2001 Legislative Session: 5th Session, 36th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes
only.
The printed version remains the official version.
(Hansard)
THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2001
Afternoon Sitting
Volume 22, Number 3
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The House met at 2:08 p.m.
Oral Questions
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR
CHILD SERVICES
G. Campbell: Hon. Speaker, on Tuesday the child advocate released the
last report of her term. In her report she says: "
Hon. J. MacPhail: We appreciate the report of the child advocate. It is a thoughtful report, and she continues, in her final moments, to serve the province well. It was this government that, actually for the very first time in Canada, brought in a child advocate on behalf of the children of British Columbia.
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There is no question that there are difficulties that our families face across British Columbia. But I think we do have to stop for a moment and understand that there have been changes and that there has been an investment in our children and our families by our government. I would also say that Grand Chief Ed John, the Minister for Children and Families, is accountable. He's accountable morally and he's accountable through his heritage to the children of this province, and he is doing an excellent job. The Ministry for Children and Families is moving forward on the changes advocated by Ms. Preston, the children's advocate. There have been tens of millions of dollars invested in programs, and there will be more news today. But we are also working in collaboration with the advocate as well as others throughout the community.
G. Campbell: The NDP has had ten years to get its act together. The children's advocate's report is very clear: you have failed. The government has failed consistently. The minister responds that there have been changes. Correct. We've had six Children and Families ministers and four Deputy Ministers for Children and Families -- three Children and Families ministers under this Premier alone, in just a little over a year -- and still the children's advocate says it has been all talk and no action. Reflecting exactly the policies that have been articulated by the Minister of Health, the NDP have made announcements about things they weren't even going to do.
Will the Premier tell us why, after wasting half a billion dollars on three boats that nobody wanted and $73 million on a convention centre that will never be built, the children are the only megaproject in this province that this government hasn't been willing to fund?
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
Hon. J. MacPhail: Hon. Speaker, it is interesting that on a day when we are actually going to compare our respective commitments to the people of British Columbia, on budget day, this opposition leader would have the gall to stand up and somehow suggest that the Liberal one-point plan would in any way serve the needs of the children of this province, because he is dead wrong.
But we shall see at the end of today, when the Minister of Finance stands up and tables our government's record and our government's commitment to the children and families of today, what the Leader of the Liberal Opposition can do after he's given away $3 billion of tax cuts and after he's cut health and education. Let's see what he'll do for the Ministry for Children and Families.
But here are the commitments we have made. We are working hard to get a stable and experienced workforce in face of pressures all across North America in this area. The Minister for Children and Families has an excellent plan in place on this. And we're making solid commitments to an early development fund, working with the child advocate.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Members, order, please.
BUDGET SURPLUS PROJECTIONS
M. de Jong: I wouldn't ordinarily do this in question period, but there's been a terrible mistake involving the Premier's office that I want to address now. The document that we FOI'd was the Premier's briefing book, but they sent us something very different, actually.
The Speaker: Order, member.
M. de Jong: It's the Premier's scrapbook.
Interjections.
The Speaker: The member will state his question.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Will members take their seats, please.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Members, take your seats, please. All members know the rules of the House. They're your rules; let's try and stick to them as much as we can.
I'm going to recognize the member for Matsqui and ask him to state his question, please.
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M. de Jong: Well, let's see what's in the Premier's little book of memories here. There's a letter from just a couple of weeks ago that he wrote to his constituents. It's the last line that I find interesting, where he talks about forecasting a $625 million budget surplus for 2000-01. But just a few days before that, he was on TV talking about a $725 million budget sur-
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plus. I'm a bit confused -- or maybe I'm just being too picky. How do you account for a $100 million discrepancy in just a couple of days, Mr. Speaker?
Hon. U. Dosanjh: The economy is sound in British Columbia, and the surplus is going to be larger than $725 million. I want to say to the member who stood up and asked that question in his role as comedian of the Legislature: there are a lot of jobs available in the film industry in British Columbia, which is booming.
The Speaker: The hon. member for Matsqui has a supplemental question.
M. de Jong: Ouch, Mr. Speaker.
Here's what's really interesting about what the Premier wrote to his constituents. It's all about tax cuts. It's all about tax cuts. He writes about how his constituents have told him that they'd like to see their income taxes cut. He talks about how his government has responded to those concerns and cut personal income tax. He says: "Your income taxes have gone down over the past five years, and they're going to go down some more." And he's going to throw in a brochure entitled -- I found this hard to believe -- "B.C. Tax Cuts for 2001." That's the headline on the brochure.
Now, I know they're in disarray over there. But am I missing something here? Why is the Premier, who's saying this week, "Read my lips; no more tax cuts," writing to his constituents at exactly the same time pretending that that's what he's going to do -- cut their taxes?
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order.
Hon. U. Dosanjh: I believe that there are two distinct visions of British Columbia present in the Legislature today -- two distinct visions of British Columbia. One of those visions is a one-point plan of a dramatic tax cut and, according to the Leader of the Opposition last night on CBC, an even more dramatic tax cut -- period.
On the other hand, there's a vision of British Columbia that says we will reinvest in health care, that we will reinvest in education and have people trained for the twenty-first century, protect our environmental heritage, provide good child care. That's our ticket to the new economy in British Columbia: with an educated and healthy workforce and protecting our environment. That's why people like myself immigrated to this great land. That's why we created 40,000 jobs in British Columbia last year. In the Ontario land of the Leader of the Opposition's guru, they lost 38,000 jobs this month, and we created 7,000 jobs this month in British Columbia.
CARRIER LUMBER CASE
G. Plant: Well, I enjoyed having a chance to read the Premier's scrapbook. You'll be interested to know that the longest section in the scrapbook is entitled "Meetings the Premier Never Attended," and that list just goes on and on and on and on. But then you get to the section entitled "Carrier Lumber," and sadly, all the pages have been torn out.
So I have a question for the Premier: what is it that he is going to remember most about the Carrier Lumber fiasco? Was it (a) when he said that he hadn't read the judgment at all, (b) when he said he hadn't read the judgment except the bits he'd seen in the newspaper accounts, (c) when he said he hadn't read the judgment except for the bits that he was talking about in a long, careful conversation with his staff, or (d) when he said that the inexactitude of his statements was present?
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Hon. U. Dosanjh: We are committed to reaching a fair settlement with Carrier Lumber. That process is underway. There will be a full review of the matter once the court is no longer seized of it and once the criminal review by the police is finished. I have personally apologized to the Kordyban family about the entire issue.
But here is the issue: at the end of the day there were statutory obligations imposed on the licensee, Carrier Lumber, by a piece of legislation that was passed in 1987. I received thorough and comprehensive advice from the Ministry of Attorney General, with full briefings which indicated to me there were good grounds of appeal on that question of law as well as on findings of fact. I made that decision, and I stand by that decision. It was the right decision to make.
The Speaker: The hon. member for Richmond-Steveston with a supplemental.
G. Plant: From a Premier that wants the public to believe he's sorry
for something, that sounded like a pretty long-winded defence of the most
inexcusable conduct I have seen from a government. Maybe in that context it's
not a surprise that the news reports are telling us that the Premier's own
caucus members are starting to boycott his caucus meetings. I just wanted to
give the Premier a chance, because I have heard it suggested that the real
reason
LIONS GATE BRIDGE CLOSING
C. Clark: I have a question for the Minister of Transportation and Highways. His predecessor said that there was no way that the work on the Lions Gate Bridge was going to mean the government closed it. Guess what. The government has broken its commitment. This minister has told us now that that bridge is going to be closed in April, it's going to be closed through May, and it's going to be closed in parts of June. But guess what. It's going to be closed on the spring break weekend, the busiest weekend of the year for all the ski operators on the North Shore. So my question for the minister is this: we're used to this government breaking its commitments, but when he put on his thinking cap and decided they were going to close the bridge, why did he choose the busiest weekend of the year for every ski operator on the North Shore?
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Hon. H. Giesbrecht: Thank you, hon. Speaker. It's really nice to be back. [Applause.]
The Lions Gate project, as all of the members here know, is one of those projects where it's been difficult, in the sense that you haven't been able to do anything with both approaches. You've got to keep 80 percent of the traffic flowing at the same time, and so you have to work within certain constraints that are there.
In the discussion around whether or not to close this following weekend, it was either a choice of this end-of-the-spring-break weekend, or we would be getting into construction during the height of the tourist season in the summer. And that was the decision that had to be made. It was a tough choice, and I guess that's one of the things about government: sometimes you have to make difficult choices. I'm not going to get into semantics about whether or not it's a long weekend with a holiday on either end. It's the end of spring break, and it was a decision that was made to do this rather than cut into the tourist season.
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The Speaker: The bell ends question period.
Orders of the Day
Hon. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, I move that this House at its next sitting resolve itself 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 presented a message from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: Estimates of Sums Required for the Service of the Province for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002, and a supplement to the estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002, recommending the same to the Legislative Assembly.
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 Minister of Advanced Education, Training and Technology, that the Speaker do now leave the chair for the House to go into Committee of Supply.
Budget Address
Hon. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, it is my pleasure to present to this House our government's balanced budget for the year 2001-02.
In beginning this speech, I want to thank all members of the House for the opportunity to work with them over the years. It has indeed been a pleasure and a privilege to be a member of this Legislative Assembly. As I've prepared this budget, I've had the privilege of speaking with British Columbians from all walks of life. I've also read with care the report of the all-party committee of this Legislature which, for the first time, visited communities across our province to hear from citizens about Budget 2001.
This budget is about the choices that our government has made, based on what we have heard and the values we share with British Columbians -- choices about our future, choices about the kind of province we want to live in. We believe in compassion and fairness, in the dignity and worth of every person and in a strong and dynamic economy. These are the values that British Columbians want reflected in the decisions we make and the priorities that we set.
Hon. Speaker, this budget finds B.C. at a crossroads. We face two clearly different approaches to governing and setting priorities. One approach puts dramatic tax cuts ahead of everything else, including the needs of today's families. But the only way to achieve those dramatic tax cuts with a balanced budget is by slashing health and education programs. That's a simple fact. This government has a very different approach. It's an approach that puts the needs of today's families first with a balanced budget, a growing economy, and a focus on health care and education.
We understand that meeting the needs of today's families also meets the needs of today's economy. In this new economy, the quality of life we share and enjoy in our province is a critical competitive edge. For example, a strong commitment to the environment helps secure the international markets for our forest products. Excellence in education means B.C. can offer the skills and talent that attract employers and investment to our province.
A clean and green British Columbia ensures we remain a world-class destination and a place where entrepreneurs and skilled workers want to live and raise families. Quality health care is a crucial part of economic stability for communities right across our province. We need healthy, productive workers and low costs to industry for injury and illness. And helping the most vulnerable in our society means we will make full use of our most valuable resource: the people of British Columbia.
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Because of the choices in this budget, hospitals across British Columbia will have more funding to hire nurses. Colleges and universities will have more resources and student spaces to train them. Children in aboriginal communities will have a better start in life with the new commitment to early childhood development services. More kids across British Columbia will have access to a school meal program in more schools. Thousands of British Columbians will find the door open to new opportunities in post-secondary education, with the price of tuition -- already frozen for five years -- actually falling. And finally, more of our parents will be able to live in the comfort of their own homes rather than in institutions, because there will be more community care and more home support services right across the province.
These are the results of the choices we've made. We can balance the budget and achieve these results. But we can only do so because we have put health and education and basic social justice first and rejected dramatic tax cuts.
This budget is built on a foundation that has grown stronger over the past year. The Premier said from the outset that he would change the way we do business in B.C. and get our financial house in order. His first direction to me was to
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introduce a new piece of legislation, the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. Soon after, I introduced the Balanced Budget Act, requiring us to balance the budget and keep it balanced. With these two pieces of legislation, B.C. has the most open, accountable, transparent budget framework in Canada.
As one of B.C.'s leading political observers recently wrote: "When the government financial reporting is this thorough, the numbers can be allowed to speak for themselves." This is why I can tell British Columbians with confidence: the budget is balanced -- last year, this year and next year.
The auditor general of British Columbia has confirmed that we not only reduced the deficit in fiscal year '99-2000; we eliminated it. The reports I'm tabling today for the current budget year confirm the trend we saw in our second and third quarterly reports for Budget 2000-01. We are on track to balance the budget again this year. The estimates I am presenting today for the coming year are sound. Our key assumptions are clearly disclosed. We are projecting a balanced budget for the third year in a row.
Let's look first at last year's economic and fiscal results. The province we live in today is a strong one. It is moving forward; it is growing steadily. Now, that may come as a surprise to people who have heard so much negative commentary on B.C.'s economy, but the fact is that our economy performed well last year. And while we expect some modest slowing, it's poised to do well in the coming year too.
British Columbia's economy started the new millennium on a positive note. Our economy grew by 3.4 percent in the year 2000. Exports grew by 13 percent. Our retail sales grew by more than 6 percent. The unemployment rate last year was the lowest it's been in 20 years, and there were 43,000 more jobs in B.C. at the beginning of this year than there were at the beginning of last year. More British Columbians were working in the year 2000 than ever before in our history.
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As our economy gathered steam, the government's finances also improved. Over the past year we saw revenues increase as the economy grew and energy prices rose. Revenues from our strengthening economy exceeded forecasts by $810 million. Natural resource revenues -- principally oil, natural gas and electricity -- added another $1.6 billion. All told, revenues will exceed our targets by $2.5 billion, or 11.8 percent.
The result is that for 2000-01, we are forecasting a surplus of $1.3 billion. This compares to the billion-dollar deficit I projected in the last budget. B.C.'s fiscal turnaround has been very substantial. As a result, our debt picture is also considerably healthier than I forecast at the beginning of the year. Taxpayer-supported debt will be $24.5 billion at the end of the fiscal year. That's $3.4 billion less than I forecast in Budget 2000. For total debt, the target was $36.5 billion. We beat that target by $2.7 billion, for a final figure of $33.8 billion.
In fact, I can report to you that at the end of the fiscal year, British Columbia's debt will be lower than it was at the start. We will pay down British Columbia's debt by more than $400 million.
I'm also very pleased to report that B.C.'s taxpayer-supported debt-to-GDP ratio remains very healthy at 19.6 percent, the second lowest in the country. B.C. taxpayers saved $114 million in interest payments in 2000-01 because of lower debt.
Hon. Speaker, the province we live in today is a strong one. It's moving forward; it's growing steadily. The economy performed well last year. While we do expect slowing, it's poised to do well in the coming year too. The strengths we saw last year, along with our diversified export economy, will help B.C. ride out the downturn from south of the border.
In January I met with the 16 independent economists of the Economic Forecast Council to discuss the coming year. Their average prediction for economic growth for 2001 is 2.4 percent and for 2002, 2.9 percent. My forecast is consistent with those figures.
As our economy grows, it's also changing. Newer sectors of our economy -- knowledge-based sectors like high-tech and film -- are taking on a greater and greater role, encouraged in part by our government's incentives and partnerships. The value of film and TV productions alone grew by 10 percent last year. That's an additional $100 million injected into B.C.'s economy. The high-tech sector continues to show strong growth as well. High-tech employment has doubled in the last decade. It now accounts for more than 52,000 jobs in our province.
B.C. can also look to our energy sector for economic growth. Our natural gas industry has made the most of the recent rise in export prices, helped in part by the new regulatory structure that we introduced in 1998.
But we are taking nothing for granted. I want to assure British Columbians that we are watching U.S. and Canadian economies carefully. Partly because of recent developments in the U.S., I have built a prudence allowance of $300 million into this budget forecast. That prudence is crucial. It means that British Columbians can remain confident that the choices we are making in this budget are affordable. We will maintain a course of financial prudence in the coming year.
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Government revenues are expected to total $24.6 billion. Government expenditures are expected to total $24.3 billion. There will be a positive balance of $300 million in direct government operations. This is offset by a projected net loss from Crown corporations in the coming year. In addition, the budget reflects a positive one-time impact of changes in how pension plans are governed, totalling $1.4 billion. I've also included a prudence allowance of $300 million in the fiscal plan. The net result is a forecast $1.1 billion summary account surplus for the year 2001-02.
We've chosen in this budget to fund the key priorities of today's families, and that includes not only services but also facilities -- the schools and hospitals, the post-secondary institutions and the transportation networks that are crucial to the success of B.C. As a result of this choice, using the same cautious approach from last year, I am projecting an increase in the province's debt. Total debt is expected to rise by $800 million, to $34.7 billion. That also includes the $300 million prudence cushion. However, if we're able to repeat the performance of the year now ending, we may well beat those targets.
Once more, let me remind members that this third projected balanced budget has been developed in accordance with some of the strictest accounting and reporting practices in the country. If, like last year, we beat our targets, then we will continue the balanced approach we've taken: looking to the needs of British Columbians while keeping our finances in firm control.
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Over the coming three years we project government revenues to increase by approximately 2.5 percent per year. To balance the budgets in each of those years, we must live within those amounts. That means making some difficult choices and getting it right. We forecast that balanced budgets can continue beyond this year. Our fiscal framework includes balanced budgets through to 2003-04.
When the auditor general confirmed our balanced books for fiscal '99-2000, the Premier said that this must not be a one-time event but the start of a trend. The trend is now clear, hon. Speaker. The books are balanced -- last year, this year, next year.
Budgets aren't just about numbers, though. They're about people, and they're about choices and about how we can improve the lives of British Columbians. The economy continues to grow, and the books are balanced. Now is the time to focus on improving our key social programs and to choose our quality of life as a competitive tool.
There are some, including my colleagues across the way, whose first priority would be to spend billions of dollars on dramatic tax cuts. It seems that for every issue that arises, for every problem that crops up, the members opposite can reply with only two words: tax cuts. They will tell you that they can do this without slashing services or running deficits because, they say, broad-based tax cuts pay for themselves. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it just doesn't work that way.
Let me be clear. We believe in balanced budgets. We believe in strategic targeted tax relief, and we've introduced many tax measures over the past few years: research and development credits for the high-tech sector, competitive credits for our film industry, a streamlined regulatory and royalty system for the oil and gas sector. Our taxes for small business, the entrepreneurs who create the majority of new jobs, remain the lowest in Canada, and we have secured our position as having the second- or third-lowest overall taxes in Canada for most families.
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However, when it comes to broad-based dramatic tax cuts, I've looked at the evidence. I've looked at impartial economic studies on the impact of tax cuts, and the cold, hard truth is: you can't have it all. Broad-based dramatic tax cuts will mean lower government revenues. It's like anything else that sounds too good to be true. From pyramid schemes to e-mail get-rich-quick promises to tax cuts without consequences, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Interjections.
Hon. P. Ramsey: You know
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
Hon. P. Ramsey: You know, even the economists advising the Leader of the Opposition acknowledge freely that dramatic tax cuts have a price. The Investment Dealers Association has called for dramatic tax cuts and running up a deficit. David Bond -- remember that name? -- has called for dramatic tax cuts and deep cuts in service to pay for them. I'm grateful to them for laying out so clearly and honestly, and in some cases at a serious personal cost, exactly what the effect of dramatic tax cuts would be.
I want to tell B.C. families: our choices are very clear. We won't run a deficit. We will balance the books. We won't bring in broad-based dramatic tax cuts. We will keep B.C.'s taxes among the lowest in the country. We won't cut services. We will improve health care and expand education opportunities. This is the way forward. Choices like these will ensure that the quality of life we enjoy that's so important to our economic success is maintained and improved for all British Columbians in the years to come.
Last fall, Maclean's magazine called B.C. Canada's education province. This is the area of our government achievements that makes me proudest personally. I was an instructor in our college system before I entered politics, and when I leave politics, I'll be returning to the education system. But it's an education system that is immensely improved compared to the one I left. When I return to Prince George, I may be teaching a course or two at a university that didn't even exist when I was elected. I'll be in a community where young people no longer have to leave their homes and families in order to complete a degree. I'll be working with students who are paying the second-lowest tuition fees in all of Canada.
When this government was elected, it inherited an education system that had sat on the back burner for decades. Our schools were underfunded. We had children jammed into more than 3,000 portables. Our colleges and universities had high tuition fees and the second-lowest participation rate in the country. Today our public schools get more money per student than in any other province. Full-time university enrolment is growing at nearly ten times the national average. Tuition fees have been frozen for five straight years, making them the second lowest in Canada.
Our government came to office determined to make B.C. the education province, with both high quality and open access, and, Mr. Speaker, we've done it.
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This budget, Budget 2001, devotes 28 percent of total spending to meeting the needs of students -- to funding teachers, schools, colleges, universities, and skilled trades and training opportunities in our publicly funded education system. Next year our government will increase funding to education in B.C. by $312 million. We will also invest $505 million in capital funding to build and improve schools, colleges, universities and institutes.
Why have we made education such a priority when other provinces have not? We have done so because education is the key to ensuring that our daughters and sons can succeed and make good lives for themselves and also because when we invest in education, we invest in our future. Education is simply the best economic investment a government can make.
As I said to our university presidents at the University of B.C. last September, our goal isn't just to teach facts and formulas. We have a larger, often unspoken, goal of teaching young people how to think critically, how to think for themselves, because only those who are capable of critical, independent thought are capable of moving us forward as an economy and as a society.
Today in B.C. we need those critical thinkers more than at any time in our history, and here's why. A strong resource sector will always be an important part of our economy and part of our identity as a province. But the world around us is changing. Technology advances so quickly that even our brightest innovators don't truly know where the future will take us.
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But one thing is certain. Today our natural resources -- the keys to our future, to prosperity in British Columbia -- are not just trees and minerals but knowledge and skills and ideas. The place where those resources first develop -- the incubator for innovation, for the new technology, for the future itself -- is our education system: our schools, universities, colleges and institutes. That's why we've made such a concerted effort to drive up the quality of education from kindergarten to the post-secondary level.
In British Columbia over the past nine years we've built new schools at the rate of one every 19 days. We've cut class sizes in the early grades to give young children the individual attention they need in those critical years. We've hired 4,000 new teachers over the past ten years and replaced 658 portables with permanent classrooms just since 1998.
We've created six new career technical centres, where young people are allowed to kick-start their training and access up to one year of tuition-free study in a trade or technology while they complete their high school diplomas. We've wired every public school and every campus in this province to the Internet and connected many remote communities for the first time as well.
We've opened three new universities and created 40,000 post-secondary spaces across B.C., including 2,000 spaces earmarked for high-tech. And we've done something that no other province in the country has done: frozen those college and university fees for five years. Today, as a result, a B.C. student graduates with at least $7,000 less debt than the average Canadian student.
But we haven't opened those doors at the expense of quality. The latest Maclean's survey of universities ranks B.C. institutions at or near the top in every category in the country. We refuse to put that record at risk and close the door on our economic future for the sake of dramatic tax cuts. Now is simply not the time to stop the teaching and learning. Now is the time to build on our success and invest in our young people.
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Today I am increasing funding to B.C.'s elementary and secondary schools by $169 million -- our government's tenth straight year of increased education funding. This will allow our schools to meet our classroom commitment: no more than 20 students in every kindergarten class; no more than 22 in grades 1, 2 or 3. It also means we can expand or replace 22 schools and make improvements to another 190 this year.
As well, schools that need seismic upgrading will have access to a $123 million fund over the next two years to make public facilities safer. Last week B.C. hosted a meeting of North American seismic experts, and I'm pleased to tell you that they confirmed that the approach B.C. is taking is the right one in dealing with this issue.
This budget also funds five additional career technical centres in Vancouver, the Okanagan, north Vancouver Island, the Pacific Northwest and the Fraser delta. And this budget takes a visionary step forward in post-secondary education. Instead of freezing tuition fees for a sixth year, we're cutting tuition fees by 5 percent.
We understand that this initiative must not come at the expense of quality. The tuition cut won't take a single dollar out of the system, because I'm raising post-secondary funding by 8 percent -- an increase of $143 million. It will mean more than 5,000 new student spaces in our universities and colleges. It will continue to support an expanded package of financial aid that allows B.C. students to graduate with some of the lowest debt loads in the country.
The demand for skilled workers in Canada is growing. In the next ten years 60 percent of the jobs will be in skills, trades and technology. There are already vacancies in our province, and I believe -- this government believes -- that those B.C. positions should be filled by skilled B.C. workers.
With this budget, B.C. will embark on a plan to double the number of apprenticeships and skilled trades training spaces over the next four years to 50,000 spaces. That's our assurance that when the skill shortage hits -- and we know it will -- B.C. will be ready not just to ride it out but to thrive and prosper. The Premier set our sights high with his call to make B.C. a home of opportunity for everyone. But I know that with the talent and energy and determination of our young people, along with the support of a government that believes in them, it's a challenge that we will meet.
It's been said that the quality of a society is judged by how it treats those citizens who need help most. That's both a social and an economic imperative -- social because fairness is one of our defining values as Canadians and as British Columbians, and economic because when we fail to use the talents and imagination of every member of our society, we sell ourselves short, and we all lose out. Anyone who isn't prepared to address the needs of the least advantaged and the least fortunate simply isn't prepared to govern. Government must not walk away from its social responsibilities.
That is why we introduced the B.C. family bonus a few years ago, an innovative program to help low-income working families and reduce child poverty. That program has now become the model for all of Canada. It's why, in the last budget, I announced the groundbreaking new approach to providing parents with safe, affordable before- and after-school child care. We are now in the second year of the Premier's four-year program to increase the number of child care spaces in our province to 85,000 -- double what it was in 1992.
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In this budget, I've set aside an additional $45 million for Child Care B.C. The expansion means their program will find spaces for nearly 33,000 children in before- and after-school care and save their parents up to $1,100 per child each year. We are also offering a modest improvement in the combined B.C. family bonus and national child benefit. It will increase by $72, to $1,332 per child per year.
We've put a special focus on children living in poverty. The budget sets aside an additional $3.5 million for our in-school meal program for children in need -- a first step in meeting the Premier's commitment to double that program in four years. We're increasing funding by $27 million -- one half of which has been provided by the federal government -- for early childhood intervention initiatives, so we can address minor problems in children's lives before they become major ones. Roughly half that amount will help aboriginal children, both on and off reserve, to get a good start in life.
The budget also includes an additional funding of $60 million to assist British Columbians living with disabilities. This means more people with disabilities will receive benefits.
Hon. Speaker, I believe that one of the great things about this province is our commitment to a society where we can all
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make a contribution, where we all have opportunities to succeed and prosper. This budget moves us closer than ever to achieving that goal.
Our highest priority in this budget is health care. Our public health care system has long been one of the best things about being Canadian. I know that from difficult personal experience. I was 22 years old. I was a student in the United States, newly married, trying to get a start in life. One night I doubled over in pain and ended up in hospital. It was acute appendicitis, and I had emergency surgery. There were complications. I spent three weeks in hospital. But I was young, and I recovered fairly quickly from the surgery.
What I did not recover from, for a long time, was the hospital bill. It nearly bankrupted Hazel and me, just as we were starting out. I nearly had to abandon my education. It's all too easy to find Americans who tell you similar stories. Today, as we speak, more than 40 million of them lack any sort of health insurance. But it doesn't happen in Canada -- not anymore, not since medicare.
That's why it's crucial to make the choices that improve our publicly funded health care and don't put on us on the slide -- intended or otherwise -- towards the American private health care model. Our publicly funded health care system is the most important service we have. But I know there are places where we have to do better. Years of federal cuts on top of rising costs for new treatments and prescription drugs have taken a serious toll, and health care is under stress, not just in B.C. but right across Canada. Even though we've increased health care spending every year since we were elected by a total of $3.8 billion, we haven't been able to keep up with growing needs.
Nothing is more important to this government than improving health care. No priority is higher in this budget. This budget devotes 52 percent of new program spending to meeting the needs of patients, to funding doctors and nurses, hospitals and services in our public health care system. This year our government will increase funding to health care in B.C. by $959 million. I want British Columbians to know that more than two-thirds of this increase is dedicated to regional programs in their communities.
That's $681 million for services that include everything from new continuing-care beds in Port Hardy and Keremeos to home support services in the North Okanagan, funding and operating a new MRI machine in Prince George and a CT scanner in the Comox Valley, more cardiac care in Kelowna, more renal dialysis in Victoria and more cancer treatment on Vancouver Island. Good, reliable public health care is part of being a British Columbian, and that must hold true no matter where you live in this province.
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This budget funds the largest capital investment in health care in the history of British Columbia -- more than $1.6 billion over the next four years. That will mean new and expanded hospitals, a new cancer agency in the Fraser Valley and more facilities in communities right across B.C. These are the choices this government has made, and that's why broad-based dramatic tax cuts are the wrong direction for British Columbia.
The past year has seen real progress on health care. In the spring the Premier went to work with the other provinces to convince Ottawa to restore some of the funding that had been cut, and that effort has produced positive results. In September we put that money directly into hospitals and medical equipment, and in December we launched the health action plan to train and hire more nurses, buy critical equipment and provide more community and long-term care. All told, last fall we invested $130 million from the federal government for equipment and added $370 million from provincial surpluses this year. Now, with the resources this budget makes available, we can make continued progress towards the level of quality and service that British Columbians deserve.
Let me be clear. I firmly believe that if we do not do this, if we fail to invest the funds that health care needs, then we will open up the back door to U.S.-style private care. As long as we sit on this side of the House, that must never happen in British Columbia.
Our first priority must be to solve the nursing shortage. Every province in Canada is facing it, but that's no excuse. We have to act, and act now. The health action plan includes a strategy to attract more British Columbians to the nursing profession, to educate and retain more of the nurses who are already on the job and to bring in more nurses from elsewhere. This budget will provide the necessary funding to meet those commitments and to pay nurses what they're worth.
In Budget 2000, we funded 400 new post-secondary spaces for training nurses. We delivered on that commitment, and now we're going further. Next year we'll create a further 400 spaces for nurses, and in addition, funding of $12 million will increase the number of nurses working in B.C. and help us educate and retain existing nurses. That's a direct boost to front-line care in communities right across B.C.
Families in those communities also deserve to have doctors ready and willing to help them if the need arises. It doesn't matter if you live in Cranbrook or Kitimat or Kelowna. I know, as you do, that doctors, especially in the north where I live, are looking for more compensation. This budget funds the health action plan commitment to B.C. doctors, and that includes doctors in B.C.'s rural and remote communities.
Not only does this plan offer incentives to attract and keep doctors in those communities, it creates new residencies for physicians and other health care professionals. Our goal is more doctors with more skills helping more B.C. families.
But nurses and doctors aren't the only care providers that we need to consider. Our health system relies on dedicated, caring people at all levels, and I challenge the members opposite to recognize that those contributions do include everyone from orderlies to specialists and, yes, to housekeeping staff and toilet cleaners.
We designed the B.C. health action plan to address bottlenecks within the system, bottlenecks that can delay care. This budget provides $2.8 million for additional intensive care and critical care beds and $8.9 million for transitional or flex beds in acute care. It makes a further investment of $70 million to continue our program of renewing and purchasing vital twenty-first century diagnostic and treatment equipment.
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There's more to the health action plan than increasing resources. It's also about making every health care dollar go further and do more. That means preventing illness and injury wherever possible. To that end, the budget provides $2.2 million for increased vaccination and immunization, and it funds our innovative new "B.C. HealthGuide" program,
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including the NurseLine and on-line services. This gives people the information they need to make informed decisions about their own health.
It also means enhancing home support and nursing for the elderly, the chronically ill and the disabled. This budget provides a 10 percent increase in home support and nursing. That's $39 million more to help British Columbians live independently in their own communities surrounded by the people who love them. It increases funding for enhanced palliative home care by $2.9 million, to help those whose illnesses cannot be cured live in comfort and dignity.
We are investing, as well, in health knowledge with the creation of the Dr. Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Our investment of $110 million from the 2000-01 surplus will enhance the cutting-edge medical research being conducted here in B.C. and will help B.C. attract more of the brightest research minds in the world.
Let me make something else clear. Access to health services in B.C. means access to a complete range of services, and that includes access to therapeutic abortion services for women who choose to use them. It also includes new developments in reproductive health, such as the morning-after pill. We must never go back to the days when politicians used public policy to impose their private views on the women of this province. Those services must be safeguarded, they must be expanded, and they will be funded in this budget and in every future budget this government has the privilege to bring before the House.
Hon. Speaker, I want to address another issue where there is a growing need for services. This budget includes funding for B.C.'s mental health plan. It increases it to $31.5 million. That's more than triple last year's investment and will mean real and immediate improvements in the level of mental health care in communities throughout B.C.
Hon. Speaker, this budget puts more nurses, more doctors, more beds, more equipment and more services in B.C.'s hospitals and communities. It respects the differing needs of our regions. It reaffirms that in B.C. we're strengthening public health care, not sliding toward an American-style two-tier system. The Premier has put it best: "As long as we have anything to say about it, B.C. will never have a health system that checks your credit rating before it checks your pulse."
The province we live in today is a strong one. It's moving forward; it's growing steadily. I believe government has a responsibility to meet the needs of a growing and innovative economy and to support continuing prosperity and opportunity for every British Columbian, no matter who you are or where in B.C. you call your home. That means better education and training. It means ensuring a skilled creative workforce. The commitments in this budget to education and training, along with the investments we've already made, will provide world-class skills and education opportunities for British Columbians, and they will build on our impressive strengths and emerging technologies. It means a fair and equitable B.C. We must ensure that all British Columbians have an opportunity to participate in and benefit from our economy.
This budget's commitments to expanded and improved child care, to support for families through the B.C. family bonus and to assistance for people living with disabilities mark our determination that no one should be left behind. It means supporting public health care. Our publicly funded and publicly run system is a competitive advantage to every business located in Canada. This budget invests nearly $1 billion in additional funding to ensure that communities right across our province can offer high-quality health services to the workers who live there.
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It means protecting our competitive energy prices -- electricity prices. B.C. has enjoyed, for the past seven years, stable prices for our electricity, prices that are the third-lowest in North America, prices that offer an important competitive edge for our businesses. Our government is committed to maintaining that advantage, so that businesses in B.C. never face the kind of crisis currently affecting companies in Alberta and California. Only by maintaining a strong public utility and rejecting both privatization and deregulation can we ensure that B.C. continues to have the power to grow.
We must also commit ourselves to sustainability. Finding the balance between protecting our environmental heritage and addressing the needs of the working forest is critical, both to ensuring the health of our forests and to reassuring our markets. Our forest industry faces tough competition, no question about it. The Forest Practices Code is an environmental warranty that we offer to our customers. Gut it and you gut our forest industry as well. Keep it strong, and we hold onto those markets, we build customer confidence, and we ensure that our forests are producing timber and creating jobs forever.
There are other economic benefits to protecting the environment. It gives us new opportunities in the emerging field of environmental technologies. Our world-class parks and wilderness areas have become prime destinations, and they attract not only visitors but high-tech workers and employers who come to stay and put down roots. Good environmental policy is good economic policy, and this budget is firmly grounded in the value of sustainability.
We must have economic certainty around our land base, and that means settling the historic question of the claims of B.C.'s first nations. This is fundamentally a matter of justice, but it is also vital to the future of our regional and resource economies. An independent accounting firm has calculated that unsettled land claims create enough uncertainty to cost up to $1 billion in lost investments and jobs. That billion-dollar shadow cast by the risk of confrontation and division darkens the future of communities of every part of B.C.
Fair and balanced land claims can lift that shadow. They can offer the kind of certainty that encourages investment for the future. They can bring opportunities for growth and self-reliance to aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities alike. And they mean that tax dollars that British Columbians have contributed to our federal government can, at long last, come back to our province to be invested in our regions and communities.
Finally, we come to our quality of life, which has long been a source of pride to British Columbians, and it's also a source of real economic strength. We have healthy, safe and vibrant communities, and there are places where talented workers want to live and raise children. They're in places where employers want to invest and locate.
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And we build those communities. We build them with hospitals and schools, with safe drinking water, and this bud-
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get funds legislation to ensure a safe, healthy supply of drinking water throughout B.C. We build those communities with physical infrastructure. In the new economy, we also build them with digital infrastructure, and this budget includes a $1.4 million initiative to include public access to the Internet in rural B.C. We build those communities with environmental infrastructure, like the $10 million this budget invests to upgrade trails, roads and campsites in B.C.'s parks.
Mr. Speaker, this budget -- like the government -- takes a comprehensive view of a modern, dynamic economy. We choose to see the big picture in all its dimensions instead of the narrow view that sees dramatic tax cuts as the one and only priority. That narrow view would see the chaos of deregulation and privatization. It would see quality education restricted to those who can afford to buy it. It would see our markets vanish as we gut the environmental guarantees our customers seek. It would see regional economies adrift in turmoil and division as land claims go unresolved. Our government has made a different choice, a better choice, a choice for today's families.
This budget presents a vision of a province British Columbians have told me they want to live in. It's a province where the air and water are clean, where our forests are healthy. It's a province of mountains and valleys so beautiful they take your breath away even after you've seen them a thousand times. It's a province of diversity, a growing place of opportunity, of hope. It's a province of compassion that cares for the least fortunate and protects the vulnerable, a province of the future -- modern, forward-looking, confident. This is our British Columbia.
Hon. Speaker, members of the House, we've balanced the books -- last year, this year and next year. We've kept personal income taxes among the lowest in Canada. We've put new resources into health care as our top priority. We're making B.C. the education province and cutting tuition. We're making social justice for all an important part of the social fabric of the province -- a province of diversity and opportunity for all. I'm proud to table the 2001-02 budget -- a budget for today's families.
G. Farrell-Collins: Before I start, I want to warn the party president for the NDP that I'll be briefer than my predecessor. So if you doze off, well, don't be very long. [Laughter.]
Mr. Speaker, every year I prepare a speech in response to the government's budget, which is normally presented at this time. This year was no different. I was preparing a speech that I had hoped to deliver today. Unfortunately, I have some unfortunate news that I am about to present to this House, which precludes me from giving that speech. Information and documentation have come into my hands that must be laid before this House and before the eyes of the public. But before I do so, let me put my comments in context.
Within weeks British Columbians will go to the polls in an election. They will give their verdict on this government's record over the last nine and a half years, and a key factor in their decision will be an evaluation of the government's fiscal record. They will want to know what the government's priorities are and what their choices are, and to do this, they need to know that the numbers contained in the budget are real and truthful. They need to know that the government is telling them the truth.
Nothing could be more important. Nothing is more fundamental to our privilege and duty to vote than the government's duty to tell the truth about the budget. Nowhere in Canada is this more important than here in British Columbia, where our history on this issue has been less than glorious.
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In the spring of 1996 the NDP government, on the eve of calling an election, introduced a budget that they said was balanced but wasn't. The government misled the people with "inappropriate estimates of revenue." The Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations introduced her budget when she knew there was way too much revenue optimism in it. She was assured by the Premier that they could always make up a shortfall somewhere else.
Here's what happened in the words of the auditor general, as contained in his
report into the inquiry that followed: "A projected operating surplus of
$16 million for 1995-96 was overstated by up to $272 million in each tabling of
the estimates." He also said: "I concluded that the estimates of
revenue for the 1996-97 fiscal year carried with them a disproportionate risk
On page 180, the auditor general said: "Clearly tabling the 1996-97 estimates before an election would only have made sense if those estimates were likely to confirm the administration's success in managing provincial finances during 1995-96 and its intention to continue managing public resources prudently in 1996-97. In other words, for the NDP government, Budget '96 was an important political document."
In his press conference where he released this report, he said: "Did budget 1996 include complete and reliable information? My answer is no."
Interjections.
G. Farrell-Collins: And if members opposite want to wait about one
minute, they'll find out the relevance of all this to today. "In the April
tabling, the result was overstated
Mr. Speaker, the comments of the media were much stronger at the time. Headlines read: "Fun with Figures," "Abracadabra: How the NDP Got the Budget Figures It Wanted" and "NDP's Credibility Under Fire."
The voters were even less forgiving. Their comments were scathing and justifiably so. But I think my former colleague Fred Gingell, who was the Finance critic at the time, said it best. When confronted by pledges of innocence from the NDP, Fred in his straightforward way said: "It's a load of nonsense, absolute nonsense."
The NDP fought the claim of a fudge-it budget with everything they had, from threats to court cases. They fought the auditor general, and they swamped him with lawyers. They fought the public and the voters and the recall campaigns. One of those was in Prince George.
After the auditor general's report closed the file and passed judgment, the new Premier said they would be different. He was going to make sure it didn't happen again. In last year's throne speech the government said:
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The Minister of Finance said last year, in discussing that legislation: "The Budget Transparency and Accountability Act will place British Columbia at the forefront of open government. The people of British Columbia expect and deserve nothing less.""My government recognizes the fundamental importance of transparency in budgeting. It is critical that British Columbians have the highest confidence in the budget numbers. Citizens may argue about the choices made in the budget, but they must have confidence that these choices and the facts and assumptions behind them are fully and fairly presented.
"My government has accepted a broad range of advice on the budget-making process. The auditor general, the Enns panel, the official opposition and individual British Columbians have all been heard and heeded. In this session, my government will introduce a new law: the budget transparency and accountability act. The aim of this act is to give British Columbians the facts, all the facts and nothing but the facts."
The now Attorney General said the following: "I am hoping that people will see that this legislation will amount to our guarantee to British Columbians that we're trying very hard, in view of past mistakes, to correct those mistakes, to make sure they're not repeated again. Because it will become a law of this province, it will ensure that no future government will make those mistakes."
The Premier, in response to that piece of legislation, said the following:
"This bill is about strengthening our commitment to keeping our
government's finances open, honest and transparent
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Well, Mr. Speaker, I have come into possession of documents and information that show a very different intent in this year's budget. I have ten documents from B.C. Hydro. They're financial documents that were sent to the Minister of Finance in preparation for this year's budget. In the first set of financial documents, the net income before profit-sharing and transfer to the rate stabilization account shows a deficit of $100 million. On March 2 of this year there was an e-mail sent from Hydro to the government which says: "As discussed, attached are the revised numbers."
There is another set of financial documents for B.C. Hydro for this year. In
that one, the same figure, instead of being a $100 million deficit, is a $100
million surplus. But, Mr. Speaker, that wasn't good enough. That still wasn't
enough optimism for the NDP, because the government didn't like those numbers.
The Minister of Finance summoned the chair of B.C. Hydro to his office, and that
meeting took place at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 5. I am told that he directed the
chairman to find more optimism. On March 9, four days later
That was 9:30 a.m. At 11:20 a.m., less than two hours later, another e-mail
was sent to the Minister of Finance. In it, it says: "
It goes on to say, and this is the key point, Mr. Speaker: "Please note
that the fiscal 2002 forecast submitted by B.C. Hydro to the government on March
2
So in exactly the same fashion that the 1996 budget contained $156 million of revenue optimism, this budget contains $400 million of revenue optimism. I think it's time that the people of British Columbia were told the truth.
Hon. J. MacPhail: How about telling us what you'd do.
G. Farrell-Collins: We'd tell the truth, minister.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
G. Farrell-Collins: Mr. Speaker, remember the words of the throne
speech: "The aim of this act is to give British Columbians the facts, all
the facts and nothing but the facts." Remember the words of the Minister of
Finance: "The Budget Transparency and Accountability Act will place B.C. at
the forefront of open government. The people of British Columbia expect and
deserve nothing less." Remember the words of the Premier: "This bill
is about strengthening our commitment to keeping our government's finances open,
honest and transparent
What are the people of this province to believe? Do they believe the estimates of B.C. Hydro when they state them over and over again? Or are they to accept and believe the revised and optimistic revenue estimates of the Minister of Finance?
In 1996 civil servants protested when the NDP did just this same thing. The NDP drove those civil servants out of office. When civil servants see the NDP trying again to mislead the people, they're faced with an amazing, difficult choice. Do they do as they are ordered? Do those civil servants do as they are ordered, despite what their conscience tells them? Or do they tell the truth to the people to whom they really owe their loyalty, the people of British Columbia?
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I take great pride in the fact that there are still civil servants in British Columbia who put the people ahead of the New Democratic Party. I want to say here today that if the NDP goes on a witch-hunt to punish those who tell the truth, we will protect them. If the NDP fires them, a new government will rehire them. They have nothing to fear from the truth; they have nothing to fear from the NDP. The NDP's time is up.
I also want to speak briefly to the people of British Columbia directly. This budget is a fraud. This NDP government is a disgrace and a disappointment. It is a real tragedy that this NDP government would once again present a false budget to the voters on the eve of an election.
But I want to tell you here today that not all governments behave this badly. The NDP in Saskatchewan have told the truth to their voters every single time. The Tories in Alberta, as
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much as the NDP hate them, tell their voters the truth every single time. And a B.C. Liberal government may make mistakes, but we will always tell the people of this province the truth.
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
G. Farrell-Collins: But as for this NDP government, I say shame on you. How could you do this to the people of British Columbia yet again? Why would any voter -- any woman, any man, any child in the province, whether they need health care or education or any services of government -- believe a word any of the people on that side of the House have to say?
Let me ask the members of the NDP this: did Tommy Douglas ever, ever table a fake budget? Did Allan Blakeney ever lie to the people of his province? Did Roy Romanow or Howard Pawley ever introduce fake budgets to their people? Did any NDP government anywhere in Canada ever stoop this low?
Mr. Speaker, if the members of the NDP think that the fury and the anger
Interjections.
The Speaker: Order, members.
G. Farrell-Collins: It's amazing how sensitive they are this close to an election.
Mr. Speaker, if the NDP didn't like or appreciate the fury that descended upon them the last time they misled the people of British Columbia, that's nothing compared to what they're about to see in this election.
Not only does this NDP government not have the right to govern; it doesn't even have the right to bear the name New Democrat. The people of British Columbia are ready to deliver their verdict. They're ready to pass judgment on ten years of deceit, deception and decline.
Mr. Speaker, you have lost the right to lead the people of this province. The people of this province deserve better than you. There is only one thing left to do, and that is for the Premier to go to the people. Let the people speak; let the people vote. Let's have an election.
I move adjournment of the debate.
Motion approved.
Introduction of Bills
INCOME TAX AMENDMENT ACT, 2001
Hon. P. Ramsey presented a message from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Income Tax Amendment Act, 2001.
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Hon. P. Ramsey: Hon. Speaker, the Income Tax Amendment Act, 2001, implements two initiatives which were announced in the past year. As announced last August, effective January 1, 2001, the small business corporate income tax rate in B.C. falls to 4.5 percent, the lowest rate in Canada. It's the fourth cut in two years, lowering the small business rate by 50 percent since July '99.
This bill also implements the B.C. energy rebate, an income-tested rebate of $50 per single person or $100 per family. The rebate was announced on February 7, 2001, as part of a package of measures to assist British Columbia families with high energy costs.
I move first reading of Bill 3.
Motion approved.
Bill 3 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.
BUDGET MEASURES
IMPLEMENTATION ACT, 2001
Hon. P. Ramsey presented a message from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2001.
Hon. P. Ramsey: The Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2001, provides legislative authority for many of the changes described in the budget speech and reports. It amends nine provincial statutes for taxation purposes. They're designed to improve and streamline administration and clarify the application of taxes in certain areas.
The Income Tax Act is amended to maintain legislative and administrative consistency with the federal Income Tax Act to permit sharing, in limited circumstances, among British Columbia government ministries that administer provincial tax credit programs; clarify under what circumstances the government may release taxpayer information; improve the operation of B.C.'s film tax credit; and allow early payment of income tax refunds for certain corporate tax credits. Other taxation statutes are amended to clarify the application of the tax, allow new service delivery models and streamline administration.
The bill also amends two statutes for non-tax initiatives. The Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act is amended to add up to $2 million to the First Citizens Fund special account. A technical amendment to the Financial Administration Act clarifies language with respect to the amortization of prepaid capital advances.
I now move first reading of Bill 4.
Motion approved.
Bill 4 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 rise to reserve the right to raise a matter of personal privilege in regard to the comments of the opposition critic.
The Speaker: Thank you. I'll take note of that.
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Reports from Committees
D. Lovick: Pursuant to the committee's terms of reference, I have the honour to present the report of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services for the fourth session of the thirty-sixth parliament on the matter of the prebudget consultation in British Columbia. I have the report here. Shall I give the motion now, Mr. Speaker?
The Speaker: Please.
D. Lovick: The motion is simply that the report be taken as read and received.
Motion approved.
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Tabling Documents
Hon. I. Waddell: I'd like to table two reports, hon. Speaker. I have the pleasure of tabling the annual report of the environmental assessment office for the period April 1, 1999, to March 31, 2000. I also have the pleasure of tabling the annual report of the Muskwa-Kechika Advisory Board for the period April 1, 1999, to March 31, 2000.
Hon. G. Janssen: I move that this House at its rising stand adjourned until 2 p.m. on Monday next. I move that the House do now adjourn.
The Speaker: We'll do the first question.
Motion approved.
Hon. G. Janssen: I move the House do now adjourn.
Motion approved.
The House adjourned at 3:46 p.m.
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