I'll be quite candid with you. I was aghast. There were things in there that nobody would have included in revenue.

One of them was the downstream power to Bonne- ville Power in the U.S., where there was, I believe, $450 million in revenue that they included in revenue on a deal that I don't even know was a handshake. It was a deal where the revenue was supposed to come over a ten-year period, and they had plunked it all into the one year. I guess the Premier at that time had shaken hands or had said: "Let's do a deal." In his mind the deal was done, and let's put the revenue in one year.

There was $450 million that, under generally accepted accounting principles, would never, never have been included. [1540] There were a number of other issues, and so that budget became known as the fudge-it budget. I guess I was party to it. I played up to it. I felt quite badly about that, and it stuck in my mind for some time. The following year I went back. The following year the budget came out, and I went back and again was in the lockup. I had a little bit more idea of what I was doing then, and of course once burned, twice wary. I took a much more careful look.

Given that we had a little bit of extra time, we took a much more careful look at what was going on. I was in there with people from independent business, with economists, with cer- tified management accountants, with general account- ants, with us as the chartered accountants, with the

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4891 board of trade. There was a whole number of people that were in this lockup, and as we were progressively going through it sort of at the same time, what hap- pened was there was a general sort of snickering in the room a little bit. With all due respect to my colleagues in the heartlands, some of us were saying: "What are these guys smoking?" Again, we knew there was no way they were going to meet that budget. I was a little tougher on it that time, and my comments weren't brought up in the House. That was my second time. T h e n t h a t w a s i t .

I h a d f i n i s h e d m y t e r m o n t h e executive of chartered accountants, so I didn't go back. What happened in the interim was that I had grand- children. My kids got married — young adults starting out in life. Then they had children, and suddenly we started looking, as grandparents…. For those of us who are grandparents here, we start looking at things in a different light. I started to think: what kind of a legacy are we leaving our children? When my little grand- daughter, 20 years from now, wants to enter the work- force or wants to go to university, what are we going to be leaving for her?

Remembering back to what I went through and the lack of what I would call sound fiscal management, I decided to throw my hat into the ring to see if I could help and use some of my accounting skills to help bring the budgets under control so at least there'd be some transparency and accountability. This is what we were looking for. In my nomination speech, which was way back in the year 2000…. In those days there wasn't a set legisla- tive agenda. We didn't know when the election was going to be. It's something that's almost taken for granted now, I might add. We just know when the elec- tion is going to be.

It's May 17, 2005. But in those days we didn't know when it was going to be, and of course, that could have all kinds of disruption in people's per- sonal lives. I then mentioned the things my colleague from West Vancouver–Capilano mentioned. We were tenth in GDP growth, tenth in improvement of wages, tenth in investments. I mean, we were down at the bot- t o m . I s ai d t hat t he y we re m ak i n g B . C . jo k e s i n N e w- foundland about us and that unless we were prepared to recognize there was a problem, we couldn't solve it.

The first step in this road to recovery would be rec- ognizing that there's a problem. That's what I wanted to do, and I'm glad to see that's exactly what my col- leagues wanted to do — particularly the Minister of Finance, who recognized the problem and was pre- pared to take the hard line to fix it so we can move to- wards a balanced budget, so we can move towards having some opportunity for our children and our grandchildren. I'd like to mention what happened at the budget prior to the election, and I'll follow the lead of my col- league from West Vancouver–Capilano.

I went back, and I looked at the budget that was prepared prior to the election. This was the budget that was prepared, I'm sure, knowing that they would not be elected and would not be held accountable for that budget. It's a budget that we don't hear the end of. "We've got two balanced budgets. We gave you two surpluses in a row." Well, that may have been one surplus. I can tell you, the year they did have the surplus, the budget for that year did not show a surplus. The only reason they had a surplus was because there was this huge wind- fall profit from selling energy to the U.S.

That's not there anymore. [1545] The second year was a budget they prepared show- ing that it was going to be balanced. In that budget it didn't take into account the large increases that would have to be given to the nurses or the doctors or the softwood lumber problems. It didn't take anything into account. W h a t i t d i d , b u r i e d w a y b a c k o n p a g e 9 5 o f t h i s b u d g e t … . I w a n t t o q u o t e f r o m i t , i f I m a y .

I t s a i d : "Government spending is primarily driven by inflation, population growth, rising per-capita utilization of health care and other social services, new government initiatives and interest costs associated with capital spending." That was sort of the recital to lead up to this part on page 95: "Fully funding all of these pressures would not be possible given the forecast increase in revenue." Wait a sec. This was the balanced budget, but buried way back in page 95, it's saying fully funding all of these pressures that he mentioned above would not be possible, given the forecast increase in revenue.

This situation typically faced the government at the beginning of a budget process and will require difficult trade-offs. What was he telling us? The same thing they told us in the fudge-it budget, the same thing they told us in the other budget and now this budget. We're go- ing to give you a budget, but there's no way in heck we'll be able to ever meet it. That's what we were up against. I want to just speak about sound fiscal manage- ment, because I think sound fiscal management is very important. I think it's absolutely critical if we want to accomplish any of our objectives.

You can see that there was no sound fiscal management. The budget process, contrary to the opposition member for Vancouver-Hastings, was a spin document for the g o v e rnm e nt at t h at t i m e . T ha t 's wh at t he y u s e d i t f o r, because they had no intention of meeting it. In fact, on only one occasion did they meet it, and that was strictly by accident. Again, as far as sound fiscal management is con- cerned, the auditor general looks over a lot of agencies and ministries, and I and a number of us on the Public Accounts Committee review the auditor general's re- ports.

One of them was allocating resources in the Health ministry, and he looked at it and said: "There is no measurement or no reason to determine how they were allocating the resources in the Health ministry." In other words, they were expending money but had no idea why they were spending it and what the out- come was going to be or how to allocate resources. They were going on the philosophy, like the entire government was, that the way to solve the problem was to spend more money. The way to show success is to throw more money at it. Let's talk about inputs. I

4892 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES W EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 know: we'll do a good job. We'll just give it more money, so it must be successful. Well, I can tell you from my business experience and from what we've experienced in the past, that just doesn't work. I'd like to go and say what we've done, because I'm quite proud of what we've done. I'm very proud of what the Finance minister has done in revitalizing the economy by restoring sound fiscal management — the first step to revitalizing the economy. Firstly, we started and kept to the goal of budget accountability and transparency.

Every minister was required to come out with a three-year service plan, moving us forward three years so we could look at what was happening. They were required to set up performance measure- ment goals . T hey were requi red to set up benchmarks so they could measure the progress, and we're moving towards GAAP so things can be measured on a consis- tent basis from year to year. J u s t s o y o u u n d e r s t a n d , G A A P i s a n a c r o n y m f o r generally accepted accounting principles.

These ac- counting principles are laid out by the chartered ac- countants across Canada, and they have a whole com- pendium of accounting principles for within the public service. Now that we have that, we can compare per- formance from year to year to year. I think that's pretty critical when we're making decisions. Not only that, they set some discipline into the process. The ministers put their pocket books in front of their objectives, because if they didn't meet their objectives, it was going to cost them money because they were having a holdback of the ministerial salary. I think that's great.

There should be some negativism to force people to sit down and get it right. Sure enough, that's what they did to get it right. Well, what was the result of that? Debt is lower than expected, interest is down, and the deficit will be lower than anticipated. We're on the trail to a balanced budget, which is exactly what we said we wanted to do. More importantly, for the first time that I can re- member, every minister came in on plan, and that's just terrific. I want you to read something that came out by the CGA Association. It's from the news release on the budget.

It's a takeoff on the PGA slogan, and it says: "Hey, these guys are good." That's what you get for coming in on budget. [1550] I want to thank all the ministers for showing that discipline and coming in on budget. That's so critically important for us, who are sometimes sitting on the sidelines, watching from the outside, rooting for you all the time to do it. We're glad to see you were able to put in that discipline and get the job done. I would like now to talk about revitalizing the economy. That's the second step of the two things I wanted to talk about: sound fiscal management and revitalizing the economy.

We came out with some tax cuts, and the tax cuts created a deficit. They increased the size of the deficit the first year. I must admit I was aghast, because I don't want to see a deficit. I'm not happy with a deficit. Then I thought: maybe I'll try to put it into some simple terms. Maybe I'll even try to put it into a context of the way I run my business, of what you have to do and why those tax cuts are impor- tant. Make no mistake: they were important. They had to be done. As some of you may know, I own a grocery store. The grocery business is very competitive.

If I started from the bottom line on my grocery business…. Hon. R. Coleman: I worked in a grocery store. B. Kerr: Good for you. I have a colleague here who worked in a grocery store. That's where you really learned about hard work and initiative. Hon. R. Coleman: An award-winning grocery store. B. Kerr: Oh, an award-winning grocery store. Thank you very much for that recognition.

If I started from the bottom line to say, "Okay, what kind of profit do I need to lead my lifestyle, then what are my expenses, and how much do I want to pay my employees, and how much rent should I pay?" and then worked from the bottom line up and said, "Okay, in order to do that I need X number of dollars, and I serve this many customers and divide the customers into the X number of dollars," I could come up with a price for my groceries. That's really simple. I can meet all my goals. All I would have to do is sell my groceries at this price, and that's very simple.

If the price for those groceries were higher than what my competitor's store was charging across the street or down the road, would I get those customers, and what would happen? Well, no, I wouldn't, because people would walk with their feet and go across the road and do their shopping there. My revenue expectations might even be lower than what I thought they would be. They might be considerably lower than what I thought they would be because I wasn't competitive in the price that I was charging. That's the same in taxes. We had one of the highest tax regimes in all of North America.

We had a tax re- gime that was considerably higher than our next door neighbour, Alberta. It was considerably higher than our neighbours to the south in Washington and Idaho. What was happening as a result of that? I think in one year over 500 charters got up, 500 businesses got up and walked to Alberta. We lose all the revenue that we would get from those businesses and all the revenue that we would get from the employees that work for those businesses. Not only that, but people were leav- ing and going to Alberta. That's why the revenue in British Columbia became stagnant.

That's why our province went from being one of the best provinces from an economic investment point of view to one of the last provinces, because our tax regime was just not competitive. Now, we've heard about our reckless tax cuts. I'll insert this right now. I wasn't sure whether I was going to insert this. We've heard about reckless tax cuts, and

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2003 B RITISH COLUMBIA DEBATES 4893 we've heard about how we've clawed it back, and the middle-income person isn't making as much money. Well, I can tell you that in the budget that was pre- pared before we were elected, compared to our budget now, for a family of four — it could be dual-income family that's making, let's say, $60,000, which is a de- cent income…. They're a dual-income family; they're not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. Under our budget, compared to what the budget would have been, there's a savings of almost $1,000.

Even after do- ing the user fees and various things that we had to do to carry on with the expenses we needed, individuals are still better off now than they were before. [1555] So do they work? Do the tax deductions work? Ab- solutely they worked. I would like to quote you a few statistics to show you how well they worked. Residen- tial building permits are ahead of the national average. We're up 37.4 percent. B.C. created 78,000 jobs in 2002. A record year for home sales. Housing starts exceeded forecast. B.C. wholesale sales lead Canada. Port of Van- couver shipped record cargo volumes.

Wireless tech companies expected double employment. Small busi- ness optimistic and benefiting from tax cuts. A recent survey of the B.C.

chapter of Canadian Federation of Independent Business found 59 percent of B.C. small businesses expected business to be stronger over the next year. Fully 91 percent of small businesses expect to increase or maintain the number of full-time employees, and more than 76 of them say that the government's personal income taxes had a positive effect on their business. Mineral explorations are up 25 percent. That's what tax cuts have done. That's what our revitalizing the economy has done. Now, I mentioned that I have a granddaughter. My third little granddaughter was born a year ago.

At the christening, at the baptism…. My daughter is a teacher, so the godparents are in the teaching profession also. At least one of them was — the godmother. I didn't know her, but she came up to me and said: "Brian, Debbie says I'm not allowed to talk to you, but I just have to talk to you." Knowing that she was a teacher, I said: "Well, this probably isn't the most appropriate time, but okay, have at me." She said: "Brian, I just want to thank you" — something I wasn't expecting — "because we had moved to the United States because of the taxes down there. We were taking home more money.

Now, with the tax regime in British Colum- bia…. My husband is a high-tech executive. He said we could now come back and work in the high-tech indus- try in British Columbia, so we're back at home with my family." She thanked me for that. This morning the Leader of the Opposition was on one of the radio shows, and he asked her: "What would y o u d o i f i t w a s y o u r b u d g e t ? " W e l l , w e k n o w w h a t t h e y w o u l d h a v e d o n e f r o m m y c o l l e a g u e f r o m W e s t Vancouver–Capilano: tax and spend — absolutely. We know that.

She said: "I would have consulted the prov- ince of British Columbia more. I would have gone out and consulted the people more, and then I would have come up wit

Document details

Collection	British Columbia — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	H0219pm-09
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	H0219pm 09
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	f9afe24537f50ef7f6cae95028014f56d4c38cdf

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