Hansard -- Volume 2, Number 6 -- Tuesday, July 31, 2001

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY



CONTENTS

	Routine Proceedings
		Time

Introductions by Members		1000

An Act to Restore Transportation Services in Greater Vancouver (Bill M201). J. MacPhail
	Introduction and first reading

Budget Debate
	R. Sultan
	Hon. G. Halsey-Brandt
	R. Stewart

Supply Act (No. 2), 2001 (Bill 6). Hon. G. Collins
	Introduction and first reading	1050

Standing Order 81 Motion
	Motion regarding passage of interim supply bill through all stages in one day
	Hon. G. Collins
	Speaker's ruling

Supply Act (No. 2), 2001 (Bill 6). Hon. G. Collins
	Second reading	1055
	Hon. G. Collins
	J. MacPhail
	Committee stage	1100
	J. MacPhail
	Third reading	1105

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, it is indeed a pleasure for me this morning to introduce my son Craig, his wife Wendy and my grandchildren Carl and Taylor, who are in the members' gallery. Would you please make them welcome.

J. MacPhail presented a bill intituled An Act to Restore Transportation Services in Greater Vancouver.

J. MacPhail: Mr. Speaker, this is a serious matter that we tried to move along last week in terms of getting bus service restored in greater Vancouver. The situation is urgent. It's hurting business and people who need to get to work. It's hurting people who need child care. It's hurting the environment.

We are more than willing to have this bill converted immediately to a government bill and to have all three stages examined, read and passed today. If, in so doing, the government accepts this bill, the buses can be on the road, running and restoring our economy later this week, Mr. Speaker.

I move that the bill be placed on the orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Bill M201 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.

R. Sultan: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have been given this opportunity to respond to yesterday's economic and financial statement by the Finance minister. Let me begin by saying that the minister's grasp of economics is outstanding. Furthermore, the picture he presented is both competent and candid. The projections are reasonable, and it's all a refreshing change from the recent past.

I don't make these comments lightly. I say this drawing upon the many years I spent as a professor in economics at Harvard, the many years I was chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, the many years I have spent making my living as an adviser to governments, banks and businesses around the world and the many years I have spent as an officer and director of various financial institutions.

There are naysayers, of course. One of our eminent journalists, probably recalling the days when fiscal strategies were developed on the back of a napkin in a Washington restaurant, recently exhumed the phrase "voodoo economics." Curiously, those so-called voodoo economics presaged the longest uninterrupted economic expansion in a century.

Furthermore, I must ask: is it really suggested that British Columbians are already nostalgic for a return to the days of NDP tax, spend and bungle? I doubt it. As is obvious to anybody who looks around, British Columbia has no realistic alternative but to bring its taxes into line with those of such jurisdictions as Alberta and Washington State. Most of us now understand that the previous government's central planning, class warfare and casual granting of favours to its friends were creating an economic desert.

The voters grasped a reality that the NDP never did: you must create wealth before you spend it. If you chase away businesses that create jobs, there will be no jobs. As for the fiscal balance, this will come through economic renewal and economic expansion. The Finance minister has, in fact, launched us into a new era of hope and prosperity.

Mr. Speaker, this British Columbia is at a turning point. The decade just ended taught us that even the richest province in Canada can be driven to near have-not status in just a few years. It taught us that when you have the worst-performing economy in the country, you can't afford the richest public services in the country. It taught us that sweetheart deals for the few do absolutely nothing for the many. That's what the NDP's lost years taught us.

Now we enter a rebuilding and restoration decade. The minister's statement lays a groundwork of reality upon which to build. The MLAs I am fortunate to count as my colleagues have been elected by the largest majority in the history of western Canada, and the voters have endorsed the most clearly articulated election platform in the history of this province. Our implementation of that platform will restore life to our economy, and we shall carry out the promise.

Mr. Speaker, this is my very first public office. When I sought the nomination in West Vancouver–Capilano, people asked me: "Why are you doing this? Why on earth would you want to become a politician?" It's important that I explain my motivation. Two years ago my wife of 43 years collapsed while we were working on our boat. Her ambulance was turned away from our North Shore hospital, the Lions Gate — no

I was staggered by the loss. Our four children had left Canada for the United States, a common story these days. I thought of joining them myself. The NDP encouraged many to leave, and many did. Then I came across some of my wife's papers. I didn't realize that her forebears had come here in 1881, four years before the pounding of the spike — the last spike at Craigellachie near Revelstoke, the railway spike that linked British Columbia with the rest of Canada.

My forebears came here a few years later, but even then the population of Vancouver was only 30,000. We helped build this province. This is my home. As I sat alone with my dog in our living room in West Vancouver, watching Glen's fast ferries creep by at the blazing speed of about 3.5 knots, I felt I had two choices: either leave this place or try to help fix it. I decided the NDP wasn't going to run me out of B.C.; I was going to help run them out of Victoria.

Here are the values I bring to my new job. I believe in hard work. I've worked for a wage since I was about 12 years old. In our family of ten growing up in Mount Pleasant in the riding now represented by one of the other members, that's what everybody was expected to do. I believe in individual responsibility. As they used to say on my uncle's farm in Milner, out in the Fraser Valley, it takes more people pulling the wagon than riding on it.

I believe in education. When I was in grade 10 at King Edward High School, I pinned a slogan above my desk that said: "I will study and work hard, and some day my opportunity will come." And so it did. I promised the voters of West Vancouver–Capilano to work diligently on private sector solutions to our economic problems. Working within the matrix of B.C. Liberal economic policies, the platform and the ministries of our government, I will focus on three personal goals.

First, the P3 project. As I'm sure you all know, P3 stands for public-private partnership. This is the obvious solution to the problem of our empty government purse and the huge backlog of demand for new infrastructure — bridges, tunnels, highways, conference centres, mass transit, you name it — a backlog that is threatening our economic recovery. The obvious choice is to leverage our limited public capital with private capital. If you wish to measure our accomplishment, determine how many PPP-financed projects get underway within the term of this new government.

Second, the new economy project. The government Caucus Committee on Economy, which I chair, has a special role to play in fostering the new economy. Here, higher education, venture capital, science and technology, competitive tax and labour laws, minimal red tape, a facilitating government, aggressive promotion and our unmatched British Columbia lifestyle can all interact to wean us from vulnerability to the resource cycle.

The promise here is stable, high-paying jobs, growing tax revenues, balanced budgets and government capacity to fund the health care and education that all of us demand. Measure accomplishment, if you will, by the growth in the share of our total economy represented by the new economy.

Third, the investor-friendly project. As a third personal project, we must reverse the drain of corporations out of B.C. and convince corporations to come into B.C. The so-called continuing-out — a registrar phrase that means they're leaving — of B.C. corporations has shown an alarming trend in the past three years, in the range of 300, 400, 500 — quite a trend line. Keep that up, and we can convert Vancouver's busiest intersection of Burrard and Georgia Street into a farmers' market.

Encouraging businesses to locate in B.C. is the obvious pathway to jobs, opportunity and prosperity for citizens and governments alike, to re-create the economic buzz which means British Columbia's back in business.

To help accomplish this, we need to blend a responsive corporations branch, an updated Company Act, a legislative committee working closely with our corporate bar to ensure annual updating revisions to commercial law, and a competent commercial court. These measures, in combination with an appropriate tax and regulatory environment, have the potential to create in British Columbia the friendliest incorporation jurisdiction west of Delaware — Delaware being the hallmark of investor-friendly in North America.

Measure accomplishment, if you will, by the number of head offices returning or chartering here in British Columbia. When that happens, we shall be better able to fund the things that matter most to us: health care and education.

These are three personal goals, but they are consistent with the philosophy of this B.C. Liberal government. Using whatever talents and powers of persuasion are available to me, I intend to promote the sponsorship of such initiatives among our ministers, ministries, agencies and officials and all the others on our B.C. Liberal government team. Whether or not I succeed remains to be seen, but I shall try.

I have a fourth very personal goal which is specific to the North Shore. While my constituents in North and West Vancouver face massive problems of transportation bottleneck, bullheaded Crown corporations, weak job opportunities for our youth, desperate times for commercial enterprise and deep concern for our beleaguered environment, three other priorities override even these. They are health care, health care and health care.

Under the NDP we witnessed a huge increase in health care spending. Unfortunately, precious little of that money went into medical infrastructure or into compensating the most skilled of our professionals. The other party measured their accomplishments by what they spent, not by what they achieved. They get top marks for spending. As for achievement, the train wreck of the health care system they left behind is there for all of us to see.

For example, it is totally unacceptable that — more frequently than once a week, I am told — North Shore residents with strokes and cranial bleeding cannot receive emergency care within the critical three-hour window for treatment. It is totally unacceptable that our hospital is vulnerable to a modest earthquake. It is totally unacceptable that someone's aging parent must receive bedpan service while lying in a busy hospital corridor — that's the best alternative. It is totally unacceptable that stretchers substitute for beds for days on end, as if we were in the middle of some Vietnam War zone. And it's totally unacceptable that when our teenagers — and this is a growing problem — are recruited into the world of hard drugs, they have nowhere to go for treatment. This is the state of the North Shore medical system we inherited after a decade of what the NDP like to call their social agenda. Heaven help us!

I intend to tackle our North Shore medical system problems by using my best abilities to get the economy rolling again. Poor nations cannot afford modern medical services. That's the blunt reality. It takes money. As the Minister of Finance points out, however, the cupboard is bare. The health system clamours for even more money, but it's impossible to sustain spending growth at three times the rate at which the economy is growing.

I will also tackle the problem by reminding the ministries from time to time of their obligations, even though that is hardly necessary. They already know there is much work to do, and it will take time to do it. Until the rubble of our economy has been cleared away, resources are and will be curtailed.

British Columbians made a choice in this election based on what is needed in these times, and what is needed in these times is to get the economy and our businesses back on their feet. The good news is that if we manage our affairs with less dogma and more common sense, if we cut taxes and red tape, if we restore the balance between labour and management, then investment will surge; our children can pursue careers here if they choose; trained workers will want to live here, not leave here; and our head offices will eventually return from Calgary. The formula to accomplish this isn't rocket science. It's called rewarding success, not penalizing it.

My career has taken me many places. I have lived and worked in New York and in Quebec, in Massachusetts and in Alberta. I have had business leadership responsibilities in Europe and Asia. I have carried out corporate assignments in South America and South Africa. I know what it takes to start a small business; to meet a small business payroll with a mortgage on your house; to beg for a bank loan; to scramble up the ladder in a giant corporation; to experience business success, financial bust and corporate tragedy. When it comes to experience around the world, I guess I've had my share.

In all of this, nowhere has the potential for greatness been more evident than right here at home. We can fuel the economic engine by unleashing the talent, energy and ingenuity bottled up inside the people who live and the people who will invest here. I am totally convinced that our B.C. Liberal program of economic renewal will succeed.

In closing, let me illustrate our economic potential by describing my riding on Vancouver's north shore. As I'm sure all my fellow MLAs will agree, North Vancouver and West Vancouver are the most splendid places to live in all of British Columbia.

From the mountain trails of Grouse Mountain to the beaches of Ambleside, from the salmon fisheries of the Capilano River to the ski slopes of Hollyburn Ridge and Cypress Bowl, from the coffee shops of Edgemont Village to the longhouses of the Squamish first nation, the constituency of West Vancouver–Capilano is truly blessed. Our community life is vibrant. An astounding 20 percent of North Vancouver households participate in soccer programs for our youth. Imagine that: in one household in five the kids are playing soccer on an organized basis

In West Vancouver we operate one of the largest and most diverse seniors activities in Canada — strictly on a volunteer basis, thank you. My constituents are active physically, mentally and in every other way. Education, competency and the drive to succeed are all important values in this community.

Split into three separate municipalities, my constituents take their grassroots democracy very, very seriously. Whether they are Chinese or Iranian in origin, whether they are new Canadians or old, whether they are boomers, seniors or Generation Xers, they are wary of big government, they believe in free enterprise and they generously support programs for the less advantaged. This is the North Shore I am honoured to represent, ideally positioned to compete in the knowledge marketplace of the future.

Mr. Speaker, at a very tender age, I've set out on a new quest. I intend to make the next four years the most productive of my life. My constituents and my colleagues, my friends and my relatives, my beloved Shirley and my wonderful home in British Columbia deserve nothing less.

Hon. G. Halsey-Brandt: It is a great privilege for me to stand before the House today and have the opportunity to respond to the economic and fiscal update that was presented by the Minister of Finance.

Today is a beautiful day in Victoria. It is a beautiful day in my constituency of Richmond Centre, and it is indeed a great day all over this province of ours. The economic and fiscal update contains many of the incentives that are needed to unlock the economic engine and restore prosperity to our province.

In meeting with the citizens of Richmond Centre during the recent election campaign, and since that time, their concerns revolved around issues of health care, education and the economy. The riding of

Richmond Centre contains the commercial centre, or downtown heart, of the city of Richmond as well as the Vancouver International Airport.

The families that live in the constituency and the businesses that employ working people have struggled over the past ten years with the tax and regulation regime imposed by the former government. That government caused many businesses in the city to close down and families to relocate where the investment climate was better or jobs were more abundant.

As the mayor of Richmond for the past 11 years until I was elected this May, I worked hard to build an appealing and well-managed city. For the areas over which the city had responsibility, I believe we did a great job. But for those areas such as the economy and health care, which are under provincial jurisdiction, it was a different story. That was one of the main reasons that I ran in this last provincial election. I wanted to make a difference by helping to turn the economy and social services in this provinces around.

Small business owners, real estate and house construction businesses, restaurateurs, hoteliers, financial businesses and others spoke out about the tax burden and the impediments put in front of people who were trying to build our economy. This was particularly true of the many new Canadians who moved into Richmond over the past decade and established businesses. They were used to hard work, long hours and a total commitment to their businesses for the sake of their families and their employees. But in too many instances their businesses failed, they were underemployed or they left our country.

The 25 percent personal income tax cut announced in June was a great confidence builder for all the citizens of Richmond Centre. They knew not only that the B.C. Liberal Party kept its election promise but that more take-home pay in their pockets meant a better life for their families.

The tax cuts announced yesterday by this government will go even further in restoring business confidence and getting the economy rolling once again. The cut in the corporate income tax rate and the reduction in the dreaded corporate capital tax will allow our businesses to grow, to employ more British Columbians and be able to compete on a level playing field with businesses across Canada.

As I mentioned, Richmond Centre is the home of the Vancouver International Airport. It employs 26,000 people, and it's the largest taxpayer in the city. The airport has expanded dramatically since 1992, when it was turned over to the local Airport Authority to run. An Open Skies agreement with the United States, a new runway, a new international terminal, control tower and the renovated domestic and south terminal have all combined to increase the number of passengers from about nine million in 1993 to over 16 million today — a tremendous accomplishment. The reduction in the domestic jet fuel and the aviation fuel tax rates announced yesterday will both assist the airport by making it economical for more jets to use and, certainly, to fill up at YVR.

YVR, or Vancouver International Airport, is one of the major economic engines of this province. It must be competitive to build on its position as Canada's gateway to the Far East and as a gateway from the Far East to the rest of Canada and the United States. The airport is working hard to expand its cargo operations, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Transportation and the Airport Authority for the new airport connector bridge which will be completed this winter. This vital piece of infrastructure is needed to connect to Highway 91 that leads to Surrey and the Fraser Valley, and to Highway 99 to the U.S. border, and to tie these transportation arteries to the airport on Sea Island.

There's one more major step in transportation infrastructure that the people of Richmond Centre look forward to in the future, and that is the rapid transit link between the airport, Richmond Centre and downtown Vancouver.

I know that as we look towards the 2010 Winter Olympics, this problem will have to be addressed. A multiparty stakeholder group is looking into the transit link now, and their recommendations regarding a financial strategy should be reported out soon. An examination of routes and technology is the next step.

The key outcome of the personal and business tax cuts announced by the Minister of Finance is our firm belief that individuals and businesses will spend or reinvest this tax savings and thereby help to rebuild the economy of our province. It has worked in every other jurisdiction. It is only by building our economy and thereby creating more jobs and capital that additional tax revenues will accrue to the province. This is the only answer to financing the social services, education and health care that we all want for our families. Government doesn't make money; it only spends it. We must have a strong private sector economy in British Columbia so we can afford the best education and health care.

As an example of how bad things were under the last government in health care, the Richmond Hospital Foundation — the hospital's charity, which is run by volunteers — raised more money for hospital equipment last year than they got from the Ministry of Health. I'm very proud of our volunteers; they just raised about $350,000 two weeks ago at another charity event. But I was embarrassed, as a British Columbian, that our health finances have indeed sunk so low. We must rebuild our economy so we can afford the quality of medical equipment our health professionals require. The tax relief and fiscal management measures outlined yesterday will indeed help us to reach that goal.

There are two other issues that relate to our economy that are of particular interest to the people of Richmond Centre. The people of my constituency are very focused and interested in education, both in the school system and in the post-secondary institutions. A particular concern is the limited student enrolment capacity at Kwantlen University College. Kwantlen services Richmond, Delta, Surrey and Langley through

four campuses. However, there is not enough capacity to accommodate the student demand from these communities. I am confident that through the growth of our economy we will be able in the future to expand our educational institutions in order that our children can have the education that they justly deserve.

The second issue is that of leaky condos. Thousands of my citizens live in apartments that have leaked or continue to leak. This is a complex problem that involves builders, architects, developers, the building code and different levels of government. I was very pleased when the Premier announced the task force of MLAs to review the issue and report back with recommendations. There must be a solution to this problem, both for the buildings that need repair and for the residents who have suffered financially and in many cases with health problems because of this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to conclude with a few personal comments. Firstly, I would like to thank my predecessor, Doug Symons, who was the MLA for Richmond Centre before me. Doug represented the constituency for ten years before announcing his retirement last fall. I know the people in Richmond Centre and those in this Legislature who knew Doug personally join me in thanking him for his years of service. He was a Transportation critic for many years and of course had no end of concerns, particularly around the fast ferry project.

Secondly, I would like to thank my family and friends for all their support. I was brought up at home to believe that public service and giving back to the community was indeed a noble goal. Helping to shape public policy in this Legislature with like-minded individuals is surely a rare opportunity.

My family has had the good fortune of having two of my great-uncles precede me in this Legislature — sometimes at the age of this chair here. I sometimes think that they must have been sitting in it 100 years ago. Dr. W.T. Kergin represented the Skeena riding from 1906 to 1910. He lived in Port Simpson and then in Prince Rupert. His brother H.F. Kergin represented the Atlin riding from 1920 to 1933. He lived in Alice Arm. I'm very proud to say that both my great-uncles represented the Liberal Party in the B.C. Legislature.

Finally, I must appreciate the work that must be done under my portfolio, the Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations. B.C. is a province of immigrants. From the first nation peoples to the latest arrivals at Vancouver International Airport, we all chose to come to this land at one time or another. We are also a trading province. Our economy is based on exports into the international markets, be they raw materials or a part of the Canadarm 2 on the International Space Station. Working in a positive way with other provincial governments, the federal government, the United States or other countries further afield is critical to the economic, environmental and social success of our province. I look forward to those challenges.

Our party has a vision of hope and prosperity. The people of British Columbia supported us in that vision at the polls on election day. It is through such steps as the personal income tax cuts, the tax relief and sound fiscal management package announced yesterday that we will fulfil our commitment to the people of British Columbia. I look forward to working with all members of this House to make B.C. once again the number one province in Canada.

R. Stewart: As those who rose before me and as those who have yet to rise in this House, I want to sincerely congratulate you, hon. Speaker, as well as the Deputy Speaker, on your elevation to your new positions of honour in this House. Mr. Speaker, I knew you more than a decade ago as a minister in a previous government, and I knew you then to be fair and attentive and to have deep, deep commitment to this province. I know you will continue serving the people of B.C. with honour.

I also want to recognize my family: my wife Anna Rosa and our four children, who stood by me and encouraged me during the election process. And there were countless other family and friends, both in my community and across the country, who stood by me and worked hard to help me serve in this House. I truly appreciate their support, encouragement, advice and dedication.

I especially want to acknowledge, though, my predecessor, Mr. John Cashore, who retired at the end of the thirty-sixth parliament after serving the people of Coquitlam-Maillardville for 14 years in this Legislature. He worked very hard for my community and came to be known as a man of integrity, an honest man, a truly good man. After 14 years Mr. Cashore has earned his retirement, and I want to thank him on behalf of Coquitlam-Maillardville for his dedication and commitment. I hope he is able to look back with satisfaction on his time in this House. And I also trust that he will remain involved in our community, adding to the contribution he has made through his years of service in government. On behalf of the people of Coquitlam-Maillardville, then, and the rest of the province he served, I thank Mr. John Cashore.

I stand today on my birthday. [Applause.] You're too kind. My children will remind me that I share a birthday with a person of some distinction: the wizard himself, Harry Potter. They also remind me of some things I have in common with him, but I won't go into that.

I stand today to comment on yesterday's economic update from the Minister of Finance, and I'd like to do it by speaking about Fraser Mills. Fraser Mills on the Fraser River in the heart of Maillardville was established well over a hundred years ago, and over the decades it has employed tens of thousands of workers serving as the central part of life in Maillardville.

It was early in the last century, and the owners of Fraser Mills were looking for experienced mill workers. It was in Quebec that they found some of the most experienced in Canada. They went to these French Canadians and offered them a new life in a new

province — a frontier. In 1909 the first trainload of workers and their families arrived from Quebec to work in the mill, followed by a second trainload the following year. These pioneer families built their homes. They built a church, Notre Dame de Lourdes, and they build the new community of Maillardville, named after the new parish's first pastor, le curé Maillard. After this nucleus grew the largest lumber mill in the Commonwealth and one of the largest French Canadian communities in western Canada.

I grew up in the francophone community of Maillardville, and I can tell you that most of my friends and classmates had a father or an uncle or a brother who worked in the mill. Of course, today the mill is no longer the centre of community life as it was 40 or 60 years ago. But it means something to the people of my community. It symbolizes a great deal about this province.

So while today I speak about Fraser Mills, I really speak about British Columbia. It was once proud, entrepreneurial, pioneering. It was once well known around the world. It was once the very best. It thrived. It provided employment. It provided a strong future and economic prosperity. But that was the past. And British Columbia has had a bright past.

I want to speak about the present for a few moments, because things have changed. I'll speak more of Fraser Mills in a few minutes, but first let's look at this province. In debating yesterday's budget, I'd like to quote, as did some of my colleagues, from the Speech from the Throne: "No government can sustain the most expensive public services in the country with one of its weakest economies." One of the weakest economies, hon. Speaker. Let's consider what it means that B.C. has one of the weakest economies.

If you were setting up a new society and you wanted the most economically strategic location on the globe, you'd probably set yourself up on the coast of the largest country, so you'd hold all the ports that the country needed. You'd almost certainly choose to be on the Pacific Rim, with its bright future of international commerce. Of course you wouldn't have to, but you might want to choose a location of unparalleled beauty, with a climate to be envied. You'd also want a wealth of natural resources, abundant renewable energy, mineral wealth, clean water; the list goes on.

You'd work toward a skilled and educated workforce, with strong social programs so that your economy would not be held back. If you were so lucky, your population would come from countries all around the world so that you could benefit from their diversity.

Of course, we all know that that describes B.C. to a T. British Columbia has attracted entrepreneurs and pioneers for centuries, including the investors who built Fraser Mills and the workers who made it thrive. But today B.C.'s economy is suffering. The take-home pay of British Columbians has not kept pace with other provinces. Investment in this province is not what it should be.

As well, our health care system is in crisis. British Columbians have lost faith in health care, and health care workers have been beat up for a decade and are looking for solutions for the long term. Our business sector, the sector that creates the jobs in British Columbia, is also suffering. And our resource sector, including forestry, is shrinking on a daily basis.

And what about Fraser Mills? What about the future of this once-proud mill, the lifeblood of Coquitlam-Maillardville for so many years? Well, as the past government knows too well, Interfor announced in April that Fraser Mills is being closed — another victim of an ailing forest sector. Now, Fraser Mills isn't the first B.C. lumber mill to close, and I'm advised, sadly, that it won't be the last. We all know how B.C.'s forest sector has suffered in recent years from the neglect of the previous government. Maillardville will pay the price for that neglect.

Of course, Coquitlam isn't simply a lumber mill. There is much about Coquitlam of which I am proud. Coquitlam's francophone community continues to thrive. Its annual Festival du Bois is recognized throughout British Columbia and, indeed, western Canada for its contribution to the French Canadian culture.

Coquitlam's multicultural community is also alive and well. Like most of British Columbia, Coquitlam is a rich mosaic of cultures, something of which I am truly proud. This weekend I was able to spend with my family at the FACES Festival at Blue Mountain Park, an annual festival that celebrates our diversity of culture, our diversity of arts. It's truly a successful festival, and I congratulate the volunteers who put that festival on every year.

I look forward to a new era for our native peoples, including our own Kwayhquitlum Indian band. Several weeks ago I joined Chief Marvin Joe and his family and many others at their traditional lands at the mouth of the Coquitlam River, where its waters meet the Fraser. We were there to welcome a flotilla of canoes that had paddled down the river, stopping along the way at various places along the Stó:lo nation. At Kwikwetlem they stopped for the night, and we had a feast in their honour. I recall the description by elders of the many times, years ago, when the big canoes used to come down the river and they would celebrate.

There is much more in Coquitlam to be proud of. Coquitlam city council is working hard on economic development in an effort to spawn new jobs and new economic activity in the community. I worked for a number of years on economic development in the region, including as a member of Coquitlam's economic development committee, and I know the challenges that all communities in B.C. have faced in trying to improve our economic prospects when our province seemed to be heading in the opposite direction.

Coquitlam has an outstanding education system. Even though Coquitlam's school district 43 receives less money per student than any other school district in the province, our teachers and district staff have much to be proud of regarding the excellent education our children receive.

Coquitlam has outstanding sports, recreation and seniors activities. It has wonderful community groups, ranging from Rotary to environmental to church. Our citizens are volunteers; they are activists. They are passionately interested in our community, and I am honoured to serve them.

This past Saturday, for example, I spent some time with my eight-year-old son planting trees with an organization called Friends of Mundy Park. Mundy Park is a large urban forest that Coquitlam residents are very proud of. When I was a youngster I recall many hours I spent with my brothers and friends exploring this tremendous forest. Today this park is a valued asset for the people of Coquitlam. As with most of B.C.'s valued assets, it often faces a variety of conflicting demands. I believe that these issues in Mundy Park will be resolved, but not by the heavy hand of government listening to only one side and then protecting the interests of one group. No, I hope and trust that solutions will be found that take into account the concerns of all groups and then resolve each issue in a way that is best for the community.

At the provincial level this type of land use conflict, though on a much larger scale, is evident across the province. Over the past decade the process of resolving them has all too often ignored the best interests of British Columbia. Carrier Lumber and Nanoose Bay are two of the more famous examples, but there are countless others.

It's time for a style of leadership that brings all parties to the table and then develops a solution that is best for B.C. Therein lies the future of British Columbia. We must work together. We must resolve conflicts, and we must do so with an eye to what's best for B.C.

For example, the throne speech spoke of restoring some of the rights of workers that were taken away by the previous government. I look forward to the introduction of what really could be called the workers' bill of rights as this government moves to re-establish the right of workers to a secret ballot, to restore pension rights and to put in place the same rules for certification as for decertification.

Yesterday the Minister of Finance rose to deliver his government's plan to help get B.C.'s economic engine moving again. I think every British Columbian wants to see our social programs protected. They want to see an outstanding education system and a health system that provides people with the health care they need, where they live and when they need it. We all want these things, but I also firmly believe that we will not be able to achieve these things in a sustainable way unless we get B.C.'s economy moving again. The Minister of Finance has delivered us a plan to achieve just that.

For example, we heard some of the measures that this government will undertake to help improve B.C.'s business climate, to help improve B.C.'s economic prospects, to help make B.C. more competitive. These measures are vital to the future of our province. They are particularly vital to today's young people who, over the past decade, have watched this province sink from first to last. B.C., with all its advantages, all its riches, inched towards the status of a have-not province.

As with the Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations, there is one issue of particular importance to me. In the past decade B.C. has seen a crisis involving the failure of building envelopes throughout the coastal area of our province. Owners of affected buildings have watched while their investments, their equity, their hopes and dreams rotted around them, and now the crisis continues as a large number of schools are planning or undergoing repair. I worked as a consultant with the past government on this issue, and I know that a solution can be found but only by moving forward on the issue, as this morning's prayer said, with temperance and understanding rather than with politics.

Can Fraser Mills be saved? I'm unwilling to give up, but it seems unlikely. We owe it to 500 workers, we owe it to my community, and we owe it to this province to do what we can to fix the problems that have caused the crisis we now face. And to paraphrase a man much wiser than myself, the problems of today will not be fixed with the level of thought that created them. One of our biggest and most important goals should be to leave today's young people, including my own children, with a future of hope rather than a legacy of debt, and I believe we can do that.

We have a mandate. I and my colleagues have a daunting task ahead. To quote from the Speech from the Throne: "Fulfilling that mandate.… It'll take concerted effort from every member of the assembly working cooperatively and constructively to find common solutions to common challenges." I pledge to work toward that end.

Hon. G. Collins presented a message from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: a bill intituled Supply Act (No. 2), 2001.

Hon. G. Collins: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.

Hon. G. Collins: This is the second supply bill for the Legislature that's been introduced in this fiscal year, and it is introduced to supply for the continuation of the government's programs until the estimates for the fiscal year 2001-02 have been debated and voted upon in this assembly. The bill will provide interim

supply for government operations and expenses for the next three months of the 2001-02 fiscal year. This will allow time to debate and pass the estimates.

This interim supply is required because existing voted appropriations will expire…. The current supply bill that was before the House will expire on July 31. That's midnight tonight. This bill in its content will provide interim supply for other financing requirements. The bill seeks supply for one-twelfth of this year's financing transactions requirements for capital asset, expenditures and loans and investments, and this will allow for more time to debate these issues in the weeks ahead.

In moving the introduction and first reading of the bill, I ask that it be considered urgent under standing order 81 and that it be permitted to be advanced through all stages this day.

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, I would ask you to remain in your seats for just a few moments while the bill is circulating.

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, the Chair has been asked to make a ruling, and it is as follows. This interim supply bill falls into the category of bill which, by practice, has been permitted to advance through all stages in one day, and I so rule.

This is a fairly standard piece of interim supply legislation that is placed before the House. It allows the government to receive a voted expenditure and appropriation from the people's elected representatives. It allows the government to continue in operation on a temporary basis until such time as the estimates are passed and the overall supply bill is passed through the House at the completion of the estimates debate.

The government and, I must say, the people of the Ministry of Finance staff exerted great effort to allow the government to bring in its economic and fiscal update yesterday so that we could proceed to the stage where we are today of introducing interim supply based on those estimates before the expiration of the interim supply bill that was passed in March of this year.

I want to extend my thanks to all of those people in the ministry who put countless hours and effort into ensuring that we got here and didn't have to utilize a special warrant, which is something the current government has been opposed to for some time. It took a great deal of effort.

The result is that we are introducing an interim supply bill here today to allow us to continue spending for an additional three months, to the end of October of this year. So there are three months of general appropriations, as well as an additional 1/12th, or one month, for other transactions. There was already 50 percent of the fiscal year's budget voted in the first supply act for this year, the initial interim supply act. We're adding 1/12th to get us to the end of October. All of those will wrap up at the end of October.

This is a fairly standard format. I'm pleased to be able to bring forth this interim supply act without a special warrant attached to it as a schedule. It is this government's intention to never have to do that again.

I would be pleased to hear the comments if members on the opposite side of the House have a comment to make as well.

J. MacPhail: It does appear to be a standard interim supply bill. I will have a couple of questions, for the record, during committee stage. It is interesting to note that the current law is the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act, which requires special warrants to be brought before the House or, if there's an increase in spending, that that spending be debated and passed in this Legislature.

So I can assume that the government, even though they've introduced a bill to substantially water down the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act…. I assume that we're still living under the law of that land, Mr. Speaker. Therefore, it means that there is no overspending or no extraordinary spending that's going on across government. Otherwise, that spending would have to be brought here to the Legislature, according to the law that still exists in British Columbia.

By virtue of that debate not occurring, we can assume that the services are being delivered as was budgeted and in a way that's cost-efficient and that the ministries are well within their current budgets. That's what one has to interpret by those matters not being debated today.

Mr. Speaker, I will have some questions, merely for the record, during committee stage.

Hon. G. Collins: I can assure the member opposite that this early in the fiscal year everybody is still within their budget, and I hope they'll end up that way at the end of the year as well. With that, I move second reading of Bill 6.

Bill 6, Supply Act (No. 2), 2001, read a second time and referred to a Committee of the Whole House for consideration forthwith.

J. MacPhail: Just to clarify…. Perhaps the minister can do this by examining all three. I'll make my question for the record. It actually covers all three sections.

I note that…. I'll ask my question, and if it's out of order, you can so rule. In section 1 is a provision for three months of finances to flow to keep government going, so that takes us to the end of October 2001. In the second section, which flows money to pay for capital and, I would imagine, debt servicing and investment, only one month is to flow. Perhaps you could explain, for the record, the difference between those. Then the last sum, of $872 million…. You can clarify, for the record, how much of schedule F of the main estimates that applies to.

Hon. G. Collins: The reason for 1/12th being voted in section 2 is that in the earlier interim supply bill which was passed in this House, prior to the expiration of the fiscal year during the last government, 50 percent — so six months — of that category had been allotted. Because we now are going to the three months to the end of October, it will in fact be seven months, so we need to add an extra 1/12 on top of that.

The item in section 3 is the full year and includes the amount that was previously voted in that first supply bill as well.

Hon. G. Collins: I move that the committee rise and report the bill complete without amendment.

Bill 6, Supply Act (No. 2), 2001, reported complete without amendment, read a third time and passed.