1993 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 35th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
(Hansard)
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1993
Morning Sitting
Volume 8, Number 2
[ Page 4709 ]
The House met at 10:08 a.m.
Prayers.
J. MacPhail: Hon. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce some very special guests to the House today who will be participants and valued members of the Legislative Assembly for the next few months. We have an intern program that is a wonderful assistance to all our caucuses. I'd like to introduce Mijin Kim and John Jensen, who are working with the New Democrat government caucus. There are other interns present who are working with the opposition caucuses: David Basi, Andrew Gay and Peter Nyers. Would the House please make them welcome for the coming months.
A. Warnke: Hon. Speaker, it is my pleasure to introduce to the House two constituents of Richmond-Steveston who are friends of mine: Joan and Bill Girling. Would the House please make them welcome.
Hon. T. Perry: I request the House to make welcome the Lee family of Vancouver, who are originally of Brunei, Malaysia, and who are admiring some of the fine features of the buildings this morning.
M. Lord: It's a pleasure for me to introduce two constituents of mine from the Comox Valley. First I'd like to welcome Curtis Stewart, who is five years old and is a student at Royston Elementary School. Accompanying Curtis is his father, Ken Stewart. Ken has dedicated a large part of his life to community service and is currently the president of the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce. Would the House please make them welcome.
F. Jackson: I have two introductions this morning, hon. Speaker. From my own constituency is Mr. Gene McKay, who is the vice-president of Pollard Banknote in Kamloops, which is the company that makes all those nice scraps into lottery tickets to make the government lots of money. I'm very pleased to have him here today.
On behalf of the Minister of Transportation and Highways, I wish to introduce Mr. Derek Cook, who is in the political science department at University College of the Cariboo. I'd like the House to please make them welcome.
B. Copping: Hon. Speaker, I'm very pleased to introduce today two special constituents: Mr. Jamie Ross, who is a councillor from the village of Belcarra and president of the Coquitlam Teachers' Association; and his wife, Ms. Sylvia Russell.
C. Serwa: Hon. Speaker, I would like to introduce to the House my constituency assistant, Marilynne Elliott, who works hard to serve my constituency and my office, Okanagan West. Thank you very much. Would the House please make her welcome.
H. Giesbrecht: Hon. Speaker, in the gallery today we have a constituent of mine. I have the pleasure of introducing my partner of 28 years, who's visiting with us today. Would the House please make her welcome.
Hon. M. Sihota: Hon. Speaker, I am sure that all members of this assembly have had the opportunity to reflect on the events which transpired yesterday. I'm sure that all members of the House would join us in wishing Mr. Miller Godspeed and a full and complete recovery from the unfortunate injuries that he suffered as a consequence of yesterday's disruptions.
I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of staff who secured the entrance to this chamber and their efforts in protecting against further incidents. [Applause.] Their calm and courage and restraint are obviously appreciated by all members of the House.
Hon. Speaker, I know that all members are aware of the provisions of the Legislative Assembly Privilege Act, which is designed to protect the integrity of this institution. I am sure that you are reflecting on the provisions of section 5 of that legislation. During the course of your deliberations we hope that you would be mindful of the fact that there is a police investigation into this matter. Perhaps it would be prudent to take into account the results of that investigation and to have the benefits of its findings prior to making any final determinations with respect to the provisions of the Legislative Assembly Privilege Act.
J. Dalton: I am pleased to rise on behalf of the official opposition and endorse the remarks of the Government House Leader. We extend, as well, our regrets and our best wishes to Mr. Miller, and as the House Leader mentioned, our thanks to the staff for handling a very difficult and unpleasant situation in a timely and speedy manner.
C. Serwa: I, too, would like to add my comments on behalf of the third party. Yesterday was an incident that reminded all of us -- all sitting members and perhaps all people in the province -- of simply how thin the veneer of civilization can become, and of the fact that the continued maintenance of the parliamentary system and the rule of law and order requires eternal vigilance by all of the citizens of this province. I commend the Sergeant-at-Arms and the staff who preserved the dignity of the Legislature yesterday. I know it was a very subdued group of legislators -- all members, all three parties of the House -- that recognized how thin the fabric and the critical sensitivity of the parliamentary system are.
We express our sympathy to Mr. Miller and our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
[ Page 4710 ]
The Speaker: I'm sure the House would want me to convey those best wishes directly to Mr. Miller on behalf of the members of the House, and I will do that.
[10:15]
D. Mitchell: I rise on a question of privilege, of which I've given you notice today under standing order 26, practice recommendation 7. It is also related to the statement made by the Government House Leader with respect to the contempt of parliament that was shown yesterday, which was a very serious matter.
I believe that a prima facie case of privilege does exist as a result of that very serious contempt of parliament. It's not an issue for a police investigation so much as it is a matter for this House to deal with. As a result, I would like to propose -- and I've given you notice of my motion -- a motion that I would be prepared to tender if you agree that a prima facie case of privilege exists. I know that a point of privilege must be raised at the earliest opportunity. I wouldn't want that opportunity to be missed as we wait for a police investigation, so I would like to tender that to you now, hon. Speaker.
The Speaker: Order. I want to remind the hon. member that when raising a point of privilege, the member must read a very brief statement that is without argument or debate and deliver it to the Chair so that the Chair can consider it. Would you read the statement and forward it to the Chair -- but not the motion, hon. member.
D. Mitchell: The statement that I made is my statement, hon. Speaker. I would like to tender the motion to you. If you find that a prima facie case of privilege exists, I would be prepared to move this motion.
The Speaker: Thank you, hon. member.
J. Doyle: It is with great pleasure that I present the following motion. I move that the following address be presented to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: "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."
Hon. Speaker, I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to my caucus colleagues for giving me the honour of making this motion. As well, I am very proud that my dear wife, Judy, and our two fine sons, Adam and William, are here today to share this honour with me.
Last year I had the great pleasure to sit as a member of this House while the first throne speech drafted by a New Democratic government in almost two decades was read out. It was a document that spoke about hope, promise and innovation, and that gave clear priority to the real-life concerns of average British Columbians and their families.
Our government dedicated itself to a year of progress based on three broad themes: open, fair and balanced government; building economy for people; and a secure and healthy future for our children. The throne speech made it clear that advances would come both with the introduction of new programs and by thoughtfully adjusting existing programs to more carefully reflect the changing needs of our citizens. I knew at that time, as did my friends and neighbours who live and work throughout the constituency of Columbia River-Revelstoke, that it would be a remarkable year for British Columbians, and we were not disappointed.
We moved quickly to ensure open, fair and balanced government and to restore the faith of our citizens in their government. We began the process by introducing tougher conflict-of-interest guidelines for MLAs, to protect British Columbians from those politicians who would use public office for personal gain. As well, we broadened the definition of conflict of interest beyond just legislative and cabinet decisions, to conflicts that could occur during the exercising of official powers or in the performance of official duties.
We put in place a comprehensive new Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to make it clear that the business of government is the business of the public. Individuals will now have access not just to information about the decisions government makes on their behalf but also to the countless files which government keeps and maintains on its citizens. To assist private citizens in dealing with complaints about government and its many agencies, we've expanded the powers and budget of the province's ombudsman, and we've appointed Dulcie McCallum, the first woman ever to hold the post in British Columbia.
We've also made progress in expanding election rights, opening up the provincial books to all taxpayers, strengthening the role of the legislative committees, freezing MLAs' salaries and moving to have them set by someone other than MLAs, and stopping the use of the government jet as a political taxi service. Much more work remains to be done, but through these first steps we have sent a clear signal that we are prepared to complete the critical task of restoring the public's faith in the people elected to lead them.
In our first throne speech we made a firm commitment to a secure and healthy future for our children. British Columbians have seen great progress made on this commitment. We began by providing substantial budgetary increases for the critical Ministries of Health and Education. Health spending was increased by 7 percent, and in education the increase was more than 9 percent. This year we've kept up our commitment by announcing an additional 3 percent to health, education and social services.
Our work in these areas didn't stop with simple budget increases. Under the able leadership of the Health minister, the New Directions program for health care was launched. Its focus is to use the many strengths of the existing system to make health care
[ Page 4711 ]
delivery much more cost-effective, preventive and community-based. Those ideas, like more community-based health care workers, extended medical services provided by B.C. Ambulance Service and additional community-based health and preventive programs that promote healthy lifestyles, fall directly under the umbrella of the Health ministry.
The cost of and challenges to progress are so great that we've also committed ourselves to a number of additional initiatives which do not fall within the health care spending envelope. They include a school meals program that will help head off medical problems which can be directly linked to inadequate nutrition in school-aged children, an AIDS awareness program targeted at young people to help reduce the spread of the deadly disease and take some of the pressure off B.C. hospitals, anti-drug and alcohol abuse programs designed to reduce the caseload caused by related diseases as well as those caused by impaired drivers, and more funding for women's centres to keep women out of abusive situations and out of hospital care.
We have long acknowledged that education holds the key to our province's unlimited potential. We've worked hard to put that key in the hands of young British Columbians. In addition to last year's increase in overall education funding of over $300 million, we also committed our government to an ambitious $582 million capital works program to get students out of portables and into proper classrooms where they belong, to a $10 million investment in computers for the classrooms and to more than $1.6 million for a school meals program for the 40,000 hungry schoolkids who need it.
Our government has also invested in our children's future in other areas, through initiatives like amending the Family Relations Act to ensure that support payments are made, launching an extensive review of the child protection legislation and investing $1.6 million to create or upgrade some 1,400 licensed care spaces across the province, and through a wide range of innovative programs to assist single parents in meeting the ever-increasing pressures they face.
Those are the kinds of thoughtful, far-reaching programs British Columbians expected from us when they heard our commitment to our children's future in last year's throne speech. It has been a great privilege to be part of a government that has taken so many meaningful steps to deliver on that commitment.
The other area we dedicated ourselves to was building an economy for the people. Despite enormous restraints placed on us by a weak Canadian economy and a federal government dedicated to off-loading its debts onto provincial governments, considerable progress has been made. Our government understood that progress on this front could only come if we first invested in working people, jobs and business. That's why we established a $15 million fund to assist resource-dependent communities and single-industry towns in dealing with this unique economic problem.
We created the B.C. Endowment Fund and gave it a strong mandate to invest wisely in a range of business enterprises. We've launched the Working Opportunity Fund, to provide growth capital for small and medium-sized businesses. British Columbians showed their confidence in that project by quickly investing in excess of $7 million in the fund. Instead of borrowing more money from foreign banks, we gave British Columbians an opportunity to invest in their future by issuing the very successful B.C. savings bonds. In all, $708 million was raised for important provincial projects.
It is simply not enough to express confidence in the business community; we know that a meaningful investment in our workers is also required. Over the course of the last year, we have invested close to $1 billion in new social capital projects. Hospitals, schools and universities across the province are benefiting from the facilities, and some 16,000 individual B.C. families are benefiting from the jobs.
We've increased this province's minimum wage, to give almost 75,000 British Columbians a fighting chance for a better future. We put the fair wage and skill development policy in place for all public construction contracts worth $1.5 million or more, to ensure that workers are fairly paid and that additional apprenticeship opportunities are made available.
[10:30]
For the working people of this province, surely no other commitment can compare to the one we made when we introduced the new labour code last fall. It restored balance and fairness to labour relations and finally brought an end to the terrible legacy of Bill 19.
C. Serwa: Point of order, hon. Speaker. Normally we give a considerable amount of latitude in the throne speech and budget speech debates. But I'm not hearing anything about this year's throne speech; I'm hearing about last year's activities. Surely the member will talk about the 1993 throne speech.
Hon. G. Clark: On this point, I guess that the member for Okanagan West, having been away from the chamber for some time, feels compelled to rise and debate on television. But as the member pointed out, the reality is that the throne speech debate is one of those rare occasions in this chamber when members of the House get a chance to have a wide-ranging debate and discussion about their ridings and about what the government's accomplishments have been and what the throne speech is projecting them to be in the future. They are clearly quite appropriate remarks. I know he's offended by the critique of his administration, but I would ask the member to keep his seat.
The Speaker: On that point of order, I'm confident the hon. member for Columbia River-Revelstoke will take into consideration both member's comments. Continue with your debate.
J. Doyle: To the hon. member for Okanagan West: possibly the truth hurts. This bill wasn't put together in the back rooms of the Premier's office; it was put together in the Legislature.
Other initiatives were taken on a wide range of areas, all of which were designed to put B.C.'s financial
[ Page 4712 ]
house in order and build a stronger and more diverse economy.
Growth in government spending has been cut by one-third. The notion of tax fairness has been brought into policy-making, and the process of eliminating government waste and duplication has begun. Clearly, more work remains to be done, and this government has the courage to finish the job.
The matters I have discussed so far relate to the big picture, to commitments made to the province as a whole and to the progress that has been made on those. I want to spend some time talking about what all of this has meant to the people back home in my constituency. I want to begin by confessing that not all of the initiatives that we've undertaken as government have been embraced by my constituents. I know that probably comes as a great shock to some of my colleagues, but we really should have expected it. Being the government is about having the courage to make choices, and when you make choices you will always find people who would have preferred that other decisions had been made.
That having been said, my constituents share the optimistic spirit of this government. They know from their own experience just how hard it is to get by during difficult financial times. They have also felt the need to pull together as a community in order to solve common problems. And they understand, as we do, that you build a better future by making choices that are as sensitive as they are sensible. In that regard, the people of Columbia River-Revelstoke have very few complaints.
Our government's approach to solving this province's problems have had a direct and positive impact on my constituents. Through the New Directions program we've started the process of making the overall health care system more preventive, cost-effective and community- based.
We've working closely with the communities of Golden, Kimberley and Revelstoke on Healthy Communities initiatives designed to identify and address important local health issues. We've extended that work into high schools by funding a variety of dry grads and anti-smoking projects. Hundreds of students from Selkirk Secondary, David Thompson Secondary, Golden Secondary, Revelstoke Secondary and Canal Flats Junior Secondary have benefited.
Other important local health initiatives have included a series of health education lectures run by the Kimberley wellness group, designed to encourage local seniors to continue to pursue active, healthy lifestyles. In Invermere our government has provided $1.5 million to ensure that long term care beds are available to those in need of them; and through a separate program run by the Kimberley and District Home Support Society, long term care patients are being reintegrated back into the community.
In the months ahead, much more work will be done to strengthen and enhance the health care system which we've come to count on and which is the envy of the world.
Our government has taken up the challenge of providing this province's students with the best education anywhere in the country. Progress on this issue is critical to families in my constituency, who have long felt that being outside the lower mainland they were somehow forgotten. We provided additional capital works grants to operate schools throughout my constituency: $1.1 million to Mount Begbie Elementary School in Revelstoke, $1.3 million to Lady Grey Elementary School in Golden, $1.7 million to cover the work at Selkirk Secondary and McKim middle school in Kimberley, and $14.2 million to construct a new 450-student school to replace David Thompson Secondary in Windermere.
As well, we've recognized that students can't take advantage of educational opportunities, no matter how good the system or how nice the facilities, if they aren't receiving enough to eat. That's why we've moved to extend the school meals program to include schoolchildren throughout the province.
We have worked hard in conjunction with local governments to open up additional economic opportunities throughout Columbia River-Revelstoke. A key example of the progress we've made in strengthening the regional economy is the recent announcement that new management has been found for the Panorama Ski Resort in the Windermere Valley. Panorama brings about 120,000 skiers and millions of tourist dollars into our region each year. The new management team, with its broad base of operations, opens up the possibility of attracting even more skiers to our beautiful slopes and bringing increased stability to our local economy.
We have often said that regional prosperity can be best achieved by using the skills and ideas of the local community. That's why, over the next several months, regional economic development offices will be located in the constituency to provide additional support for small business, to help pull together active local economic development groups and to seek out potential economic development projects.
I want to put in a word for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing as well. Through his office not only has the local infrastructure been strengthened, but our communities have also had an opportunity to undertake important downtown revitalization projects. The downtown core is the showpiece of any community, and how it looks adds a great deal to how fondly tourists remember their visits and how frequently they return. On behalf of the communities of Radium Hot Springs, Golden, Revelstoke and Kimberley I want to extend my deepest thanks for your kind consideration of our needs.
I also want to take a minute to mention the fine work being carried out in the community of Revelstoke. Some of you will be aware that the city of Revelstoke recently reached an agreement with Evans Forest Products of Golden to share the economic opportunities available from tree farm licence 55. Unlike some other tree farm licence transfer applications, where the timber benefits one party or one community, TFL 55 has been split to ensure maximum benefits to all of the stakeholder communities -- Golden, Revelstoke and Sicamous. Sicamous, of course, is in the constituency of my colleague the hon. member for Shuswap. With the counsel and encouragement of the Forests minister,
[ Page 4713 ]
new ground has been broken, and new prosperity and stability will certainly be enjoyed throughout the region.
Our government also understands the importance of providing for a high quality of life for all British Columbians. We have contributed to creating a higher quality of life in many ways. We've provided funding to the Royal Canadian Legions, the Edgewater volunteer fire department, the Lions Club, the Kinsmen, the Elks Club, the Whitetooth ski racers, the Windermere Valley Ski Club, the Golden Figure Skating Club, David Thompson Secondary School, the North Star Racers, the Golden Minor Hockey Association, the Invermere Judo Club, Selkirk Secondary School, Golden Elementary School, J.A. Laird Elementary School, the Golden Dolphins swim club, the Radium Silver Fins swim club and the Golden Junior Rockets hockey club.
While the amounts weren't always large and the activities weren't always reported by the lower mainland media, they were important in the focus they placed on improving the lives of average British Columbia families. Surely nothing can be more important than that.
Other important local quality-of-life projects have included: a final payment of $500,000 to help develop an 18-hole tourist- destination golf course in Kimberley; $266,000 for a new heritage railway museum in Revelstoke; and $281,000 to help the Field Recreation Advisory Association build a new community recreation complex.
I will continue to lobby our Minister of Highways for improvements to the Trans-Canada Highway: most of all, in the Kicking Horse Canyon east of Revelstoke; also in the Revelstoke area, and west of Revelstoke in the Three Valley Gap area. Those, without a doubt, are the worst sections of this highway in the country. I will continue to lobby to improve this highway.
Natural gas is also something for which I will continue to lobby. In the interior, especially in the area I represent, many, many dams were built over the years to keep the lights lit in the lower mainland. We gave a lot. The loss of land in forestry base, recreation and wildlife habitat was very costly to us. We need something in return. We gave you a lot, and we are asking for distribution of funds back to the interior. I will lobby on behalf of my constituents for that.
What makes all of this progress and all of those issues even more remarkable, hon. Speaker, is the knowledge that when we took office we inherited a very difficult financial situation. The previous Social Credit government had long ignored the basic financial rule that you can't spend what you don't have. Unchecked, their provincial deficit was on target to reach a whopping $3 billion. That simply was unacceptable -- I won't mention who is not in the House right now. So we set realistic, sensible objectives for our first budget that kept this province's priorities straight. Our focus was to put British Columbians back on a sound fiscal footing so that we could build a strong, more diverse economy. Again, great progress has been made, but more work remains to be done.
I have given just the roughest outline of the progress that has been made in my constituency over the course of the last year and a half. I provided this outline for the members of the House because I believe it is important, as we begin to consider the throne speech delivered yesterday by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, that we examine how directly such a document can affect the lives of the citizens of this province. The vision that inspired the progress that we enjoy as residents in Columbia River-Revelstoke came from that first throne speech and the promise of change it held out to all British Columbians. It is with the knowledge that our government remained deeply dedicated to continuing to show strong, thoughtful leadership on the toughest issues that British Columbians have started to examine the contents of the throne speech delivered yesterday.
[10:45]
The challenge put before British Columbians in this year's throne speech was once again divided into three broad themes. We face the challenge of renewing medicare to meet our changing needs. We face the challenge of building our economy for the long term. Thirdly -- and it's with this issue that I want to begin -- we face an enormous challenge in resolving our land conflicts. It is ironic that on the very day our government was moving to celebrate the progress of bringing bitter land conflicts to an end, an unruly fringe group would storm the Legislature and demonstrate just how critical solving this issue really is and how seldom the voice of reason and compromise has been heard in the past.
Yesterday our government made it clear that we remain committed to the CORE process on settling land use issues, and to its head, Stephen Owen. In the months ahead, Mr. Owen's important work will be greatly aided by our government's introduction of a comprehensive protected areas strategy, the development of a B.C. forest practices code and the introduction of a Treaty Commission Act to enable fair and just settlements for B.C.'s aboriginal peoples. Additional work will also be done to establish clear rules for reviewing the environmental impact of developments, to create new legislation that will ensure polluters clean up contaminated sites, and in the weeks ahead to issue the first-ever state-of-the-environment report to measure our progress on key environmental issues.
British Columbians know that these will not be the last initiatives our government undertakes in this area. They know more must be done, but they understand very clearly the great strides we've taken as a government and they are anxious to share in the work that remains.
The second challenge identified by the throne speech was to renew medicare to meet our changing needs. Medicare exists in this country only because of the commitments of the pioneers of our party like Tommy Douglas, who weathered an all-out doctors' strike and many years of opposition attacks in order to bring the program to Canadians. Over the course of the last three decades the population has changed far more than the health care system that serves it. The Royal Commission on Health Care and Costs made two points very clear. The first was that not all British Columbians are served equally by the present system. The second was that
[ Page 4714 ]
enough money has already been spent on providing health care; it just hasn't been spent carefully enough.
On February 2, the Health minister announced that she would be moving to make the health care delivery system more responsive to the changing needs of British Columbians throughout the province. The throne speech recommits our government to continuing that work, without giving in to the pressures to create a two-tiered health care system or to attempt to fund it through the implementation of user fees. In British Columbia such choices are not acceptable. We will, however, move forward during this session with the provincial Health Council Act, a regional Health Delivery Act, elimination of additional waste, inefficiency and duplications, an enhanced focus on women's health issues, and in establishing community health centres to bring higher levels of health care closer to home. While our families will still be able to count on hospitals and doctors to provide treatment when they need it, new ways must be found to relieve the pressure on acute care hospitals and to make the best use of our health care resources and the taxpayers' dollars.
The throne speech also challenges us to consider ways to build our economy for the long term. A new emphasis on skills development and training will come through during this session. Strong leadership will be shown by the Premier when he calls together business, labour and education leaders to discuss this province's skills needs as we approach the next century. Other important initiatives to strengthen and diversify the economy will be announced in the budget later this month. British Columbians are confident that together we can continue to build an economy based on the long term and not on the quick fix.
I want to conclude, hon. Speaker, by expressing the great faith my constituents and I share in the progress of change our government has started. After an exciting year of progress in which the key themes of our throne speech and many key ideas were addressed, I know that British Columbians remain confident in their ability to overcome today's challenges. Like the people of Columbia River-Revelstoke, they remain as deeply committed as we are to building a better province for our children and our children's future.
M. Lord: Hon. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today to second the motion in support of the speech delivered by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor in this chamber yesterday.
A throne speech is, by definition, a large canvas upon which government paints with its broadest brush. Although the exact details are yet to come, we can see, nonetheless, a clear picture of what the government intends to accomplish during this session of British Columbia's thirty-fifth parliament and how this government will meet the challenges facing British Columbians now and into the twenty-first century.
I can tell you, hon. Speaker, that it is a very encouraging picture for a great many British Columbians, and it is particularly encouraging for those who were never well served by previous governments of our province. I refer to the victims of changing times, the working poor, those who must live with disabilities, the single mothers forced onto social assistance, and the battered wives and abused children.
In these difficult times when our entire world is being transformed almost beyond recognition, British Columbians can count themselves fortunate in knowing that the New Democrats are addressing the problems and opportunities confronting our province and addressing them with confidence, compassion and courage. Those challenges and opportunities are unprecedented. Our province is changing in virtually every aspect of its social and economic fabric. Everywhere we look there's something new or different. Tens of thousands of British Columbians are now employed in industries -- not just companies, but whole industries -- that did not exist ten years ago. Before this decade is out, tens of thousands more will be making their careers in newer sectors of the economy that have yet to come out of the pipe. Our traditional industries which were the bedrock of the provincial economy -- forestry, mining and fisheries -- are being reshaped and redefined by the evolution of a global economy and by a revolution in social values here at home.
Nothing stands still; nothing seems to be fixed and permanent. The demographics of British Columbia are in flux. The average age is climbing. The rural population is not expanding; in places it is even declining, relative to the growing number of urban dwellers in our province. The ethnic mix is more diverse and the multicultural society has definitely arrived. After more than a century of being abused, neglected and condescended to, the First Nations of British Columbia have stood up and made their voices heard. The brittle stereotypes which society used to impose upon men and women are cracking and falling away so that all of us are being set free.
The result of this change is the emergence of a new British Columbia in a new world. It is a world whose one hand offers unheard- of opportunities while its other hand threatens us with new dangers. The opportunities are wonderful. We have the chance to build new value-added industries in which British Columbians can pursue satisfying careers based on their knowledge and expertise. We have the chance to build a just and equitable society where doors are open to everyone, and where all have an equal opportunity to fulfil themselves. We have the chance to build a sustainable society that will leave future British Columbians an undiminished natural inheritance and the same wealth of options that our own generation received.
[D. Streifel in the chair.]
But in reaching for these opportunities, we must be conscious of the dangers. While we build our new ventures, our traditional industries are facing the pressure of a more competitive global economy, tightening resource inventories and tougher investment climates. As we redefine social and gender roles, there are sharper tensions in the home, in the workplace and on the street. As we reach for a sustainable society, we encounter conflicts between different visions of our future. We begin to see the threat of a division between
[ Page 4715 ]
rural and urban British Columbians. British Columbia can take comfort in the knowledge that their New Democrat government comes to its policy deliberations with a balanced view of the challenges facing our province. They can see in this throne speech a levelheaded recognition of the opportunities as well as the risks this changing world is bringing to our province.
After the previous government brought British Columbia so many years of chaos and confusion, of misapplied ideologies, of false starts and blind alleys, it's good to see British Columbia in the hands of a government that knows where we should be going and how we're going to get there.
The key words in this throne speech resound again and again: to build, to strengthen, to manage effectively, to ensure fairness and equality, to end violence. Those who have special interests to defend may carp and criticize. Those who have selfish agendas to promote may distort the facts and spread confusion. But the people of British Columbia know that they have a government that will do the right thing. Here is a government that will serve not just the influential few, but all of the people, without fear or favour. The proof is in the throne speech His Honour delivered in this chamber yesterday, a speech composed in clear, crisp, understandable language with none of the bombast and puffery we often hear from the opposition benches.
I listened to that speech with close attention, hon. Speaker, to learn if and how the policy measures in it would affect my constituents in the Comox Valley. The people of the Comox Valley will be affected; indeed, they have already been affected, and for the better, by the measures that this New Democrat government has taken.
Today I wish to discuss two policy areas addressed in the throne speech that are of great importance to my constituents. But before I do so, I would like to remind this chamber of who we are in the Comox Valley and what kind of world we face. We are a long-established community. There are coalminers and farmers in our part of British Columbia, and they were there when Victoria was little more than a colonial outpost, and Vancouver just a gleam in the CPR's eye.
[11:00]
We've been a quiet corner of our province, but we've seen our share of history. We've seen imperial ironclads steaming into our harbours. We've seen turn-of-the-century colliery workers striking for decent wages and safety underground. We've seen logging go from the days of steam donkeys to the age of grapple-yarders, and we've seen the product change from raw logs to precision-cut, specialty high- grades for the Japanese market.
Now we see a British Columbia that seems to be evolving into two separate societies: in the southwest, specifically in the lower mainland and on southern Vancouver Island, there is a fast-growing, high-density urban society with an economy based on service industries and information handling. In most of the rest of our province the economy is based on turning raw resources into export commodities like lumber, pulp and mineral concentrates. In the hinterland, growth rates are slow or static, and we hear of small communities whose long-term existence is in doubt.
In the Comox Valley we fall somewhere between these two emerging societies. Although we're outside the golden corner of southwestern British Columbia, we are not a typical upcountry resource community. We have a very diversified economy. In addition to basic resource industries like logging, fishing and agriculture, we have value-added manufacturing, tourism, retirement and a Canadian Forces airbase.
We also have a high proportion of creative people in our midst, including some well-known Canadian names in the fields of literature, art and music. And we have an increasing number of downshifters, those new products of the 1990s who live in our quiet rural setting while deriving their income from customers and clients across the Strait of Georgia and around the world. We are betwixt and between the two emerging polarities of British Columbia, sharing some of the problems and prospects of both the urban and rural societies.
We are experiencing rapid population growth. Sometimes it seems as if the whole country tilts toward the Comox Valley and that half the people of Canada want to come and live there. One consequence of that growth is the strain that it places on our physical infrastructure. The strain, like the population, is growing.
It is just one day short of a year since I made my inaugural speech in this chamber. Virtually the first thing I had to say then on behalf of my constituents was that we were waiting for a good, safe, environmentally designed highway north of Parksville. A year less a day later we are still waiting. But at least today we wait with the possible hope that a new Island Highway will not be to the New Democratic government what it was to the previous administration: a perennial promise too politically useful to be spoiled by keeping it.
It is encouraging to see the prominence given in the throne speech to a commitment built up to our province. It is a good sign that the government has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthen the regions of our province. The rumour filtering back to us on the back bench, the rumour of a whole new approach to developing and maintaining British Columbia's transportation system, is even more promising. There may be some important areas of endeavour where it makes sense to apply the old management strategies of the 1950s to the problems of the 1990s. There may be, but the planning and building of highways is not one of them.
If the hon. Minister of Transportation and Highways is wondering whether it's time to adopt a bold, new angle of attack toward the question of replacing the trail that winds north from Parksville, I believe that I can express the views of my constituents in two short words: you bet. We have waited through several administrations and we have come to realize that the traditional approach will not get us a new highway. Therefore we need a new approach, and at this point a good number of my constituents would say we need any approach, providing it will generate some action.
This is not just a matter of convenience for my constituents. This is not a matter of saving a few
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minutes of time driving down to catch a ferry to Vancouver. Lives are being lost. People are being maimed. That highway is simply not good enough. Allow me to read a brief excerpt from Wednesday's edition of the Comox District Free Press which recounts the last moments of one of my constituents: "The vehicle went out of control and entered the ditch along the southbound lane. The vehicle travelled down the ditch until it ran up a slope where a driveway begins. The vehicle became airborne, cleared a fence and then hit the side of a tree after landing back on the ground. The front passenger side of the vehicle hit the tree, causing the metal to peel back toward the front passenger seat" -- where my constituent was located.
[The Speaker in the chair.]
What kind of highway is flanked by ditches deep enough for a full-sized station wagon to travel along? What kind of highway has ditches interrupted by residential driveways that can cause an out-of- control car to rocket into the air and come down in a fatal crash? These are rhetorical questions which I will answer on behalf of the people of the Comox Valley. The answer is: an obsolete highway, a lethal highway, a highway that must be replaced, and soon.
If the hon. Minister of Transportation and Highways and his colleagues are floating a trial balloon regarding a new system for building and running highways, then the people of the Comox Valley will say: "Float it over here, Mr. Minister. The system we've got doesn't work. If a new system will get us a good, safe highway, then we're all for it."
A dangerously overstressed transportation infrastructure is just one problem related to population growth in my constituency; another is the rise in incidents of violence in our community. The level of violence in the Comox Valley is indeed a far cry from the scenes we see on the television newscasts from Vancouver: the organized gangs, the prevalence of weapons and the overtones of anarchy among young people. Although we are not afflicted by big city crime, we are not immune to the problems besetting communities all across our province. We are particularly disturbed by what seems to be a growing involvement of our young people in violent offences.
In recent years young offenders have been convicted of serious violent crimes in the Comox Valley. Just last week in an act of random violence, one of my constituents was beaten by a group of young men hanging out by a convenience store. Worst of all, last year a young Courtenay girl, Dawn Shaw, was murdered and her body found only a few hundred yards from her home. A 16-year-old boy has been charged. That case had a profound effect upon the people of the Comox Valley. Many had felt that this could not happen in our community. Now we know it can happen, and we know that it must never happen again.
I have been very moved by the level of response in our community to the pink-ribbon campaign that was begun by Dawn Shaw's great-aunt, Judy Winnig. I have been proud to work with Judy Winnig in her efforts to change Canada's evidence laws so that DNA-testing can be used to identify clear suspects in sex offence cases and to institute a system of electronic monitoring so that sex offenders can be deterred from reoffending.
The death of that beautiful little girl has also served to galvanize our community to address the whole issue of violence. Two groups have been formed: Men Against Violence and Community Action Against Violence. The latter group will be conducting a forum in Courtenay next Tuesday evening to encourage people to air their views and to see what can be done to coordinate the work of public sector agencies in preventing and combatting violence.
Hon. Speaker, against this background of rising concern and the groundswell of community action against violence in the Comox Valley, I know that this government's commitment to this issue in yesterday's throne speech will be welcomed throughout my constituency. But however horrific the problem of violence in the streets of British Columbia and in our province's schools, to me the most disturbing violence in our society is that which occurs where we ought to feel the most safe, and that is in our homes. Violence in the home is an ancient problem made worse today as the tensions generated by a changing society aggravate tensions between spouses and between parents and children. Just because the problem of battered women and abused children has always been with us, there is no reason to accept the unacceptable. Slavery was an ancient institution, but humane men and women stopped it because it was a pernicious evil. Child labour went back as far as history could record, but women and men of goodwill put an end to it because it was a stain upon our civilization. Violence against women and children, though it may go back to Biblical times, is wrong, wrong, wrong.
We have come to a point in this country where every week three Canadian women are killed in their own homes by men they have loved. We have come to a point where sexual assault involving forced sexual intercourse is committed against women in Canada every 17 minutes. That means that in the time I address this chamber, this horrendous crime will be perpetrated on two of my sisters across this country. Here in our province it is estimated that some 70,000 schoolchildren have seen their mothers violently assaulted -- slapped, punched, kicked, shoved, manhandled in their own homes.
Hon. Speaker, we can debate the causes of this violence. We can debate the effectiveness of one measure or another. But about one thing there can be no debate: the violence must end. So I take heart, together with concerned British Columbians in my constituency and all across the province, at the commitments made in yesterday's throne speech. Again, it is clear that a new approach must be found, because traditional measures have not checked the plague of violence against women and children in our society.
If the Crown is prepared to bring new resources and fresh thinking to the prosecution of violent offenders within the home, I know that the people of the Comox Valley will applaud the initiative. The government will have the support and the gratitude of the women and children in every corner of our province, in the grand
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homes through to the low-rent accommodations -- those tens of thousands of women and children who now live with the daily pain and fear of violent abuse.
[11:15]
The New Democrats' commitment to end violence against women and children is already working in my constituency. In the past year the Comox Valley Women's Resource Centre has begun to receive core funding from the Ministry of Women's Equality. The Comox Valley Transition House has received a total of $82,000 in start-up funding from the Ministry of Social Services, as well as a $10,000 grant from the Ministry of Women's Equality to train community workers in how to respond to this violence. Our crisis centre has received funding, as have the Comox Valley Family Life Association and the John Howard Society chapter, to help train their staff and volunteers in prevention and treatment of domestic violence.
I said a few moments ago that domestic violence is an ancient problem, a problem that has spread throughout our society; but it is not an insoluble problem. Violence can be stopped if we resolve to stop it. It is clear to me, as it is clear to concerned women and men across British Columbia, that now we have a government that does more than cluck its tongue, shrug its shoulders and say: what can we do? Now we have a government that's not afraid to look this issue squarely in the eye; a government that's not afraid to take action and face the challenge; a government that has the courage, and is ready to do whatever is necessary, to prevent domestic violence and prosecute violent offenders.
I can assure the chamber that the people of the Comox Valley -- having confronted the most terrible tragedy, the murder of a helpless child -- will back the government's action to the fullest. The violence must end.
F. Gingell: Yesterday, hon. Speaker, this government presented its second throne speech. I find myself less disturbed by its content than by its lack of content. This government took over a province that was saddled with inept leadership, bereft of long-term vision, and sliding deeper and deeper into debt. After 16 months of NDP leadership we find that we are still saddled with inept leadership, bereft of long-term vision and sliding even faster and deeper into debt. The state of this province is not one that this government should be proud of.
We in the opposition had hoped that in this session the NDP would finally begin to deal with the issues before them. First and foremost, we expected to see an economic plan. Until this government comes forward with a long-term economic strategy, their policies and initiatives will remain disjointed and ineffective. All the economic planning in the throne speech concerns itself with spending money -- money we do not have. Nowhere is there even a hint of a strategy for creating or saving money.
Second, we expected, though obviously in vain, that the NDP had finally come to terms with the fact that the upper limit of taxation has been reached. This government had the opportunity yesterday to commit themselves to reducing government spending, rather than to simply slowing the rate of acceleration.
Third, we expected to see a recognition of the fragile state of the forestry and mining sectors, whose problems have been made worse, rather than better, by this government. The threat to those resource industries posed by the Schwindt expropriation commission has sent the industry into a tailspin, a fact which even New Democrats should be expected to recognize. Yet they have taken no steps to reassure us; they claim that there can be no economic certainty if we dare not risk change. This statement will no doubt come as a great relief to the Kootenay miner and the coastal forester whose jobs and futures hang in the balance.
The throne speech would suggest that the Premier needs only to touch down in Tokyo or Davos to open new markets and bring new investment. Yet last year his junkets resulted in an 8.6 percent decrease in investment. With such a record, perhaps his energy would be better directed elsewhere.
We hoped to find evidence that the Harcourt government was finally ready to take responsibility for the crisis in education which they have allowed to develop, and to take real action to resolve it. Yet we were unable to find any mention at all in the throne speech of the problem.
When the NDP government sat here on this side, on the opposition benches, they chastised and berated the Social Credit government for its total lack of action on native land claims, claiming that they could and would do better. After all that, this government has yet to resolve a single comprehensive land claim.
The Harcourt government has continually praised tourism as the solution to many of our economic woes. Yet they have allowed the B.C. Transportation Museum to be closed. That wonderful collection of cars is being sold, but it could have been saved without further government funding. There is not one mention of the tourism industry, not even in passing.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, please, hon. members.
F. Gingell: This is all too typical of this government's lack of vision. The closure and sale of the British Columbia Transportation Museum in Surrey highlights the Harcourt government's real commitment.
What is truly disappointing about this throne speech is not what it contains, but what it omits. We have seen in the past few days that provincial governments across Canada, including a socialist one, are finally coming to grips with their responsibilities. They are finally making those decisions which, while painful, are necessary. We may not agree with their solutions, but at least they have some to offer. Sadly, the same cannot be said in British Columbia.
This is a government which is totally preoccupied with spending money we can't afford to spend, which talks about investment on the one hand but discourages it with unfair taxes and uncertainty on the other and which promotes a vision it cannot define. We in the Liberal Party had hoped that perhaps the government
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of this province would finally listen to the message the people have been giving them: cut taxes and spending, reduce regulations and stop rewarding your friends. I will have more to say on this subject when we resume debate.
F. Gingell moved adjournment of the debate.
Motion approved.
Hon. L. Boone moved adjournment of the House.
Motion approved.
The House adjourned at 11:25 a.m.
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