2000 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 36th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
(Hansard)
MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2000
Afternoon Sitting
Volume 18, Number 4
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The House met at 2:08 p.m.
Prayers.
Hon. H. Lali: I have two guests in the galleries today. One is the new chair of the B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association, Mr. Ian Dawson. My second guest is the Hon. Steve Ashton, recently appointed Manitoba Minister of Highways. Would the House please make both of these gentlemen welcome.
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Hon. D. Lovick: Mr. Speaker, given that this is budget speech day and that all members in this chamber have friends, acquaintances and family with them, on behalf of all members of the government caucus I would like to extend a warm and hearty welcome to all of those people who have come to witness our proceedings.The Speaker: Thank you, members. I'd just add one introduction, if I may.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Thank you for your agreement. I'd like to introduce the Hon. Ken Kowalski, who is the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the MLA for Barrhead-Westlock. Would members please make him welcome.
LABOUR DISPUTE IMPACT ON EDUCATION AND FAMILIES
G. Campbell: Hon. Speaker, today there are 400,000 children who cannot go to school because of a labour dispute. Under the NDP, children have lost over three million days of learning in school because of labour disputes.My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier please tell the people of B.C. why he doesn't do the obvious and declare education an essential service in this province?
Hon. U. Dosanjh: I am concerned about children, their families and the difficulty caused by the failure of the school system and CUPE to arrive at a settlement. Provincial officials are now working with the parties to get them back to the table, to get them to negotiate and arrive at a settlement. We are monitoring the situation. There is a balance to be struck between the rights of the children and their families -- which are important -- and the right of free collective bargaining in this province. I want that process to work. We are monitoring it. If it doesn't work, of course, at the end of the day we have to look at other options.
The Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition on a supplemental.
G. Campbell: It doesn't work. Our children are not in school. The most important service we can give to the young people of this province is being denied to them. They are being barred from their classrooms today because of this government. The best that this Premier is able to do is go and ask permission from CUPE for our kids to be in the classroom.
My question to the Premier is simply this: how long is it going to be before he stands up for the students and parents of this province and says to the union affiliate of his party: "Get back to work; our kids are going to be in school because education is too important to deny them"?
Hon. U. Dosanjh: Hon. Speaker, I did say in my earlier response that I am concerned -- the government caucus is concerned -- about the fact that the school system and CUPE have not been able to arrive at a settlement. This is the first day of a legal strike. There is a free collective bargaining process. Provincial officials are working with both sides to try and get them back to the negotiating table so there can be a negotiated settlement. We are monitoring the situation. I am extremely concerned about the children and the families and the disruption that this causes in their lives, and we have to monitor the situation as it develops.
G. Campbell: Those words are so hollow, in view of the fact that there are over 350,000 kids that aren't in school today because of this Premier's lack of leadership, because this government has not cared about the children of British Columbia. There have been three times in the last four months when kids have been barred from their classrooms because of labour disputes.
We've had six Education ministers in the last four years. Last fall we were told that you couldn't possibly have a part-time Finance minister, but it was okay for the NDP to have a part-time Education minister.
My question to the Premier is this: will he stand up for the children and the parents of British Columbia and face down the union affiliate which supports his party, and say that we're putting our children first and we're going to make education an essential service for all British Columbians?
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Hon. U. Dosanjh: I have said that we govern for all British Columbians, with balance and respect for the rights and obligations of all British Columbians. We are the education province. We have continuously, for the last eight years, increased the education budgets in British Columbia, as opposed to other provinces -- the politics of which the opposition likes quite well.Once again, I want to reiterate my position on behalf of the government, and that is that it is unfortunate that CUPE and the school system have not been able to arrive at a settlement. We are monitoring the situation. It does cause disruption in the lives of the children and the families. We have the provincial officials trying to get these people back to the bargaining table, and we will monitor the situation and act accordingly.
G. Hogg: Over 400,000 students are being denied their right to an education. This government made it abundantly clear that they were prepared to go to court to force Crown prosecutors back to work, but they're not willing to force CUPE workers back to work. This tells students that their education takes a back seat to contract squabbling. Will the
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Premier please tell us why he doesn't think children's education is important enough to warrant declaring education an essential service?Hon. U. Dosanjh: The question is the same and the answer is the same, and that is that I am urging both parties to get to the table and negotiate hard to make a deal. I have expressed concern about the disruption this causes with respect to the children and their education and the lives of the families. We are monitoring the situation. The parties should get back to the table and negotiate a settlement.
The Speaker: Member for Surrey-White Rock on a supplemental.
G. Hogg: According to the School Act, children must be in school for 186 days this year. On the one hand, we say to our students that their education is so important that they must attend school for 186 days of instruction. Then on the other hand, we tell them that their education must take a back seat to a labour dispute. Will the Premier tell us why his government has decided that a labour walkout is more important than our children's education?
Hon. J. MacPhail: I am going to use the time of question period to actually bring the Liberal opposition up to speed about labour relations in this province, hon. Speaker. Every single person sitting on this side of the House is deeply concerned about kids' education. Not only are we concerned about it from our neighbours' point of view but also from our own families' point of view. But this is a free collective bargaining process that's taking place, which is guided by legislation -- legislation that works very well in this province, that balances the rights of employers and the rights of workers in this province.
This dispute is as important for the employers -- for the school boards -- as it is for the workers who are represented by unions. The issues are extremely complex, but they are moving forward. Provincial officials are making sure that this bargaining process is moving forward. Our government has said that collective bargaining must take place -- must take place now -- and that there should be a speedy resolution to this dispute. And we are doing everything possible to bring forward a speedy resolution.
The Speaker: The member for Surrey-White Rock on another supplemental.
G. Hogg: The act says 186 days. We've already missed one day in this province. Tomorrow we're going to miss another one. My question to the Premier is: how are these days going to be made up so that we can ensure that our students get the education which is required?
Hon. P. Priddy: I will take this question as the Minister of Education. I think that one or two or three days is far too much for students to be missing school. I don't think anybody would argue about that. They do absolutely need to be in school. That is the reason that in this negotiation we are encouraging employers and employees to take incredibly seriously their responsibility for students' education -- to stay at the table until we have a solution that has students back in school.
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K. Krueger: Perhaps we could bring the government up to speed on what its inaction is doing to thousands of British Columbians like our constituent Sue Elder, a single mom in Kamloops who has been forced today to spend over $100 of her hard-earned money to pay for day care for her daughter and her special needs son Kyle. That's over $100 coming straight out of her pocket. There's no strike fund for Sue Elder or the thousands of other working moms and dads who have been forced to find day care for their children today -- $100 today, another $100 tomorrow, another $100 the day after. Will this Premier stop talking about concern and monitoring, and tell us why he is doing nothing for single moms like Sue Elder, whose expenses today alone will wipe out any timid little tax cut that this government may be planning to announce this afternoon?Hon. J. Pullinger: Those of us on this side are obviously very concerned about parents today and the difficulty that they have when there is a labour dispute. In order to make sure that parents have the child care that they can afford and that they need, for those who qualify for a child care subsidy -- the partial child care subsidy -- I've instructed my staff to ensure that they get the full subsidy.
Also, hon. Speaker, both the Ministry of Education through the 1-888 information line it has set up and my ministry through the 34 child care resource and referral programs that we fund are available to provide full information to parents on demand.
K. Krueger: Hon. Speaker, it is so insulting to the people of this province to be told that they can call a 1-800 number, when this government's inaction has plunged their families into economic chaos. The reality is that there are thousands of Sue Elders out there, who have been left scrambling today to find day care or have been forced to take a personal day off work themselves. Single moms and dads and all working families are being penalized because of this strike, and all the Premier could do yesterday was beg and plead with the union to delay its walkout. And all he can do today is talk about concern and monitoring.
Will the Premier tell us why he is forcing the working families -- the moms and dads of this province -- to pay the price of this government's cowardice in real, after-tax dollars?
Hon. J. Pullinger: Child care is a priority for every member on this side of the House. We've made that clear with our actions in the past; we made it clear in the throne speech. While I respect the fact that the opposition has different views from us -- that's part of the political process -- I do find it odd, given that the official spokesperson on the other side has said that child care is not a priority for the Liberal opposition. I do find it odd that they're standing up today and talking out of the other side of their mouth and condemning this side, when in fact we are very concerned. We put measures in place in the immediate instance, and we are also looking forward to improving the child care system, as announced in the throne speech.
J. Reid: In British Columbia we have a long and wonderful tradition of parents acting as volunteers in schools. These parents work tirelessly to improve the quality of education by volunteering in libraries, supervising playgrounds and helping out on field trips. But now CUPE is pushing to shut these volunteers out from B.C.'s schools. Can the Premier tell us
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why he is bowing to the unions instead of defending parent volunteers who are just trying to help out in their children's schools?
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Hon. J. MacPhail: This issue of collective bargaining in our schools is a very serious issue, and I have some advice for the members opposite. Listen. Don't take the debate that needs to happen at the collective bargaining table and raise it to a high level, with all sorts of exaggeration about what's happening on specific issues. The member opposite has done exactly that right now. The information that she's giving to the public at large is wrong. That's not the position that's being taken in a very complex set of collective bargaining issues.What the Liberal opposition could do that would be a great help to the kids affected by this dispute, to the parents affected by this dispute, to the school boards that are affected as well as the workers who deliver the education for our kids is that they can call their local school boards and say: "Get back to the bargaining table now. Resolve this issue in a fair way that delivers what's best for our kids, which is a decent quality education."
BUDGET TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
Hon. P. Ramsey presented a message from His Honour the Administrator: a bill intituled Budget Transparency and Accountability Act.Hon. P. Ramsey: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.
Motion approved.
Hon. P. Ramsey: It is my pleasure to rise in the House today to introduce Bill 2, the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. This bill fundamentally changes the budget-making process in British Columbia. It implements virtually all the recommendations of the Enns panel, which reviewed the auditor general's recommendations on the budget process.
This bill allows for the public and members of this House to participate in the process of building the annual budget through an all-party committee of the House. This bill will require complete disclosure of all budget assumptions and forecasts, including the advice of the Economic Forecast Council. The secretary to Treasury Board will certify the completeness in writing.
In addition, the bill requires government to provide disclosure on capital projects -- their assumptions, business case, and current and anticipated future costs. It provides for the provincial budget to be based on a single bottom line that includes Crown corporations and all government ministries and agencies. The bill requires that government's strategic plans and performance plans be developed for all government ministries and Crown agencies and that the reports be made public each year. This bill is a hallmark of a government that has listened, has learned and has changed.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
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Hon. P. Ramsey: It opens all the government's books, including on major capital projects. It ensures that the budget presents the complete picture. These changes will put British Columbia in the forefront of budget-making in Canada.I move that Bill 2 be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.
Bill 2 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. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, I move that the House at its next sitting do resolve itself for this session into a committee to consider supply to be granted to Her Majesty.
Motion approved.
ESTIMATES OF SUMS REQUIRED FOR THE
SERVICE OF THE PROVINCE
Hon. P. Ramsey moved that the said message and the estimates accompanying the same be referred to Committee of Supply.
Motion approved.
Hon. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Education, that the Speaker do now leave the chair for the House to go into Committee of Supply.
British Columbians have told me they do not want reckless promises that are impossible to achieve. Instead, they want a balanced approach to maintain services, cut taxes and control the deficit. Most British Columbians believe that moving in any of these areas in an extreme way, with impossible
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promises, will undermine the steady, stable progress that they seek. The government has listened. This budget takes the balanced approach most British Columbians want. It addresses the needs of today's families. It recognizes that meeting the needs of people for tax cuts and a high quality of life also meets the needs of today's economy. It gives British Columbians the whole picture.I just introduced for first reading a new law -- the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. It is a sweeping change in the way the government and this Legislature deal with public finances. It will implement virtually all of the recommendations of the Enns panel, which was established to review the auditor general's recommendations on the budget process. It means big changes for budget-making in B.C., and it sets the highest standard for budget openness in Canada. We are not waiting for this act to become law before taking action. Wherever possible, we have prepared this budget as if the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act was already in force.
The process of building the annual budget in B.C. will now start with an all-party committee of the Legislature. The committee will have the latest information from the Finance ministry on the province's economic and fiscal performance. It will then consult with British Columbians on the provincial budget and make a public report on its consultations by December 31 of each year. The new law sets a fixed budget deadline. This will ensure that the budget debate is conducted earlier and is completed prior to March 31.
The new law requires complete disclosure of all the important assumptions used in setting the budget forecasts, including the advice of the Economic Forecast Council. They will be certified in writing by a senior public servant, the secretary to Treasury Board. The new law requires the government's bottom line to include all ministries, Crown corporations and other government agencies. This new bottom line is called the summary accounts. The new law opens the books on all major capital projects, fully disclosing their objectives; their business case; their performance targets; and, each and every year, the current and anticipated cost to the taxpayer. The new law holds the use of special warrants to a high standard of accountability and disclosure. However, the government will move away from the use of special warrants and make tabling of supplementary estimates the rule and not the exception.
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These changes will ensure citizens they can be confident about the completeness and transparency of the budget in British Columbia. The books are open; the numbers are sound; the process is public. Megaprojects have been reined in. That's the standard British Columbians expect, and that is the new hallmark of budget-making in B.C.In the fiscal year now ending we have recorded four significant write-downs. This is consistent with government's determination to present a complete financial picture and to get all the financial problems out into the open, including problems from decisions made as far back as the 1980s. In the case of B.C. Rail, we have written down B.C. Rail assets by $617 million, primarily due to prices for northeast coal being far lower than were projected back in the early 1980s. In the case of fast ferries, we've written them down by $240 million. This will help put B.C. Ferries on a stronger financial footing. In the case of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre project, we've written down $70 million. We've also written down $41 million related to the Kemess mine, helping the new owners to relaunch this gold and copper mine.
As the Premier has advised me, the buck stops here. We're not going to shy away from problems; we will deal with them.
Moving to the issue of program expenditures, the combined spending of all ministries for 1999-2000 -- the current fiscal year -- will be $360 million above our spending estimates. This increase is a result of spending pressures in the following areas. In health care it includes wage settlements, the new BCMA agreement, Pharmacare, long term care beds, hospital equipment, home support services and Y2K readiness. It includes the early retirement enhancements for the public service and early retirement incentives for teachers, which will help bring a new generation of teachers into our schools and reduce class size. It includes settlements with some of the social service sector's lowest-paid workers, many of them women, and care for the disabled and elderly people in their homes and communities. It includes bridge rehabilitation on Forest Service roads and control of the bark beetle infestation that threatened our forests.
Despite these spending pressures, better-than-predicted economic growth still enabled us to reduce last year's deficit. Economic growth in 1999 resulted in additional revenues of $1 billion, or 4.9 percent over forecast. This far outstripped the 1.7 percent increase in program spending over estimates. As indicated in the 1999 budget, $350 million of last year's Canada health and social transfer supplement from Ottawa has been drawn down, which leaves $121 million to put towards health care and education costs in the new fiscal year.
The result is that the deficit on the summary accounts basis, which includes Crown corporations, is projected to be $1.15 billion for '99-2000, considerably below the budget estimate of $1.35 billion. In addition, taxpayer-supported debt at the end of March 31 is projected at $24.9 billion -- some $1.3 billion less than forecast in last year's budget.
For the coming fiscal year, I have accepted the advice of outside economic forecasters and Ministry of Finance officials in predicting the current year's economic growth. The 18 economists of the Economic Forecast Council produced an average prediction of 2.2 percent growth in the year 2000; that is consistent with my ministry's own forecast.
Therefore I am projecting revenue growth of $1.1 billion over last year's estimates, which works out to a modest increase of $115 million over last year's revised forecast. I've also built some $300 million in prudence into the fiscal projections. Fiscal caution is rooted in our determination to get it right. The new government will not count on economic recovery to produce any extra dollars above forecast until the cash register rings.
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Our year 2000-2001 program spending will increase by $1.25 billion over last year's estimates, $898 million more than actual spending last year. And 44 percent of this increase -- $549 million -- is devoted to health care. The spending increases and tax cuts, combined with the increased allowance for prudence, mean that the projected summary accounts deficit for the year 2000-2001 is $1.278 billion. This deficit is a slight improvement over the five-year fiscal forecast outlined in last year's budget, which set a target of a $1.44 billion deficit this year.[ Page 14539 ]
At the centre of our new direction for this government is a balanced approach to the choices facing us: the need to maintain public services, the need to cut taxes to fuel our economic growth and the need to control the deficit. Our objective in the budget is to maintain these balances and control the deficit. Moving in an extreme or reckless way in any one of these areas would undermine the steady, stable progress that British Columbians expect.To cut the deficit this year would threaten health care and education and slow our economic comeback by weakening the combined effects of federal and B.C. tax cuts. We have chosen a moderate course that balances the priorities of British Columbians. It is the right course to protect our quality of life and the right course to maintain our economic momentum.
The total debt at the end of the 2000-2001 year is forecast to be $36.5 billion. This includes the debt of commercial Crown corporations, which service their debts from their own revenues. The taxpayer-supported debt at the end of the coming fiscal year is forecast to be $27.9 billion. That will leave the total tax-supported debt at 23.5 percent of GDP. We expect that this will remain the third-lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of provinces in Canada. Less than 9 cents of every revenue dollar will go to interest payments on the debt. It remains one of the lowest in the country.
In 1999 the economy grew. It grew by 1.4 percent ahead of projections and gained strength as the year went on. The recovery is now here, and it is gathering momentum. The engine of recovery in 1999 was exports. They rose by 10.2 percent. Forestry has done well, with lumber production rising by 3.5 percent and pulp and paper production up 12.8 percent. The sector is now reporting a significant turnaround, from losses in 1998 to rising profits last year. However, a weak demand for minerals is still holding the mining sector back. Copper and coal production dropped substantially last year. However, high technology, film, tourism and the oil and gas sector performed especially well in 1999.
While economic growth is not yet regionally balanced, local economies are continuing to diversify into such areas as high technology, food processing and value-added manufacturing. Although there are initial signs of recovery in consumer confidence, consumer demand is still lagging.
The B.C. economy created more than 36,000 new, mostly full-time, jobs in 1999. Our unemployment rate is declining. Statistics Canada pegged B.C.'s unemployment rate last month at 7 percent -- its lowest level in nearly 20 years. B.C.'s economy is now heading in the right direction, and it will grow by 2.2 percent this year. Our markets are building again, commodity prices are strong, and our entrepreneurs and workforce are well positioned in global markets. Our goal is to maintain and strengthen this comeback by stimulating consumer spending.
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This budget takes a new direction to fuel our economic recovery in the short run and to further strengthen our competitive position in the long run. It supports this objective by cutting taxes; building an innovation economy based on the strengths of our land and our people; and investing in a healthy, educated and productive workforce. In this sense, what is good for the middle class is good for the economy, and what is good for the worker is good for the economy.We are taking a new approach. We believe the way to generate economic growth today is not through megaprojects but with tax cuts focused on middle- and low-income British Columbians. Put dollars back in the pockets of working people, and those dollars are going to go to work. They are going to be spent in the community on their homes, their families or themselves, and those dollars will help put more people to work and keep the economy growing. That's why we are working with Ottawa to stimulate consumer spending through a two-year program of tax cuts. British Columbia taxes will fall by $175 million this year as a result of the recent federal personal income tax cuts. We are delivering those tax cuts to British Columbians in full.
In addition, B.C. is cutting $50 million more from taxes this fiscal year and another $70 million next fiscal year. Ninety percent of those additional cuts will go to middle-class and low-income families. This means a total provincial personal income tax reduction of $225 million this year and $354 million next year. All told, over the next two years B.C. will put more than half a billion dollars back into the pockets of British Columbians in the form of provincial income tax reductions.
B.C.'s tax cut makes the combined federal-B.C. tax cut fairer and more effective than the federal plan alone, because our cut is even more focused on middle-class and low-income British Columbians. At the end of this two-year tax cut, a single-income middle-class family making $60,000 a year will see their provincial income tax bill drop by 9 percent. A single-income family earning $45,000 will have nearly a 10 percent tax cut. And 100,000 low-income British Columbians will have a 100 percent tax cut; they'll be freed from paying any provincial income tax at all.
We are able to do this because we are changing to a made-in-B.C. tax policy, where our tax is calculated on income and not on federal tax. This allows us to shape this and all future provincial tax cuts.
Along with this change comes a new tax bracket structure. As of 2001, the wealthiest 10 percent of taxpayers will pay a maximum provincial income tax rate, in a range from 16.7 to 19.7 percent. But with the tax cuts, nine out of every ten British Columbians -- the vast majority -- will pay under 12 percent in provincial income tax. As well, as of now, the personal income tax structure in B.C. is indexed to inflation, protecting all taxpayers from bracket creep.
This tax cut is realistic. It's moving in the right direction: putting money where it belongs and where it will do the most good -- in local economies.
Tax cuts for business must foster innovation and reward entrepreneurship. Like tax cuts for individuals and families, they must be realistic, balanced and sustainable. This budget matches new personal tax cuts with two new business tax reductions. Again, these cuts may be modest, but they will signal to all players in our economy that the government respects and values their contributions.
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Effective July 1, we are reducing the small business tax rate -- cutting it from 5-1/2 percent to 4-3/4 percent. That's the lowest rate in Canada. Effective April 1, we are initiating a new investment tax credit of 3 percent. This new tax credit will reduce the cost of new manufacturing and processing assets and will help B.C. businesses meet the demands of a changing economy. In addition, as a result of changes announced earlier and taking effect on January 1, 2000, 90 percent of B.C. businesses will pay no corporate capital tax.Tax cuts will help stimulate our economy in the short term, but we must also build on our economic strengths to
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ensure long-term success in an economy that depends on innovation. In part, that means looking to those sectors that are poised for growth and creation of new job opportunities. Just two years ago, the market value of the 20 largest publicly traded high-tech companies in B.C. was $6 billion. At the end of this February, that figure was $74 billion. With success stories like PMC-Sierra, Creo and MacDonald Dettwiler, B.C. is making cutting-edge contributions to the global technological revolution. And we will continue working with this sector, encouraging it to grow at home and marketing it abroad.We're entering the second round of our high-technology research and development tax credit. Last year it provided $10 million to keep a growing number of B.C. firms at the forefront of high-tech. This year that figure is forecast to rise to $28 million.
We are also joining the federal government in allowing British Columbians to defer income tax on benefits from stock options and reduce the taxation on capital gains. This measure will be worth some $33 million in B.C. income tax and allow employees to share more fully in the success of the businesses that employ them.
Our government will invest directly in research partnerships in five strategic high-tech areas: new media such as DVD-ROMs and the Web, fuel cell and clean-energy technologies, information technology, biotechnology and aerospace.
Our universities are vital incubators for innovative technologies. We are now in the third year of the six-year B.C. knowledge development fund, a fund that invests in capital infrastructure for research at B.C.'s post-secondary institutions, teaching hospitals and non-profit agencies. We're announcing today that we are increasing our commitment over the term of this fund by an additional $117 million.
Finally, we'll build on the success of the B.C. Film Commission by inviting the private sector into a partnership to form a new high-tech commission to promote B.C.'s high-tech sector at home and abroad.
The success of film and TV production in B.C. over the past decade is unprecedented. Last year there was more than $1 billion in film and TV production in British Columbia, up from $808 million the year before. Our package of tax incentives for the film industry is working, and they will continue in this budget. The film industry is now also growing beyond the lower mainland. This budget provides our first-ever financial support for regional film offices in key locations right across the province.
Hon. Speaker, B.C.'s green economy is an increasingly important strategic niche. Green enterprises in B.C. are developing new environmental technologies and competing in this emerging global market. The government is investing $5 million to support green technology research and demonstration projects for made-in-B.C. inventions.
We are also funding a range of ecotourism products -- expanding the number of gateway communities, implementing best-practices guidelines and finding new tourism potential throughout the province.
As part of our green economy initiative, the new government will consult on practical ways our tax system can encourage businesses and individuals to shift from environmentally damaging to environmentally friendly practices. We're introducing a pilot project this year to encourage alternative methods of disposing of wood waste.
A modern economic direction also focuses on new initiatives and innovations in our resource industries, which remain the backbone of British Columbia's economy.
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Forestry accounts for one-half of B.C. exports. The past few years have been difficult for communities that rely on this resource. But a turnaround is underway. This budget encourages that recovery. We are continuing the reduced stumpage rates, proceeding with the results-based code pilot projects, innovating with flexible regulations and providing for the protection and renewal of our forest ecosystem.Certification initiatives with scientists, industry and environmentalists will help retain and expand our markets -- markets that increasingly value our forest products both for the quality of the wood and for our high environmental standards.
We will support pilot projects in new forms of community tenure that will give local communities more control over their forest resource and the benefits that flow from it. Forest Renewal B.C. will continue to invest in our forest communities and the workers who rely on the forest for their livelihoods.
Our coastal fishery communities have also faced difficulties in recent years, with the declining salmon stocks. Our challenge is to rebuild those stocks and diversify our fisheries. We will provide $7.5 million to Fisheries Renewal B.C. in each of the next three years, to invest in renewing our fish stocks. We are expanding shellfish aquaculture tenures right along the coast, increasing opportunities in this new and promising field. We are also implementing our new aquaculture policy, which balances growth and diversification with protection of our coastal ecosystems. Finally, we are investing a further $1 million in developing our freshwater fishery and diversifying our seafood and shellfish sectors.
B.C.'s resource communities are coping with change by finding innovative ways of diversifying their local economies. Our government is working with them to support and sustain their efforts. A remarkable network of local community-based organizations is now established in B.C.'s resource communities. Just like the Columbia Basin Trust, these community groups have become effective advocates for, and builders of, their regional economies. As resource communities diversify, their strength is reflected in the resurgence of regional economic sectors.
Here are a few examples. The oil and gas sector has seen the most investment growth of any resource industry. This budget is going to sustain that momentum by investing over $100 million over five years in projects to improve the northeast's aging resource roads. The budget provides $10 million to help producers in agricultural communities meet the highest environmental standards while expanding the market for B.C.'s produce and food products. This year, the B.C. Wine Institute will complete its work with the wine industry on a strategy to ensure that sector's continued growth. We will continue to work to keep tourism's growth on track. One key initiative has been speeding up approvals by the B.C. Assets and Land Corporation for new tenures, which has been particularly helpful in developing ski tourism.
There are opportunities and strengths across rural British Columbia. The people of our rural communities want to make the most of these opportunities, and we are moving to help them do that, with the creation of a new rural development
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office. Under the leadership of the Minister of Agriculture, the rural development office will serve two key functions. First, it will provide a strong voice for rural priorities at the highest level of government. Second, it will provide one-stop shopping for rural B.C., seeking new economic opportunities for their communities.
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We will also continue our investment in roadways throughout B.C., ensuring that people and goods can move quickly and inexpensively. We compete in an economy where the race truly does go to the swift, and that does put a premium on transportation. This year will see B.C. continue construction of the Vancouver Island Highway north to Courtenay, continue building of the Nisga'a Highway in the Nass Valley, and continue double-laning and improving service along the Trans-Canada Highway from Cache Creek to the Rockies. We will continue upgrading the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver and will start work on the Sea Island airport connector. Projects like the John Hart Bridge in Prince George, the Kootenay Lake ferry in Balfour and the Port Mann Bridge widening in the lower mainland will assist in enhancing the long-term economic strength of our communities. As I have noted above, we have put B.C. Ferries, our crucial marine highway, on a stable financial footing.A critical part of our strategy to sustain our economic progress and ensure that its benefits are equally shared across our province is to negotiate modern treaties to bring greater economic stability and opportunity throughout B.C. This budget sets aside $5 million, which will be enhanced with Crown land and resources, for the express purpose of reaching agreement on interim measures at treaty tables. These agreements will provide greater economic opportunities for aboriginal communities in the short term, and they will foster goodwill on all sides, helping to bring the larger negotiations to a more timely conclusion.
A healthy and well-educated workforce living in a healthy and clean environment is a significant strategic advantage in the global economy. Our government provides vital services, first and foremost because today's families need them. But in providing those services, we also invest in the healthy, well-educated and productive workforce we need to succeed in the modern economy. This is one of the soundest investments a government can make.
This budget focuses on investments in three key areas: improving education, strengthening health care and offering new child care support for working families. Our investments in higher education put resources directly into skills and knowledge, the keys to opportunity in today's economy. To fully realize these opportunities, higher learning must be both high in quality and accessible to all, and in B.C. we pursue both of those goals. B.C. universities have consistently finished at or near the top of their class in national rankings. For the past four years, British Columbia has frozen tuition fees. We are proud that our province has gone from having the second-highest university tuition fees in Canada at the beginning of the 1990s, to having the second-lowest university tuition fees in the country today.
To keep the doors of our universities and colleges open to all, this budget continues B.C.'s tuition freeze for a fifth straight year. The freeze has helped enrolment grow faster in B.C. than anywhere else in Canada. Enrolment is growing throughout the province, reflecting our commitment to provide quality education and opportunities in all our regions. As of last year, full-time university enrolment was up 18.4 percent over 1992, a growth rate nearly ten times the national average. There are students graduating from B.C. institutions who have never seen a tuition increase during the course of their studies, and that's something to celebrate.
We can also celebrate the fact that students in B.C. are graduating ready to succeed, not overwhelmed by debt. Due to the expansion of B.C.'s student grant system, combined with the tuition freeze, B.C. students are graduating with some of the lowest debt loads in Canada. But a tuition freeze alone will not guarantee access, if our post-secondary institutions can't afford to offer it. This budget includes an $85 million increase for B.C.'s universities, colleges and institutes, and an increase to core funding to help with the tuition freeze and to pay for new courses. It includes $39 million to support 5,025 new spaces, including 800 earmarked for high-tech programs and 400 for nursing programs. It also provides $133 million in capital funding to build and modernize our colleges, universities and institutes.
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For many young people, apprenticeships and training offer a direct link between education and a well-paying job in skilled trades and strategic sectors like film production. I'm pleased to say that this budget expands our commitment to apprenticeships and industry training programs and funds 300 new spaces.It also more than doubles the number of new career technical centres, where students can finish high school, gain hands-on experience in a trade and get credit for the first year of post-secondary studies, all at the same time. Finally, it invests $1 million in creating 1,000 new co-op spaces in high technology for university and college students launching their careers.
However, post-secondary education only succeeds if students receive a sound learning foundation in the early years. This budget continues our plan to improve the quality of education in B.C.'s public schools with smaller class sizes in the critical early years, more teaching time and fewer portables.
Last year that plan saw kindergarten class sizes reduced to a maximum of 20 students, and classes in grades 1, 2 and 3 reduced to 23. This year the maximum-class-size reduction continues. Classes will drop to no more than 22 students for grades 1, 2 and 3 throughout British Columbia, and 300 more new teachers will enter our schools.
By July of this year every single public school in the province will be wired to the Internet through the provincial learning network, and every student will have access to the World Wide Web of information and ideas.
We believe that our kids deserve the best learning environment possible, so schools will receive $444 million in capital funds to fund the construction of over 100 new schools, additions and expansions, and to replace 387 portables with new classrooms. By the spring of 2001, we will have reduced the number of portables in B.C. to fewer than 1,900 from 3,100 in 1998. The quality of education we offer our children and our youth is not only an investment in our future; it's a sure sign of our faith in that future.
Hon. Speaker, our universal health care system is the bedrock of family life in Canada, and in B.C. health care is the top priority of today's families. We have raised health spending in every budget since we were elected; it has risen by $2.9 billion since 1991. Yet the system remains under serious stress.
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It's clear that funding alone isn't the answer. We're moving ahead in two critical areas to strengthen health care. The first is to take pressure off hospitals -- the heart of our system. The second is to work together with our health care partners to meet patient needs more effectively, because money alone is not enough.This budget targets $24.8 million to hire and educate new nurses and an additional $5 million to hire new licensed practical nurses. It continues to fund the nurses' collective agreement, which sets out the most competitive nursing compensation in Canada -- a key component of a strategy to attract and retain nurses. We'll provide health authorities in B.C. with the funds to hire up to 600 additional nurses this year. In addition, we'll establish 400 new spaces in nursing programs at colleges and universities, so we can graduate the next generation of caregivers. This is where the need is most urgent -- on the front lines of health care. New nurses will improve patient care for British Columbians and help ease the burden on their co-workers.
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There's a second pressure point: continuing care. Our objective is to ensure that patients who need chronic care get the appropriate treatment in the right setting. This will ease the pressure on hospitals by freeing up acute care beds. It comes down to getting the right care at the right time and the right place. We announced an additional $6.5 million in September for continuing care. This budget fully funds that amount in the new fiscal year. In addition, this budget includes new investments to open new continuing care beds and provide care enhancements, for a total increase of $34.4 million for continuing care services. These investments will ensure that elderly and infirm patients have the independence and dignity they deserve, in the proper care setting.Two weeks ago we took an important step to improve health care in B.C. The Premier signed a new agreement with the B.C. Medical Association, ending service disruptions, expanding necessary medical services and building a more cooperative relationship between doctors and government. Conflict between the BCMA and the government hasn't improved patient care for British Columbians; we believe working together will.
Under this agreement, the 2000-2001 budget will invest nearly $2 billion in physician services. It will provide a much-needed measure of certainty in the hospital system. It will also make it easier for both doctors and health authorities to innovate. For example, it offers new flexibility for clinic-based primary care with salaried physicians.
Doctor shortages have been part of the reality of rural living for too long. We are addressing these shortages by providing funding to attract and retain physicians in rural British Columbia. But as I said earlier, money alone is not enough to sustain our public health system for our children and our grandchildren. We need to innovate, reducing costs by preventing illness and finding new ways to take pressure off hospitals. This spring the new government will bring together the leaders in B.C.'s health system, and we will work to map out how care providers, administrators and other experts can provide new ideas for delivering better health care for British Columbians.
To make health care work in the long term, we need all our partners at the table, and that includes the federal government. Ottawa now funds only 15 cents of every health care dollar. No province in Canada, including B.C., can hold up 85 percent of the sky and sustain universal health care over the long haul -- not in an era of growing and aging population. We will roll up our sleeves and work with other provinces and the federal government to protect and improve universal health care in B.C. and across Canada.
Canadians are being asked to make a choice: do we devote new resources to our public system, whose primary focus is medical need, or do we devote those resources instead to a privatized system driven by profit? Our commitment is to universal public health care in B.C., and this budget affirms that fundamental position. Today's families deserve to know that the care they need will be there when they need it, not just when they're able to afford to buy it.
This budget invests $309 million in the coming year to build better health facilities for British Columbians, and it will see the completion of such projects as the replacement tower at Surrey Memorial Hospital and the Vancouver Island cancer clinic in Victoria.
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Today's families, in all their many forms, face new pressures, and the government should be there for them -- not to solve every problem, but to lend a hand with the big ones. This year we'll invest $14 million in before- and after-school child care. This new program will begin on January 1. Future steps will be taken as we can afford them. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions to the needs of working parents, and our child care programs will ensure that they have the choices they need to care for their kids. It's a modest start, but it's an important step in the right direction, helping parents, especially women, meet their family responsibilities and participate fully in the economic opportunities that our province offers.Many B.C. families also face the difficult challenge of raising a child who has special needs. We want to do what we can to help those families meet that challenge. This budget includes $8 million to reduce waiting lists for health services for children, including those with special needs, and also supports a pilot project in early intervention for all children so that needs can be identified and addressed as soon as possible in a child's life.
Front-line workers in community services are some of the lowest-paid workers in B.C. They do tremendous work for little recognition. They must be fairly compensated if we are to retain their skills and dedication. This budget includes $149 million to increase their wages and benefits.
The percentage of adults on income assistance has dropped by more than a third since 1995. This budget provides for a modest increase in income assistance rates and incentives to return to work by letting people keep more of what they earn. These measures will help more British Columbians move from welfare to work and begin to make the most of B.C.'s economic opportunities.
This is the budget for 2000-2001. It reflects a new and modern direction for this government. It is open and transparent. It makes its assumptions clear. It presents the whole picture, good and bad. It shows prudence in setting and controlling the deficit. It rejects megaprojects. It chooses instead to maintain our economic momentum and strengthen our competitive position with tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners, for small businesses and for large enterprises. It promotes an economy based on innovation and invests in
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education and opportunities for our young people. It promotes our province's most important strengths by helping to maintain a healthy, well-educated, productive workforce and a healthy and clean environment.This budget takes the balanced approach most British Columbians want. It addresses the needs of today's families. It recognizes that meeting the needs of people for tax cuts, quality education and decent health care also meets the needs of today's economy.
It is my great pleasure, on behalf of the government, to table this budget -- a modern approach for our new government.
The Speaker: I recognize the Opposition House Leader for a response.
G. Farrell-Collins: Well, after nine years, they just don't get it. This budget is full of spend, spend, spend. In fact, they're spending the money faster than it comes through the front door -- over $1 billion in new revenue and over $1.25 billion in new spending. Spending is up $1,250 million. Personal income taxes are $25 million. That shows where the priorities of the government are: not for the people of British Columbia who've been waiting for a tax break for nine long years.
Let's put all of this in context. Almost a decade ago, in the general election of October 1991, Mike Harcourt and the NDP members of this Legislature made a solemn commitment to the men and women of this province. They promised to be a government as honest and hard-working as the people who pay for it. I hope they remember that.
They asked us to trust them. "Trust us," they said, "and we will make B.C. great. Trust us to take care of your health care system, and we'll make it the best in the world. Trust us to fix our public school system, and we'll make it second to none. Trust us, and we'll bring in stable leadership and build a vibrant economy. Trust us, and we'll balance the budget."
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They said they had a plan. They said they would be responsible. They said they would be honest. They asked us to trust them, and we did. They were elected with the largest number of seats in the history of the province of British Columbia. They had an overwhelming mandate for change. They had an opportunity to do the right thing for the people of this province, and the people have been waiting ever since. British Columbians trusted them, and we have paid dearly for that trust.We started the last decade as an economic powerhouse. We had the highest credit rating of any province, the lowest debt service costs, the smallest total debt relative to our size and the fastest-growing economy in Canada. In short, the new government had the mandate and the tools to make the 1990s B.C.'s best decade yet. They inherited a province full of excitement, hope and opportunity.
Well, Mr. Speaker, that was then. But where are we today? B.C. is suffering from nine years of incompetent, negligent and downright dishonest government. How else can you explain the fact that B.C. has gone from the fastest-growing economy to the slowest-growing economy, from the lowest debt per capita to the province with the fastest-growing debt per capita, from one of the lowest tax environments to one of the highest, from a land of hope and prosperity to a land of frustration and stagnation? You have taken a province of people full of hope and energy and turned us into a province full of disappointment and despair. The people of this province won't stand for it anymore. They demand change and they demand it now.
Nine years ago the government promised open and honest government; instead we've received deception, cover-up, misinformation and intimidation. The major theme of this budget is transparency. Finally, after nine years, the government is doing what they should have been doing all along. After nine years, after dozens of auditor general reports, constant pressure from the public and members of the opposition, the government has finally agreed to come clean on how it keeps the books.
What's shocking is that somehow they expect a standing ovation for finally telling British Columbians the truth. If telling the truth is where we're going to set the bar for a successful budget, that's a pretty sad comment on how low this government has fallen.
Transparency in the books isn't all that we should expect from our government. We should expect honesty also. We were told by one of the NDP's many Finance ministers that the budget is about choices. We were told again today that the government has chosen health care and education. Well, if -- after nine years -- health care and education have been the priorities of this government, how on earth have they managed to make such a mess of them?
In budget after budget we've been told about the millions of dollars of additional money the government is putting into health care and education. But what the government didn't tell us is why that money wasn't having any effect on improving those services. For years the NDP have been telling the people of B.C. that they were holding the line on public sector wages. Remember: they asked us to trust them. They told us they would be honest.
Now, years later, we find out that in fact virtually all the new money that's gone into health care over the last number of years has been funnelled into secret side deals and concessions that have driven the personnel costs through the roof -- hundreds of millions of dollars of under-the-table deals that only now the government will admit to. The Premier said we would get a full accounting of those costs today. Where are they? When is the Premier going to come clean and surprise us with the bill? Now, the Premier may think that this
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But certainly those members of the NDP cabinet who sat on Treasury Board when the deals were approved can't run from those decisions. The member for Saanich South, now our Attorney General, the member for Vancouver-Hastings, now the Deputy Premier, and the member for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, now the Minister of Employment and Investment, certainly can't be surprised by these facts, for in their turn they each used to be the Minister of Finance. The member for Surrey-Newton, now Minister of Education, and the member for Prince George North, formerly the Minister of Health, Minister of Education and now Minister of Finance, certainly can't be surprised. And let's not forget the member for Vancouver-Kensington, now the Premier. Certainly they can't be surprised by these facts. They all served on Treasury Board when one or more of these accords were signed.[ Page 14544 ]
So don't ask us to congratulate the Premier and his NDP accomplices on today's confession. The fact is that they all knew that these deals would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. They won't get any gold stars from the voters for pretending they knew nothing, while trying to place all the blame on one former Premier. Remember: they said they were going to be responsible; they said they were going to be honest. Instead they have recklessly committed us all to double-digit increases in the cost of delivering government services.Mr. Speaker, if the government wanted to repay its political debts that they owed to the public sector union leaders, they should at least have been honest enough to tell the truth to the public who are going to pay for it. Today, at the very least they should have the decency not to pretend to be surprised at what they all knew all along. Treasury Board knew, the ministers knew, and yes, the new Premier knew. Despite all his confessions and all his contrition, there are no saints over there -- maybe a televangelist or two, but no saints.
Now let's look at a few of the past eight budgets. Let's look at what they promised to do and compare it with what they actually did. Only by honestly examining the collective records of the NDP caucus, current and former Finance ministers and current and former Premiers will we be able to judge whether or not we can believe what we are being told today.
In 1992 the member for Vancouver-Kingsway, the Minister of Finance and now the former Premier, said: "
That government has never balanced a single budget -- not one. Alberta has balanced seven in a row. Manitoba has balanced five in a row. New Brunswick has balanced five, Nova Scotia four. Little Prince Edward Island has balanced three. Even Quebec has now balanced its budget, and -- wait for it -- Saskatchewan. That right-wing extreme government in Saskatchewan has balanced their budget six years in a row. Now, that's leadership.
Hon. Speaker, if everyone else in Canada can do it, why is it that British Columbia is never able to measure up? I put it to you, Mr. Speaker, that the problem isn't this province; the problem is the NDP.
We can look at some of the six other Finance ministers that have made their way through this government over time. In 1995, Elizabeth Cull said -- this is my favourite: "There will be no budget deficit for the government of British Columbia this year. With this 1995 budget we have balanced the budget a full year ahead of our promise to the people of British Columbia."
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Well, those budgets weren't balanced, and every member of the NDP caucus, from the current Premier on down, knew they weren't balanced. Only in British Columbia would a bunch of New Democrats try to pull that one over on the voters of the province. But don't worry; they will pay for that. They will pay for it on election day, if they ever have the courage to drop the writ.Again in 1995, Elizabeth Cull, one of my favourite Finance ministers from the other side, said:
"The first goal will be to maintain British Columbia's credit rating as the best of any provinceNot one of those goals was met -- not one. Our credit rating has been downgraded twice. Not one balanced budget, not one cent of debt paid off -- instead, they've added billions. Now total debt is an astounding $36.5 billion, up $3 billion in one year alone. Our cost of debt is no longer the lowest but rather is increasing faster than any other province. By any of the measures they set for themselves -- not measures we set or the public set -- they have failed the people of this province. They have failed spectacularly. They have failed miserably.. . . . Our second goal will be to balance the budget and use surpluses to pay down the $10.2 billion of debt. . . . A 20-year payback period will be established, based on realistic economic and fiscal assumptions. . . . Our third goal will be to reduce the size of total taxpayer-supported debt as a share of provincial gross domestic product. . . . The fourth goal will be to ensure that B.C.'s cost of debt remains the lowest in Canada. Under the debt management plan" -- I don't know where that went -- "interest payments on taxpayer-supported debt as a percentage of government revenue will be capped at 8.5 percent."
Through the revolving doors of Finance ministers, we come in 1996 to the member for Saanich South, who in his budget said: "Today, I am announcing a comprehensive review of all government programs
Instead, at the same time as those speeches were being made -- prior to that, in fact -- they were signing accords that drove the cost of government bureaucracy through the roof. Instead of cutting costs and creating efficiency, they quietly and behind closed doors signed collective agreements they told the public were zero-zero-and-2, while in reality they had hard-wired huge future costs into every single budget that would follow. How exactly was that in the public interest, Mr. Speaker?
Health care is in crisis, and the government has ensured that almost every new dollar in health care spending will never touch a single patient. That is misleading; it's unforgivable. The people of British Columbia deserve better.
I can go on, because in 1997 the member for Saanich South said: "I want to outline the four principles of fiscal sustainability which will guide us and against which we will measure our success. First, balancing the consolidated revenue fund
Instead of economic growth we've seen stagnation. Just how bad has it been in British Columbia? Well, let's look. From 1992 to 1999, Alberta had a growth rate of private sector investment of 108 percent. Manitoba had a growth rate of private sector investment of 74 percent. And Saskatchewan -- that right-wing extreme government of Saskatchewan -- had a private sector growth rate of 90 percent. In British Columbia over the same time period, under the NDP here, private sector investment was up a paltry 11.1 percent -- your measures, Mr. Minister and your failure.
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In 1998 the then new Minister of Finance and now the new Deputy Premier[ Page 14545 ]
An Hon. Member: She got a promotion.G. Farrell-Collins: Yes.
An Hon. Member: She must have been good. She must have been fantastic.
G. Farrell-Collins: We're getting there. She said: "
Why is it important to balance the budget, after all? For an answer, let's go back again to that esteemed member for Vancouver-Kingsway, the former Premier and former Minister of Finance. He used to understand why a balanced budget was important, before he lost his way and his job. In 1992 he said: "A large structural deficit is not sustainable. Increased debt incurred to finance a structural deficit will ultimately impose large fixed costs on the provincial economy to service that debt. These costs reduce flexibility and in the long run endanger the social programs on which British Columbians depend."
Wow -- what a prophet! I always knew he had visions of grandeur, but I never realized what a prophet he was. It's too bad his colleagues never listened to his prophecy. It doesn't matter which measure you use; it doesn't matter whose measure you use; it doesn't matter how you add it up. This government has been an absolute, abject, classic case study of failure. And, Mr. Speaker, no single scandal exemplifies this more than that wonderful, wonderful metaphor for the NDP -- the fast ferries. Like everything this government has done, they announced them before they had a plan, they started construction before they knew what they were building, and they promised performance they would never achieve. It's sort of like walking blindfolded, backwards into a cactus patch with your pants around your ankles. You know you're going to get it in the behind; you just don't know when or how many times.
Let me show you what we could have done with that $463 million that they wasted on the fast ferries. We could have funded 200 teachers' salaries for one year and 400 nurses' salaries for one year, funded 200 RCMP officers, eliminated the cardiac and hip surgery wait-lists, built seven new rural hospitals, paid for 600 kidney and 40 liver transplants, paid for 250 air ambulance trips from Prince George to Vancouver, bought ten mobile mammography units, built 900 long term care beds, bought six MRI scanners, bought 12 CT scanners, paid for the care of 200 children in foster homes and bought new textbooks for 10,000 high school students. I know what choice the people of B.C. would have made, and we know the choice that members of Treasury Board did make. Heaven help us! We can't afford any more NDP choices.
It's been a decade of incompetence and a decade of decline by any measure. And this government is going to ask us to trust them for another five years? Over the last nine years, according to Statistics Canada, B.C. was the only province to experience negative growth in real GDP per capita, the prime indicator of economic wealth and standard of living. Do we want another five years of that, or do we want change?
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From 1996 onward, B.C. has had the worst record of private sector job growth amongst the provinces. Do we want another five years of that, or do we want change? The NDP has recorded nine straight deficits. Do we want another five, or do we want change?According to the B.C. Central Credit Union, over the last nine years B.C. families suffered the biggest loss in take-home pay among Canadians -- $1,800 per family. Can those families afford another five years, or do they want change?
My favourite. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives -- that's the group that the government funds -- poverty has increased at a faster rate in British Columbia than in all of Canada. Can British Columbians afford another five years? I don't think so. Will British Columbians tolerate another five years? Not on your life. If the members opposite want to run on their record, if the Premier wants to run on his nine-year record in government, then show some courage: call an election and let the people decide.
Hon. Speaker, I'll have more to say in detail tomorrow. I move adjournment of the debate.
Motion approved.
Hon. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, before I introduce the Budget Measures Implementation Act, I seek leave to make an introduction. I know this is unusual.
Leave granted.
Hon. P. Ramsey: I wasn't here at the start of today's session, so I missed this opportunity to introduce to the House somebody who I have seen far too little of in the last few months and who has seen far too little of me -- my wife Hazel Ramsey, who is here with our son. Would everybody please make her welcome.
BUDGET MEASURES IMPLEMENTATION ACT, 2000
Hon. P. Ramsey presented a message from His Honour the Administrator: a bill intituled Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2000.Hon. P. Ramsey: I now move first reading of Bill 3.
Motion approved.
Hon. P. Ramsey: The Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2000, implements many of the measures I announced in the budget speech. Others, including the personal income tax reduction and the B.C. investment tax credit for manufacturing and processing, will be introduced later this session.
Bill 3 amends 14 provincial statutes. The major taxation initiative in this bill is the reduction of the small business income tax rate to 4.7 percent -- the lowest in Canada -- effective July 1, 2000. Other taxation statutes are amended to provide new exemptions, improve clarity and enhance fairness and administration.
The Waste Management Act is amended to provide a rebate of fees for businesses which shift from environmentally damaging to environmentally friendly practices.
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The Liquor Control and Licensing Act is amended to apply the Financial Administration Act to money received under the act.The Petroleum and Natural Gas Act is amended to authorize agreements between the Minister of Energy and Mines and the B.C. Transportation Financing Authority regarding the upgrading of public roads used by the oil and natural gas industry in northeastern B.C.
The bill also extinguishes $1.08 billion in debt owed to the government by the B.C. Ferry Corporation and extends the B.C. Hydro and Power Authority rate freeze until September 30, 2001.
Hon. Speaker, I will of course elaborate more fully on these and the other measures in the bill during second read- ing. I move that the said bill be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.
Bill 3 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. D. Lovick: Hon. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.
Motion approved.
The House adjourned at 3:44 p.m.
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