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The House met at 2:05 p.m.

Prayers.

The Speaker: I'm advised that the Lieutenant-Governor is in the precinct. I would ask members to please hold their seats.

His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor entered the chamber and took his seat on the throne.

The Speaker: May it please Your Honour, the House of Assembly has elected me as their Speaker, though I am but little able to fulfil the important duties thus assigned to me. If in the performance of those duties I should at any time fall into error, I pray that the fault be imputed to me and not to the assembly whose servant I am, and who, through me, the better to enable them to discharge their duty to the Queen and country, humbly claim all their undoubted rights and privileges, especially that they may have freedom of speech in their debates and access to Your Honour's person at all seasonable times, and that their proceedings may receive from Your Honour the most favourable interpretation.

Hon. U. Dosanjh: Hon. Speaker, I am commanded by His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor to declare to you that he freely confides in the duty and attachment of the House of Assembly to Her Majesty's person and government, and not doubting that their respective proceedings will be conducted with wisdom, temper and prudence, he grants, and upon all occasions will recognize and allow, their constitutional privileges.

I am commanded also to assure you that the assembly shall have ready access to His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor upon all seasonable occasions and that their proceedings, as well as your words and actions, will constantly receive from him the most favourable construction.

You each have the unique privilege of serving in the parliament that will set the direction for our province into the next century, and that direction will be different from the one being pursued in much of the rest of Canada. Ottawa is steadily withdrawing funding from health care, education, child care and the social safety net. And many other provinces are responding with deep cuts of their own in those areas.

But in the recent election, British Columbians chose another vision. They elected a government committed to protecting health care and education by finding savings in other areas; a government committed as well to creating and protecting jobs, making our neighbourhoods safer, ensuring a healthy environment for future generations, cutting taxes for middle-income earners and small business, and continuing the work of reducing government debt.

These are the priorities of B.C.'s middle-class working families, and they are working well for British Columbia. Our province is leading Canada, with the country's best job-creation record, the strongest economy, the highest credit rating, the lowest debt and the highest environmental rating.

In this session, my government will pursue a vision of a government on the side of working families and the middle class. It will be a highly focused session -- focused on the priorities of the people of British Columbia. And nowhere will that be clearer than in the budget you will receive this week. It will be B.C.'s second balanced budget in a row. Jobs will be up; the debt will be down. Health care and education will be protected, and there will be tax relief for small businesses and the middle class.

People in B.C. are proud to live in a province with the lowest per capita debt in the country. And they are pleased to see international agencies giving British Columbia the highest credit rating of any province. But they are still concerned about the level of debt held by the provincial government. My government is listening and acting on that concern. It will continue to work hard to reduce our province's debt, and the Finance minister will elaborate in the upcoming budget speech on how my government will make further progress in this regard.

The challenge is one faced by governments at all levels -- provincial, municipal, school and hospital boards alike -- and that challenge is to reduce costs and reduce debt while protecting the services that British Columbians rely on.

[2:15]

Working together, B.C. has made impressive fiscal progress. The budget you will receive this week will be the second balanced budget in two years, and includes a reduction in overall debt. My government intends to continue that progress to ensure our province can rely on a sound, healthy financial foundation.

My government is committed as well to helping middle-class working families make ends meet. Although B.C. residents pay the second-lowest taxes in the country, it's still a struggle for many families to get ahead. Working people and middle-class families deserve to know their government is doing what it can to make things a little easier on them. That is why my government has frozen Hydro rates and ICBC car insurance rates.

The budget will include, as well, a three-year freeze on taxes, a two-year freeze on tuition fees, a two-year tax holiday for new small businesses -- the job-creation engine of our economy -- and the fulfilment of my government's promise of a tax cut for middle-class families, working people and small businesses.

The budget will also continue B.C.'s investment in what British Columbians have said is their top economic priority: jobs. They want to know that there are opportunities for them and that there will be opportunities for their children. Nothing can provide the kind of dignity to individuals, security to families and hope for communities that decent jobs do. With 34,000 new jobs since December, B.C.'s economy is performing well, but my government knows we can do more. We can do better, and we will.

The coming budget will continue to invest in creating and protecting jobs. It will build on the approach that's been so successful: bringing business, working people, communities and govern-

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ment together to share our perspectives and to cooperate to secure economic prosperity for all. My government will focus on developing jobs in a broad range of economic sectors in every part of the province -- from tourism to energy, mining, advanced technologies and beyond.

This includes a renewal of the commitment made in the address I delivered in April -- to create and protect thousands of jobs in British Columbia's forests. For generations our forests have provided a good living for B.C. workers and their families, and a future for B.C. communities. Forestry has been the cornerstone of our economy and a solid base for growth and prosperity across the province. When neglect and shortsighted mismanagement threatened the future of that industry and sparked division and conflict, my government worked with British Columbians from all walks of life. Together they found common ground, and today this vital industry is on the road to long-term sustainability.

Now comes the next step into a new era. The people of B.C. expect us to work together to get more jobs from trees cut on land owned by the public, so my government is working with forest companies and workers to develop a jobs and timber accord, tying access to public timber directly to the creation of new jobs.

My government is also introducing a strategy to greatly expand the value-added sector in B.C. so that more of the jobs from processing B.C. timber go to B.C. workers. And by increasing jobs-to-timber ratios to levels comparable to our competitors in Washington and Oregon, my government believes the forest sector can create 21,000 new jobs over the next five years.

This cooperative approach has paid off in B.C.'s forests. It's the approach my government has brought as well to B.C. fisheries. People in this province have long recognized the Pacific salmon as more than just a resource. It's part of our history, part of our culture and part of our identity as British Columbians. But today the Pacific salmon fishery is on the brink of collapse, and its dramatic cycle of life, death and rebirth could be broken irrevocably if we fail to act to protect this resource. That loss would be measured in thousands of fishery jobs and in the devastation of our many fishing communities, and it would also be felt in the very soul of this province.

The people of British Columbia are determined not to let that happen. They've made it clear they want their government to do what it takes to keep our fisheries alive, healthy and sustainable. And my government has responded with new pollution control rules, investment in sewage treatment, and the cancellation of the Kemano completion project because it threatened a key salmon river.

This coming budget will continue to fund innovative community initiatives to protect and restore fish habitat. My government will also continue to press Ottawa to replace the Mifflin plan with a plan designed by British Columbians and for British Columbians -- a plan that reduces the fleet in a balanced way and provides adjustment for the workers and communities who are affected. And my government will keep working to convince the federal administration to take a firm line with our American neighbours -- especially Alaska -- over the need for a fair, effective Pacific Salmon Treaty.

Protecting this resource is more than just an economic imperative. It is the defence of our cultural, historic and natural heritage.

British Columbians are rightly proud of that natural heritage. Our province's tremendous beauty and our rich natural diversity are treasures to be carefully guarded. British Columbia has taken that responsibility very seriously in recent years and has consistently earned the highest environmental rating in the country. My government has already taken historic measures to protect the environment, most notably the creation of over 200 new parks and protected wilderness areas. Unique and irreplaceable ecosystems, from the Tatshenshini to the Stein Valley, from the Sooke Hills to the Height of the Rockies, are now safeguarded for all time. And in the coming months and years my government will work to complete our system of parks and protected areas and to enshrine the boundaries of these areas in law.

Protecting our quality of life means paying careful attention to our social as well as our natural environment. British Columbians have made it very clear that they place enormous value in B.C.'s health care and education systems. They want these vital programs protected, because they are more than simply services.

Health care is in many ways the single most important service that government provides. And education is the key to opportunities for our children: opportunities for jobs, for a rewarding career; and also opportunities for personal fulfilment and meaningful citizenship. But protecting health care and education will not be easy. The federal government has cut $435 million in funding to B.C. for these services this year alone, and there are deeper federal cuts coming. Yet while other provinces are responding with deep cuts of their own, British Columbia has increased funding for health care and education every year for the past five years. And my government is dedicated to continuing to protect these crucial programs.

Faced with the cost pressures of a population that is growing both in size and in age, and sharply diminished support from Ottawa, my government has chosen to find within its own operations the funds needed to protect health care and education. A series of reductions in administrative overhead, senior management, and the number of Crown corporations, agencies and ministries has helped to find the savings needed to protect these services. In partnership with B.C.'s doctors and public employees, my government is committed to finding further savings.

With those funds, British Columbia has been able to make important progress by cutting wait-lists for heart surgery in half, providing more funding to fight breast cancer and heart disease, and expanding funding for hospitals to keep pace with our growing population.

The budget my government intends to reintroduce will reflect those priorities. It will reflect as well British Columbia's increased investment in our schools, to keep pace with the thousands of new students entering our school system this year. And it will include my government's Guarantee for Youth: offering work experience while keeping education affordable and accessible. Affordable, by freezing tuition fees while other provinces are raising them by as much as 20 percent -- my government feels strongly that education must not be priced out of the reach of young people. And accessible, by providing increased funding to help create 7,000 new spaces in our colleges and universities next year -- guaranteeing space in our post-secondary institutions for every qualified B.C. student.

The final component of the Guarantee for Youth, work experience, is already achieving results. My government will work hard with its partners in the private sector to ensure even more opportunities for young people in our province's many businesses. British Columbians expect their government 

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to offer hope for B.C.'s young people. That's a responsibility that my government takes very seriously.

As well, my government has moved in recent years to ensure that B.C.'s health and education systems change to meet the changing needs of British Columbians. But the need for change must be tempered by the need for stability. My government has shown itself willing to listen when the pace of change outstrips the ability of our system to adapt, and to slow down when necessary.

The goal remains the same: ensuring that services reflect the needs of our many diverse communities and that British Columbians get the maximum benefit possible from every health care and education dollar. That is a goal that all British Columbians can support.

And where working families encounter obstacles when they're trying to make ends meet, my government believes it has a responsibility to act. We expect to soon see the results of an inquiry into recent sharp increases in gasoline prices. And my government is moving to ensure that injured workers in B.C. continue to have the protection of a sound workers' compensation system. In response to the serious questions that have emerged in recent years about the Workers' Compensation Board's management and practices, my government will name, in the coming weeks, a royal commission. That commission will have a wide-ranging mandate to investigate the concerns many British Columbians have expressed about the board and to recommend ways of restoring their confidence in this vital agency.

People look to their government, as well, to fight crime and the causes of crime. They want to know their communities will be safe places in which to live and to raise their families.

My government has responded with a range of initiatives to give our province's police and the judicial system the tools they need to combat crime. Among those initiatives are a new provincial homicide unit, new state-of-the-art forensic science facilities and a strategy to combat teen prostitution. The upcoming budget will also enhance community policing, by allowing for 100 new police officers patrolling our neighbourhoods. Safer neighbourhoods mean stronger communities and a stronger province for all of us.

People in this province have also told my government that they want to see aboriginal land claims dealt with in a fair and open way. They want to see historic wrongs redressed so that all British Columbians, in aboriginal communities and throughout our province, can look forward to a future of opportunity, dignity and self-sufficiency.

British Columbia has recently taken a historic step toward that future with the conclusion of an agreement in principle with the Nisga'a people. It is the first step toward B.C.'s first modern-day aboriginal treaty. In the months to come, my government will work toward concluding that treaty with the Nisga'a people and toward similar agreements with first nations elsewhere in B.C., while consulting carefully and thoroughly with British Columbians everywhere. The treaty process holds tremendous promise for British Columbia. Fair agreements can mean greater security and certainty for people, communities and businesses throughout B.C., as well as hope and self-reliance for our province's many aboriginal communities.

[2:30]

The priorities I've outlined involve many challenges. British Columbians have sent a clear message that they expect the people they elect to work together to find solutions. My government has listened, and it intends to introduce a range of reforms to increase the involvement of every member of this Legislature and ensure that they have a strong and effective voice on behalf of their constituents.

As announced before the election, my government will soon table an amendment to the conflict-of-interest act to allow for the nomination of the conflict-of-interest commissioner by an all-party committee. There will also be a new Crown corporations committee of the Legislature modelled on the Public Accounts Committee and chaired by a member of the opposition. These are only two of many measures that will enhance the effectiveness and influence of all members.

British Columbians understand there are genuine differences of policy and philosophy between members of this Legislature. But they also expect them to work together for the common good of this province, and my government is committed to helping to make that happen.

My government will stand up for working people and middle-class families. Indeed, it will stand up for all of British Columbia in dealing with a federal administration that often seems aloof and removed from the realities of day-to-day life in our province. My government will continue to press the federal government to act on B.C.'s concerns on fisheries and to steadily devolve power in this area to our province. My government will also work to eliminate duplication and overlap between federal and provincial jurisdictions that waste taxpayers' money and often force citizens and businesses to deal with two bureaucracies instead of one.

Our province needs a strong voice on the national stage. The next four years will be crucial ones for the future of British Columbia and for all of Canada. B.C. will speak out strongly for a united Canada, but my government will go further. It believes that unity ultimately cannot be achieved by any constitutional law, and that while discussions around the constitution may be necessary and important, too often they have distracted the national government from issues that truly matter to Canadians.

Quebeckers, like British Columbians and indeed people throughout Canada, want to know their country offers them hope for the future -- economic certainty, medical treatment if they fall ill, a secure retirement and opportunities for their children -- and no constitution can offer that kind of hope. It has to come from hard work by governments, business, labour and communities from one end of the country to the other. And that's why British Columbia will be speaking out nationally for a renewed commitment by Ottawa to medicare, to education, and to creating and protecting jobs.

My government has always been ready and willing to work with Ottawa on these issues and understands there are financial realities to be faced. And it has proposed alternatives that would allow the federal government to maintain a strong role in protecting health care, education and social services in Canada. But most of all, British Columbia has been leading by example -- showing all of Canada how we can build for tomorrow, protect health and education, create jobs and offer hope for the future. My government is doing this by listening to the people of this province and acting on their priorities. That is its commitment in this legislative session and in this parliament: to listen to British Columbians; to show them that they have a government that's on their side.

We are indeed a rich province. B.C. is known worldwide for our valuable forests, our mineral wealth, our energy resources, our sweeping vistas, our quality of life. But the 

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most precious commodity we have -- the one that must be protected and nurtured above all others -- is hope. British Columbia is brimming with promise for the future.

Today, members of the Legislature, you begin the work of keeping that promise -- the work of building this province of hope, our British Columbia.

His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor retired from the chamber.

[The Speaker in the chair.]

The Speaker: Hon. members, in order to prevent mistakes, I wish to advise you that I have obtained a copy of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor's speech.

Law Clerk: Mr. Speaker, I have a letter from Elections British Columbia addressed to the Clerk of the House, dated June 19, 1996.

Dear Sir:

Yours very truly,
Robert A. Patterson
Chief Electoral Officer

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Law Clerk:

June 25, 1996
The Honourable Dale Lovick
Speaker
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, British Columbia
V8V 1X4

Hon. Speaker:
Further to my certificate of June 19, 1996, I now have the return for the electoral district of Okanagan-Boundary.
The date for the return of the writ of election was amended to on or before June 28, 1996, because of a judicial recount. The said writ was returned to me on June 25, 1996.
I now certify that Bill Barisoff has been elected to represent the electoral district of Okanagan-Boundary.

Yours very truly,
Robert A. Patterson
Chief Electoral Officer

Hon. U. Dosanjh: I move that the certificate of the chief electoral officer of the result of the election of members be entered in the Journals of the House.

Motion approved.

Hon. U. Dosanjh presented a message from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled An Act to Ensure the Supremacy of Parliament.

Hon. U. Dosanjh: The purpose of this bill is to assert the right of this House to deliberate and to act without leave of the sovereign. The introduction of this bill prior to the consideration of the throne speech is a reaffirmation of parliament's assertion of independence from the Crown in matters of legislation, first made by the parliament at Westminster on March 22, 1603.

I move that the bill be read a first time now.

Bill 1 introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Hon. J. MacPhail: I'd like to first of all advise the House that pursuant to standing order 2(2), the House will sit tomorrow, Wednesday.

I move, seconded by the member for Vancouver-Little Mountain, that Gretchen Brewin, member for Victoria-Beacon Hill electoral district, be appointed Deputy Speaker for this session of the Legislative Assembly.

Motion approved.

[2:45]

Hon. J. MacPhail: Hon. Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for Vancouver-Little Mountain, that Bill Hartley, member for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows electoral district, be appointed Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole for this session of the Legislative Assembly.

Motion approved.

Hon. U. Dosanjh: Hon. Speaker, I move that the Votes and Proceedings of this House be printed, being first perused by the Speaker, and that he do appoint the printing thereof, and that no person but such as he shall appoint do presume to print the same.

Motion approved.

Hon. G. Clark: I move that the select standing committees of this House for the present session be appointed for the following purposes:
1. Aboriginal Affairs;
2. Justice, Constitutional Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations;
3. Education, Culture and Multiculturalism;
4. Economic Development, Science, Labour, Training and Technology;
5. Environment and Tourism;
6. Finance and Government Services;
7. Health and Social Services;
8. Agriculture and Fisheries;
9. Forests, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources;
10. Transportation, Municipal Affairs and Housing;
11. Women's Equality;
12. Public Accounts;
13. Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills;
14. Crown Corporations; which said committees shall severally be empowered to examine and inquire into all such matters and things as shall be referred to them by this House, and to report from time to time their observations and opinions thereon, with power to send for persons, papers and records; and that a special committee be appointed to prepare and report, with all convenient speed, lists of members to compose the above select standing committees of this House under standing order 68(1), the committee to be composed of Hon. Joy MacPhail (convener), Hon. Andrew Petter, Messrs. Janssen and Conroy, Ms. Gillespie and Ms. Kwan, Messrs. Farrell-Collins, Gingell and Hurd, and Ms. Whittred.

Motion approved.

Hon. J. MacPhail moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

The House adjourned at 2:48 p.m.

Copyright © 1996: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada