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The House met at 2:30 p.m.

THRONE DEBATE

MR. DAVID BARRETT (Leader of the Opposition): Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a question concerning the tape recording equipment which has been installed in the House. Is this machine being used to tape record the speeches, and I wish to inquire as to whether or not that facility has been instituted under your authority?

MR. SPEAKER: In reading the applicable page of the Votes and Proceedings that refers to the matter raised by the Honourable the Leader of the Opposition, it will be noted that it states that you will be asked to give consideration to the initiation of a system of recording proceedings in the House under the jurisdiction of the Honourable the Speaker. Presumably this would entail a resolution being placed before the House for discussion before taping will be under way. Nevertheless, I have today, under my own authority, and in order to test out the equipment to ensure that things will be workable when the House so directs it, allowed the recording of the debate this afternoon on an experimental basis, and if the honourable members wish to make the system retroactive, we will be in a position to do so. On the other hand, if this is not the wish of the House, of course the tapes may be destroyed.

HON. W.A.C. BENNETT (Premier): Mr. Speaker, I agree that the proceedings should be recorded until the matter is discussed in the House. A record should be made of all the discussions in this debate, so that there will be no lapse. I certainly want to hear them, and I want the Opposition members to have an opportunity to put their speeches on tape on Monday.

MR. BARRETT: Unanimous consent for the experiment, I am sure, speaking for my side. Will the results of the experiment be made available to all members of the House?

MR. SPEAKER: This, of course, will depend upon the instructions given to me by the House, as to the availability of the various tapes. In the meantime, we are carrying on purely on an experimental basis, until such time as I receive definite instructions from the House based upon the resolution which presumably will be presented.

The honourable member for Delta.

MR. ROBERT WENMAN (Delta): Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure and an honour to be the first member to speak at the first Session of the 29th Parliament of British Columbia, and reply to the Speech from the Throne. We did make a test of this before but….

MR. SPEAKER: I think if the honourable member placed his microphone in the holder there would be ample volume.

AN HON. MEMBER: Is that the end of your speech?

MR. WENMAN: I promise the honourable member that I will be brief, but not quite that brief.

I take great pleasure in presenting the following motion: Moved by Mr. R. Wenman and seconded by Mr. Burt Campbell, "We, Her Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, in Session assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious Speech which Your Honour has addressed to us at the opening of the present Session." First of all, Mr. Speaker, may I congratulate you on your election as Speaker of the House and wish you all success in performing your duties as successfully as you have through the last Parliament. I would like also to welcome the many new members of the House during this Session. Every member of the House awaits anxiously to hear your words and to witness your contribution to the people of British Columbia.

I would like also to thank especially today, the Minister of Public Works (Mr. Chant). For years we have been concerned about a new microphone system and I am pleased that he has gone about seeing that this was established. While it may not be booming forth at the moment, I know that it does work because we did try it before we started, and I'm sure that it will be in good operating order very, very soon. I see that we have a high quality of equipment here and I think that this looks well towards the future, because certainly while we have this high quality microphone system here, I am sure that all the backbenchers can look forward to the same kind of quality in the offices that will be forthcoming certainly in the next few years.

The most recurring theme throughout the Speech from the Throne was a concern for the protection of our environment. This emphasis is good because it does reflect the feeling of the people of the Province of British Columbia today. Preservation of our environment probably is the one common concern that has the unanimity of common support from the establishment, the mass media, the politicians and, yes, even the student rebel. Concern for the protection of our environment knows no political affiliation, but rather is common to all men of all cities of all nations. As late as yesterday President Nixon spoke strongly regarding environmental control, and in Europe, a special European Conservation Year has been established. During the past three or four decades, we have seen a technological era boom forth as an end in itself and mankind has stood back blinded by the splendour of his own creation. However, today that blind faith in technology is giving way to a fear of its consequences. I am pleased to see the emphasis on the protection of our environment so placed, and I look forward to supporting further legislative devices to ensure the preservation of the splendour of this great Province of British Columbia. Government legislation, however, is only one small solution to the part of a much larger problem. The pressure on the environment is human. Millions of people want to drive cars, live in modern houses, go places in aircraft and, too often, the man who complains about crowded conditions seldom counts himself as a part of that same crowd. Too many people want to preserve the wilderness by keeping people out of the wilderness so people can go into the wilderness. Every individual will have to assess his own situation, and be prepared to correct the problem at his own level. Every individual will have to commit himself to be responsible enough not to throw that bottle down on our beaches or that wrapper into the ditch. The pollution problem is as small as this — it is as large as this, and public legislation can be only as effective as public attitude. Certainly an education programme will have to be embarked upon as well as a legislative programme.

During the past few years, this government has built a housing policy around the ethic of family-centred living and

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home ownership. While home ownership may be coming less and less realistic and not in vogue or not in trend according to certain sociologists; if this is not the trend that we desire we must not go along with it, we must attempt to change it, and I am pleased to see the Provincial Government is attempting to buck this trend and to curb this trend by offering new incentives and new opportunities for home ownership to tenants and to younger people. The earlier home acquisition grant for new homes helped many people in the middle class. However, it kept home ownership from those who could not afford high mortgage payments and high interest rates on new homes. This new proposal for old homes should bring home ownership within the range of many, many British Columbians, and it certainly is an imaginative and progressive step in the right direction. May I commend the government for this programme. Also mentioned in the Speech from the Throne was the Senior Citizens Housing Programme. This is another excellent programme that certainly has been well used in my constituency, and I am most pleased to announce to my constituency today, that yet another housing project has been approved in Delta. This is the Delta Housing Association and there will be another 20 new units added to the Ladner Housing Complex.

But, Mr. Speaker, I am concerned, because while the Provincial Government is making an attempt to curb this trend of forcing people out of their homes, the Federal Government is discussing a Capital Gains Tax on homes that would act as a deterrent to home ownership and, if implemented, in effect it would drive not only the poor but many middle class citizens from their homes. The Federal Government shouldn't need to take a second or a third look before scrapping this feature of the White Paper, and I call upon Canadians in all provinces to protest in the strongest terms possible about this policy. Just briefly, further on the White Paper, let the lofty objectives of equalization or re-distribution of the tax burden lull no politician nor taxpayer into ready acceptance. No matter how one looks at the Paper, it represents major increases in taxation to almost every segment of our society. While increases to the minority poor may be slight, the large silent majority, the already hard-pressed middle class who are the real producers of our society will once again be footing the bill for increased government spending and deficit financing. Unless radical changes are made in this area, and in the area regarding the taxation of the small business-man — small businesses are already being swallowed up by huge corporations — the small business-man will face an evolutionary economic extinction. This is a very unfortunate fact — this is a whole way of life. Our housing programme, our family-centred living and home ownership, and our small businesses have built this country and they deserve to be protected and encouraged.

Mr. Speaker, I bring before you today a matter of great importance to this entire Legislature. You will undoubtedly be shocked to hear that the Federal Government is attempting to start another province in the middle of British Columbia. They are attempting to build another province in the middle of our Province. I have a startling letter here before me that says that this land which adjoins the municipality of Delta, is neither in Delta nor in the Province of British Columbia. Where is it? It says here — now this is the National Harbours Board, an agency of the Federal Government speaking — "Roberts Bank is not a part of the Province of British Columbia and therefore cannot possibly be a part of the municipality of Delta." It goes further than that — it doesn't stop there — it says that Delta by-laws as such, obviously could not apply. Do you realize what this means? This means that the Federal Government is setting up some sort of a tax haven for industries in the west — in the middle of British Columbia. In addition to this it says that they will not abide by Delta by-laws. What are Delta by-laws? Delta by-laws are the Provincial by-laws as well. The Delta by-laws are the by-laws that will be controlling the pollution in this area. The Regional District by-laws will be the by-laws that will be controlling the pollution in this area if there is to be any pollution developed. We don't know, but we are going to be ready for it, and we're not going to tolerate another province in the middle of B.C. The constituency of Delta has been tolerant with the inconveniences of the superport — in fact we have looked beyond the inconveniences. This was shown to us, and the people of Delta could see what a great thing this was for the Province and for the country, and they showed their support of the building of this superport in the election last August. However, if we are going to have all the inconveniences, we also are going to have participation in the taxation and we are going to participate in the control of any side effects such as pollution that may come from the superport. Now, I know that lately the Federal Government has been attempting to make a special agreement with Delta, making it under the guise of water. They say "All we want is water." But I want to tell you it's not water they want — it's control and it's jurisdiction. They want to keep Delta, they want to keep British Columbia, they want to keep the interest of the people of this Province out of that superport and that's wrong and we're not going to support that. In the past two or three weeks they have been bullying the Delta municipal council, forcing them into signing an agreement that does not refer just to water, but refers also to taxation and to pollution and every other form of by-law. What a ridiculous situation! In 1934 an Order-in-Council extended the boundaries of Delta to include this area. It was recognized that this area belonged to Delta. What a ridiculous situation! There would be no workmen's compensation there, there would be no doctors allowed to practise there, there would be no fire service there, there would be no possible way, because all these things come under municipal or provincial control. Or are we going to establish a whole new government for the island of Roberts Bank…or for the peninsula of Roberts Bank. Certainly we're not, and we are not going to recognize that agreement even if they force Delta into signing it.

AN HON. MEMBER: Call out the Bennett navy.

MR. WENMAN: You know you are absolutely right, Mr. Member of the Opposition, I think we are going to have to call out the Bennett navy. I understand the ferries are just being stretched. I hope they are not having guns applied as well. That's right, we have the biggest fleet, we are ready. But we are not going to see Delta bullied and we are going to make sure that all the benefits of this superport accrue to all the people of Delta and all the people of the Province of British Columbia.

AN HON. MEMBER: Guns were fired yesterday.

MR. WENMAN: Yes, I guess you heard the first gun yesterday. That was the signal that here the war is on.

It was encouraging to hear in the Speech from the Throne that Japan will surpass the United Kingdom as our second

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largest customer, because it is here on the Pacific Rim that the greatest potential waits for British Columbia and Canadian trade. I was disappointed, however, to hear that British Columbia offices in England and the United States are being expanded before permanent offices were being established on the Japanese Asian side of the Pacific. It is time for British Columbia to break out and expand from its traditional trading patterns with the United States and Europe. We have been content to sit too long on our side of the ocean and wait for customers to come to buy. We must take an aggressive stance and get out and sell and trade. We have made a good start in Japan with our impressive Expo pavilion. I would propose that we open a permanent British Columbia House in Japan during the coming year with a view towards expansion of other Asian markets in the near future. Such an office could operate as a catalyst between B.C. and Asian businessmen. Our businessmen need to be encouraged to move in this competitive world market even if they have to price to competition rather than to profit, and take smaller initial gains to establish themselves in this tremendous potential market. Whether your motives are humanitarian or economic, by increasing trade with these countries we can raise both their standard of living and our standard of living, as well as creating good customers and peaceable neighbours We are building our port facilities in Vancouver and in Delta port, and you know these ports weren't built to compete, they were built to complement. The sooner that we clarify the jurisdictional dispute, as soon as we have set up a tri-level jurisdictional control over the superport including municipal, provincial and federal authorities, as soon as we can see that the superport will complement the great port of Vancouver, we will move further ahead, further forward, in the interest of all Canadians.

While the long term outlook for British Columbia is indeed bright, in the short term the economy is in a state of delicate balance. In an attempt to slow down inflation by decreasing the growth of the money supply during the past year the Federal Government has bounced interest rates to an alarming and unprecedented high. While the Federal Government through its sale of 8 per cent Canada Bonds may have been very successful in lowering the quality of reserves available to banks and thereby decreasing the amount of credit available and tightening the money supply, it has on the other hand pushed the municipal and provincial interest rates so high that responsible local governments, had they any choice, would never consider borrowing at these interest rates However, since hospitals and schools and sewage treatment are immediate, the Federal Government is in effect forcing irresponsible inflationary borrowing at the local level. At 10 per cent, how long will local government be able to keep up interest payments, let alone ever repaying the principal? If such rates are to persist hospital and school construction will be forced to halt. Reduction of the money supply is an important and quick economic regulator; however, it seems that the earlier inflationary psychosis of the consumer is changing to an erosion of confidence in the economy. The whole money market is a delicate sensitive instrument based on confidence, and when it becomes threatened it is time to employ new monetary devices to gradually restore confidence, because confidence is the basis of productivity While easing up on the brakes will have to be gradual, the business cycle is nearing completion and the Federal Government should begin to ease up by at least reducing the interest rate. As the noted economist Milton Freeman says, "The government may be going too fast too far in the right direction." During the coming years the battle of inflation will be best met, not by high interest rates, but rather by some method of controlling wages and prices, and I would commend the Federal Government in its attempt here at moral suasion. I think that this is good and I think that this is necessary, but we may have to go further. Somehow the rate of the money supply must grow more gradually related to real productivity. I think that increased efficiency of operations will be an absolute necessity in every department of government and every form of business. We will have to make better use of facilities, educational facilities, hospital facilities, all of our facilities. We are going to have to decrease government programmes. We are going to have to increase productivity and trade, and we are going to have to, Mr. Speaker, move from extractive to refining industries in the Province of British Columbia, and that is why I was so pleased to hear in the Speech from the Throne that consideration, or that encouragement is being given to the establishment of a copper smelter in the fantastic Highland Valley. I think this is a tremendous step forward. It's just the first step forward. We must move further in this direction, we must move further in the direction of developing low labour content type of industry with high technology. We have a small population and large resources. The fine manufacturing is going to have to be done elsewhere, so that means that our labour force, which is the best educated labour force in Canada, is going to have to be better educated and that means more and more and more technical and vocational schools. There are five vocational-technical jobs for every one professional job. I say it's good that there are new vocational schools being started, but that is not enough; we need more. We need more facilities of the technical institute in particular and I am pleased to hear that that programme is moving forward and I hope that it will be accelerated.

The welfare benefits that the government provides should be merely a foundation upon which the individual has freedom and incentive to build as his own resources and freedom permit. The long term aim should be to build a society where many government programmes become superfluous because the vast majority of people have the education and resources to provide adequately for their own diverse needs. The government must provide to develop the individual to his individual maximum capacity of productivity and creativity, encourage personal initiative and responsibility as a prerequisite to the return to the mainstream of a productive society. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to say that this government, like all other governments preceding us, like all other governments on this continent, has fallen far, far short of these objectives. Instead, we have created a huge bureaucracy to gobble money faster than those who do produce in our society can produce within our society. While there is probably no total cure for the welfare dilemma that has faced mankind for so many centuries, surely in an age of such rapid change and courageous vision, and since past attempts have failed, it is time to try some new bold adventures in an attempt to find a more complete solution.

It is time to go back to our basic objective and start all over again. Probably the most visionary and economic and sociological idea available to us at the moment is the principle of negative income tax. Negative income tax is equitable, it is dignified, it is efficient and it may just possibly motivate the individual through incentive to initiate. A negative income tax would reduce bureaucratic administrative costs and take money directly to those who are in need. Professional social workers' time is too often spent on

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unnecessary administrative detail, and non-essential consultations with people who, given the money directly, could well administer to their own needs. I know that this idea was promoted and developed along with many, many other fine innovations by a very fine Minister and I wish to compliment the former Minister, the member from Comox (Hon. D.R.J. Campbell) for his job in Social Welfare. I did a study in his Department and I talked to his officials and he had their respect and their confidence, and I think the many ideas that we see now coming forward were born there. I know that the new Minister is going to take these ideas and he is going to add to these ideas new ideas of his own, and I know that the problem, while it may be that it can't be solved, at least it will be alleviated, and I know that the members of this Legislature are going to stand behind our Premier when he speaks down there in Ottawa and says that B.C. is ready to give the people of our Province — all the people of our Province — a good standard of living and that is what a negative income tax will do. Most people on welfare don't want to be there and it is the responsibility of government to help them return to the mainstream of society. Our Premier has had the vision to grasp the concept and carry it forward, and we wish him success as he takes it to Ottawa again. Such a plan is national in scope and could replace existing unequal equalization grants that relate poverty to a province rather than an individual person. Let government build jobs and economy through incentives to industry, but let government also build individual people to cope with the opportunities around them with dignity and courage.

I was pleased to hear in the Speech from the Throne that further action will be taken on automobile insurance, because the work is far from complete. While the terms of reference have not been outlined, I am certain that any discussion should centre around cost, profit, and price control. Basically, I feel the legislation that the Committee has drawn up is excellent. It's being held across the country as an imaginative programme and the actual package, the compulsory package, is a good package. I think, however, that if we are going to say to a person that you must buy, in some way we are going to have to control the price. It was very difficult last year in the Committee, I found as a member, to determine just what are the costs of automobile insurance, just what is the profit on automobile insurance. I think these are things that we must know. We have to know these things so that we can decide in our own mind if the price is equitable. It certainly seems high at this point. If we are going to take this kind of compulsory action, and we are fining people and losing their jobs and sending them to jail, if we are going to do this, then the basic package will have to be tightly regulated either by the proclamation of existing legislation referring to price or by a government-operated insurance scheme for the compulsory liability and public damage section. Hopefully, the Committee this year will be able to establish from the insurance companies the true picture of actual cost and profit for this package in order that a fair price for compulsory automobile insurance will be offered to the public. If not, it may be necessary to take this section of automobile insurance out of the hands of private insurers, an objective that is not desirable, in my opinion.

I would like to talk briefly regarding the Cultural Fund. Money from the perpetual Physical Fitness Fund will be spent through the involvement of thousands of people in a Festival of Sports being held between May 16th and June 1st. This is good. Perhaps next year we will consider the recreational interests of all of our people and have a similar festival for the Cultural Fund and people interested in that side of our recreational life. In Surrey we are attempting to do this, and we are combining a festival, a sports festival, a cultural festival. We are having volley-ball tournaments, band concerts, dances, hundreds of related activities, an active and aggressive involvement and participation of British Columbians. This is good, this is what we want, we want this aggressive involvement and participation. I would take this opportunity to commend the government on these programmes, both financially and sociologically so successful. These are good programmes helping sports and culture throughout the Province. I would, however, bring to the attention of the Committee as a great sport and cultural heritage whose extinction is being threatened within our Province, and I think it does relate to culture, does relate to sports. Perhaps it is no longer convenient for the six great Clydesdale horses to be kept at Oakalla, but it is in the interest of our sports and cultural heritage to keep the team together in British Columbia. As I present this brief to the Attorney-General on behalf of the horsemen and pioneers throughout the province, I would urge that our famous, ever famous second look be taken with regard to the Clydesdales and I look forward to a solution to this problem. While in some way this is a small problem it is a very real problem, and it does relate to the cultural heritage of our Province, and I am sure that the Attorney-General will have another look and we'll hear an answer during the Legislative Session on what can be done.

I would draw also to the attention of the members another great cultural activity in the Province of British Columbia.

AN HON. MEMBER: ….on the Liberal payroll.

AN HON. MEMBER: ….on the Insurance Committee.

MR. WENMAN: One of the great cultural activities that has put White Rock and British Columbia on the cultural map, not just of B.C. but of Canada, is the White Rock Players. Our White Rock Players win the Dominion Drama Festival again and again and again. Each year they present to the public a Christmas pantomime based on a fairy tale. Now, this year as in all years, you know if last Fall you tried to get tickets to see the show in White Rock for December you had to get them in August. You have to get your reservations in. Because I thought this was so successful and did represent an important part of our culture, I suggested to the White Rock Players, and they have complied by bringing their White Rock Pantomime to Victoria. They are bringing it particularly at this time, early in the Session, so that each and every member in this Assembly may have the opportunity of witnessing this fine form of entertainment and culture. I have placed on your desks tickets for the performance on Monday night and I hope that you will be able to attend. I hope that you will enjoy this situation and I would invite you backstage to meet the cast when the play is complete.

Many people today seem concerned about gaps between individuals and generations. I would temper my concern and say, that rather from these same gaps grows progress, for what is a gap but a differing opinion or a new idea? Through communication we have, we can, we will, we must bridge these gaps, for without these gaps there is no progress, for these gaps do represent new ideas. Because of the biological cycles of man's aging process there has always been and there

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always will be these generation gaps. The second world war generation has long since given way to the atomic generation. The atomic generation has already given way to the space generation, each with its own dialogue and standard. While the last generation cast its weaker members as alcoholics and derelicts on Skid Row, the current generation seems to be casting its own members, its weaker members, as drug derelicts. While I could dwell at length on many negative conditions, and speak about the things that disturb us about young people, I would speak rather about the positive opportunities available today for our youth, because history constantly records that in the ashes of turmoil the heart of the ember is cool with ideas and hope for the evolution of a new and greater society with new and better ideas, and I think these ideas are there and are there among our young people. Never before has youth been challenged with such opportunity, such challenges within the structures of our society. Never has a society produced such a standard of productivity upon which to build. In British Columbia we are particularly fortunate for the time and place in which we live. The shelves of our stores are full of every commodity mankind could possibly want or need, the economy is strong, our young people are well educated and our Province awake to unfold to the north towards the new and broader dimension. Takla Lake and Dease Lake — they are not the end of the line, they are the beginning of the line. I would predict that within ten years the boundaries of British Columbia and Canada will be redrawn. Whole new cities, resource industries, transportation and communication links will stretch northward to the border of the Yukon, to the MacKenzie River through to the Arctic Ocean. The P.G.E. won't stop but will move on through these nations and through this area, opening up new land and opening up the opportunity to change the economic and political map of Canada. Such a building and expansion is as inevitable as it is exciting. In its opportunity and strength we have and are building a young society to meet its challenges. We must have vision of future worlds, for where there is no vision there is no challenge, where there is no challenge there is no opportunity for young people to grasp responsibility and to grow. If we fail to challenge our young people in a positive, direct and non-platitudinous way; if we fail in gaining their participation and in guiding them into a productive role within our society we will instead drive them into withdrawal, and this kind of withdrawal is a most expensive illness that society cannot afford, economically or even politically, and this is the real danger of young people taking drugs today. It is taking away their ability to innovate, their aggressive ability, their will to survive. It turns young people in on themselves and makes them negative and critical in their thinking. Our youth today possesses a tremendous potential of energy, idealism and enthusiasm just waiting to be tapped. The government of this Province of British Columbia has built a strong foundation, a solid foundation upon which to enter the decade of the 1970's. We live in the right time — we live in the right place — and I look forward to participating in the 1970's with optimism, with energy and, Mr. Speaker, with enthusiasm. Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Revelstoke-Slocan.

MR. BURT CAMPBELL (Revelstoke-Slocan): Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity on this the first time that I have addressed the Legislative Assembly of this Province to join with my good friend and congratulate you most heartily and most sincerely on your re-election as Speaker. You have gained a reputation for Olympian impartiality, fairness and wit, that has spread throughout this Province and I know that regardless of some of the events of yesterday you will continue to carry on the duties of your office with decorum and dignity. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask your indulgence and, very briefly, seeing that I was a long time getting here — (Laughter) — recognize some of my guests who helped in that task. I want to recognize my wife, Judy, my parents, Mary and Les Campbell, my sister, Mrs. Ronald Stewart, my very good friend, Fred Pressacco, my constituency President and Campaign Manager, Mr. Ben Dean and also welcome the new and enthusiastic young Mayor of Revelstoke, Mr. Don Gillespie, and many other very good friends and relatives and supporters who are here today from all over the Province. Again, if I may beg your indulgence and put in a commercial, I had invited my guests to the dining-room afterwards, and had worked through your office, Mr. Speaker, but your secretary caught me as I came into the Chamber and said "It closes as soon as the Debate is over", so I'll excuse myself very quickly, and maybe the proceedings will be of such length after I speak that we will be able to get into the dining-room. (Laughter). You can take it out of my time.

I should like to thank the Premier most sincerely for the honour he has paid the riding of Revelstoke-Slocan in asking me, as its representative, to second the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. It is an appropriate tribute to the great labour constituency of Revelstoke-Slocan, a great section of which was in the Opposition for twenty-five years, that he should ask this riding, which on August the 27th gave a clear majority of its vote, to second the motion of the honourable member from Delta. I should like to join with my electors in congratulating the Premier on having for the seventh consecutive time led the Social Credit movement to such a resounding victory. And it was a tremendous victory;  with the Socialists frozen at roughly 34 per cent of the over-all vote, Social Credit obtained over 70 per cent of free enterprise. Mr. Speaker, this is quite an emotional moment for me. One of my greatest ambitions — in fact my overriding desire since I was in High School — was not only to sit in this House, but to sit in it under the leadership of Premier Bennett. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to contesting many more elections under the Premier's leadership, because we in the government group are unanimous in this regard. If we look at that election of just under five months ago, is it any wonder that the N.D.P. House Leader is against united appeal? (Laughter). You know, Mr. Speaker, the House Leader of the N.D.P. was quoted recently in the press as having told his party supporters not to count on his automatic candidature for Leader of the socialist forces in this Province. He said that this present Session of the Legislature will give the party an opportunity to judge him and give him an opportunity to judge the party. On reading this I was reminded of one of the stories that I read to my children. You remember the Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, who would ask "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" pretty secure that the answer given would be her name. But one day the mirror answered that there was yet one fairer, and so it is with the N.D.P. Mr. Speaker, the House Leader of the Official Opposition asks the question, expecting to hear his own name shouted back at him, but there is not unanimity in their ranks and I would suggest that the man who appeared that party's second choice a year ago will this

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coming June find himself its third choice.

And what about the once great Liberal Party? How did it fare in this election? Well, the wayward bunch didn't do too well as it criss-crossed this Province. In fact the ranks of its negative minority are even thinner now than when the election was announced. At least they had six pall-bearers then for the Liberal Party — now they're down to five. Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Liberal Party likes to quote statistics that he believes show that more people oppose this Government than are for it. This Government won a greater percentage of the popular vote than did Prime Minister Trudeau in his election. While eighty per cent of the electorate rejected the new Liberalism, which apparently consisted, as my friend just said, of water-skiing, swims in lakes, dips in pools, Indian wrestling, and other assorted frivolities, there's not much doubt that the Liberal leader probably had more fun than anyone else last July and August, but I am sure that this is of small consolation to him today as he looks across and down to his left at the Government benches. But while the Premier's first intent was certainly to pay tribute to the great constituency of Revelstoke-Slocan, he also made it quite clear in his announcement to the press of the names of the mover and the seconder, that he wanted to recognize youth — the young people of this Province — because it wasn't only the little old ladies and the assorted unknown so loved by the Eastern news media who gave this Government its well deserved and great victory, it was the young people as well, and I am hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that the Government will see fit at this Session to bring down legislation lowering the age of legal majority in this Province from 21 to 19 years and to also change the age at which a young person is considered a juvenile from 17 to 15 years. This latter move would be more in accord with the practices in other provinces and would recognize the greater maturity today of young people of 16 and 17 years of age. With respect to the lowering of the age of legal majority, I repeat the well worn but the none-the-less valid argument that if a young person of 19 is old enough to take up arms for his country and to vote in this Province, then surely he is old enough to enter a licenced premises and to accept the other responsibilities of adulthood, including the responsibility in law for his financial, legal and personal affairs.

Mr. Speaker, two days ago, before this Session opened, the Service Club of which I am proud to be a member celebrated its fifty-fifth anniversary. I refer to Kiwanis International. This is the reason I wear this quite bright tartan jacket today, for it is the distinctive jacket of the club of which I am a member, and I wear it on this my first occasion of speaking in this House, to pay tribute to the service club philosophy, to help draw attention to those thousands upon thousands of British Columbians who willingly aid their communities through their efforts in a multiple of service clubs. After this Legislature rose last year the retiring President of the Simon Fraser University student government told a service club meeting that the lives of its members, while not entirely meaningless, none-the-less were finished. Referring to the members at the meeting, he said "You are not of my world." I don't agree that volunteer effort and the service club philosophy are dead or no longer needed, Mr. Speaker, and I think that the results of the efforts of volunteers, numbering in the millions upon millions of man hours, are to be found throughout this Province, ranging from health centres, senior citizens' villas, skating rinks and other athletic facilities. I think it is very significant, Mr. Speaker, although I'm sure it wasn't intentional, that the members speaking today represent constituencies that are tied together with twin ribbons of steel joining two very controversial but far-sighted projects of this Government. The very capable railroaders of this Province are scheduled to start moving coal on April 1st of this year from Sparwood in the East Kootenays through to the Roberts Bank superport development in Delta riding, while it is in Revelstoke-Slocan constituency that two of the Columbia River projects, Mica and Duncan Dams, are located. Both the Roberts Bank and Columbia developments were born and grew in controversy, and both will stand as monuments forever to the look-ahead spirit of the Social Credit Government of this Province.

I would like to, very briefly, outline some of the benefits the development of the coal resources in the south-eastern section of our Province will be bringing in so far as they relate fairly directly to railroading. As members are aware, the C.P.R. is putting huge unit trains into service to haul coal. These trains will consist of 88 cars. By 1972 three trains will be in service delivering eight million tons of coal a year and, on the basis of these contracts, direct benefits to B.C. workers in industry will amount to more than ten million dollars a year, including more than four million dollars a year in wages to railroad employees, including the member from Columbia (Mr. Chabot). And this is just the beginning. While Kaiser Resources contracted to supply 45 million tons over fifteen years, it has since signed two further agreements totalling another 30 million tons, and Fording Coal has a 45 million ton contract that will see the start of coal delivery in 1972. I am hopeful that all of this coal from the Crowsnest area, Mr. Speaker, will move over all Canadian lines. But what will this development mean along the entire line and, in particular, in Revelstoke — this development fought for and made possible by our Social Credit Government? There will be five new mechanical supervisory positions at Revelstoke along with one at Golden and two at Vancouver. Each unit train will create 12 new jobs in the railway running trades at Revelstoke, and the people were told that in August, and the people reciprocated, they knew the Government provided those. Eighteen of the 96 jobs created by the 1st unit train going into service this April 1st will be at Revelstoke, and when the second train goes into service later this summer, 30 of the 187 jobs will be at Revelstoke. When the third unit train starts delivery in 1972, 43 of the approximately 250 jobs that these trains will have created will be at Revelstoke, and the payroll directly attributable to the unit trains in the Revelstoke area is expected to be $337,000 next year, while in 1972 this payroll is expected to climb to nearly half a million dollars. With two unit trains, the annual payroll along the entire route is estimated to be nearly $2,631,000, while in 1972, with three trains, the annual payroll is estimated to be nearly four million dollars a year. These are all jobs and payrolls, Mr. Speaker, which would not have existed had not this Government fought for the Roberts Bank development which makes available the huge freighter capability so necessary.

Like the honourable member for Delta, I was pleased to hear in the Throne Speech yesterday that the Government intends to extend to tenants, by way of a grant or second mortgage loan, assistance for the purchase of older homes. For while the Government of this Province is doing all in its power, more than any other government in Canada, as the former speaker told us, to make possible home ownership and to relieve one of the larger expenses associated with keeping a home, the property tax, the central government at

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Ottawa is showing no leadership at all in this respect and in fact its White Paper, again as the honourable member said, throws further obstacles in the way. More than half of all Canadian families cannot meet the cost of buying or renting homes suitable for their needs, and the Federal Government's policy of high interest rates seems designed to ensure that this state of affairs lasts forever. It used to be generally conceded that most Canadians, when they bought a house, would pay for two, now it seems as if we must pay for three. The one the contractor builds may deteriorate, but the invisible two houses belong to N.H.A. or some other mortgage company, and last for what seems forever. The cost of money is greater than all the cost of materials, labour, management, profit and insurance put together, but now the Federal Minister of Finance proposes a capital gains tax on homes. Granted, he does propose a yearly exemption of $1,000, but this is not enough to cover the current inflation in home prices. The national average selling price of a home is already up some $1,500 over a year ago, and in this capital city of Victoria, for example, the inflation induced price increases up to almost $4,000. Mr. Benson's proposed capital tax on homes is nothing more than a tax on inflation. The dollars are already nowhere near the value they were only a few years ago, and now he proposes to tax away yet more of them. The most commendable and worthy attempts of our Provincial Government in the field of home ownership are being frustrated by the Federal Government, and this Government should lose no opportunity to tell Ottawa so in the strongest terms possible.

Perhaps I might be allowed just one more reference to the election, Mr. Speaker, and that is to comment briefly on the role of the B.C. Teachers Federation in it. The B.C.T.F. engaged in a partisan political campaign, although one side benefit, perhaps, was the tremendous free publicity for the apple industry in the South and North Okanagan constituencies. I wonder how the campaign sits with the labour legislation of this Province when a political levy was made on teachers who are supporters of all parties in a futile attempt to defeat this Government. I would certainly suggest to the Government that it give very serious consideration to prohibiting the collection of teachers' dues by School Districts, not in spite, Mr. Speaker, but to protect the individual teacher who does not want to be compelled to engage in partisan politics at either the local or provincial level in his constituency. With respect to salary negotiations this past fall by local teachers' associations and individual school boards, there was widespread dissatisfaction amongst trustees and teachers throughout the Province, and in several areas of the Province there were even demonstrations, totally unprofessional in their nature, that were staged to protest what the teachers claimed was a lack of good faith in bargaining by school boards. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the time has now arrived for this Government to institute bargaining on a province-wide basis or possibly, and I say this, having given the matter serious consideration, to even decide to bring the matter of teachers' salaries under its direct influence through appropriate amendments to the Public Schools Act. The arbitration awards made last December were, on the whole, inflationary in nature, awards that range from 6½ to 9.2 per cent are most certainly difficult to accept when teachers have been getting regular increases right along. Such awards and even ones higher can be understood when no increases, or only slight increases, have been made over the years, but this is not the case here. While the average increase last fall was 7.3 per cent, when it is recognized that close to two-thirds of all teachers also advanced in September of each year on the scale for the particular category in which they are placed in the School District Salary Schedule, the actual average increase obtained by teachers was a full 8 per cent. To be opposed to such increases, Mr. Speaker, is in some quarters equivalent to being against better education, if not motherhood and the flag as well, but discussion of this most pressing matter is very, very necessary today and action is even more important if the boundless appetite of the salaries part of our educational system isn't to hold back the actual development of education itself. Teachers' salaries today compose 68 per cent of the operating budgets of our School Districts and our Provincial Government, both directly through grants to School Districts and indirectly through the home-owner's grant, is far and away the greatest contributor to the cost of education. Therefore, in my personal view, it must seriously consider placing itself in the position where it will have a greater role to play in the determination of this highly significant and important educational cost.

I am glad, Mr. Speaker, that there have been public indications by the Department of Municipal Affairs, and by the Minister of Lands, Forests and Water Resources, that the Government intends to take a greater hand in pollution control through legislation, and I was pleased to hear several references made to this fact in the Throne Speech yesterday. While the Municipal Affairs Department has asked Regional Districts to delay requests for pollution control authority in anticipation of legislation, the Minister of Water Resources reported in late October that the Pollution Control Board Branch has carried out work with the B.C. Research Council on the general problem of air pollution and has submitted to the Government a series of recommendations for extensive controls that, besides requiring certain changes in legislation, would require the necessary financial backing being voted by this Legislature. Meanwhile, last November 1st, the Minister of Health was quoted as stating that consideration may have to be given to banning the use of detergents and other household cleaners which result in a high phosphate content in waste water. Many will find fault with any methods chosen to help alleviate this growing problem of pollution, Mr. Speaker, but fair-minded people will applaud in this highly important and, as my friend pointed out, very emotional field. I believe there has been much greater progress in the field of pollution control than most of us have given this Government credit for achieving, but the Union of B.C. Municipalities was not alone when it reported to the Cabinet in December that it recorded vast differences in authority and opinion between Government Departments. In actual fact, liaison between the various Departments is increasing all the time, but the public is not fully aware of this. It is generally agreed by almost everyone that the fight against pollution is not just the battle of senior governments or of industry or of our municipal governments, but is the responsibility of each and every individual citizen. Everyone of us has a responsibility in this regard and each and everyone of us must be prepared to pay his share to ensure, in the words of the Throne Speech which opened the Parliament before this present one, "the preservation for all time of the blessings of clean air, pure water, and fertile soil." I am pleased by the assurances in yesterday's Throne Speech that this Government will continue to work toward the protection and preservation of our total environment so that all our citizens may enjoy the beauties and wonders of our heritage as intended by nature. Mr. Speaker, for public discussion, are

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we prepared to put our money where our mouth is? A surcharge of 1 cent on the present 5 cents Social Services Tax for a stated number of years, perhaps two or three, for pollution control. Such a surcharge based on the amount raised by the Social Services Tax in the fiscal year ended March 31st last would raise something like $35,000,000 a year, or nearly $35,000 a day, this is Sundays included, Mr. Member for Kamloops. This tax would involve all citizens in the basic responsibility of doing something about pollution, and at the two ends of the scale it would not work a hardship on those of low incomes who now spend most of their income on non-taxable items, while the industry with its great purchases and expansions would pay the major share of the funds required to help clean industry up. Call it, if you would, a penny for pollution — let these pennies add up.

In the Speech from the Throne I was glad to hear that we will be asked to consider amendments to the Payment of Wages Act, to give greater protection to the working people of this Province in regard to unpaid wages. I have already had a great large number of these cases and appreciate the cooperation of the Department of Labour on them.

I am glad to hear that this Government's extensive programme of highway improvement will continue this year and note that the Speech from the Throne reports that roads affected by the Columbia Development have been re-located and most of the re-construction is completed. There is a very important road in that area still to be re-constructed, Mr. Speaker, and that is the section of Highway 23 between Nakusp and Galena Bay. While I am pleased with the discussions held so far with the Minister of Highways on this section, I urge the calling of a contract on this road this year.

Like the member for Delta I, too, am glad to hear that a Legislative Committee will be asked to give further consideration to certain aspects of the new automobile insurance and will be asked to make recommendations for improvement.

I note that consideration will be given to a new Motion Pictures Act, but recall the comments of a good friend who has often said to me that there is another type of pollution beside the environmental kind, and that is pollution of the mind.

I have mixed feelings about the announcement in the Speech from the Throne that we will be asked to consider a system of recordings on tape of the proceedings of this House. I have always believed that while some form of a Hansard is desirable, none-the-less such systems, where they exist, are greatly abused. Attendance in the House of Commons at Ottawa suffers because members decide they need not attend regularly and instead read the debates — if they do that. In some parliamentary bodies members are even allowed to correct the record and, in effect, change the record entirely. In others, members are allowed to have material printed in the record without ever having read it to the legislative body. Perhaps tape recordings should be kept on tape and used only as a means of checking what was said if a dispute should arise. Perhaps they should be transcribed and printed, but possibly only after a stated period of time following a Session, so that we don't find members talking only for the sake of those people back home to whom they intend to send them out by the thousands. At any rate, as a new member, I certainly look forward to hearing the views that will be expressed on this proposal.

And now, Mr. Speaker, in concluding my remarks I would like to turn to a matter of major importance to the northern part of my riding, specifically the city of Revelstoke, and the notice that the C.P.R. has given to the Canadian Transport Commission of its intent to apply for permission to discontinue some 18 passenger trains across Canada, including its only trans-continental passenger train, "The Canadian". This move by the railway company follows by only three and a half years the withdrawal from service in April of 1966 of the C.P.R.'s other trans-continental passenger train, "The Dominion". Briefly, under the process for examination set up under the National Transportation Act of our Centennial year, a railway company first must file with the Canadian Transport Commission notice of its intention to apply for permission to discontinue a service, and this the C.P.R. hasn't done. Then the company must formally apply to discontinue the service. It is at this stage that the Canadian Transport Commission examines the application to determine whether the service has, in fact, operated at a loss. If it finds that it has been, then it certifies the amount of the loss and publishes it and the company is then obliged to give broad public notice of the proposal to discontinue the service. Following this the C.T.C. then move towards a decision. If the C.T.C. concludes that the public interest does not require retention of a train service, it may approve discontinuance. If it feels that it is an essential service then it can order that it be continued and the railway may make claim for reimbursement from the Federal Government of up to 80 per cent of its annual losses. Mr. Speaker, when the C.P.R. makes formal application for the discontinuance of "The Canadian" I would urge this Government to make a submission to the Canadian Transport Commission opposing it. I believe there is general agreement that redundant railway services should be cut out. The covered wagon gave way to the railroad, and perhaps the day will come when passenger trains will give way completely to some other mode or form of travel. But, that day has not yet arrived. Especially in a trans-continental sense, and certainly not when it is the C.P.R.'s last trans-continental passenger train that the company is proposing to abandon. Mr. Speaker, the building of this line was a bold and magnificent accomplishment, and yesterday we were reminded that next year we would celebrate the centennial of the union of this Province with the rest of our country in a Confederation that required the building of a trans-continental railway as one of its terms, and surely, Mr. Speaker, we are not going to celebrate this centennial by acquiescing to the abandonment of one of its founding bonds.

Mr. Speaker, the programme which has been placed before us in the most general of terms in the Speech from the Throne is none the less a challenging one, coupled with the Budget yet to be brought down. I suggest that they will together provide a most worthy blueprint for this first Session of the golden 70's which will carry this Province into a great new decade of progress. And so, Mr. Speaker, I take great pleasure in seconding the motion of my honourable friend the honourable member for Delta and commending it to your consideration.

On the motion of Mr. Barrett, the debate was adjourned to the next sitting of the House.

The House adjourned at 3:50 p.m.