2003 Legislative Session: 4th Session, 37th Parliament
HANSARD
The following electronic version is for informational purposes
only.
The printed version remains the official version.
(Hansard)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2003
Afternoon Sitting
Volume 11, Number 15
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CONTENTS | ||
Routine Proceedings |
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Page | ||
Introductions by Members | 5025 | |
Introduction and First Reading of Bills | 5026 | |
Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2003 (Bill 11) Hon. G. Plant |
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Statements (Standing Order 25b) | 5026 | |
Support in Kootenays for 2010 Olympic Games bid B. Bennett Mental health centre in Nanaimo M. Hunter Fair Pharmacare program R. Sultan |
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Personal Statement | 5027 | |
Hon. R. Neufeld | ||
Oral Questions | 5027 | |
Fair Pharmacare program income-testing model J. MacPhail Hon. C. Hansen J. Kwan Government action on sea lice in fish farms G. Trumper Hon. S. Hagen Proposed changes to the provincial apprenticeship program R. Lee Hon. S. Bond |
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Petitions | 5030 | |
S. Orr B. Belsey Hon. C. Clark |
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Budget Debate (continued) | 5030 | |
Hon. J. Reid Hon. S. Bond J. Nuraney |
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Tributes | 5038 | |
Canadian Armed Forces A. Hamilton |
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Budget Debate (continued) | 5038 | |
A. Hamilton Hon. B. Barisoff Hon. G. Cheema I. Chong Hon. R. Thorpe Hon. R. Neufeld |
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[ Page 5025 ]
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2003
The House met at 2:04 p.m.
Introductions by Members
Hon. S. Hagen: Today we have in the gallery Mr. Ted Brooks, who is from Comox. Ted is a member of the Comox Valley Airport Commission. Would you all please make him welcome.
R. Harris: It's not that often we have someone down from Kitimat, but today we're joined in the gallery by one of my constituents, Johnny da Silveira. Would the House please make him welcome.
Hon. C. Clark: Today in the members' gallery we have some very special guests from Ireland. His Excellency Martin Burke is the Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, and he's accompanied today by his wife, Mary Burke. Our government certainly admires the work that Ireland has done in becoming the Celtic Tiger, and we look forward to further discussions with both of them.
[1405]
W. Cobb: With us today — and once again, not often do I get to introduce someone from my riding — we have some individuals from the Council of Resource Communities. They're here to help us work on and develop the heartlands strategy. Three of them are from the heartlands; one of them is not, although he works hard for the heartlands. It's my pleasure to introduce Mayor Donna Barnett from 100 Mile House, Mayor Herb Pond from Prince Rupert, Mayor Rick Gibson from Williams Lake and the one individual not from the heart land, Bruce Rosenheart. Please make them welcome.
Hon. G. Abbott: On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst, New Brunswick. That opening followed a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial sports ministers. The real highlight was to meet Team B.C., which is over 300 outstanding young British Columbians from 61 communities around the province. They are really an exceptional group of young athletes, and they are led by a mission staff, which by all accounts is doing a wonderful job — unprecedented in their management of the team and its issues — and, of course, their coaches, who are similarly doing an outstanding job for the young athletes in this province.
We have a website which is unique among the provinces competing. It provides updated results. It provides team biographies for all the over 300 team members. Most importantly, it provides an opportunity for MLAs, for the general public, to provide personalized messages to members of the team from your constituencies. That website is www.teamBC.org. I know that team is going to make us enormously proud as British Columbians. New Brunswick is a long ways away, but this gives us an opportunity to cheer on a great Team B.C.
Hon. G. Campbell: In the House today is a distinguished group of students from West Point Grey Academy in my riding of Vancouver–Point Grey. West Point Grey teacher Ms. Elliott and her colleagues Ms. Gunasekera and Mr. Rollins have just completed a tour of the Legislature with 67 students in grade 5, and they're now in the gallery to witness question period. I hope we'll all make them welcome.
R. Visser: With us today are John and Diane Poleschuck from Campbell River. John has had a long and distinguished career in the coastal pulp and paper industry. They're visiting the building today and Victoria for the next couple of days. I hope the House makes them welcome.
Hon. G. Hogg: The Queen's Golden Jubilee medal is presented this year to Canadians who have made outstanding and exemplary contributions to society. The Ministry of Children and Family Development will be presenting those to some special public servants who have given so much of themselves over the years to the people of this province. I'd like to introduce three of them who are here today, and my colleague has a few other introductions to make.
First, Mr. Sarf Ahmed is a financial manager with the ministry and seems to know where each one of those dollars that the ministry spends is. He's also been a volunteer scrutineer, a translator in ESL for children and a fundraiser with the Canadian Diabetes Association.
Ms. Lindsay Setzer has spent a distinguished career at the Maples counselling some of the most challenged and troubled adolescents in this province. She's overseen the transition of the Maples to a short-term family- and community-focused program.
Ms. Jane Wolverton's commitment to children and families in this province started in 1971, when she worked as a social worker for the city of Vancouver. She developed a particular commitment to and interest in the downtown east side and has also supervised the lower mainland emergency services during their transformation to the provincial after-hours program.
I would ask the House to please congratulate and welcome them.
[1410]
Hon. L. Reid: I, too, add my congratulations to the individuals who have given in excess of 125 years to this area of social service policy in British Columbia.
Gus Assonitis began with the ministry in 1975, an enormous accomplishment, and has done many, many things during his career with us in terms of children's mental health and community living for adults with developmental disabilities.
[ Page 5026 ]
Doug Bowen also contributed more than 25 years of service to this ministry, working as a social worker, a supervisor, an area manager and an aboriginal negotiator.
Holden Chu spent much of his career in Richmond, a successful leader in cultural competency, community dialogue and collaboration.
Riley Hern was a mentor and innovator in the government social service sector from the day he was hired in 1965 until his retirement this past March. Indeed, we have individuals who continue to make an enormous contribution.
Randi Mjolsness from the ministry spent 23 years, and certainly today, as the acting director of the children and youth with special needs branch and the autism initiative branch. Randi is leading the way on new initiatives based on family choice, self-determination and evidence-based service.
Robin Syme has been with the ministry for 25 years — a quarter of a century. She was also responsible for advice on the K-to-12 curriculum as well as developing a funding model for the social equity programs in the schools of our province.
I would ask the House to please recognize outstanding public service and join me in welcoming them to the Legislature this afternoon.
L. Mayencourt: In the gallery I have a couple of guests that will be joining me later today at the Queen's Jubilee Medal presentations. These two lovely women not only have dedicated themselves to my political career but in fact have supported me for my entire life: starting with my mother, Wilma Palmer, and my sister Marcie Smith. Would the House please make them both welcome.
Introduction and
First Reading of Bills
MISCELLANEOUS STATUTES
AMENDMENT ACT, 2003
Hon. G. Plant presented a message from His Honour the Administrator: a bill intituled Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2003.
Hon. G. Plant: I move that the bill be introduced and read a first time now.
Motion approved.
Hon. G. Plant: I'm pleased to introduce Bill 11, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2003. Consistent with our new-era commitment to cut the regulatory burden and red tape by one-third within three years and revitalize our economy, Bill 11 includes amendments to several statutes that will remove 205 unnecessary or outdated regulatory requirements and will eliminate red tape.
This bill amends the following statutes: Agricultural Credit Act; Agricultural Produce Grading Act; Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Statutes Amendment Act, 1997; Bee Act; British Columbia Feed-grain Assistance Act; Budget Transparency and Accountability Act; Cattle (Horned) Act; Dairy Industry (British Columbia) Act; Emergency Program Act; Evidence Act; Farm Practices Protection (Right to Farm) Act; Financial Information Act; Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act; Holiday Shopping Regulation Act; Hotel Guest Registration Act; Hotel Keepers Act; Livestock Act; Livestock Protection Act; Local Government Act; Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 1999; Motor Carrier Act; Motor Vehicle Act; Natural Products Marketing (BC) Act; Public Sector Employers Act; Science Council Act; Seed Grower Act; Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act; Synthetic Food Products Act; Telephone Rural Act; Travel Regulation Act; University Endowment Land Act; Vancouver Charter Veterinary Laboratory Act; Water Protection Act.
I will be pleased to elaborate on the nature of these amendments during the second reading of this bill, and I commend it to all members.
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 11 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.
Statements
(Standing Order 25b)
SUPPORT IN KOOTENAYS FOR
2010 OLYMPIC GAMES BID
B. Bennett: I'm speaking again today on the 2010 Olympic Games. I had not planned to, but I have an intuition, a sense, that there may be a few members — maybe as few as two or three — who are unaware that this government has for months been actively engaging the people in the heartlands of this province in the Olympic spirit.
[1415]
I have to wonder where these few members have been, and for the edification of those who may be in the dark about these matters, let me say that representatives of the Olympic bid committee have been in the East Kootenays three times already that I know of. They're returning for the Kootenay Olympic opportunities conference in Cranbrook on March 19, where the four Kootenay MLAs and speakers from the Olympic bid committee, Tourism Rockies, the Tourism Action Society of the Kootenays and the B.C. Chamber of Commerce will work with the people of the Kootenays on how the Kootenays can benefit from the 2010 games. Not only that, people from all over the heartlands of B.C. flew to Vancouver on their own nickel a couple of months ago and spent the day talking with the Premier and the bid committee about the opportunities from the 2010 games. Not only that, the Premier
[ Page 5027 ]
himself has criss-crossed the province, meeting and discussing the 2010 games with rural British Columbians. The Kootenays have produced more Olympic ski team members than any similar-sized region in the country, including Canada's top female athlete of the last century, Rossland's Nancy Greene Raine. We in the Kootenays appreciate the sentiments of those few members who — no doubt for purely altruistic reasons — want us to become engaged in the 2010 Olympic Games, but we already are.
MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE IN NANAIMO
M. Hunter: Yesterday I had the pleasure of accompanying the Minister of State for Mental Health as he visited Nanaimo to assist in the official opening of the Phoenix Centre. This centre is a new facility run by the mid-Island branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. It is a community clubhouse, a drop-in place for those who have or have had mental illness. It is a place for people to socialize, to gain work experience in their commercial kitchen or in the administrative operations centre. It is a place to hang out and relax, have a bite to eat and talk in peer support groups. The Phoenix Centre also contains an education centre that provides information on mental health issues.
Like other members in this House, I am pleased by the progress we are making on mental health issues in B.C. The fact that the new Phoenix Centre is located right on a busy stretch of Highway 19A in the centre of Nanaimo, visible to thousands of people every day, is significant. Its up-front-and-centre location can only assist in reinforcing the work of all those people and organizations who support our efforts to end the stigma of mental illness. I hope this House will join me in congratulating the Canadian Mental Health Association, its volunteers and funding partners, and in wishing the Phoenix Centre and its clients a very successful future.
FAIR PHARMACARE PROGRAM
R. Sultan: The population of British Columbia is divided along political lines, and so are seniors. Many support the direction of this government; others oppose it. For example, this morning a seniors group was playing politics with Pharmacare on the CBC. The former head of the B.C. Federation of Labour, Art Kube, now a "seniors spokesman" said: "Every senior, every person on public assistance is now paying more and will continue to pay more than they paid under the previous government." What a lot of baloney. The facts are that under Fair Pharmacare, almost half of all seniors will pay less, and many others will be unaffected.
It's also a fact that under Fair Pharmacare, as it's phased in, some future seniors will pay more — particularly in West Vancouver–Capilano, which I represent, even though we also have constituents on low incomes who will benefit greatly. But most seniors in my riding do not believe in off-loading the rising costs of Pharmacare onto their grandchildren. Most seniors in my riding understand fairness and will appreciate that those who can pay a little bit more should help ease the burden on those least able to pay, regardless of age. Clearly, Pharmacare budgets will grow, but not as fast as they would otherwise. Thank goodness for that, or we'd be broke by the time baby-boomers buy their first Viagra.
An Hon. Member: Is that covered now?
R. Sultan: I'm a senior.
An Hon. Member: I told you to take that out.
R. Sultan: You did.
I never elected those seniors groups who pretend to speak for me. Seniors deserve the opportunity to hear the facts, not the political scare stuff.
Personal Statement
Hon. R. Neufeld: I rise to make a personal statement.
Mr. Speaker: Please proceed.
[1420]
Hon. R. Neufeld: This morning during debate, I incorrectly attributed a quote in the Vancouver Sun, March 25, 2000, to Mark Veerkamp. I would like that removed from the record, please.
Oral Questions
FAIR PHARMACARE PROGRAM
INCOME-TESTING MODEL
J. MacPhail: Yesterday the Minister of Health Services said that under his new income-testing scheme, a woman born in 1940 with a household income of $31,000 per year will pay a $600-a-year deductible when she turns 65 in 2005. It's not true. That woman would pay $930, up from the $275 deductible she pays now and the $200 deductible she would have paid under the previous government. Every senior is paying more than what they would have paid under the previous government.
In other words, a woman with a family income of $31,000 — not a lot of money — is worse off by $655 under the government's new scheme. Yesterday the minister had trouble answering basic questions about who pays more and who pays less. Will he confirm today that this 63-year-old woman with a total family income of not $100,000 but $31,000 will be much worse off when she turns 65 under his new scheme?
Hon. C. Hansen: I think if the member goes back and checks Hansard from yesterday, that's not how I answered the question. The example she used was a woman who is now 63 years old with an income of $31,000. As I pointed out yesterday in question period,
[ Page 5028 ]
under the Pharmacare plan that's in place today, she would be facing an annual ceiling of $2,000. As a result of the changes that will take effect on May 1, she will see a 40 percent reduction in her annual ceiling for her Pharmacare starting May 1 of this year.
Mr. Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a supplementary question.
J. MacPhail: Just the same way that the Minister of Energy refuses to apologize when he makes a personal mistake, so does the Minister of Health. The question was about when the woman becomes a senior — when this same woman, who is now 63, becomes a senior. The fact is that under this government's scheme, that woman will likely get no Pharmacare coverage at all when she turns 65. According to the government's own…
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
J. MacPhail: …most recent calculations, that woman can expect to pay $870 a year for prescription drugs. Under his new scheme, she doesn't see a dime until she has built up $930 worth of prescription drugs. Do the minister and all the Liberal backbenchers now agree that, using his own numbers, he has effectively kicked this woman off Pharmacare?
Hon. C. Hansen: Let's talk for a minute about someone in this House…
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
Hon. C. Hansen: …who owes seniors an apology. I want to quote that member for Vancouver-Hastings in an interview she did with Joe Easingwood on February 21, where she said: "They're going to switch to an income-testing program where a family that has an income of about $30,000 — two seniors and an income of about $30,000 — is going to have to pay hundreds if not thousands more, or a thousand dollars more, out of their pockets for drugs." That's the kind of fearmongering that has scared seniors over the past few months. She should stand up in this House, and she should apologize to every single listener of Joe Easingwood's program.
Mr. Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a further supplementary.
[1425]
J. MacPhail: There's absolutely no question that the thousands of seniors on the lawn and the federal government giving this B.C. Liberal government a billion dollars in health care money have made him back off his original scheme. There's absolutely no question about that. He had to back off because he got a bunch of cash from the federal government that he has to spend on health — and seniors on the front steps and the lawn of the Legislature. He's right. It's not thousands, but it is hundreds that seniors….
I raised an issue where I said…
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order.
J. MacPhail: …this woman's paying $655 more, and he stood up and didn't answer it. He didn't answer it. He knows we're right. He knows he's right.
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Will the member please put her question.
J. MacPhail: Middle- and low-income British Columbians are already reeling from gas tax increases, sales tax increases and hikes to fees and licences. Now they're going to have to pay more for their drugs. Many will have to pay deductibles….
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order. Would you please put your question now.
J. MacPhail: Yes, I will, Mr. Speaker. Sorry. Many will have to pay deductibles that far exceed their annual drug costs. The government likes to characterize its new program as being fair. Can the minister…?
Interjections.
J. MacPhail: Are you waiting to get to your soft lobs?
Can the minister tell this House if he thinks it's fair that those British Columbians who can afford to make big RRSP contributions will pay less than those who can't afford to make those contributions?
Hon. C. Hansen: Just to correct what the member said about the $30,000-a-year senior couple, they will in fact see their total cost of Pharmacare under the new Fair Pharmacare go from $550 a year down to $400 a year effective May 1. That's not an increase of thousands of dollars; that is not an increase of hundreds of dollars. That is a decrease of hundreds of dollars.
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order.
Hon. C. Hansen: Just to address the member's point that she's trying to make. First of all, we have structured a new Pharmacare system that is fair to all British Columbians because it's based on their ability to pay. We have also protected seniors who currently are
[ Page 5029 ]
locked into fixed incomes. What we have said is that those who will become seniors in the future may have to position themselves for some of the new realities of the years to come, where baby-boomers…
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
Hon. C. Hansen: …are simply going to have to refocus their expectations. Otherwise, our health care system is not going to be able to sustain the Pharmacare system into the future.
J. Kwan: I think the Minister of Health Services has mastered the art of not answering the question.
Under the government's scheme, total household income will be based on line 236 of the tax form, which includes deductions for RRSP contributions. A family that can afford to make RRSP contributions can end up paying less in drug costs than a family that cannot afford to make those contributions. Can the minister explain what is fair about giving two families different Pharmacare benefits, depending on whether or not one family can afford to make RRSP contributions?
Hon. C. Hansen: Yesterday I offered the two opposition members a briefing on this, and I reiterate that today. I accept that this is a complex plan. It's not as complex as the one that was in place, but they may need a briefing to understand some of the nuances.
Basically, when it comes to calculating net adjusted income, the money put into an RRSP is not considered part of that net income. Neither are the payments when you take money out of RRSPs. As an individual takes money out of RRSPs, that is added to their family income. Quite frankly, if that's the way it's going to work for higher-income British Columbians, it works against them because they're going to be drawing out their RRSP money at a time when they're older and presumably would have higher pharmaceutical costs.
But I beg them: please come in for a briefing so we can explain some of this to you.
Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary question.
J. Kwan: Maybe the minister should get a briefing, because that information came out of the minister's website on the Fair Pharmacare program — the registration form.
[1430]
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Let's have order, please. Order.
J. Kwan: On the registration form it points you to line 236, which is the net income, and it includes the deductions for RRSPs. When the Manitoba Conservative Party brought in income testing, they based it on line 150 of the tax form. That's the total income before deductions like RRSP payments. It would be a simple change for the minister to make. No one has yet registered. Will the minister agree to base his new means test, his income test, before but not after RRSP deductions, to make his scheme a little bit more fair than it already is?
Hon. C. Hansen: Maybe I can give the member a little bit of history as to where this reference to line 236 comes from. It comes from the same line that is used for the premium assistance program that was brought in by the NDP government during the 1990s. It is fair the way it was set up, and if the member knows anything about accounting, she will know that RRSPs are not taxable. They're a tax deduction when you register them, but they are counted as income when you draw them out later in your life.
GOVERNMENT ACTION ON
SEA LICE IN FISH FARMS
G. Trumper: My question is to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and….
Interjections.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order. Let's have some order so we can hear the question.
G. Trumper: My question is to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. All of us in this House want to ensure the sustainability of wild salmon stocks. However, scientists differ on the cause of the sea lice infestation, and it's particularly important in my part of the province. This past weekend researchers from around the world gathered in Vancouver to exchange information on this parasite and to recommend how best to deal with it. Can the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries tell us what, if any, solutions have emerged and how he intends to proceed with the recommendations resulting from this conference?
Hon. S. Hagen: Last weekend we did hold a conference inviting the brightest and best scientists from Norway, Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada to deal with the sea lice issue. We have always said as a government that we would base our decisions on good objective science. As a result of that conference on the weekend, I am requiring that all affected farms in the Broughton Archipelago be treated for sea lice aggressively and quickly under the control of veterinarians.
We want to make sure that the farms are treated as a priority. To achieve that priority, we're hiring two more inspectors to make sure that the treatment is being done effectively. I have consistently said that salmon farms in the province must be operated to the
[ Page 5030 ]
letter of the law, and our government will make sure that they are.
When we announced British Columbia's action plan for the Broughton Archipelago, we said that if science indicates that we need to do more, we will. That is exactly the case. We are drawing on the international expertise of the experts that we had out. This is a B.C. solution made for British Columbia.
The Hon. John Fraser's report recommended three steps be taken: (1) the strategic fallowing of salmon net pens judged to be the highest risk to pink salmon runs, (2) accelerate the processing and marketing of the mature salmon and (3) monitoring and treatment of the fish farms for sea lice. I'm pleased to say to the people of British Columbia that we are carrying out all three.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE
PROVINCIAL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
R. Lee: I would like to ask a public written question submitted by Mondee Redman, chair of the board of school trustees for school district 41 in Burnaby, to the Minister of Advanced Education. How would the proposed changes to the provincial apprentice program address appropriate workplace education standards, safety measures and transition to provincial apprenticeship programs for secondary school students?
[1435]
Hon. S. Bond: I'm pleased to be able to respond to the publicly written question. Certainly, as media reports and people have recognized, we are facing a looming skills shortage not just in the province but, in fact, in our country. The responsible thing to do is look at the system that's currently in place and begin to look at choice, flexibility and ways to enhance opportunities not just for learners but for workers and employers in British Columbia. We want to make it very clear that under the new proposed model for industry training in the province, we will not be lowering qualifications. We will not be looking at lesser standards for safety in British Columbia. In fact, we want to introduce options that allow us to look at competencies and at skill sets. We want to make sure that we maintain both provincial and national standards.
Finally, in reference to the secondary school apprenticeship program, both the Minister of Education and I have had much discussion about the value of those programs to our province. We are excited about the opportunities that it presents to students in this province. We think it's a template for how we're going to train people. We hope to enhance those opportunities for students within British Columbia.
[End of question period.]
Petitions
S. Orr: I am presenting a petition delivered to me by my constituents concerning the bidding-out of hospital food services by the Vancouver Island health authority.
B. Belsey: I rise in the House today to table the Save Our Hospital petition signed by 1,098 of my constituents from the north end of the Queen Charlotte Islands–Haida Gwaii.
Hon. C. Clark: I rise to table two petitions. The first one is from parents in district 43 requesting that the ministry make sure that the funding formula is fair and that the buffer grant be phased out.
The second is from IWA workers in Coquitlam with respect to section 71 of the Forest Act.
Orders of the Day
Hon. G. Collins: I call budget debate.
Budget Debate
(continued)
Hon. J. Reid: This afternoon I'd like to expand on some of the themes presented by the Premier during his state-of-the-province address and provide more detail on some of the initiatives in the budget that we are taking to open up B.C. through transportation investment. The Premier touched on all modes of our transportation system and all regions of our province. He identified the importance of improved and expanded transportation not just in our urban areas, which are the provincial gateways for trade, but also in the heartlands of our province — our rural and northern regions. These areas have always represented a significant challenge for transportation.
Effective transportation networks must deal with difficult terrain and span great distances. Because of harsh conditions, these roads often suffer from neglect. Our government is taking action now to ensure that B.C. has a safe, effective, reliable and integrated system of roads, bridges, railways, highways, ferries, airports and ports to support economic growth in all parts of the province.
[1440]
When I toured the province last summer, people in every region and community I visited stressed to me the vital importance of transportation to them and to their hopes for a prosperous future. We have listened, we heard the real level of concern, and we were clear in sharing with them the challenges and tough choices we must make as we move forward. While it was quite straightforward to agree on the need, the difficulty lay in the fact that there was no money in the transportation budget to meet the need, so we discussed financing options. Everyone agreed that we had to take action.
I am proud to say that we are taking this action. We are moving ahead. The Premier outlined that provincial funding will be secured over the next three years
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for improving and expanding our transportation system in all regions of our province. Direct provincial investment, when combined with contributions of other funding partners and looking at the full life of those projects by the time they're complete, will support a total investment of $5.5 billion in new and expanded transportation infrastructure in the years to come.
We can't stand still and watch our aging transportation network continue to deteriorate to the point of compromising safety on our roads. We can't see our trade routes, which are becoming choked because of growing traffic congestion and poor reliability, become even less efficient and more costly.
We also can't continue to ignore our vital system of rural and side roads in the heartlands of the province. They are too critical to moving our resources to market, and they have suffered over the decade of the nineties due to a lack of funding. We can't let our growing urban centres struggle to fight a losing battle to meet growing demands.
We know we have pressing needs to move goods and people more effectively between the ports and rail yards in the lower mainland and our trade gateways. To stand by and let opportunity and prosperity pass us by because we failed to act would be a huge disservice to the people of this province and not what they expect from us.
Our vision is for a comprehensive and integrated transportation system that enhances the movement of goods, services and people in all regions. Our transportation financing strategy secures the funding for this vision.
What I'd like you to take away today is a sense of the large decisions that we have made. I'd like to provide you with the framework that we're putting in place to open up British Columbia for increased economic activity; for safer, more reliable movement of goods and people; for expanded job creation; and for the benefit of all regions.
Our province has huge economic potential with its valuable natural resources, deepwater ports and ideal location as a gateway to the Pacific Rim, the United States and all other trading partners around the world. It's vital we improve the transportation links that go to our airports, ports and border crossings that give our industries access to the global marketplace.
We also have growing congestion in some areas of the province, particularly the lower mainland, the central Okanagan, southern Vancouver Island and Fort St. John. Our long-term plan and investment strategy will be aimed at integrating all parts of the transportation network so they work together smoothly and efficiently.
In broad terms, our focus will be on improving and upgrading our main highways, rehabilitating and expanding our system of heartland roads, continuing to serve our coastal and inland communities with effective ferry service, expanding airports and ports, and improving the movement of goods across our borders and trade gateways.
We also have to protect our transportation assets. Our roads and highways system is worth about $66.5 billion. That's a huge investment we have that we all share in this province, and we have to be able to maintain that. The status quo is not an option, because our roads, bridges and roadways are constantly subject to wear and tear and the elements. They will slip; they will slide; they will crumble. That's just what life is in this province. The people in the north understand what it means when roads slide off the hillsides. It requires an investment in order to keep that asset intact.
[1445]
I want to talk about some of the important projects we've been working on. The Nisga'a Highway is one of the first acts of this government, because we needed to provide an additional $11 million for the construction of the Nisga'a Highway, which is a seven-year $52 million project. Previous funding did not provide for paving the road, which was a critical connection. The road is a critical connection. This was a critical piece of the agreement for the people of the Nass Valley. We didn't shrink from our responsibilities in this agreement. We found the resources to complete this road, and that investment will be a brighter future for the Nisga'a people. That new highway is now nearing completion.
When we look at the heartlands roads, we have 30,000 kilometres of rural and side roads in the province's heartlands — roads that serve our resource industries including mining, oil and gas, ranching, agriculture, logging, resource extraction. These roads have deteriorated, as I said, over this last decade. Seventy-six percent of the province's main roads have been kept in good condition, but when we look at the side road system, only 34 percent of the side road system is in good condition. Those roads are vital to our economic well-being in this province, to our rural and remote communities.
The Premier indicated during his state-of-the-province address that over the next three years, our investment in these roads will be substantially increased. As part of our heartlands economic strategy, we have a plan to address the rehabilitation, increase investment in our rural side road system and investments in the oil and gas resource roads. That will total $609 million over the next three years. Provincewide, the government has committed to increased spending on the side road system by $75 million each year over the next three years. This initial investment of $225 million is on top of our existing commitment of $37 million over the next two years for oil and gas resource roads.
This is a substantial investment, driven in part by our need to address the deficit in road quality caused by the decade of underfunding and, in part, by the need to provide the necessary funding to invest strategically so we can support our resource industries and better enable them to move the critical goods that drive our economy. We are making these commitments because safe and reliable roads in all regions are vital to the province's economy. They have to move to their marketplaces, and they usually do that through our
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gateway system of ports, airports, rail terminals and using all the methods of transportation as I've outlined.
In the rehabilitation of the provincial highways, the value of goods and services dependent on a transportation network represents 44 percent of our provincial gross domestic product. Now, this is an interesting fact, because it's very important to understand how critical it is that now is the time for investment. It's estimated that the cost of resurfacing a kilometre of highway after 12 years of use is $65,000, which is a very large sum, but that same stretch of highway could cost, after 20 years, $400,000 per kilometre in order to restore it. It is critical that we put these investments in, and the timing is now.
Putting these resources towards rehabilitation of our roads will also provide huge safety benefits. In addition, as I've already mentioned, the provincial government has committed to maintaining the current condition of our paved primary highways and bridges by investing $145 million in each of the next three years on provincewide rehabilitation. These activities include safety improvements, road and bridge resurfacing, bridge rehabilitation and replacement and seismic retrofitting.
The goal of this rehabilitation program is to direct resources where and when they are most needed. The project of the Kicking Horse Canyon is a priority for this government. The Premier has spoken directly to the Prime Minister. Improving the Trans-Canada Highway through the Kicking Horse Canyon, which is between Golden and Yoho National Park, is the province's top transportation priority.
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The province is prepared to cost-share, on a 50-50 basis with the federal government, the $670 million it will take to four-lane the canyon section, which has the highest accident rate on the Trans-Canada Highway. This level of funding will enable the province to upgrade the 26-kilometre section to a modern four-lane standard over a six-year period.
Dedicated transportation funding is what we will use to provide the province's share of this critical investment, and we are hopeful that we'll have a positive response from the federal government. Our position is that not only will this investment save lives, it will also encourage trade and tourism on this very important route. This highway is an interprovincial and national gateway. It carries commerce as well as cars from the rest of Canada to the Pacific. The improvements are long overdue.
We are also urging shared funding towards the additional $330 million worth of improvements needed on the same highway, the Trans-Canada Highway, between Kamloops and Golden. When we look at the Okanagan Lake Bridge and the needs there, it's important to remember that the bridge is 45 years old. A new bridge is an essential transportation priority, and the ministry has completed the design of a new five-lane bridge. Whether we use this design or work on a partnership to look at other options, we have to build it.
Our new dedicated transportation funding will provide the means. We know that a new bridge will make a much better investment than to continue the costly rehabilitation of the older structure, and we know that Kelowna and the entire Okanagan will benefit from improved safety and freer flow of traffic. As well as the new Okanagan Lake Bridge, we're committed to making other improvements to the Highway 97 corridor and to other priority corridors such as Highway 3 through the southern interior and Highway 95 through the Kootenays.
Another priority for safety reasons is the Sea to Sky Highway. As we announced earlier, we are going to proceed with a multimillion-dollar investment to improve safety on that much-used road and to increase the capacity to meet growing demand on the Sea to Sky Highway from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler. The accident rate on this highway is double the provincial average, and traffic volumes continue to increase.
We believe that the proposed scope for improvements will meet the needs of corridor residents and the growing needs of Whistler. It will also provide the necessary basis to meet the demands of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Our goal is to have the corridor improved in time for the games. To accommodate that schedule, we will not need to begin major construction until at least 2004. I should point out that work is already underway in this corridor. There is a very treacherous section, seven kilometres between Culliton Creek and Cheakamus Canyon north of Squamish, that is currently being upgraded at a cost of $30.5 million, with work expected to be completed in the spring of 2005.
We have had a lot of discussion around inland ferries, and we have decided not to introduce tolls on these ferries. The new fuel tax allows us to address the costs of operating the services, but we still have to find ways to operate these services more cost-effectively. We agree with users that the ferries do serve a critical role for the communities. The subsidy level that we're proposing works out roughly the same per passenger as it has been on coastal ferries to the smaller Gulf Islands.
We are still studying the feasibility of building bridges to replace some of the ferry routes, and a new bridge at Needles to replace the existing ferry is one example. Our intention ultimately, where practical, is to involve private partners in operating these ferries, and some regional districts have expressed interest. Indeed, I've met with some who would like to work with us on these solutions.
One ferry service of particular interest I'd like to mention is the François Lake ferry. It serves local residents, but it is also a key piece of infrastructure in moving the harvest of pine beetle–infested wood, and we are committed to finding workable solutions to better support the flow of that wood to market. This will require a dedicated effort on the part of my ministry and of the Ministry of Forests.
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Now, with the B.C. Ferry system, I've already made announcements about the importance of the system to
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the coastal communities of the province as well as to the larger economy of the province. That ferry service has been struggling with how to upgrade an aging fleet, to improve the outdated terminals and to address service reliability and choice.
Restructuring opens the way to creatively address these issues while offering wider choice, more competition and improved services for communities and ferry users. Our approach with B.C. Ferries recognizes the need for change, for inviting new thinking, for engaging the private sector in helping us find new solutions. Again, it was a choice of either letting the situation continue and the fleet decline, which would affect our economy, or to take dramatic action and chart a new and ambitious course for the future.
We've talked about roads, and we've talked about ferries. When we turn our attention to B.C. Rail, we've said that we would not sell B.C. Rail, and I want to confirm that we are not. Mayors in the north and the heartlands of our province have stressed the importance of sustaining our freight rail system. It's critical to their local economies, not just sustaining but improving the freight rail system. They have indicated that they are open to private sector participation as a means of sustaining and improving this service. They know that an efficient freight rail system will get our resources and manufactured goods to market. Our government is prepared to work with mayors in rail-reliant communities and B.C. Rail to pursue private partnerships for operating the freight rail service.
While we're open to such partnerships, we're committed to fulfilling our promise to the public that public ownership of the railbeds and rights-of-way that the public has invested in over the years will continue. Government's goal is to find the most efficient and cost-effective way to sustain freight rail service without adding to the public debt through subsidies. That means getting B.C. Rail on a sound financial footing.
In 1991 B.C. Rail's debt was $81.8 million. Today it stands closer to $650 million. B.C. Rail has cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars over the past 15 years. The recent sale of Casco and Canadian Stevedoring will result in $100 million that will be applied to this outstanding debt.
B.C. Rail has identified that carrying this level of debt is unsustainable and threatens the future of core freight rail service. They are in the process of eliminating or selling heavily subsidized and money-losing components of their operations, such as their passenger rail service, which was costing $5 million a year. They are also selling operations that are not core to their freight rail business, such as their marine division. Inviting private sector partners in providing flexible, reliable and cost-effective freight rail service makes sound financial sense. A council of local mayors in rail-reliant communities will be established to review a request for proposals to private sector operators.
While we're looking at all modes of transportation as we address airports and ports, we do need to invest in airports and ports, and we believe that partnerships there are the way to go. We are setting aside $10 million each year, for the next three years, for port and airport improvement projects. One of the priority partnership projects is the extension of the Cranbrook Airport to handle the larger aircraft. We've heard many times in this House what an exciting project that will be and how it will lead to increased tourism and access to ski hills and back-country operations throughout the Kootenays.
We're also looking at the expansion of container shipping and handling facilities at the Port of Prince Rupert. We believe that will provide greater access to markets for grain growers in the Peace region, for logging operations and for the mining sector. We will work with the city of Prince Rupert to realize this potential.
The border crossings are an integral part of the flow of movement of goods and services and people. We are working with the government of Canada to make sure that we do get our fair share of funding to better serve Canada as a trade gateway with our borders. Joint provincial and federal funding of $30.4 million has already been announced for a number of border crossing improvements under the federal strategic highway investment program. This will continue as we look at how to make those investments and how to improve those operations. The B.C. trucking industry has estimated that they lose in excess of $60 million a year because of delays at borders.
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As we've looked with people at how we could finance this, the question is: do we leave this for our children? Do we expect them to pay the debts? We already have very high debt-servicing costs on projects that we are using now. Or do we decide to pay for it as we go and take the responsibility today for the needs we have today and the improvements? As I talked with people around the province about this, people were looking for the assurance that funding would be through dedicated funding for transportation, and I'm pleased to say that has been accomplished with this plan.
The other part of this is using partnerships to take those infrastructure dollars and stretch them as far as possible to design, build and maintain new transportation projects. The recent passage of the Transportation Investment Act clears the way for the creation of those partnerships and outlines the requirements and options for involving the private sector.
[J. Weisbeck in the chair.]
We have been working on our tolling policy for British Columbia. We've taken a lot of input from the public, and we are in the process of finalizing that policy. I want to assure everyone that fundamental to any such arrangement is that there has to be a substantial benefit to the transportation user, a benefit that's larger than what they would pay through tolls.
When we look at the gas tax, the 3½-cents-per-litre provincial fuel tax, that will become effective March 1 of this year. Fuel tax rates in most of B.C. have been
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unchanged for almost ten years, and with this modest increase they'll still remain comparable to many jurisdictions in Canada. This increase in fuel tax will generate approximately $218 million a year, and all of that money will be used for transportation projects throughout the province.
This is one of the tough choices I talked about, but I believe it is necessary if we are going to economically develop this province and provide for the safety and benefit of all people in all regions. We do expect to be able to have the federal government as partners and, as I said, the private sector as well.
Over the next weeks and months I'll be providing greater detail on specific projects as they're finalized and approved. I'll also be releasing the first phase of our transportation vision and our financial strategy to the public in the coming weeks.
I want to reassure people that their voices will continue to be heard in this process, and we will have the assistance of eight new regional transportation advisory committees to assist us in this. These committees represent areas outside the greater Vancouver regional district, which already has its own transportation authority, and I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with TransLink on improvements in the lower mainland.
We expect these regional transportation advisory committees to be in place by the end of March. They will be volunteers drawn from the regions, and they will be able to offer input directly to myself as far as the transportation priorities. They will be able to meet with people from the regions and will be able to understand the technical needs — whether they be rehabilitation needs in avalanche work — that the ministry has to contend with. They are also able to then help us prioritize the spending and make sure the decisions we make are going to create the greatest benefit for the regions.
This work that we're undertaking will also produce a lot of employment, and it does mean jobs. It's estimated that every million dollars invested in new transportation infrastructure creates 13.3 person-years of employment. This employment occurs primarily in the communities where the work is being undertaken. The transportation investments planned over the next three years will create approximately 17,500 direct person-years of employment and an additional 9,200 indirect person-years of employment.
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We're also looking at the benefits from this being not just for safety, though that's hugely important, but for the industries — whether it be tourism, the resource industries, agriculture, ranching, forestry, mineral exploration or oil and gas industries. It means a sustainable freight system to support the northern communities in moving their goods to market. It means partnerships throughout the province to help us address needs. It means securing more dollars from the federal government to participate in transportation infrastructure. It means a secure financial basis for making critical transportation investments today and in the future.
I'd like to leave everyone with this thought. Our transportation vision is called "Opening up British Columbia," and for me that creates an image of a province that is looking outward with optimism, conviction and an eye to the future and the opportunities ahead. The people of this province believe in those opportunities. They believe they can be part of those opportunities, and they need the transportation infrastructure in order to deliver on them.
We have made a bold choice to open up our province, move ahead and secure the necessary investment. I believe this is the right choice for this province, for our economic future, for our heartlands and for our children.
Hon. S. Bond: In my response to the throne speech earlier, I was able to stand in the House and have the opportunity to talk about the opportunity to open up the heartlands of British Columbia.
As a government, we have been faced with very many difficult decisions since June of 2001. We still have challenges to overcome and much work yet to do, but there is a growing sense of optimism throughout the province.
As I have travelled throughout my constituency during the last couple of weeks, and in particular had opportunities to visit the villages of both Valemount and McBride and meet with my advisory councils there, I have a sense that people feel they are being heard by the government and have an opportunity to make plans and strategies that recognize the unique needs of the heartlands of this province. As I met with them, they were encouraged by our plan, which recognizes that rural and northern communities in this province have a unique role to play and, indeed, have unique needs that must be met. They recognized that we as a government are committed to restoring sound fiscal management to British Columbia, and the recent budget delivered by the Finance minister demonstrates that.
Difficult decisions are needed in order to restore our house to a sound financial position. My constituents understood the importance of working together to build a strong and vibrant economy. That's absolutely essential so we can put the needs of patients, students and those people most in need at the top of our agenda. This budget puts British Columbia on track for a brighter future. In fact, we've done what we said we would do. We are ahead of schedule. We will continue to make the most of our resources and spend hard-earned tax dollars prudently and fairly, and we will continue to encourage prosperity and growth throughout this province.
[1510]
I want to take a moment to acknowledge the leadership of the Premier. Through an incredible work ethic and devotion to public service, he has kept the focus on the task at hand: getting B.C. working again. With his leadership and the dedication of my colleagues, we are committed to three principles. The work that we do here revolves around those three
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goals. Firstly, we are committed to restoring sound fiscal management. We want to revitalize the economy of British Columbia, and we intend to put students, patients and people in need first. I think it's an absolutely significant accomplishment that, for the first time in 50 years, every ministry will come in under budget. The savings from following a plan, from staying focused, are now being directed into those areas and to those people who need them most. We believe it's important to live within our means. It's simply the responsible thing to do. We must ensure that we secure a future for your children and for mine.
Let's look at some of the indications of the plan working. In fact, government spending is under control. The 2002-03 deficit is forecast to be $600 million lower than budgeted. We're on track not only to balance the budget but, in fact, to deliver a small surplus in 2004-05 and a modest one in 2005-06 while continuing to improve services.
Today British Columbians also have the lowest personal income tax rate in the bottom two tax brackets. Our business tax rates are among the lowest in North America. Paycheques are growing, and we are a leader in job creation with almost 78,000 new jobs created during 2002. We plan to continue to make the decisions that will ensure job growth in this province, because a job is one of the most important things you can give to a person.
One of the things I am quite excited about for my own particular riding is the sector-specific tax measure that sets the stage for growth in television and film. You see, in my community and in our region we have been extremely fortunate to be the location of several major motion pictures like Reindeer Games, Double Jeopardy and Dreamcatcher, which will soon be released. Through hard work and a very dedicated film commission, we have recently heard the great news that we will be the site of the new Disney motion picture Miracle. I think that's absolutely appropriate. It's a movie about hockey. What better part of the province to be able to celebrate hockey than the heartlands and, in fact, the Prince George Multiplex? You can imagine the excitement of my constituents.
We have a plan, and we are following it. British Columbians can see the future, and it holds a balanced budget and even a surplus. A year ago people were skeptical about our ability to balance the budget, and now, because of the courage of my colleagues and the commitment to make difficult decisions, that is not only a vision, but it will be a reality. We have a shared belief that we must get our fiscal house in order for our children's sake.
As I said earlier, I recently, within the last couple of weeks, had the opportunity to travel throughout my constituency and, in fact, talk to a number of long-term residents of the north. Many of them cannot remember such a strong commitment from a government to the transportation infrastructure in the north. Our Premier and our government recognize the importance that transportation routes play in restoring opportunity and prosperity to the heartlands of our province.
The 2003 budget commits $650 million to a new three-year transportation plan. That will mean new jobs. As we've just heard described by my colleague the Minister of Transportation, they are significant in terms of the number of jobs created in communities where transportation projects will be initiated. While we celebrate the significant job creation we have seen, we must continue to be aggressive about increasing job opportunities, particularly in communities like mine in the heartlands of this province. The transportation plan will definitely have a major positive impact on my communities. We need to remember that $225 million will go directly into northern and heartland roads. I know in the communities I represent, those funds are exciting, and they are very welcome.
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A tremendous amount of wealth comes from the northern part of British Columbia. In fact, we've heard numerous studies, just recently released, that indicate the significance of the contribution my part of the province makes to the economy of British Columbia. We have recognized that, and our budget also commits to $146 million for highway rehabilitation, $132 million for major highway corridors, $93 million for border crossing infrastructure, $30 million for ports and airports, and $24 million for other transportation projects.
Perhaps the most important part of this plan for me is that this transportation strategy will not increase the overall public debt. We have found a way to invest in the vital infrastructure that is needed in the province without mortgaging our children's future. Every penny of the 3½-cent-per-litre increase in provincial fuel tax will be dedicated to supporting the transportation plan. I believe that's responsible government.
Forest reforms are vital to our province's economy. Since 1997 we have seen probably in excess of 13,000 forestry jobs disappear from communities like mine. We have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the past five years. The industry has had to deal with the softwood lumber situation and some of the ill-formed policies of the previous decade. Individuals, families, businesses, industry and, in fact, whole communities and regions of this province have felt the impact and the adverse effect of a struggling forest industry.
This is the year of forestry. It is our number one industry and a major contributor to government revenues. We have already done much to ensure that the forest sector is competitive, but our work is just beginning. Our government is planning major changes to the way industry operates. Reforms will see more wood available to smaller operators. This presents an opportunity for small operators to grow their businesses.
In my constituency the potential reopening of Slocan Valemont is extremely good news for the people who live in the Robson Valley. The community forest initiative and also the small business program in the village of McBride are essential to the economic diversification and revitalization of that community. Additionally, waterbedding will be eliminated, and our in-
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dustry, which has borne the brunt of this policy, will become even more competitive.
During the softwood lumber dispute, the industry has shown tremendous tenacity. Management and labour have worked side by side to ensure that our mills are working at maximum efficiency. When the dispute is settled, the operations in my constituency are poised for even greater success.
The results-based Forest Practices Code, which allows companies to be innovative and which protects environmental standards, and the working forest initiative are two essential initiatives for the benefit of those companies and individuals in my constituency. More reforms are on the way, and they are exciting, particularly the opening up of access to timber and the opportunity that will provide for business.
Another exciting opportunity is the 2010 Winter Olympics. I want this House to know that Prince George wants the Olympics, because they know it will be good for all of British Columbia. Just yesterday the city of Prince George launched its own Olympic initiative. Let me quote from former Olympian Tuppy Hoehn: "I see great potential for the development of a northern sports training centre in Prince George. It is an ideal place for athletes to train and to continue their post-secondary education."
That's just one idea, and the excitement and enthusiasm are just beginning to build. The games provide perhaps even a more important opportunity — an opportunity for those of us who live in the north, who are forest-dependent communities, to showcase for the world the benefits of building with wood. We in the north understand the versatility and strength of building with wood, and we need to share that knowledge. There is no bigger audience than the world at the Olympics.
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I can assure you that my colleague the member for Prince George North and I will continue to be aggressive advocates for the use of wood, not just in the preparations for the 2010 Olympics. As we move forward as a government, we will continue to say that wood is good.
In my own ministry we will do a number of things that will focus on our ability to attract and create great students, learners and workers in British Columbia. As part of the budget the Ministry of Advanced Education will fund six new B.C. regional innovation chairs in the college, university college and institute sector. That is an exciting opportunity for institutions around the province to look at regional innovation and economic development. We think this is a great initiative, and I am looking forward to the proposals that will be received.
Secondly, we look forward to creating and enhancing the provincewide BCcampus on-line learning model. It will allow increased access to learners all around the province.
We also intend to accelerate the medical school expansion that is currently underway in a unique and, in fact, innovative concept leading North America — the concept of bringing together three institutions and working together on the delivery of medical and physician training in British Columbia. As we work together, we will see the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria almost double the number of physicians that are trained in the province. We know that we need them. We need to make sure that they have the opportunities to work in those rural and remote communities where health care is so essential. We intend to make sure that as we bring those students into our system, we are going to work very hard so they have opportunities and incentives to work in the heartlands of British Columbia.
We made a commitment in advanced education to deal with critical shortages that we are facing in many professions and in particular the medical profession. Our government is funding over 1,400 new college and university spaces for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and care aides over the next three years. The new medical programs at the University of Victoria and University of Northern British Columbia will increase the number of first-year medical spaces to 224, nearly doubling the number of doctors graduating every year by 2009.
We have repeatedly said that health care is our most essential public service, and we have proven that. By reducing administrative costs, we have focused resources where they must be focused — directly at the bedside, directly involved in patient care. In fact, when we hear people talking about cuts to health care, we increased health care spending by 12 percent, or $1.1 billion. Provincewide standards for patient care are now in place to ensure that dollars are being spent appropriately, effectively and certainly putting patients first.
I am very excited about the opportunity to work with the Ministers of Health Services and Health Planning as we build a centre of medical excellence in Prince George that will benefit the entire northern part of the province.
This budget means more support, as well, for children and for families. By ensuring that we are good managers of public dollars and getting our fiscal house in order, we will create the opportunities that this province needs to grow and to invest those dollars in the essential services that our children and our families need in the future. Examples of that are an investment of $11 million per year for intervention for school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder and an increase in the number of child care spaces eligible for subsidy assistance in the coming year by 50 percent.
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We will also be offering one-time funding of $10 million to establish an early childhood partnership fund with the United Way and the Credit Union Central of B.C. We are continuing our assistance to community organizations that receive charity top-up grants, and the earnings exemptions for people with a disability has doubled since we took office and now sits at $400.
An extra $50 million was given to school boards this year in the form of a one-time grant. There will be
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an additional $143 million placed in the budget over the next three years. By 2005-06 the per-student funding will have increased by $243 per pupil.
In conclusion, the plan is working. That's the bottom line. Sound fiscal management is working. We're applying the same principles to managing your money as you would: don't spend money without a plan, prioritize and focus on what most needs those resources.
I want to close with the comments of the Finance minister. He said it well, and we need to hear it one last time:
"With this budget, once again, we choose the difficult path of progress and reject the failed approaches and policies of the past decade. We choose to contain the growth of government and expand the economic growth that will sustain our social safety net for future generations. We choose to act now, to balance the budget and build for tomorrow. Mr. Speaker, we have made progress — we are on track and ahead of schedule — but we have only just begun. There is yet more work to do. Let's get back to work, and let's get this job done."
J. Nuraney: We just heard two very able and hard-working ministers talk with enthusiasm, excitement and optimism about their ministries and the plans they have in place. These plans are only possible because our government has now been able to get a handle on our financial affairs.
I rise today to speak on the budget that was introduced by our Minister of Finance in the House. It was very reassuring to hear that the ministers and all their ministries, for the first time in over 50 years, came in on or below their budgets. This statement in itself is historical. Apart from creating history, what the ministers have really done is recognize the seriousness of the state of our financial affairs. What this government inherited from our predecessors was a situation that heralded a financial disaster. We were elected with a very clear mandate that this irresponsible behaviour had to stop.
We were entrusted with the difficult task of bringing financial order and prudence into our government. The last 18 months have not been easy for our government to deal with this problem. Reductions in our spending had to be made, resulting in cuts to some of the government services and reductions in public sectors. We were criticized for our actions, and considerable opposition was mounted by the vested interests that had seen a bonanza under the previous government — a bonanza and indiscriminate increases of the benefits at the expense of the future of this province.
We now see a budget which is more sensible. We also see the benefits of better management. Our deficit is expected to be $600 million lower than originally planned, and the debt is expected to be $3.5 billion lower than anticipated a year ago. These results, in themselves, allow us not only to bring under control the burden on our taxpayers but also to employ our resources in a more meaningful way.
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We have been able to increase our health care funding last year by $1.1 billion. More money has been given to education. On top of the $4.86 billion that is allocated to education, there will be a further $143 million added over the next three years. Post-secondary students are also benefiting. In the past 20 months we have committed almost $900 million to advanced education, access and research. This added funding is over and above the ability of the institutions to bring their revenue generation in line with demands after we eliminated the tuition freeze last year.
We continue to deploy our scarce resources, meeting the right priorities. Our new measures in the Ministry of Human Resources have resulted in more people finding gainful work and fewer people dependent on government assistance.
This province in the past decade saw neglect and disregard for the economic development of our rural communities. Our heartlands economic strategy will ensure more needed infrastructure and investment in roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and ports, which will translate into opening up opportunities in the heartlands of our province in terms of forestry, mining and exploration. This will begin the much-anticipated prosperity in our province, resulting in more jobs and general well-being of all British Columbians. Our government has declared in this budget that it will spend $30 million for airports and ports, $93 million for border crossing infrastructure, $132 million for highway corridors, $225 million for northern and heartland roads, $146 million for rehabilitation and $24 million for other related projects.
Our forest industry has suffered an enormous setback because of the softwood lumber dispute with the United States. This budget has allocated $275 million to assist British Columbia's forest workers, communities and companies in transition to a more competitive, sustainable forest industry. This government is committed to revitalizing our forest industry.
The elements and ingredients necessary to lay the foundation for investment in the future of our province are being put in place. I am very confident that we will turn around the opinions of the industry and business leaders, that we are becoming a province which is welcoming expansion of their activities and providing them with the tools to do so.
Our income tax levels have been dropped to a very competitive level among all of the provinces, and unreasonable regulations and red tape have been reduced. We are providing additional incentives for regional television and film projects, digital animation and visual effects — a very good measure to attract more investment in this fast-growing industry, which has become a significant part of our economy.
The mining and exploration sector, which had almost disappeared in our province in the last decade under the very antagonistic policies of the past government, is beginning to return. This budget has offered a further incentive by extending the mineral exploration tax credit for a further three years.
This budget also contains enhancement of our social services. Funding will be made available to increase the number of child care spaces eligible for subsidy assistance by 50 percent. Ten million dollars has
[ Page 5038 ]
been earmarked to create a new early childhood partnership fund with the United Way and Credit Union Central of British Columbia. A further $110 million will be available for employment programs for people in need. We have also allowed people with disabilities to earn up to $400 without affecting their benefits. We added an additional $11 million per year for intervention for school-age children with autism spectrum disorder. All this would not have been possible if we could not and would not and did not bring our financial house in order. I think we have now struck a balance between financial prudence and social responsibility.
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Let me conclude by saying that I could not agree more with our Minister of Finance when he said that the budget is a plan for prosperity that is prudent, responsible and focused on the future. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to address the House on the budget.
Tributes
CANADIAN ARMED FORCES
A. Hamilton: I am certainly honoured to stand before this House and respond to the budget presented by the hon. Minister of Finance on February 18. Before I begin, I would invite all members to join with me in paying tribute to the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces who are or soon will be on active duty. Many of these men and women and their families reside in my constituency, and many more hail from other regions of the province. We cannot overstate our gratitude for their sense of duty to Canada and their willingness to make sacrifices on our behalf. These men and women represent all that is good about Canada and our province of British Columbia. I wish them Godspeed and a safe return home.
Debate Continued
A. Hamilton: The fabric of our province is woven from many different threads. As diverse as we are, we share common anxieties and visions. In discussions with my constituents and the many British Columbians I have met while touring the province with the Select Standing Committee on Finance, reoccurring themes have emerged. We are being challenged on many fronts. Concerns over health care, education, natural resource management, first nations, infrastructure, crime prevention, law enforcement, the state of our province and business and economy in general are on the public's list throughout British Columbia. We have heard good news from the minister in regard to all of these.
Our deficit for 2002-03 is forecast to be $600 million lower than originally planned, and our economy has grown at almost three times the rate anticipated by independent authorities — talk about a good-news story. Every government ministry will be within its operating budget in 2002-03, and our provincial debt will be $3.5 billion lower than forecast a year ago. We are on target for a $375 million surplus in 2005-06. This budget clearly shows that the concerns of our citizens are at the top of our list and also that we are prepared to tackle them head on.
Health care is a major concern for my constituents. Each year the demands on our health care system increase dramatically. Our health care costs are growing by 7 to 8 percent annually. These escalating costs will be sustainable only through a conscientious effort to prioritize the allocation of health care dollars.
Our health care professionals, our nurses and doctors, are now amongst the highest-paid in Canada. In 2002-03 this government increased the health care budget by 12 percent — that is, $1.1 billion — to $10.4 billion. Supported by an expected federal contribution of $1.3 billion over the next three years, we will continue to work toward delivering the best health care system possible. We are confident that our efforts will attract more qualified professionals to our province. We are confident that our plan will lead to twice as many doctors being graduated from B.C. universities by 2009.
This government has also recognized the inequities of our Pharmacare system. We have taken steps to ensure that prescription drugs remain accessible to all British Columbians, particularly those who can least afford them: the elderly and those in lower income brackets. Through creation of the Fair Pharmacare plan, we have reduced the cost of Pharmacare coverage for approximately 280,000 families in British Columbia — very good news. It is reassuring to note that the vast majority of B.C. families will enjoy the benefit of stabilized or reduced prescription drugs, and in fact, 84 percent of British Columbians will pay the same or less than they are paying today.
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We applaud the creation of community living B.C., an authority to oversee the design and delivery of services to those with developmental disabilities. In recognition of the challenges they already face, we have increased the earning exemption by another $100 a year for those with disabilities.
In 2001 we committed to several things: renew public health care through better management, adequate funding, proper staffing and sound strategic planning. We continue, to this day, to allocate 41 cents of every dollar we spend to health care. That is a lot of money, and we are keeping our promise to the people of British Columbia, our promise to manage carefully all the tax dollars allocated to the health care system.
Next I would like to turn to education. Our youth represent our future. Public education costs are an investment in our future. Properly spent, they will pay back a hundredfold in long-term benefits to the province. It is the responsibility of this government to develop a public education system that meets the highest standard. It is the right of each citizen to expect nothing less, and I am personally committed to that goal.
This government recognized the need for local school boards to have a greater say in how their annual budgets were spent. We understand that local decisions reflecting local issues were preferable to decisions
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being imposed by a centralized authority. In recognition of those demands, we have given local school boards greater flexibility to manage their own affairs and restored management decisions to school principals.
Our government will maintain the education budget at $4.8 billion in spite of dropping enrolment. That translates to an increase of $51 in the amount spent on each student in the coming year. This is in addition to the one-time funding of $50 million recently given to our school boards. I am confident that school boards throughout the province will be able to meet or exceed their students' needs and the public's expectations. The Esquimalt-Metchosin riding includes the greater Victoria school districts 62 and 61. Through the inner-city school funding initiatives, school and community programs will be funded to the end of the school year and beyond in both districts.
We must pay the costs of services provided to us. They must not be a debt passed on to our children. This applies to education services as it does to all government services. We cover these costs through an increase in the education portion of our property taxes, which will guarantee that these education costs will be on a pay-as-you-go basis and not be a burden on future taxpayers. These commitments, along with nearly $23 million in one-time funding to enhance research programs and an overall $143 million increase in the budget over the next three years…. That is $243 per student more than 2002-03 by 2005-06, proof of the faith we have in the youth of British Columbia.
I would like to discuss day care. In my riding of Esquimalt-Metchosin we have many young families and single parents who rely on day care services for their children. This government understands the importance of providing suitable day care for young children. These costs often create havoc in the family budget. Increasing the income threshold by an additional $100 and the number of child care spaces eligible for assistance by 50 percent will ensure that subsidized day care will be available to many more families. Starting in May an additional 3,000 children from low-income families will be eligible for benefits, and an additional 6,000 children will receive an increase in the subsidies.
Furthermore, the $10 million investment in the early childhood partnership fund, the $11 million per year allocated for intervention for autistic children and the $110 million for employment programs for people in need underscore the importance this government places on helping those who need it the most.
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The next budget topic I would like to discuss is natural resources. The economic dependence of many communities on our natural resources is well documented. Indeed, the health of our provincial economy is directly linked to our mining, fishing and forest industries. It has been estimated that our forest industry alone accounts for 25 percent of the economy, directly or indirectly. This government has embraced the responsibility of managing our natural resources wisely.
Our commitment to effective natural resource management is exemplified in our new Forest and Range Practices Act. We take our stewardship of our forests seriously, and we are working with our partners in industry to ensure that these resources will be here for many, many generations to come. This commitment includes increasing first nations participation in the forest economy and investing up to $95 million over the next three years to explore revenue-sharing opportunities with them.
Where we have control over resource management, we have limited influence in global markets and the imposition of duties by other jurisdictions. However, we do recognize the impact of changing technology and shrinking markets on our forestry employees and their communities. The newly created $275 million forest transformation fund will help those employees and the communities where they live deal with the upheaval they are facing.
Alternative sources of energy are growing in importance. We look to the future development of coalbed methane and offshore oil and gas to give a huge economic boost to our province by creating many new jobs and ensuring our energy supply for many years to come.
This government is committed to developing a working partnership with our first nations people. With revenue-sharing agreements to revitalize the forest industry in traditional territories and major funding programs to support aboriginal economic opportunities, we are now focused on building for the future. As the hon. minister has said, we will be extending the three-year $30 million first nations economic measures fund for another year. We will be supporting aboriginal involvement in key industries such as tourism, natural resources, aquaculture and the Olympic bid. We will be developing working partnerships with first nations in the management of parks and recreational services. We have recognized the injustices of the past and are taking steps to correct them.
This budget also addresses transportation needs. We in the riding of Esquimalt-Metchosin are now enjoying the benefits of major infrastructure projects like the newly opened Veterans Memorial Parkway. Its real value will prove out in the future economic and residential growth that our region will experience.
We understand the necessity and the benefits of the major infrastructure projects that this government is proposing. Last week I travelled to Qualicum. I've lived in the Victoria area for over 40 years, and I remember the length of time it used to take me to go to Qualicum and how the new highway system has opened up the whole interior of the Island. This is what the heartlands is going to experience when all the infrastructure is done in the heartlands.
We accept that improvements in highways, rail services, ferry services and airport facilities are essential if we want the economy of the heartlands to grow. The $650 million dedicated to transportation improvements over the next three years will ultimately open up the province to commerce and will create new and ex-
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citing opportunities for all British Columbians. Funding formulas such as the dedicated gasoline tax and cooperative ventures with the private sector will result in these projects going forward as quickly as possible, so that all British Columbians can reap the combined benefit.
As a former police officer of over 30 years experience in law enforcement, I am particularly excited about the proposed dialogue on crime. I have seen firsthand the impact that crime has on people and their communities. Through the implementation of PRIME, a common database accessible to all law enforcement agencies in the province and meaningful discussions amongst law enforcement educators and community leaders, we can reduce the amount of crime in our schools and on our streets.
As a result of discussions already held, this government has deferred implementing a shared-cost formula for police services to communities with populations under 5,000 to allow further consultation with these communities as they had asked for. Applying a similar formula to discussions between our youth and elderly, we hope to open up a dialogue that will challenge conventional thinking and trigger new and innovative methods of resolving the many issues before us.
At the end of the day, this budget will stand or fall based on the overall state of business and employment — in other words, the health of the economy. Throughout this past year we have seen many indications of our economy improving. Housing sales are up; tourism is up. We are attracting more offshore investors. Over 81,000 new jobs have been created, and the majority of our small businesses expect to see significant growth in their operations in the coming year. As of last November our average weekly wage had risen over the national average by more than 70 percent.
In my riding there are nearly 400 businesses enrolled as members in the Esquimalt and West Shore chambers of commerce. As our region grows, so do our business and recreational opportunities. We are eagerly awaiting, in the western communities, the new 2,300-seat arena at the Juan de Fuca recreation centre. We expect that it will spawn a revitalization of the Nobb Hill–Colwood Corners stretch of the Old Island Highway.
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A proposed development in my riding is the new Centre Mountain golf course in Metchosin. I have toured the project, and it promises to be a truly magnificent facility. This is further evidence of faith in the growth of our economy.
I am happy to report that one of my constituent's businesses has nearly doubled in size since 2001. He attributes that growth to our programs created to help small business, but he is not alone. The successes are being mirrored time and time again throughout my constituency and the province every day. Also, as I reported to the House last November, the Esquimalt Drydock Company was recently awarded a $13.8 million ship repair contract. This contract will result in over $10 million in labour and locally bought supplies going straight into our economy. Today, Point Hope Shipyards announced a ship repair contract.
As the largest employer in the province, the health of small business is the key to our economic recovery. Eliminating the red tape and making seed capital more available through the Small Business Venture Capital Act are major boosts to growth strategies being developed by small businesses in every corner of the province.
Finally, I would like to touch on the 2010 Olympic bid. We can predict the huge economic benefit of hosting the Olympics, a projected $4 billion added to our GDP by 2020. With our budget investment of $199 million over the next three years for the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre and the improvements to the Sea to Sky Highway, we can envision the legacy of facilities infrastructure that the games will leave us. We can foresee the global attraction to the Vancouver-Whistler regions and the rest of our magnificent province. What we can't measure is the sense of pride that each of us in B.C. and throughout Canada will feel if we are awarded the games. It will be that sense of pride in our athletes, our volunteers, our province, our country and our achievements that will carry the day.
Two years ago this government made a promise to the people of British Columbia. We promised to deliver a comprehensive and fiscally sound approach to the business of government. We promised to identify and prioritize issues facing all British Columbians. We promised to listen to all of the stakeholders and to develop programs and apply funding in an open and responsible manner. Although our work is far from complete with this budget, we have reinforced our commitment to the citizens of British Columbia.
Hon. B. Barisoff: I am pleased to rise to speak to the budget today. We were elected on a platform of promising a new era of prosperity. That's what this budget did, and we're delivering on that promise. For ten years the heartlands of this province have been ignored. The other day in the House, the people from the opposite side didn't even know where the heartlands were. Let me tell you.
In the state-of-the-province address, the Premier announced the heartlands economic strategy. I want to tell you, our Premier knows where the heartlands are. He has been from one end of this province to the other, and he knows every community within the province. He knows where the heartlands of British Columbia are. The Premier gave us all a new reason to be excited about our future, and that budget the other day gave us the excitement, unbeknownst to all of us, that we were going to go into a new era of prosperity in this province.
His announcement detailed significant investment to our rural heartlands, beginning with $210 million in rural and resource roads. I want to commend the Minister of Transportation for such an excellent thought of putting $210 million into the heartlands of British Columbia, with $37 million specifically targeted to meet the needs of the oil and gas industry in the north.
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When we invest in the oil and gas industry in the north, that develops the entire province. That means health care and education in the entire province are subsidized by what happens there. The Minister of Transportation did an excellent job of looking at what could happen there.
Colin Bruintjes, president of the Certified General Accountants Association of B.C., said: "The spending is well within the government's means and will go a long way toward helping the battered heartlands of the province." That's a great comment from Colin Bruintjes. We're going to secure transportation improvements through dedicated funding from fuel tax revenue. Three and a half cents a litre is going to improve the roads for all British Columbia, and the Premier of this province said that every last cent will be spent on highways. I might want to repeat that — every last cent — so that people throughout the province will be excited to know we're spending all that money on highway improvements.
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In my riding the Minister of Transportation committed to improving Highway 97, Highway 3 connecting Hope to the Okanagan and a new bridge in Kelowna. Mr. Speaker, you'd like to hear that — the new bridge in Kelowna. Highway 3, Hope to the Okanagan, has been long overdue, and we're truly excited in the south Okanagan to know that's going to happen.
The other thing that's happening in the south Okanagan is that we're exploring the possibilities of a new national park. Senator Fitzpatrick has pushed to get a new national park, and I know that when he hears that Highway 3 is going to be upgraded and the federal government hears that, they're going to dive at the chance of making sure that park comes into existence.
We have the establishment of a B.C. resort task force, which will include our first nations, local communities and businesses and will promote development of resort communities. The one I'd like to mention is Apex. It's a jewel in the south Okanagan, and I know for certain they will be the beneficiaries of the establishment of the B.C. resort task force.
We're going to increase competitiveness in B.C.'s forest industry. The working forest designation recognizes the importance of sustainable forestry in British Columbia. That's what we need to know. We need to know that there's security for the tenures, the forest companies and the workers to make sure they know they will have a job now and into the future in British Columbia.
The Premier also announced the establishment of a $275 million forest transformation fund to assist our forest workers, communities and companies in moving to a more competitive, sustainable forest industry.
The Premier has established a new working relationship with first nations. The government recognizes that government must assist in increasing economic opportunities for first nations. I'm very fortunate in the south Okanagan, because I have the Osoyoos Indian band and Chief Clarence Louie, who does an amazing amount to increase the economic activity in the south Okanagan. He should be commended for what he's done.
A three-year $30 million economic measures fund will be extended indefinitely with an additional $10 million per year. The First Citizens Fund doubled from $36 million to $72 million to support economic development, social and cultural activities and job opportunities in the heartlands and urban communities. As the Premier said, we're committed to improving services for first nations and working together to build a better future for all British Columbians.
Under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell, this government is spending more on health care and education than ever before. We put $1.1 billion — additional funds — into health care. We put additional moneys into education. As a former school board chair, I know how additional funds make a difference for education. Looking here, the Minister of Education is nodding her head — has done a fabulous job of getting those extra funds. I know the districts throughout the entire province are excited about what happened.
Government has made significant changes for health care for seniors. The Minister of Health introduced the Fair Pharmacare program; 280,000 seniors on low incomes will actually pay less. That is something that we all should be proud of. All of government should be proud of what the Minister of Health has just announced.
We're going to be building 5,000 new intermediate- and long-term care beds by the year 2006. That's 5,000 new intermediate- and long-term care beds. That is really something for our government — to go out ahead of the curve and make sure things happen.
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In my riding, I'm actually fortunate again. The Penticton campus of care facility groundbreaking ceremony on November 8, 2002, was actually attended by the Premier. The Premier of the province took the interest to come out to Penticton to do the groundbreaking for the Penticton campus of care. Construction is going to be completed by October 2003. If you have the opportunity to go by, it's just a fabulous facility.
One hundred and forty-two independent housing units with support services and assisted-living apartments will be built in the heartlands of British Columbia, with the creation of 3,500 independent housing units with support services and assisted-living units provincewide. That's something to be proud of.
We're going to implement a $125 million mental health plan to better meet the needs of people living with mental illness.
Interjection.
Hon. B. Barisoff: Oh, $263 million. It escaped my attention that it was $263 million. I should know that, because it's been announced in the House many, many times by the minister.
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Terminally ill patients are cared for under the new palliative care benefits program that provides medication, medical services and equipment.
As I mentioned before, we added $1.1 billion into health care. Forty-one cents out of every dollar spent in government go to health care. Government has established strong provincewide standards ensuring that every patient has access to health care when they need it.
We have increased funding for the B.C. Ambulance Service by $30 million. Mr. Speaker, $30 million for the B.C. Ambulance Service makes a huge difference in the heartlands of British Columbia, because we rely on the B.C. Ambulance Service. I want to thank them for such a fine job that they're doing in the heartlands of British Columbia.
There's the new B.C. telehealth program to support health care to rural communities through video conferencing and electronic data transfer. Tele-imaging has long-term environmental and cost advantages in that chemical film processors are no longer needed, and it eliminates the cost of film, including storage and disposal. The B.C. NurseLine is staffed 24 hours a day by RNs with translation services in 130 languages, including 17 first nations languages as well as deaf and hearing impaired.
Establishing a new $134 million medical school with campuses at UVic and UNBC in addition to UBC will double the number of medical school spaces from 128 to 224 by 2005. I think the Minister of Advanced Education should be commended for the fact that she's got these new spaces at UNBC in Prince George. When people start to move to different parts of the province, they realize how beautiful it is and they want to stay there. There will be an additional 1,400 training spaces for nurses and residential care aides over the next three years.
Health care costs are at 41 percent of the entire budget and growing faster than the provincial economy. We have to deal with that. We have to do the things that make sure we bring the spending under control. We're doing the right things. We're not doing what happened in the past. We're making value for dollar.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business also says that our government tax cuts are working. They're encouraging the government to stay the course. On the second day, when we got elected and we made the tax cuts, people said they wouldn't work. Well, let me tell you, we've turned the corner. Those tax cuts are working. Seventy-six percent of the federation's members said personal reductions had a positive impact on their businesses.
Our new budget shows that our fiscal plan that we put in place is working. Debt is forecast to be $600 million lower than budget, and it could be greater than that — $600 million. Debt for '02-03 is forecast to be $3.5 billion lower than planned. I think that's a credit to the Minister of Finance's and the government's work and what they've been doing. Difficult decisions have to be made. We've stayed the course, and we're making them.
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Let me just give you a few budget quotes. Richard Rees, CEO of the Chartered Accountants of B.C., said: "B.C. is on the road to recovery. The signs are everywhere." I couldn't agree with him more. The signs are everywhere. Jock Finlayson, v-p of the B.C. Business Council, says: "I think the direction they are going in is sound and will command strong support from the business community." When we get the business community behind us, we know the economy is going to turn around. Dave Park, the chief economist of the Vancouver Board of Trade, said: "Setting realistic goals and meeting or beating them, as the government has done, goes a long way in calming the business community and boosting consumer and investment confidence."
We have restored sound fiscal management, which will result in our next budget not only being balanced, but we're going to have a slight surplus — just a slight surplus — and in '05-06 it will be a greater surplus than that. We've turned the corner. We're not going to live on the backs of our children and our grandchildren. We're going to pay our way as we go.
While we've been fiscally prudent, we've invested heavily in the province. As you've seen, we're going to invest in the highways; we've invested in schools; we've invested in the universities; we've invested in the people of British Columbia. We're going to open this province up for investment like it's never been seen before. We will be the envy of Canada. We will be the envy of North America when we're through. People will want to flock to British Columbia.
We're purchasing the land for the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, an expansion in Coal Harbour. We're working in partnership with the federal government and the private sector to create jobs and attract visitors from around the world. We are going to be the place everybody wants to come to. The expansion will mean up to $5.1 billion in economic activity. Six thousand persons in employment and construction will also assist Vancouver in winning the 2010 Olympic bid. I was excited on Saturday night, watching the fact that Vancouver had voted 64 percent in favour of having the Olympics. In Canada as a whole, I understand that we're looking at 91 percent support. People want the Olympics in British Columbia, and they want them in Canada, because we will be the showcase of the world.
There's good news for film and television produced in B.C. A 20 percent refundable corporate tax credit for B.C.-controlled film production corporations has been extended for production where principal photography begins between March 31, 2003, and April 1, 2008.
On June 25, 2001, our Premier had a vision of this province, a vision like no other Premier has had in the past. The Premier is living up to that vision by taking us into the future. It is exciting times for all of us in this province, the most exciting times I think that we could ever even imagine. To think that we might have the
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2010 Olympics — not might have…. We're going to have the 2010 Olympics, and that's going to benefit the entire province. Whether you live in Peace River, Cranbrook in the Kootenays, Prince Rupert or the Okanagan or on Vancouver Island or the lower mainland, the 2010 Olympics are going to benefit us all — every last one of us.
I know, as somebody that grew up in the Okanagan Valley, what the tourist industry will do. It will incredibly enhance the wine industry. It will incredibly enhance the fruit industry. The tourists will be flocking. They'll make the circle coming from Vancouver, travelling into the Okanagan, travelling through the Kootenays up to the north country. It's going to be exciting times for all of us in British Columbia.
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In closing, I want to say that the fiscal policies brought by our government under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell will ensure that British Columbia gets the economy back on track while we continue to support our health care systems and quality of education. Today is a day I'm truly excited for our province, and I know the future has great things. As they said in the Olympic bid, it's our time to shine.
Hon. G. Cheema: It's an honour to be able to speak and respond to the budget. First of all, I would like to congratulate our Premier, our Finance minister, my colleagues and the staff working in all government ministries for their work and effort in ensuring that 2002-03 was a successful year.
It's definitely an achievement to have every ministry of government within budget. It's an achievement to have a deficit that is $600 million lower than we were expecting. It is an achievement to have a budget for the new fiscal year which clearly lays out our government's plan for the future, and that will put patients, students and people in need first. It's an achievement that we are continuing to protect health and education funding.
We are also going to be investing $650 million of new dedicated fuel tax revenues on transportation infrastructure over the next three years. We are maintaining last year's $1.1 billion increase to health funding, and we will be investing all of the $1.3 billion in new federal health dollars over the next three years to improve health care.
I think it's important to again point out that our health spending in this province exceeds all revenues from personal income taxes, provincial sales taxes and MSP premiums. We are modernizing our health care system and moving towards a sustainable, patient-centred system for future generations. We are bringing better care to patients and vulnerable citizens.
I'm happy to recognize that our government will now increase the earning exemption for people in the Human Resources ministry's persons with disability category from $300 to $400. I am pleased to recognize that the plan G for the specific Pharmacare program for people with mental illness will be protected as a result of changes our government is making in the Pharmacare system. We are modernizing the Pharmacare system to make it more fair and sustainable.
Under the old plan, many families with low income paid more for their prescription drugs than those with higher incomes. The new Fair Pharmacare program ensures that financial assistance is available to those who need it most. With access based on families' ability to pay, the lower a family's income, the more financial assistance government will provide. So 280,000 low-income families and seniors will pay less than they do now. For the first time, young families with lower incomes will be supported in their drug costs. Under the Fair Pharmacare program over 1.3 million B.C. families and seniors, or 84 percent of all families in British Columbia, will pay the same or less for their prescription drugs.
B.C.'s new Fair Pharmacare program will cover 47 percent of the drug costs, higher than the national average and the second most generous program in Canada. Pharmacare costs have increased by 147 percent in the last decade, and with the changes, it will increase to $8.7 million per day by 2021. The Fair Pharmacare program will come into effect as of May 1.
In the area of mental health and addiction we are going to be continuing on our path of improving and modernizing the health care system. In mental health our government will continue to implement evidence-based best practices. We are going to continue to develop the provincial mental health tertiary services, and we are going to continue to support health authorities in implementing an evidence-based, integrated community mental health infrastructure.
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In 2002 our government released many good policies and best-practices documents to improve mental health. These included guidelines for elderly mental health planning and supporting families with parental mental illness. We completed a peer support resource manual and a guide for early psychosis.
On October 31 our Premier publicly announced the release of British Columbia's first provincial depression strategy and A Provincial Anxiety Disorders Strategy report. Our Premier lent his efforts to the release of these reports because he knows that anxiety disorders and depression are the two most common prevalent illnesses in British Columbia, and that they have been virtually ignored by the previous government.
Our Premier also participated in the Bottom Line Conference organized by the Canadian Mental Health Association and the business community of British Columbia, because the numbers show that it's likely that one in five of us will be touched by mental illness in our lifetime. With numbers like these, there is no question that it will affect our workplace. If one were to ask employers what their most valuable assets are, most would say it's the people who work for them.
When one of these people develops a mental illness like depression or an anxiety disorder, they are often afraid to get help. Only half of those who suffer from depression seek treatment. They may not even know they have a mental illness. They may fear losing the
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respect of their colleagues and employers. They may even fear losing their jobs. The fact that the average workplace does not support and nurture those who have suffered from a mental illness is a problem that allows the illness to go untreated, and it's a problem that's costly to employers.
We need to remove the stigma from mental health. That is one of the reasons why our Premier was there. He's the only Premier in this country and in the whole Commonwealth who has recognized the importance of mental health in the workplace and in government services.
Clinical depression is a major health challenge for us. It kills as many persons in our province as we lose due to motor vehicle accidents. Depression and anxiety disorders account for more than 30 percent of all disability claims. It's the fastest-growing category of disability claims. At present depression is the second-highest reason for disability claims. Within 20 years in Canada we expect it will become number one.
Employers need to understand that people with mental illness have a physical illness no different from a disease like diabetes or arthritis. Just like any other physical illness, with the proper treatment and a supportive environment and employer, an employee can remain a productive, creative and important member of their team. The very best thing we can do is provide a tolerant and respectful workplace where people are not afraid to talk about mental illness. Then they are more likely to seek treatment before the illness becomes serious.
Early intervention gives people a chance to learn effective techniques that will manage their symptoms. It can prevent mental illness from becoming chronic and disabling. It will protect the employee's health, and it will also improve the employer's bottom line.
In today's economy, good mental health is crucial for success. Mental illness is often a hidden problem. Workers who suffer from the symptoms of mental illness may not even realize what's wrong with them. If some of your valued employees are struggling with their untreated depression or anxiety disorder, that's what you will probably see. They may call in sick more often. They may even be late for work. They may have trouble making decisions or concentrating on their work. They may be masking their symptoms by consuming more alcohol. They make more mistakes and have more accidents. They may be less productive, less eager and less dependable. You may even notice behaviour changes that seem to be out of character. Employers should seek help when they notice these symptoms.
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Part of this conference's message, which the Premier was able to convey, was that we should be respectful. We are challenging every other province to do the same thing. Next year we will be working with the business community to have mental health as a part of their workplace.
Our Premier has taken the lead in improving mental health in this province. He recognized the need to give mental health an equal status in the health care system, and he ensured that the need would be addressed by appointing a minister of state for the first time in the Commonwealth.
We plan to continue implementing evidence-based best practices with key system-wide policy initiatives, including phase 2 of our depression and anxiety disorder strategies and a mental health and addiction information plan for individuals, families, professionals and sectors of the public.
There will be 42 tele–mental health sites for completion by March 31, 2003. They will link communities of the heartlands with primary mental health sites and expand education and consultation to clinicians. Our government is working on material that will include best practices on mental illness and developmental disabilities and best-practice guidelines on reproductive mental health. We will also be releasing a resource handbook for first responders and health care professionals that work with offenders with mental disorders.
Our government is continuing to redevelop and enhance provincial mental health tertiary services. With the Riverview redevelopment project, we will continue to move patients from the outdated institutional setting at the Riverview Hospital to modern home-like facilities that we are building all over the province with our $138 million capital plan. These new facilities are far more conducive to good mental health.
In these facilities that we have opened in the past year, we are seeing dramatic improvement in patient health. We contributed over $3 million in transition funding to this project to ensure that the patients' transitions were successful. Unlike the past, no patient will leave Riverview Hospital, as a part of this redevelopment project, without a transition plan or secure placement.
When this plan is completed in the year 2007, we will also see an addition of 108 tertiary beds beyond the amount that was in Riverview Hospital. Like other provinces, we are moving away from institutional care, but unlike other provinces, we are doing it without losing capacity. In fact, we are increasing the capacity.
We opened the Iris House facility in Prince George in April of 2002, and we opened Seven Oaks in Victoria in October. This April we expect to open two new residential rehabilitation facilities in Kamloops. As many as 50 new health care professional and support jobs are being advertised at present for this facility.
Kamloops is a place where a promise was made by many political parties, but we are the only party who is fulfilling that promise. Within the next two years the Kamloops psych project will bring more than $14 million in construction activity to Kamloops, and this will result in as many as 160 new health care jobs.
We will be opening an expansion of Iris House in Prince George shortly. This year another facility that will provide a better home than Riverview Hospital will be opening on Vancouver Island. Each facility we open will not only provide better care for patients, but they will also increase the capacity outside the lower
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mainland to provide services to patients in their home regions.
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In 2002 and 2003 our government provided over $15 million to increase community mental health services in health authorities. Throughout 2002 and 2003 health authorities have continued to improve community mental health services.
I would like to note a few specific examples of improvements in the mental health care system. This year the interior health authority is opening the first-ever youth psych unit in the interior. This will serve youth aged 12 to 17, and it means that youth in the southern interior will no longer have to receive treatment at the adult psych centres in Kamloops, Trail, Cranbrook, Vernon, Penticton and Kelowna. The Vancouver Island health authority is developing a new crisis stabilization unit for persons with mental illness at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.
A few weeks ago, along with my colleague the Minister of Children and Family Development, I presented the first-ever provincial child and youth mental health plan. Children are most important for our province. In children, mental disorders supersede all other health problems in numbers of children affected and the severity of impairment caused. In British Columbia an estimated 140,000 children and youth experience mental health disorders. That causes significant distress and impairs their functioning in every aspect of their life. There's an average of four to five children in each classroom in this province.
Mental disorders can cripple a child's functioning at home, at school with peers and in the community. Children with a mental disorder have a higher incidence of quitting school. They are more likely to face alcohol and drug addictions. They are more likely to come into conflict with law enforcement. They face social isolation and discrimination. Sadly, many commit suicide as a result of a mental disorder.
Can you imagine the impact of mental illness on an individual? Can you imagine having a mental illness as a youth? Can you imagine the impact of mental illness on families? That's why this plan that we have established will coordinate community-based mental health services for children and youth and will focus on early identification of children at risk.
For children and youth with mental illness we will see improved transition to and from the community-based system and the acute care system, and we will see improved transition from the youth services to an adult system. Our government's plan will go a long way to improve the lives of many children and youth who have a mental illness.
We are also seeing a significant improvement in addiction services in this province. In April of 2002, for the first time in British Columbia, our government moved addiction services into the regional health care delivery. Addictions are an illness. Addiction services are now appropriately placed in the health care system. Also, 50 to 70 percent of people with a mental illness have a concurrent substance abuse disorder, so we merged addiction and mental health services to provide better care for the majority of patients who need services from either system.
We are already seeing good results. Front-line detox workers are now able to access referral services and emergency services. As well as housing, mental health, supportive recovery and counselling services are being provided. The regional health authorities are now in a better position to develop the most appropriate addiction services continuum within their regions to meet patients' needs, and they are also now able to undertake effective regional planning.
I would also like to mention a special program. B.C. Women's Hospital and Health Centre just opened Fir Square, which is the only unit in Canada for the consolidated care of substance-using women and their substance-exposed newborns. It is one of two programs of its kind in the whole world. This program will help substance-using women and substance-exposed newborns to stabilize and withdraw from their substances — to keep mothers and babies together whenever possible.
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Our government is also improving the mental health and addiction services, along with making other improvements in the health care system. We are creating a sustainable health care system that focuses on patients' needs. Our government's budget speech has outlined our path, and our path, with our Premier in the lead, will bring prosperity back to British Columbia.
I. Chong: Once again, I take my place in this chamber to respond to the budget speech delivered by the Minister of Finance on February 18. I begin by stating that I wholeheartedly support what has been labelled as a boring budget. Budget 2003 represents the second year of our three-year fiscal plan, and it's pretty clear we are on track to reaching our goal of balancing the provincial budget by year three, 2004-05. Not only are we on track, but we're ahead of schedule. We're ahead of schedule due to sound, prudent fiscal management and discipline.
One might ask: how important is this discipline? If you listen to the opposition members, they would say: "Well, it's not very important." In fact, they're critical of our discipline. In reality, I think they're just jealous. They're jealous because when they were in government, they had no fiscal discipline whatsoever. Time and time again, their ministries would overspend. They would return to Treasury Board asking for more money, and then we would see the issuance of special warrants — something that we were not very keen on and objected to many times when we were in opposition.
Is that any way to run government, Mr. Speaker? No, not at all. Why did that occur? I think the general public agreed with us that it should not be the way to run government. That's why they were tossed out of government in 2001.
[H. Long in the chair.]
Not once when the NDP were in government did all their ministries come within their forecasted operat-
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ing budgets. Not once could they say that all government ministries came in on budget or under budget. Not once did they hold their ministers accountable by legislation. That is the NDP's legacy.
Now we hear the opposition ranting about our government's deficit, so I'll address that. Now, I admit that I wasn't very pleased when I first learned last year that we would have to introduce not one but two consecutive deficit budgets. Nor was I pleased about the size of these deficits, but let me put that into context.
Firstly, our government inherited a structural deficit from the NDP — a structural deficit by allowing the costs of government to spiral out of control; a structural deficit that was due to poor planning, or perhaps we should say no planning; a structural deficit caused by decision-making that was based on political motivation as opposed to what would benefit the people of our province.
When I'm asked by my constituents how that could have occurred, I can only offer the following explanation. The NDP were incompetent; they were misguided; they just failed miserably. They just didn't understand that you don't start establishing programs for a government to deliver without ensuring sustainability, without determining the need and without determining the security of long-term revenue sources.
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Shortly after we were elected, the Premier appointed an independent fiscal review panel, who — without any cost to government — took a long, hard look at the government's books. Their task was to conduct a comprehensive review of the province's finances. What they discovered was that government was headed towards a deficit. What they discovered was that measures to contain the cost of government were never in place, and that was jeopardizing our economic future. So our Minister of Finance had a lot of work ahead of him. He had to ensure that we would meet our commitment of a balanced budget by our third full year in government, because that is what we promised. We promised it by bringing in balanced-budget legislation, and we will live up to that.
For the next three years, the minister laid out a plan, one that started last year — a plan that would require all ministries to think long term, not just to the end of the fiscal year. He had all ministries establish three-year rolling service plans with performance measures — again, a first time ever in this province — and all this information was available to the public. All of this was posted on ministry websites to show our openness and our transparency, so people who are reviewing various ministries, various service plans, can look at what is going to occur next year and the year after. No surprises. Perhaps that's why we have a boring budget.
But a plan is no good unless you stick to it, and that's where fiscal discipline comes in. That's where the NDP failed. They had no fiscal discipline. Our government embraces it, and the dividends are beginning to pay off. Ministries have realized savings, some of which are found through administration, in duplication of things. Other savings have been found in debt-servicing costs, interest expense. Isn't it a good thing to save on interest costs so that we can redirect those dollars into more direct services to patients, direct services to students? I would hope the opposition would agree with me on that.
Other members have already touched on the debt-servicing costs of government, and they've indicated that if all these costs were bundled up into one ministry, it would be the third-largest ministry in government. It would follow after Health and Education. That is outrageous — over $2.6 billion in interest costs. It would be a ministry — outrageous. With a provincial debt of about $37 billion, what would that mean in terms of our debt servicing? As I indicated, it's just over $2.6 billion a year, but let's bring that down to something we all understand.
That would translate into $7.123 million a day, every single day — over $7 million spent on interest expense. That would be $296,800 per hour. Just imagine: in the short hour that someone perhaps has been watching or viewing, $296,800 has just been spent on interest. If you want to break it down even further, it's $5,000 a minute. So if I've spoken for five minutes, there's $25,000 in interest costs. That's outrageous.
Let's thank the NDP for that, because they're the ones that doubled the debt in ten years. They were in government, and they didn't care. That was the NDP plan. That was their plan: to double the debt over ten years, to bring in nine consecutive budgets. Count them: nine consecutive budgets. They left office, and they left us with a structural deficit. We're dealing with two consecutive deficit budgets, and that's it. Our third budget is going to be balanced, and that's a promise. We're going to keep that promise.
Not only that, after our third year, we're projecting surpluses — surpluses that we're going to use to start dealing with the problem they left us with. We're going to start looking at paying down the debt, and that we intend to do as quickly as we can to leave this province with a sound fiscal framework and to ease the financial burden on future generations. We've heard time and time again that it's not fair that our children and our grandchildren are going to have to bear the brunt of the mistakes of the NDP's decade of decline in this province, so we are going to take charge. We are going to make sure that we put in a sound fiscal framework, which will change all that.
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Again, I wish to compare our plan with the NDP plan. During their decade of government, they put our province through two credit downgrades. They took our province from a have status to a have-not status. They took our province from being the number one economy in Canada to the last place, the number ten economy in Canada. What a legacy. Thank you, opposition, for that legacy.
They had a chance to turn this province around. They had ten years to get our fiscal house in order, but they didn't. They chose not to revitalize the economy. They chose not to move ahead. I say to them: move
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over. There's a new government in town, and we're here to change things for the better. We will revitalize our economy, we will get our fiscal house in order, and we are ready. We are ready for a future full of hope, full of prosperity, and we're ready to welcome the world when we win the 2010 Olympic bid.
Now, I know the NDP like to boast about their so-called surplus budgets. Yes, there were some surplus budgets, so I want to put that in context once again. They balanced their budget not by sound fiscal management, but by one-time windfall revenues. I think I recall that previously there was as much as $1 billion in trading revenues from B.C. Hydro. I think we all recall the years when there was that big spike, and I'm sure everyone agreed that was great. That was wonderful that it did happen. But more important is what the NDP did with those extra dollars, with that windfall profit. Well, they scooped it up, spending it just as fast as it came in the front door.
Hon. R. Thorpe: Faster.
I. Chong: That is unbelievable. Spending it faster, before it even came in the front door. That's right. My hon. colleague reminds me that's how fast they were spending it.
That is what turned their deficit budget around. It was luck — sheer luck. It wasn't planning. It wasn't good fiscal management. It was absolutely sheer luck.
Why didn't they put some of those bonus dollars aside? Why didn't they pay down the debt? Again, it's because they didn't have a plan; nor were they thinking of a plan. Each and every year, flying by the seat of their pants — no plan, more debt. Unfortunately, we have all gotten the consequences of that poor management on their part.
Also in the past budgets — and I think it was back in 1998 — the federal government started to put money back into health care, and again, that was a very welcomed initiative from the federal government. I do recall what they offered was that over three years, each province was permitted to decide how to draw down those dollars. Guess what the NDP did. Rather than targeting it to areas of concern, where we could deal with pressures and improvements, they just spent it again. Quicker than you can say "lickety-split," it was gone. They spent it, and as I stated earlier, because of that, they failed miserably.
Now I hear them, every day, trying to give us advice about our budget. Isn't that incredible? But we know better. We know that when we were in opposition, they were a government that had no discipline, a government that didn't get their fiscal house in order and a government that left our province with a structural deficit. I'm sorry. As I say to the opposition members: thanks, but no thanks. I'm not taking any of your advice.
In my riding there are many seniors, and I'm confident that the Fair Pharmacare plan introduced just days ago will, in fact, benefit many of them. Certainly, there will be other seniors in my riding who will be paying more, but they will be the seniors who can afford to pay more. I've heard from many of them time and time again, who say that we live in a compassionate society where we want to take care of our most vulnerable. So I do believe they will accept that if they are able to take care of some of these costs themselves, they will. Their tax dollars, when they come into the provincial treasury, will help those who are most vulnerable, and low-income seniors will get the benefit of that.
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I also know of many low-income families in my riding. They have come into my office, and some of them have children who have distinct special needs, and their children are dependent on medication. This Fair Pharmacare plan will be a positive change in their family finances, and I think, again, that's good news.
In the past I have spoken of the University of Victoria, also in my riding, a university that I'm extremely proud to represent. The medical school expansion program is underway there, where we will be graduating more doctors by the year 2005. In fact, that program is not only underway, it is being accelerated. This medical school expansion program benefits the constituents in my riding — many seniors who are concerned about the potential doctor shortage.
I want to touch briefly on the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, because I was on that committee. I was on that committee when I was in opposition. I was on that committee in the year 2001 and again last fall when I toured, so I've seen it from both sides. I'm extremely proud to have been part of a committee that has actually had an impact in shaping Budget 2003. We went out to 13 communities. We had 214 oral presentations and 89 written submissions. We asked for the public's response to a prebudget consultation paper that the Minister of Finance put out, because we wanted to make sure that our fiscal plan was going to address the needs of the people of this province.
Four general themes came out of that, the first of which was to stay on the course of balancing the budget by 2004-05. We're absolutely going to do that. A second one was to communicate our vision and plan more effectively to the public. Again, we see in this budget that there's going to be a strategy to deal with that. The third: ensure that government policies foster economic growth. Well, what do you know? We have now a heartlands economic strategy, and I think that's another good step. So far, so good — three out of three. The fourth theme that came out was: address the growing gap between rural and urban B.C. Now we have not only the heartlands economic strategy; we also have a transportation plan that's going to address that growing gap. That's what many communities told us — that they needed good, solid, dependable transportation infrastructure to move their people and their goods and to have economic recovery in their areas.
We also asked the public when we were touring around the province about their priorities for the next three budgets, because as you know, we have this
[ Page 5048 ]
three-year rolling budget. We heard from many people, and again we received another four comments or themes, one of which was to continue to put education and health care first in line for additional funding. Guess what we have in Budget 2003. More money has gone back into education, and definitely health care is being considered. We put in $1.1 billion over the previous year. We said we're going to protect it for the next three years, so we are listening to the people who are giving us their concerns and thoughts, and it's in our budget.
Another theme was to invest in a transportation infrastructure now and in the future. Again, we have a comprehensive transportation strategy. We are also seeing that we're going to deal with that not by incurring more debt but by a new fuel tax that is going to be dealt with as a pay-as-you-go. The people I've spoken to said that's a good thing, because it means we aren't going to put this future debt burden on the backs of our children and grandchildren. They know that infrastructure and transportation are needed, so pay-as-you-go is the way we're going to deal with this.
They said to us as well: "Continue to reform the tax system to help revitalize the economy." Again, we see that tax measures are being brought in place, and we will continue to take a look at how we can be competitive. In fact, Budget 2003 includes a series of targeted, sector-specific tax measures that will see further growth in these areas. These ones, I think, will benefit my area as well as throughout the province.
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Targeted, sector-specific tax measures in new media, book publishing, television and film, digital animation and visual effects and in the cruise ship sector. Well, here in Victoria the cruise ship sector means a lot to us. It helps our economy because of the tourism potential and the sustainability of that. I know that up in Prince Rupert, they're very much looking forward to the cruise ship industry growing by leaps and bounds there too. [Applause.] I know that the member from Prince Rupert is very pleased about that.
Another theme, the fourth theme that came out of this consultation, was about paying down the debt. Well, we have it in our plan that once a surplus is there, we will look at the pressures of the time. It's certainly within, I think, the Minister of Finance's thoughts that the paying down of the debt will be there.
We were also asking the public for their ideas on how to generate revenue. Well, we got two rather general themes on that, one of which was to be creative about generating revenue through economic growth. I think the fact that we're looking at tax measures is one way. We're continuing to look at ways to reduce government red tape and regulation, and we're going to continue to work with communities to share with us their ideas about that.
They also asked us to lobby Ottawa for more dollars. Well, I think we've done really well in that area. With Ottawa allowing to see another $17 billion put into health care, of which we're going to receive $1.3 billion, I think it's a great sign of what the Premier and the Minister of Finance and our Minister of Health have been able to do: work with Ottawa, for the first time in a long time getting our fair share of tax dollars from Ottawa. More good news? I think so.
I just want to say that the Finance and Government Services Committee went out and listened to people. We put these things in our report. We weren't sure how the Minister of Finance was going to take it. You know, they listened, and in the end they incorporated that into our 2003 budget. I feel very, very proud of the work we as private members can do. We can have an effect and make decisions on how things will happen. It's all about working together as a team.
Budget 2003 has so many things in it. I'm very, very worried that I'm not going to be able to get all the things I want to say in, because I know the time is short. Half an hour is just not long enough when you want to talk about all the wonderful things in such a wonderful budget.
I want to say that something I'm particularly proud of…. I know this can only go to an accountant's heart — that is, moving towards GAAP, generally accepted accounting principles. I know there's a lot of confusion out there, but as an accountant I can tell you it's an important step to take forward. It shows accountability, openness, transparency — something our government is very proud of. I know the other accountants in this chamber will join me in saying this is a good step forward.
Not only that. For the first time, the Institute of Chartered Accountants — of which I'm not a member because I'm a certified general accountant, but I won't hold that against them — offered an award last week to our Minister of Finance, to our provincial government, for making this bold step forward to moving towards GAAP, because we are the first province in Canada, if not on the entire North American continent jurisdiction, to move towards generally accepted accounting principles. We should be very proud of that leading-edge move.
I want to also talk very quickly — because as I say, I'm mindful of the time — about how our policies are in fact helping our province. I have to say that while it doesn't help my region specifically, I want to talk about something I heard about around a week ago which is going to be good for our entire province. I had the opportunity to attend an event in Vancouver and meet with some people. I happened to meet the people from the United States — from Colorado, actually — who purchased recently, a year ago, the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts. They're going to rename it, I think, the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts. All our members who represent the lower mainland, even the two opposition members, should be very, very happy about this. They now have investment in their area, in the lower mainland.
These gentlemen — these foreign investors, if you will, because they are from America — have brought in approximately $8.5 million to buy the Ford Centre. They put another million or so dollars into renovating
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it. They advised me that they're bringing in two Broadway shows this spring — I think in May. They said: "You know, to bring a Broadway show requires an underwriting cost of about $600,000 to a million dollars, because you've got to guarantee all the stage hands, all the performers, the crew and everybody. You hope you're going to make your money on that and, if nothing else, cover costs." They've already committed to two Broadway shows, so we're talking $1.2 million to $2 million they're going to invest in our province.
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Not only that. They went one step further, and they've committed to another five shows in September. I asked them: "Why did you do this? You're down in the States. There are lots of opportunities there. Did you come up to British Columbia for any specific reason?" You know what they told me? They said: "Actually, it was because of your government. Actually, it was because of your tax policies. Actually, it's because we saw a new government that was in control, a new government that was looking at economic stability and revitalization. We see a government that we can trust, so we thought it was time to bring our dollars up to your province."
Lo and behold, it landed smack in the lower mainland, in Vancouver, so those two opposition members should be very grateful. They're going to see employment in their area. They're going to see the arts community revitalized, but I don't even hear them saying thank you. I won't hold out for that, but I hope they will. I hope they will do that.
In addition, something we had done last year, but which I think is going to pay off in spades in the dividends that we will see in the next few years, is the corporation capital tax measure we had eliminated. That had been a huge hindrance to a number of investors, specifically Asian investors in the lower mainland — again, where those two opposition members reside and where they reap the benefits of those directly, more so than I do. I have to tell you, those Asian investors said in order for them to feel confident about our province, in order for them to risk their dollars in our province, they wanted to see that corporation capital tax eliminated. So we did. It's gone, gone, gone.
I think we have a lot to be proud of. I think the opposition should be proud of what we've been able to do because they're going to see the benefits of that. They made a promise in 1995 that they were going to get rid of the corporation capital tax. It turns out that we're the ones that kept their promise for them. I think when they're screaming out about promises not being kept, they should realize we kept one for them. Again, I won't hold my breath for any more thanks for that.
What did the NDP do in their ten years? When they boast about things — their surplus budgets and things like that…. They might have had real surpluses if they hadn't spent moneys and chose to spend moneys in areas that they shouldn't. Our deficit could possibly have been lower if they hadn't left behind a number of things we had to deal with.
Let's not forget the $1. 2 billion they spent through Forest Renewal, without so much as a business plan. Let's not forget their Carrier Lumber settlement, which our government had to deal with. If it were on their books, I guess you would see that their surplus would have started to disappear pretty quickly. Let's also not forget that they handed out a billion dollars' worth of business subsidies — again something that we've eliminated — and $25 million of that the NDP lent to a private company with the intention of building the PNE in an environmentally sensitive place — Burns Bog. Again we had to deal with these legacies, these problems they left us with.
The list goes on and on. We also had to take a write-down of the ICBC-owned Surrey Place. Was that a sound business decision? No. It was all about a political move.
Interjection.
I. Chong: Yes, I was just about to mention Skeena Cellulose — $425 million. I just don't know. The mother of all, I think we all know. Here it comes: $463 million to fast ferries.
Interjection.
I. Chong: I know they don't want to hear it. I know they don't want to remember that, but they did it. I hope it will finally be out of our hair before too long.
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I see the green light's on. I can't believe my time is almost up. I just want to leave you with this. When the NDP say that they don't support our budget, they're saying they don't support protected funding for health care. They're saying they don't support protected funding for education. What they're saying is they don't support British Columbians having the lowest personal income tax rates for the bottom two brackets. They're saying they support billion-dollar subsidies. They're supporting fast ferries. They're supporting credit downgrades. They're supporting fiscal mismanagement. That's what they're saying.
I say no. I say it's time to get back on track. Our fiscal plan is working. We're going to stay on course. We're ahead of schedule. We promised change; we're delivering change. We're going to free up as many resources as we can to put back where they're needed — in patient care and in students. Budget 2003 is a plan for prosperity. It's prudent; it's responsible; it's focused. It's about the future, so let's get on with the future.
Hon. R. Thorpe: That's an unbelievable speech there, and it's very hard to follow that member, who knows very well what she speaks of.
I'm very proud to rise in the House today on behalf of the constituents of Okanagan-Westside, who I have the pleasure of representing, to tell everybody in British Columbia that I support the budget of our government in 2003.
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Before I get into the details of that budget, I just want to take a moment to recognize some very special constituents who I had the pleasure to present with the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal: Patricia Ryder from Peachland, Ross Gorman from Westbank, Ellen Lloyd from Summerland, Ben Stewart from Westbank, Harry McWatters from Summerland, Anthony von Mandl from Westbank and Fern Gene from Westbank. These are truly British Columbians that have given so much back to their communities, to their industries — British Columbians that we should all be very proud of.
Budget 2003 shows that our government's fiscal plan is not only on track, but it is working. It's on track and it's ahead of schedule. We've had to make some very tough decisions since forming government. It's not always been easy, but we promised change to British Columbians, and we are beginning to see the benefits of our strong fiscal discipline. Our prudent approach to managing tax dollars is already paying all British Columbians dividends. We are now able to free up resources, to encourage further growth and investment, and to continue to address the priorities our Premier clearly put in place for our government: putting patients first, putting students first and putting those people truly in need at the front of the list for help from their government.
Make no mistake, though. We have a lot of work to do. We are going to keep our province on track, and we will balance the budget in 2004-05. Budget 2003 is a plan of prosperity and prudence. It's responsible, and it's focused on the future. We have made progress, but as I said a second ago, we are just beginning. We will continue to be a government that watches our spending and focuses on economic development — economic development through the heartlands of British Columbia, through our major urban cities. We will also sustain, as our responsibility to provide a responsible social safety net and build for tomorrow.
Very recently I had the pleasure, as the minister responsible, to welcome two major international investors and companies to British Columbia. PeopleSoft, one of the world's leading software developers, now has a development centre in British Columbia; eBay, the world's leading Internet retailer, now has established a customer contact centre in British Columbia.
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I'm just going to digress a minute for the member for Vancouver-Hastings over there, because it's always troubling to me to hear that member talk about their approach to fiscal responsibility. Of course, they had no responsibility when it came to finances. They continued to use warrants. They couldn't balance the books. When they told British Columbians they balanced the books, we found out there was some fudge in the cupboard. Our government — and that member should listen very carefully — is going to be the first government to adopt generally accepted accounting principles in a province that has actually been awarded an award by the chartered accountants institute for the work of our Finance minister. Our Finance minister is to be congratulated for his fine efforts.
What have we done so far? What have the people of British Columbia achieved so far? I want to be very clear. Our job as a government is to create an investment climate here that allows the private sector to invest and to prosper. That private sector in the last year generated almost 78,000 new jobs. Employment grew by 4.1 percent, well ahead of the national average of 3.7 percent. Yes, 78,000 new jobs in British Columbia.
What else is happening in British Columbia? Housing starts jumped by 25 percent, exceeding all forecasts. Home sales — a record year, up 19 percent, with the most homes sold since 1993. That is British Columbians showing that they have confidence in their province today and, more importantly, in the future. New motor vehicle sales in British Columbia — up more than 13 percent, the second-highest increase in all of Canada.
Mineral explorations. That member for Vancouver-Hastings right over there brought the mining industry and mineral exploration to its knees in British Columbia, and she should be ashamed of that. Under our government and the leadership of the minister responsible, the Minister of Energy and Mines, exploration in British Columbia is up 25 percent in the year 2002. That means we'll have more new mines in the future taking the wealth out of the ground in British Columbia so that we can spend it on health care and education and those truly in need.
Our deficit for 2002-03 will come in at a minimum — a minimum — of $600 million below the originally planned number. That is because everyone in this government — private members and cabinet ministers — under the leadership of the Premier, has addressed the responsibilities they've been given by British Columbians to return fiscal sanity to our province. In the year 2004-05 we will have a surplus in British Columbia. Also, debt is going to be down $3.8 billion lower than forecast. That provides $190 million a year to provide health care, education and social assistance to those truly in need.
Budget 2003 is going to continue to build. We have very strategically put in place, under the leadership of the Finance minister, $29 million in additional tax changes: a $5 million increase in the venture capital tax credits to attract up to $17 million a year in new investment for new media, a 15 percent tax credit for the film and television productions using digital animation and visual effects, expanded regional film production credits for the entire province of British Columbia and a $2.3 million tax credit for the book-publishing industry in British Columbia. Yes, we are committed to working with sectors throughout British Columbia to make sure not only that they are developing but that they're growing and they're leading across Canada.
A $4 million increase in the budget for tax credits under the labour-sponsored venture capital program. Mr. Speaker, I'm sure you recall that we introduced competition last year. This additional $4 million tax credit will provide up to $27 million a year in new individual investment in the province of British Columbia. We're also extending the mineral exploration tax credit until the year 2006, and we'll match any exten-
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sion to the federal mining flow-through share tax credit, again providing the heartlands of British Columbia the opportunity to explore and develop the wealth.
We're also paralleling the bunker fuel tax exemption to include fuel used in gas turbine engine–powered ships to make British Columbia an even more attractive port of call for our tourism and cruise ship industry. Cruise ship traffic in Victoria increased some 41 percent in the past year; Vancouver, up 6 percent. We are making significant progress.
[1710]
One of the things our government said in our new era when we got elected was this. Yes, we were going to have fiscal responsibility, but we were going to address those items that the people of British Columbia hold so dear to them: health care, education and social services. We said that in health care we were going to put patients first. Fully 68 percent of our provincial budget goes to provide health care and education. Health care costs have grown between 7 and 8 percent, while our economy languished. In fact, the member for Vancouver-Hastings can take credit. Under her watchful eye and the policies of her government, our economy fell from number one to number ten. We are now rebuilding that.
Forty-one percent of every dollar that our government takes in is spent to provide health care. We often hear that member over there heckling — we don't hear it today — usually about health care. Our government has committed $1.1 billion more to health care. There have been no cuts by our government. In fact, funding has increased by $1.1 billion since we've been in government, an increase of 12 percent.
We will, as our Premier and our cabinet have committed, put every one of the 1.3 billion new dollars that are going to flow from the federal government into health care. That money will be put there for patients.
As a result of the changes, we're able to better manage our health resources. We have 538 more nurses able to practise in British Columbia since 2002, and our British Columbia universities will graduate twice as many doctors by the year 2009. That's because of the commitment we've made.
Just to show that we can actually walk the talk, that the dollars going into health care should be focused on the patient, under the leadership of our regional health authorities — and let me compliment the interior health authority for the excellent job they've done in tough circumstances — across-the-board administration costs in health care have been reduced by 45 percent so that we can have more money for patients.
Let me talk for a minute about education. Our government has maintained the budget at $4.86 billion despite enrolment drops. That means an additional $662 in district funding per student since 1998. Our Ministry of Children and Family Development will continue to support meal programs and inner-city school programs, contrary to what that member over there says. The Ministry of Education will increase by $143 million over the next three years. That's more than $240 per student for the classroom, once again putting students first.
I talked a minute ago about doubling the number of doctors. Let us talk about our government's commitment to research and to universities and colleges throughout the province. We've committed $696 million for capital projects, $150 million to double the computer graduates and $45 million for leading-edge endowment. We are also, in this budget, adding $7.5 million to establish six new regional innovation chairs at colleges throughout British Columbia. That's going to help in the Okanagan.
Talking about families in need and how people in British Columbia actually want to help themselves, since June of 2001 the number of people on income assistance in British Columbia has dropped by 55,000. Ninety-two percent of those surveyed said that they either have new jobs or are pursuing new educational opportunities and, in fact, are earning more money. That helps them as a family. It helps us as a province. It helps those that have children to raise.
We talk about helping those who need help the most. We have doubled the earnings top-up that can take place for those with disabilities. That member over there…. With her government, it was $200 a month. With our government, it's $400 with which those with disabilities can help themselves. This is a government that walks the talk, that helps those truly in need.
[1715]
With respect to families, our funding in our 2003 budget — a 50 percent increase in the number of child care spaces eligible for subsidy assistance, $10 million for a new early childhood partnership fund with United Way and the Credit Union Central of British Columbia, and up to $11 million in additional funding per year for intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder. This helps those who need to be helped.
When we look at helping those who need help, when we look at investing in students and education, when we look at placing patients number one and investing $1.1 billion in health care, that means we have to work really hard to make sure that our economy is revitalized. Our government knows — and I personally have had the opportunity to travel to all parts and corners of our province — that three-quarters of British Columbia communities depend on forestry for their economic survival. That is why our government has committed $275 million for forest community revitalization.
Twenty-six mills have closed since 1997. Our forest industry has lost 13,000 jobs. With the new legislation and our commitment to working with communities, we are going to see, I believe, with the settlement of the softwood lumber agreement, a significant revitalization in our forest industry and our communities that depend on it and, most importantly, in those families and individuals who work in it.
The forest industry is the backbone of our province. It's exciting for our province. Through the vision of the Premier of British Columbia we now have the heartlands economic strategy to open our rural and northern
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communities — the province's heartlands. It is the economic strength, it has been the economic strength, and it will continue to be the economic strength of British Columbia.
We are going to be working very, very hard on our heartlands economic strategy. Just as part of it we are committing $650 million — new — to a three-year transportation program. We're going to make those investments without increasing debt by one penny. I know there are those out there, but there are fewer and fewer every day — still some from Vancouver-Hastings, particularly led by that member — who think you should actually incur debt and throw that cost onto the backs of our children or my soon-to-be grandchild. That's not acceptable. If we want it today, we should pay for it today. That's why I fully support the 3½ cent tax on fuel that will take effect in a few days, on March 1. We expect, with that money that's going to be dedicated — every cent is going to be dedicated to transportation infrastructure — we'll be able to lever another $1.7 billion. That is a significant investment not only in our future but in our children's and grandchildren's future.
This transportation infrastructure means new jobs, new opportunities and further economic growth. As we've said, our priorities are improving the Kicking Horse Canyon. All too often political figures have spoken about it. We're actually going to act on it, and 225 million of those dollars are going to be dedicated to northern and heartlands roads development.
Part of the heartlands is the Okanagan. Yes, Highway 97 is going to see improvements. We've had enough deaths between Summerland and Peachland. As I said to my constituents when I was in opposition and say now that I'm in government, I will continue to work to make sure that road is as safe as it can be, and I look forward to meeting with my colleague the Minister of Transportation very shortly to get the details of when we can actually start working on the road. I know that will be very soon.
[1720]
As my colleague from the South Okanagan talked about, Highway 3 is also very important to the Okanagan. Of course, there's been the much-talked-about bridge in Kelowna. Yes, our government is moving on that also. We're going to have the new bridge across Lake Okanagan.
We're going to keep the inland ferry system toll-free. That is another thing that many members, including myself…. We went out and travelled around, and people told us how important that is to developing their economy and keeping jobs in their communities. The Minister of Transportation worked with the Minister of Finance, and we were able, by a growing economy, by responsible financial management, to come up with the funds to keep that a part.
There will be new opportunities throughout the entire province of British Columbia, in the heartlands of British Columbia. We will be working with the private sector, creating jobs and improving the quality of life.
Let me just talk for a second about Fair Pharmacare. The member over there apparently argues against Fair Pharmacare. The member for Vancouver-Hastings argues against Fair Pharmacare, which only tells me that she's for unfair Pharmacare. Well, let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, I stand in this House for Fair Pharmacare. When I see that 280,000 low-income British Columbia families and seniors are going to pay less, I'm for that. That's fair.
British Columbia will provide the second most generous prescription drug coverage in all of Canada. That's Fair Pharmacare. In fact, 84 percent of all British Columbia families will pay the same or less — 84 percent. That's Fair Pharmacare. For the first time, young families — the future of our province — with low incomes will be supported. Their drug costs will be less. Our government said it was going to put people first. This Fair Pharmacare puts people first. It's fair and I support it.
Let me just talk for a second, Mr. Speaker, if I could — because I know the hour is getting late here — about the heartlands economic strategy. In my role as Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise, I have the privilege to travel to so many communities. Let me say that I've had the privilege to travel to Peace River South and Peace River North with my colleagues there. Let me tell you that there is a region of the province of British Columbia known as the Peace, and there is no sector that offers our province more opportunity than our energy sector.
Our new energy policy will open up new investments across the northeast, but more importantly, it has a vision to open it up across the province through new independent power production — clean, renewable, alternative energy throughout British Columbia. Coalbed methane has huge potential through the heartlands of British Columbia — whether it be the Kootenays, the central interior or Vancouver Island — creating job opportunities, creating new enterprise opportunities. We are aggressively going to pursue those opportunities.
Let me say that offshore oil and gas exploration holds tremendous promise for the communities in the northwest and on northern Vancouver Island, the heartlands of British Columbia. It's time, as my colleague said the other day, for the negative Nellies over there to get off it. What do they have against British Columbians in the northern part of our province and the northern communities of our province? What do they have against them having economic opportunity? What do they have against them having good-paying jobs? What do they have against them looking after their families? There should be nothing.
We have an opportunity. It's time that the federal government, Minister Anderson, gets onside with the province of British Columbia. It's in time, with the support of Minister Herb Dhaliwal in Ottawa, that British Columbia will achieve its goal. By the year 2010 we are going to have offshore oil and gas up and running, environmentally sound and booming with job creation, giving all British Columbians an opportunity.
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[1725]
A file that I have the opportunity to work on is tourism. It's an exciting industry. The Premier, myself, the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Sustainable Resource Management have just come back from the Kamloops conference, and we are committed. We are committed to working with the tourism industry. We are committed to ensuring, through our British Columbia resort strategy, that we have four-seasons resorts throughout British Columbia, again providing economic opportunity — whether it be in Valemount, Hudson's Hope, Smithers, Chetwynd, Golden, Kimberley, Fernie, Red Mountain in Rossland or Nelson — and dare I forget Apex in Penticton. We have tremendous opportunities, and our government is committed to working with the tourism industry to double the tourism industry's revenues by the year 2010. Is it going to be easy? No, it's not going to be easy. It's going to take a lot of people working hard together. But that is the spirit of British Columbia: people working together.
Let me also tell you, Mr. Speaker, and members of the House that we are also working very hard, and within months we will be developing and launching a new international marketing strategy to aggressively develop new markets and increased market share for British Columbia products worldwide. We are going to do it in a very focused, targeted way, because we have to manage within our limited financial resources.
This is not about going out and having glossy ads in Fortune magazine. This is actually about filling the order book and having British Columbia forest products shipped to Taiwan and India, and environmental technology shipped around the world. That's what we're going to do. We're going to focus on lumber. We're going to focus on value-added products. We're going to work with our biotech industry, our high-tech industry, our environmental technology industry, our education sector and tourism. There will be others, but we are going to do it in a very, very focused manner.
I know there are other people that want to speak on this very important issue, but this, the future of British Columbia…. You know, we actually are going to have the opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as we restore fiscal sanity to British Columbia. We have sound finances. We fix and work on continually amending the health care system so that it's sustainable and the patients are first, so that we work on educating and placing our resources and our education system on not only our students in K-to-12 but also our advanced learning institutions.
We have an opportunity in front of us, and a decision will be made on July 2. Yes, I believe strongly that Canada, that British Columbia, that Vancouver-Whistler will be chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Let me tell you, that is going to put British Columbia on the world stage. It's going to give us the awareness that we can never dream of. Therefore, I am going to continue to work to tell people around the world about the benefits of British Columbia.
Our Premier has a vision. Our government has a vision. British Columbia is the best place to live, learn, work and play. We are going to continue, in a fiscally responsible way, to have a competitive investment climate. We are going to continue to cut red tape by one-third as we promised in our new era. We are going to continue to put patients first. We are going to continue to put students first. It's all going to be in a financial framework that focuses on sustainability.
I proudly, on behalf of all of the constituents of Okanagan-Westside, support wholeheartedly the budget tabled by my colleague the Minister of Finance and our government for 100 percent support in this House.
Hon. R. Neufeld: Mr. Speaker, it's good to see you in the chair, and it's always a pleasure to rise in this House and talk about the budget for this upcoming fiscal year, a budget that this government is very proud of and should be very proud of. It's a budget that's focused and targeted in a move towards balancing our budget in '04-05, as we committed to do during the election and in the New Era document, even though we inherited one heck of a mess from you know who.
[1730]
It amazes me to no end, daily coming into the House and listening to the member for Vancouver-Hastings and the other member of the NDP talk about how good they were in government and how well they operated when, in fact, after we came to office, we obviously found quite a few things that were pretty disturbing for us and for the population in British Columbia. Having gone through a decade of fairly rapid growth, the NDP were unable in ten consecutive budgets to balance the budget. That's even with record revenue from B.C. Hydro, when prices were really high in California, with an extra billion dollars that just appeared.
They couldn't balance it then. That same year there was an extra almost three-quarters of a billion dollars from oil and gas, all in the same year. Think about it and all the other things that go along with it — almost $2 billion in extra money into your pot. How would you like to have that kind of increase in your paycheque at the end of the year? Under NDP plans, you were still short. You were still going to the market to borrow more money on the backs of the taxpayers of the province, those being the children that are coming after us.
The Premier committed to moving toward balancing the budgets, living within our means and trying to pay down the debt as best we can, as many of the other provinces in Canada have done. Next door is a good example. They have very little debt left, because they had a plan when they went into government. Some of it was tough, but it's paying off for them. I've heard other members of the House say how it's also paying off for us in British Columbia, because we made some tough decisions in B.C.
This caucus has made some of the tough decisions to move forward. In our constituencies we all have and our people have suffered to a degree about some things. But when you start talking to people about get-
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ting your fiscal house in order, getting your finances in order, anyone that actually runs a household in the province understands that quite well. They can understand how easy it is to get into the ditch. They can also understand how tough it is to get out and how long it takes.
Our Finance minister and our Premier have taken us in that direction, and we're on track for a balanced budget, as we said we would be. This year expenditures are $600 million lower — just over half a billion dollars lower — than expected. That's quite remarkable. I believe, if I remember correctly, they went back to 1951 to find out when the last time was that every ministry within government spent within their means, within their budgets, with what they were allocated, and this is the first year.
This is the first full year of our budget, a B.C. Liberal budget, that we were actually under or on target with the spending we committed to make, since 1951. No one has done it before. Obviously, in the last ten years it didn't matter what contingencies they had. It didn't matter what kind of budget they had. They just spent. In fact, I remember a previous Premier by the name of Glen Clark talking about them shovelling money off the back of the truck so hard in British Columbia that they didn't know how they could keep it up. That's a quote from Mr. Glen Clark in this Legislature.
[1735]
We said — this government, the Premier, the province — that we cannot continue to do that, so we're moving forward to balance our budget in 2004-05. We've committed to increasing some of the budgets. Over time we said the two ministries we wanted to maintain the funding in were Health and Education. We've made that commitment, and in fact, we're going to keep that commitment. In the coming years we're going to spend $1.3 billion more in health care than we're spending today. That takes into consideration that last year, the government of British Columbia invested another $1.1 billion in health care. That's keeping our commitment to the people in the province. Strong fiscal management is what it takes.
It also takes a caucus that's determined to work together, to try and work things as best we can, to manage our dollars, to manage our investments in this province amongst all of us, so that every MLA in this Legislature — other than maybe a couple — feels comfortable with what we're doing. That's hard to do. That takes some real leadership. It takes leadership that's delivered by our Premier in this province to work with all members of this caucus, regardless of what part of the province you're from.
Each and every one of us has something that we specifically need, maybe, in our constituency. Our Premier has committed to working with everyone, keeping everyone involved in this government and in the operations that are going on within this government to make sure that all British Columbians — actually, your constituents — regardless of where you live, whether you live in the heartlands or in the rest of British Columbia, will feel better at the end of the day.
When I talk about strong fiscal management, the 2002-03 budget forecast was $920 million in debt service costs. That's a huge amount of money. Just think of what that could provide if you didn't have to pay it in debt-servicing costs. Under the prudent guidance of the Minister of Finance, by actually really being as meticulous as our Minister of Finance is about how money is spent and where it's spent — he's a real hawk on this, and he should be; that's why he's the Minister of Finance — we actually saved a fair amount of money both within the ministries in spending and with debt-servicing costs. Those markets out there, where we go to borrow money from, actually watch us. Whether we know it or not, they're watching us. They get the reports constantly to make sure we're living up to what we said we would do and we're living up to what we promised we would do. They're watching us very closely, they're watching the Ministry of Finance, and they feel comfortable.
Those debt service costs were down. That's something that didn't matter to the last administration. It's pretty obvious by the way the debt increased under the past administration.
I said before that investing in patient care, in health care, was one of our top priorities, along with education. To think of it, we invested another $1.1 billion to bring the total budget for health care last year up to $10.4 billion. We'll maintain that funding going forward and, in fact, will add to that as we receive money from the federal government. All that money will be spent on health care.
I just want to list a few of the things that are pertinent in the health care field. We in the heartlands…. I live in one of the northernmost communities in British Columbia. I'm happy to live there. You should know, just for the record, that Sunday morning when I got up, it was 36 below. It was a little bit cold. Those are the heartlands of British Columbia where the member for Peace River South and I live. The members from the North Coast there are a little bit luckier. They get a little better weather. But it was cold where we live.
An Hon. Member: Have you got any icewine up there?
[1740]
Hon. R. Neufeld: Actually, yeah. We do have some icewine up there, member.
Health care in the heartlands of the province. About 500 more nurses were able to practise in B.C. in 2002 than in 2001. That helps each and every one of us, regardless of where we live. Whether it's in the lower mainland, the Cariboo, the Okanagan, the Kootenays, the Peace or the northwest, that's good news.
We're moving to have more doctors in British Columbia too, something that — it's interesting — the last administration forgot about. They didn't want doctors, I guess. They didn't want doctors for the member for Peace River South and for myself in Peace River North.
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I can speak, because those two constituencies have always had a hard time getting doctors to move there. The last administration actually cut the number of spaces for doctors in British Columbia, and we're not the only part of the province that has trouble getting professionals such as doctors and nurses. This government, under the leadership of the Premier, is moving towards having more nurses and doctors in British Columbia. I think that's good news for the heartlands of British Columbia.
Forgivable student loans for students who become health practitioners in B.C.'s heartlands will increase access to new student spaces and help meet regional staffing needs. Oh, isn't that neat? Actually, if you go into medicine — or education if you want to be a teacher, but specifically medicine — and you start a practice or start working in the heartlands in British Columbia, out of the lower mainland, over a number of years you can actually have your student loans reduced. That's a great incentive. On top of that, doctors in the north, specifically in the constituency that I come from, actually get a bit of a bonus for living in the north, in that cold weather. I think that's good news for British Columbia. It's good news for the heartlands of British Columbia. After all, good education is the best thing for health care anywhere, regardless of where you live.
Within the Health ministry we've reduced administrative costs by 45 percent by 2004-05. Instead of — I forget what the number is — well over 50 hospital boards and you name it, we're down to five or six and still providing the service. That makes good sense. When we can save those administration dollars, we should be looking at that all the time.
It reminds me of something we're trying to do within B.C. Hydro — actually reduce the costs of providing some of the services but still have the same level of service. Now, there are some that are against that. I can't quite figure that out. I've been thinking about it long and hard, and maybe some day the member for Vancouver-Hastings will be able to tell me why she doesn't think that's good for British Columbia.
More resources for students. Education — a very important part of our budget. As I said earlier, health care and education are the two budgets that were protected. There were no cuts to those budgets. Although some will say there were, there weren't. That helps all of us. I don't care where you live. I don't care what constituency you're from or where you live in the province, maintaining health care spending and in fact increasing it, and maintaining education spending and in fact increasing it, is good for British Columbia.
In fact, school boards will be able to — and have now, under our administration, three-year rolling budgets so they can — actually plan three years ahead. They don't have to have "March madness." They can actually save some money in one year because they may not be able to spend it in that year and spend it in the next year. That makes good common sense.
[1745]
That good common sense came from the leadership that we have from the Premier of the province. Let's look at doing things a little bit differently. They might be a little controversial to start with, but at the end of the day, if they work and they provide the same level of service and the same level of care, but it can be done cheaper with more common sense and by spending money more wisely, we should not be afraid of doing that.
Revitalizing our forest industry. Although as the Minister of Energy and Mines, I'm pretty proud of the revenue this ministry brings in, I do have to concede to the Minister of Forests that forestry is the engine of the province. It has been for a long time. I'm not sure for how long, but…. All kidding aside, it is the engine of the province. It has been and it will continue to be. Under the leadership of this government, the leadership of that minister, we know that will continue.
The Ministry of Forests, obviously the forest workers and the companies in the province are going through some pretty tough times. It's not easy to be in forestry today. It's not been easy to be in forestry for the last while. It wasn't easy to be in forestry under the last administration. When you think about being in forestry, when you think about having a forest company or working as a forest worker — whatever you do in the forest industry in the province — it is tough because of some of the unknowns that are out there. The softwood lumber agreement is probably the biggest one.
The changes coming in the Forest Act. There will be a lot of changes this session within forestry and, in fact, this year. Some changes are going to be a little tough very likely, and some changes in the long run, when you look to the future, will actually make good sense so that we continue to have a thriving forest sector in the province. After all, we have the forests; we have the trees. We should be able to use them wisely and to the best benefit of all British Columbians. Whether you live in the heartlands of British Columbia and work in a forest industry or whether you live in downtown Vancouver, it's just as important in downtown Vancouver as it is in Hazelton. It doesn't matter.
With the savings and the prudent investments the Ministry of Finance has made and with everybody working very hard on their budgets, we've been able to put aside almost $300 million, $275 million, as a cushion to help the industry through some of the changes that are going to take place in this next year — it's not just the industry; it's the people that work in the industry — to try and mitigate some of the problems that are going to show up in that industry as we move through change, as we adapt to different ways of doing things.
We want to make sure we also include first nations. The Forests minister has been working very hard on how we include first nations in this industry called forestry, to start giving them an opportunity to have businesses, to work towards things that maybe some of us have taken for granted through the years.
[1750]
I can understand to a degree, coming from where I do — I don't understand all of it and hardly could — how first nations feel about what's taken place in the
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province. I've had a number of chiefs up north tell me that you've got to understand how it feels to them to see truckload after truckload after truckload of logs go by their door, going somewhere, some mill someplace, and unemployment on their reserves is high — 80 percent. Maybe even more so in my constituency and the member for Peace River North's, the truckloads of drilling rigs, oil — you name it — going by their doorstep on a regular basis and not being able to enjoy some of the benefits that some of us have taken for granted over the years…. That is an important thing that this government wants to do: be able to involve first nations, to get them involved in the economy, to get them involved in a real way in the economy so that they can actually enjoy some of the things we have enjoyed, as a non-aboriginal community, for a long time.
It's always great to talk about some of the industries that my ministry represents. I want to start with mining. Mining opened up this province. It gave us many of the roads that we have in British Columbia. People have made a very good living, and still do, in the mining industry in British Columbia. The problem is that there are a lot less of them today than there were even ten years ago. Ten years ago it didn't take long for the mining industry to find out that the previous administration didn't like business, didn't like industry and, for whatever reason — I still can't figure it out — didn't like well-paying jobs.
The mining industry pays some of the highest average wages of any industry in the province. There's great mineralization in British Columbia, better mineralization than any other jurisdiction in Canada. Yet the first thing they did was make it impossible for that industry to operate here. Slowly they left.
When the NDP came into power, I think exploration was well over $200 million a year. It takes about, I'm told, $100 million to $150 million a year in exploration to actually bring on new mines as the old mines close. So we were up well over $200 million. Very quickly, in the twinkling of an eye, the member from East Hastings and group shipped them all to Chile, South America, the U.S., Australia — you name it. They forgot about shipping those products around the world, which actually brings money to British Columbia. They shipped the companies out along with the jobs, and the jobs went wanting.
When we were elected, the Premier said: "We're going to bring mining back to British Columbia." He challenged me to make sure that happens. We've been working very hard. We've just put through an approval for the Tulsequah mine in northwestern B.C., a huge mine up by Atlin. Hopefully, that works out.
A year ago I went to Toronto and talked to different mining companies, Noranda being one of them. Noranda said they would never come back to British Columbia. Well, Noranda watched the leadership of this government and decided they would come back to British Columbia. They came back to Vancouver and opened an office. Now they're taking baby steps, but they're here. They're here because we reduced the taxes, like they said we had to. We're reducing the red tape. In fact, we have legislation before the House that will reduce the red tape even further for the mining and the oil and gas industry. We've continued with the flow-through shares. Exploration is up by about 35 percent, in fact, to about $45 million this year. When we came to office it was at an ebb of under $10 million a year, if you can imagine.
We've moved, and so has the mining industry. They continue to tell me that they are encouraged by what's been happening. We know it's going to take a while before they feel fully comfortable being back in British Columbia, but we want them here. Unlike the opposition, we actually want well-paying jobs for people in British Columbia and a good province, a place where you can access health care and education. The only way we can do that is if we have those well-paying jobs and that industry actually starts paying some royalties into the provincial coffers, so we can continue on with the $10 billion a year in health care that we have now.
[1755]
Oil and gas — about $4 billion worth of investment this year. Not bad — $4 billion. That's in exploration and drilling — seismic, land sales and all the things that go along with it. We have a record. In fact, this is a record this year for the number of drilling rigs in British Columbia. We're on record. That's because the industry is starting to feel comfortable coming back here to the province. We have good basins. There's lots of oil and gas yet to be found, lots of oil and gas yet that we need as a population. They're coming back here. In fact, the Canadian association of oil-well drillers just sent me a press release. They said that if there's any place in Canada to be in the oil and gas industry, it's British Columbia. That's really good.
On top of that we have offshore oil and gas. We haven't even touched offshore oil and gas. My ministry has created a division specifically to work on offshore oil and gas — huge potential, offshore oil and gas. The Premier has committed that we will not do it unless we can do it soundly — scientifically and environmentally. My ministry is working hard to make sure that happens.
We want to open up those parts of the heartlands of British Columbia so that people along the coast, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, can actually see the benefits of what the member for Peace River South and I see on an average day in the northeast part of the province — that is, well-paying jobs, good jobs, long-term jobs where young people want to go and work. That's good news, because we need that oil and gas activity, we need that mining activity, and we need the activity of independent power producers to generate electricity in British Columbia — all those great activities. It's so much more good news. We need that activity to take place to provide the jobs so we can all enjoy good health care, good education, safe homes, safe streets — all the things that we want for our children well into the future.
I actually love the job I have. It's a great job. I tell you, working with this caucus is just great on all kinds
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of issues. Whether it's independent power producers, whether it's oil and gas or whether it's mining, to work with everyone to try and make sure this activity increases in British Columbia…. I look forward to all the good things that are going to continue to happen in the province under the leadership of our present Premier.
Noting the hour, I move adjournment of the debate.
Hon. R. Neufeld moved adjournment of debate.
Motion approved.
Hon. R. Neufeld moved adjournment of the House.
Motion approved.
The House adjourned at 5:58 p.m.
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