Hansard -- Monday, April 7, 2003 a.m. -- Vol. 14, No. 1 (HTML)

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

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY



CONTENTS

	Routine Proceedings
		Page

Private Members' Statements		6021
	Road safety M. Hunter Hon. R. Coleman IFC (International financial centres) R. Sultan R. Harris Youth asset development K. Manhas B. Belsey Genome research R. Visser Hon. C. Hansen

Motions on Notice		6030
	Criminal Code amendments on street racing (Motion 7) (continued) P. Sahota A. Hamilton B. Locke Drinking water quality (Motion 46) J. Wilson M. Hunter B. Suffredine Hon. S. Bond B. Belsey AMBER alert early warning system for child abduction (Motion 50) B. Penner B. Bennett D. MacKay J. Bray

M. Hunter: This morning I want to talk about an issue that is, I think, dear to the hearts of most people in this province. I want to talk about road safety.

As everyone knows, the last century saw the invention and the widespread adoption of the automobile and all its variations, from buses to trucks to private cars. One of the enduring truths that I think history will show us has emerged from one of mankind's most critical inventions is that everyone who's ever seen a car, let alone driven one, is an expert on driving.

If only this were the case. Unfortunately, it's not. As a consequence, we too often hear distressing news about another road accident that has cut short or affected the lives of victims and their families in our communities.

Happily, though, not every incident that happens on our roads ends up with a loss of life. But road safety is not all about loss of life; it's about common sense. It's that aspect that I want to speak about this morning, not about the important initiatives that have been taken by this government in terms of curbing some of the real excesses on our roads — street racing, in particular. I want to talk about some more commonsense issues that affect all of us who take the wheel.

Safety on our roads is determined by a combination of somewhat complex factors. Some — like the weather, of course — are way beyond our control, but many are well within our ability to influence. I would list amongst those factors, for example, automobile design; highway design and construction standards, including lighting and signage; driver education and training; the Motor Vehicle Act, which expresses British Columbia's rules about how we behave on the road; and speed zones and speed limits. I'm going to focus on the latter later on in this statement.

I want to examine some of these factors. While we in British Columbia can't determine what goes into car design, surely we can influence how the federal government approaches this subject. I'm an experienced driver, as I'm sure many people in this chamber are. I have taken the roads safely in over a dozen countries. I am always amazed about how the same car manufacturer can incorporate different safety functions in different markets. In Canada, for example, the third brake light and daytime running lights were introduced because they are proven to reduce accidents. Yet in much of Europe these features are almost unknown. On the other hand, European vehicles all have high-intensity rear lights that are a real safety feature in weather conditions which we experience here in B.C. — fog, whiteouts, heavy road spray conditions. Maybe we should be pressing the federal government to adopt the same provision for requiring high-intensity rear lights. While we're at it, I might also suggest that daytime rear lights going along with daytime headlights would be a useful safety factor.

Highway design in B.C. leaves, in my opinion, much to be desired. For example, entry and exit points on limited-access highways are not standardized, so drivers never know whether you have an acceleration or deceleration lane to use. While signage is much improved in recent years, it's still far below the standards found in other parts of the world, even in Canada. I would point to Ontario as an example of excellent highway signage.

Stop signs sprout in B.C. communities like dandelions in the spring. Once sprouted, they stay, not like the humble dandelion. It's no wonder to me that we consume so much fuel in Canada when we spend so much time at stop signs. In contrast, in the United Kingdom stop signs are a rarity, which proves that there are other ways to control traffic flows through our communities.

I know that we have a policy in B.C. to provide lighting at intersections and on off-ramps on highways, but there are many places that are unlit that could do with lighting improvements to provide more safety. Of course these are going to have to wait until after the budget is in surplus.

On driver education, I think we've taken huge strides with the implementation of and improvements to the graduated licence program, although I see in today's paper there are criticisms that we haven't gone far enough. That may be. The driving exam is still not tough enough, in my estimation. I am appalled at the number of people who drive without looking in rearview mirrors more than once in a blue moon or who pull into traffic after consulting their mirrors but without looking over their left shoulder. These bad habits are formed young. Not knowing what is around you in a vehicle is just not optional.

I want to move to a couple of issues that are within our control to change in road safety. The first is the B.C. practice of allowing drivers on a multi-lane highway to pass another vehicle on the right. Our laws permit this practice if "the lane is clear." I submit that the practice is dangerous. It creates tailgating in the passing lane. And given the lack of mirror checking that goes on, how many drivers do you think are surprised when they get passed on the right where the biggest blind spot exists?

I want to quote to you from Constable Tim Schewe in the Nanaimo RCMP detachment, who wrote recently on this subject: "If you are driving in the left-hand lane and you are driving at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing, you must drive in the

right-hand lane." If this is the suggestion of an experienced RCMP patrol constable, I think it's time that we took steps in this Legislature to change the rule. I've been talking to the Minister of Transportation about that very subject.

Lastly, I want to talk about speed limits, because in B.C. speed limits make no sense to me. They invite disobedience and encourage a lack of respect for the law. I know that speed limits are supposed to be set as a result of a combination of engineering and safety studies, but this clearly is not the case. Speed limits outside of urban areas are generally set too low. The fact is that around the world, even in Germany where there are no speed limits outside of urban areas on the autobahn, some 85 percent of people drive at speeds that reflect the road condition at the time and their ability. So when we build a road that can safely be driven in a relatively modern car at 110 kilometres an hour, and we set a speed limit of 90 kilometres an hour, guess what happens. The vast majority of drivers drive at a speed closer to the designed speed than that posted on the highway signs.

Moreover, there are places in B.C. where speed limits on similar kinds of highways are different. I'll give you an example on a route that I travel weekly through Duncan. South of Duncan there's a stretch of the Island Highway which is not separated, not divided. It's four lanes, and yet the speed limit there is the same as on the divided section of the highway. It doesn't make any sense.

Others around the world have said…. I quoted examples of this — the U.S. Department of Transportation federal highway administration report from 1992 talking about the study looking at speed limits. The results of the study: lowering posted speed limits by as much as 20 miles an hour or raising speed limits by as much as 15 miles an hour had little effect on motorists' speed. The majority of motorists did not drive above the posted speed limits when speed limits were raised, nor did they reduce their speed when speed limits were lowered.

I want to introduce a debate on this subject. I think it's overdue. We need better road safety in B.C., and I look forward to the remarks of the Solicitor General.

I just wanted to take a few minutes today. I appreciate the member's remarks. I should tell him, on the issue of speeds, that I've actually had conversations with the Minister of Transportation and highways to look at speeds in certain corridors in the province, which will be done on balance with statistical information to decide where the real road safety issues that are affected by any changes can be dealt with.

We actually have some of the best statistical information with regard to intersections and road safety in any jurisdiction that we've accumulated. We now have to deal with those in a manner that we can actually apply to public safety, which is something that frankly has not been done before.

Our job in this ministry, of course, is to give police and communities the tools so that they are able to protect the public through issues of public safety with regard to traffic on our roads and this specific topic. One of the things we've done is that we've made it pretty clear that we are ready to deal with a number of issues on behalf of the relationship we have with law enforcement, as well as issues that we've already dealt with.

An example is that on April 1, the compliance section for the minister was transferred from the Insurance Corporation of B.C. to this ministry. It was transferred because it was felt that road safety with regard to the heavy trucking industry was important. Obviously, two or three days later there was a serious accident in West Vancouver that brought the whole issue to the forefront. People were wondering what's changed and what we are doing about it.

I can tell the House today that in the past in the case of an accident like that, there would have been a request go out, and there might have been, over a period of two or three months, the opportunity to look at the vehicles that were also owned by the same company with regard to road safety.

The changes we made in March with regard to the transfer over is to put into position a director in charge of this section. We were immediately able to demand the presentation of any other vehicles of the company, to do inspections on them, to react to any deficiencies of those vehicles, to pull them off the road if there were any and to actually respond to the issue.

The fact that some people out there say that the provincial government has not been doing something about safety on this issue is completely wrong. The changes were made so that we could integrate the enforcement of road safety with regard to the heavy trucking industry in the province with all other policing operations in the province. That's what we did on April 1, and it was the right thing to do.

In addition to that, we actually target industry sectors in this area, where we take a month with our personnel and we go out with mobile scales and inspection teams to target industry segments — whether it's the dumptruck industry, whether it's the hazardous goods moving industry or whatever the case may be.

In addition to that — this is one of the latest things we've done to integrate our issues around road safety — we're now working with ICBC to integrate some of the funding that they put into road safety into an expanded, integrated traffic enforcement team for the province to enhance our road safety.

In addition to the other things that we've done — like being able to seize vehicles for 48 hours with regard to road safety or speeding and doubling points with regard to speeding, road rage or road racing — we have in front of us today changes to the learner's permits, the time frames and the number of passengers that young people will be allowed to have in their vehicles when they are travelling with an N on their licence plate for a period of time so that we can actually reduce the serious and fatal motor vehicle accidents in that age group.

We have done a lot of things in the last 24 months with regard to road safety that needed to be done, things that would take initiatives to move forward so that we as a government can actually be seen to be proactive to deal with some of these issues that face our communities today.

The member for Nanaimo's suggestions are additional tools that are being asked for. We are looking at those tools as well, because long term it is to get to an integrated relationship and changes with regard to road safety, compliance and everything that moves goods, services and people on our roads.

We will have the safest streets in North America. That's the goal. Can we achieve it overnight? I don't think so. But can we achieve it? I believe so. We have the right infrastructure, we have the right relationship, and the stars are all aligned with traffic enforcement, policing and communities to identify those issues and work towards success in all those areas.

So watch in the next few months as you see how we improve the standards in trucking, how we improve the safety for young people to get a learner's permit, how we improve the number of issues in and around how they should behave and drive, and how we improve the future for the safety of our roads in British Columbia. I think the initiatives we've taken and the ones we're about to take will make a huge difference in this particular area of government and in this particular area of the province.

M. Hunter: I'm really encouraged about the Solicitor General's remarks. I will indeed be watching in the next few months for more good news from this government. I want to conclude by just repeating some of the things I've said and adding some new perspectives on speed limits. I think the Solicitor General talked about enforcement and compliance, but speed limits are important from another perspective.

I'm going to quote from a paper done by the Department of Transportation in the state of Arizona. "What realistic speed limits do: (1) they invite public compliance by conforming to the behaviour of the majority; (2) they give a clear reminder of reasonable and prudent speeds to non-conforming violators. What unrealistic speed limits do: (1) they do not invite voluntary compliance since they do not reflect the behaviour of the majority; (2) they make the behaviour of the majority unlawful; (3)" — and this is where I want to focus on the police — "they maximize a public antagonism towards the police since the police are enforcing a speed trap."

There are a couple of slogans that have become well entrenched over the years: "Speed kills, and slow is safe." Those kinds of slogans have no basis in fact. The evidence from around the world shows that. Repeated long enough and loud enough, these slogans have taken on the aura of truth.

In the United States in 1996 the federal government removed the speed limit on federal highways. It's interesting to note that in the 33 states that had raised their speed limits through the first half of 1996, after the federal government allowed limits to go up, total fatalities were up 0.4 percent — the same increase as for the nation as a whole. The opinion of this document, which is from a non-profit public policy research foundation in Washington D.C., says that speed limits that are too low can be just as dangerous as speed limits that are too high. I think we've all experienced that. We all know that intuitively.

I am really pleased that this government is taking steps to look at the important data that we have through ICBC and through other sources to take a scientific look at how we govern speed on our highways. It is important. I don't like being a criminal, but I can tell you that when I drove down here last night on the Island Highway, I was being passed, and I was driving — I will admit it — slightly above the speed limit. I was passed by just about every other car on the road. Let's be sensible about this. Let's deal with the eighty-fifth percentile. Let's not make all of us criminals. I look forward to changes in this area based on science.

Deputy Speaker: Today in the House, from the great city of Powell River, I have two super supporters of mine. I'd like to introduce to this House my son-in-law, Tor Birtig, and my granddaughter, Amanda Birtig, who are here today. I ask this House to make them welcome.

R. Sultan: I rise today to talk about international financial centres. But I cannot resist the opportunity to respond immediately to the strong message from the Solicitor General, which I think will be music to the ears of my constituents in West Vancouver–Capilano and, in fact, should reassure all British Columbians that under this Solicitor General, road safety is being treated with great competence, great energy and great seriousness. I could go on at great length on this topic, but let me just say on behalf of my constituents: Solicitor General, thank you.

I would like to address the topic of the day insofar as the private member's statement is concerned, and that is international financial centres. Years ago I was a foot soldier in a fierce war between Montreal and Toronto as to which of those two cities would dominate Canadian financial affairs. Two of our largest institutions — the Royal Bank, where I happened to be senior vice-president, and the Bank of Montreal, Canada's

largest bank before the Royal muscled on by about 50 years ago — had their mind and management securely based in Montreal. So, too, did Canada's leading brokerage and insurance companies. Toronto, in those early days, was a sideshow.

James Muir, hard-driving Scottish patriarch who pushed the Royal ahead of its rivals, hated Toronto with a passion. Post-Muir, by the mid-seventies it was clear, to some of us at least, that Toronto was winning. Thoroughly disenchanted by the policies of René Lévesque and Jacques Parizeau, head offices fled down Highway 401 to Toronto. In fact, does this sound a little bit like British Columbia under the previous government? I think so.

A decade later, even the PQ began to doubt the wisdom of driving the big banks and everybody else out of town. It was time for Quebec to rebuild its financial promise, with a little helping hand from sympathizers in Ottawa. Thus was born the concept of international financial centres. The idea was simple: create a tax-free zone in Montreal where financial institutions could engage in international transactions with a compelling tax advantage over Toronto, which would have to pay taxes.

When the word leaked out, of course, Toronto growled: "Not so fast. Whatever Montreal gets, we demand also." "No deal," said Montreal. "That would defeat the whole purpose." "Hmm," said the Ottawa mandarins, "yes, it would look bad to single out only Montreal for these special favours. Let's create a second international financial centre way out there beyond the Rocky Mountains in a place I think they call Vancouver. That's fair, and it won't bother Montreal one bit." Despite Toronto's objections, the deal was struck.

When you work to create your own destiny — and let's concede that Quebec did it with astute lobbying in Ottawa — it's my observation the outcome is often quite different from that produced when unexpected fortune is just given to you on a silver platter, such as happened to Vancouver. Quebec grabbed hold of Ottawa's favours with vigour. Out here, it seemed to take a while to figure out what was in the gift package.

Nevertheless, by 1988 both Vancouver and Montreal had provincial legislation in place dovetailing with federal legislation. The Vancouver IFC had an initial spurt, peaking at 51 members in 1991. But then fate, with the initials NDP, intervened, and membership declined to 33 in 2002. Mention the name IFC in downtown Vancouver today, and people tend to say, "Oh, that thing. I got excited about it ten years ago, but Ottawa gave all the licences to Quebec," which is a stunning misinterpretation of the facts.

Meanwhile, Montreal IFC added 15 to 20 new members a year and now has 120 offices employing 1,300 people. Economic impact ranges beyond the number of employees. Montreal has a genuine claim to being an international financial hub. Do you know that two of British Columbia's forestry companies recently established IFC subsidiaries in Quebec?

People I talk with agree that if the deal were struck today, the western leg of Canada's IFCs wouldn't be here in Vancouver; it would be in Calgary. Under the NDP, Calgary picked off the credit functions of our major banks. Under the NDP, while Calgary was completing soaring Bankers Hall, in downtown Vancouver banks were subletting. If granted the IFC opportunity today, Calgary would no doubt tuck it under their arm and charge ahead like a Stampeders running back.

The good news is that British Columbia has a new head coach, a new team and a second chance at the playoffs. Here's the playbook.

Federal legislation and provincial legislation both impact IFCs and operate in tandem. The federal legislation is quite neutral for the two qualifying jurisdictions, Montreal and Vancouver. Both grant exemption from federal income tax on earnings generated from financial transactions where both sides are on an arm's-length basis with non-residents. Provincial legislation, notably Quebec's, is structured more liberally. Providing exemptions from provincial income tax and capital tax — the latter being quite onerous in Quebec — is not really much better for financial institutions in B.C. For example, Quebec is more liberal with respect to transactions where one of the parties is non-arm's length, and they're more liberal with their definition of an eligible company. They can draw into the Quebec IFC with considerable flexibility to carry out international transactions even when one of the parties is an affiliate of a Canadian company, and this is attractive to fund operators in Europe and to the U.S.A.

To entice Asian operators is a bit more of a challenge given the low tax regimes already in place in Hong Kong and Singapore. But the Canadian location and our British Columbia location nevertheless have benefits going far beyond the tax advantage. In comparison, for example, with the Cayman Islands we have a very reliable trustee structure, an effective clearing and settlement operation, a skilled multilingual workforce and our knowledge of networks in the Asian milieu. And we're not simply talking about downtown Vancouver here. IFCs fit securely into the heartlands economic strategy of this government. On that score, I would like to turn the podium over to my esteemed colleague from the heartlands, the MLA for Skeena.

R. Harris: It probably seems a little strange to have a rural MLA with a history in the logging industry stand up to respond to the member from West Vancouver, especially on an issue like international financial centres. So with my chainsaw firmly put aside, I am pleased to be able to respond to the member.

The relevance of this subject is in fact a critical component of getting this province going again so it can achieve its full potential, and that's even more important in the heartlands. The member from West Vancouver brings up an interesting point in how Quebec has seen a lot more success than B.C. in attracting IFC firms. He speaks of a need to align and change provincial policy to stay ahead of the competition — recognizing, of course, who the competition is. There is no doubt about the legacy of the last government and how

they treated the business and investment community. Over the last decade this has done the province very few favours. A history that has taken us from the top to the bottom in attracting investment is making this task a lot more difficult today. But for rural communities, as we rebuild, one of the critical questions is: how do we bring those businesses and investment dollars back, specifically, to rural communities again? Do we just build it and hope they will come? I don't think so. Certainly, the changes we have made in creating the right environment for investment are extremely positive. The changes to the tax and regulatory environment are certainly more conducive to attracting interest. As we continue to improve the business climate, the question before us is: is that really enough in today's world?

I think the Olympic bid gives us an interesting insight into what might be the right method of attracting investment. Here we have a specific investor we are trying to attract to the province for a very specific project, and that's the Olympics. We put together a bid book that contained all of the assets that the country, the province, the city and the communities would bring to the table. We then went out to the investor — in this case the IOC — and we aggressively marketed the plan. Now we wait and see how effective we've been. If this strategy works for the Olympics, then why not pursue it with industry?

In my riding, the city of Kitimat is presently going through a significant community debate revolving around how to compel Alcan to reinvest and expand in the smelting industry there. For years this community has been trying to attract numerous opportunities without success. They look outside the province and read about Alcan and others making investments around the world. They look at the kinds of commitments that these different industries make to investment and job creation and ask the question: why not us? When is it our turn? Kitimat has all the assets, one would think: a deep-sea port, proximity to markets, a community rich in recreational assets, available housing and a well-educated workforce. Yet over the years, no successes. The community, in its frustration, now looks at legal or legislative methods to force industries to invest. They see this approach as their only option.

As I consider economic strategy, I find parallels to the Kinsella novel later made into a Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams. It's the story of a Kansas corn farmer who loves baseball. He loves it so much that he builds a baseball stadium in his cornfield. His motto was, "Build it, and they will come," and so they did. But in our case the pretext of "build it, and they will come" is not enough.

Our competition for investment dollars is global. Money moves to the point of greatest return, whether it's a union pension fund or a corporate bank account. In Kitimat's case, even with all their assets, this has not been enough for them to cross the hurdle and win. We have to change our tactics and seek out industries and go to them with a package. If the Olympic bid teaches us anything, it is to market ourselves and be aggressive. If the package contains the right tools of what communities, labour, the province and first nations all bring to the table, it will not only work for Alcan in Kitimat, but it will, in fact, create the winning conditions for completely new and different industries to locate across this province. They will make these investments in those communities because that's where they're going to get their greatest return.

We must look at what our competitors are doing, recognizing again who they are, and be a little smarter. We must look at how places like Quebec have succeeded in attracting investment, look at other jurisdictions that have realized success: Iceland, Australia, Kentucky and Michigan. We must learn and change our tactics.

Rural communities have been shrinking over the last decade. Kitimat is no different. In many ways it's fared better than most. The policy changes in forestry are going to open the door to new value-added opportunities for every community in the north. Our government's commitment to containerization in Prince Rupert will set the infrastructure in place to facilitate access to world markets.

Now we will have built it. Let's not wait for them to come. Let's be creative with our taxes and royalties, legislative requirements and regulations, and get out there with an Olympic bid for industry. It is time to close the deal, and on that note I am pleased to be able to respond to the member from West Vancouver. I look forward to an opportunity to park my chainsaw one more time on another day and talk about venture capital, another key component of getting rural communities going again.

R. Sultan: Thank you to the member for Skeena for explaining how we must get out and sell IFCs. I love the baseball analogy.

B.C. should waste no time in considering provincial legislation mirroring the Quebec model — at least, if not beyond — thereby creating a flexible regime for B.C.–based global financial players. But even without amended provincial legislation, such players can benefit from federal legislation in respect of transactions between two foreign counterparts, neither being affiliated with Canadian companies. However, given the combined effect of federal legislation and a more competitive provincial legislation, the resulting package could provide an attractive new opportunity for financial enterprises with an international base, especially those from the United States, China and Japan. The resulting benefits would flow into our major urban centres and into the heartlands.

As British Columbia emerges from its socialist desert and rebuilds its economy for the twenty-first century, the rebuilding of a vibrant financial sector must be a core strategy. The rapidly growing field of international financial transaction and servicing promises highly skilled, high-paying jobs; international networking with manifold spinoffs; clean, non-polluting enterprises; and organizations contributing to the cultural and civic life of our communities. Vancouver can be-

come a centre for the processing of merchandise trading transactions around the world.

International traders are famous for generating value through innovative application of existing products and resources. The presence of a thriving trading services cluster will improve the global marketing of B.C.'s resource industries and the commercialization of high-tech products. High-value financial sector employment will permeate all of British Columbia.

The good news is that this appears to be exactly the path that the Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise is pursuing in cooperation with Robert Fairweather, the new president of our IFC, in cooperation with the Minister of Revenue and in cooperation with the Minister of Finance. All have to be involved. We encourage them, and we support their endeavours.

K. Manhas: I have spoken in this House before about the importance of creating and developing social structures that maintain and strengthen our connection to our community and of recognizing the important role of community connections in our lives. To be successful, those social structures must come from and have ownership by the community. Participation contributes to the overall well-being of a community and is vital to our sense of ownership and belonging amongst residents.

We know that's true for all individuals, but it is especially true for youth growing up in a community. Young people model the world they see around them. They develop their social identity by modelling their actions and beliefs on their social environment. If it is strong and principled, they model that as their baseline; if it is isolating and inconsistent, that unfortunately becomes their baseline. The truth is: the world today is an increasingly complex place. However, youth have basic needs. They need attention, support and human-level interaction. The complex social realities for youth today have not altered their need for a sense of ownership and belonging to their communities. The developmental assets approach is a research-based method of measuring and developing the areas of support in a community that are essential to the healthy development of youth and therefore, at the end of the day, the healthy development of a community.

Mobilizing the people and systems within a community to promote healthy development of its children and adolescents is rooted in research that began as a national research and community change effort by the Search Institute in 1990. The approach identifies 40 distinct elements necessary for positive youth development and terms each of them "developmental assets." These assets are based on a core premise that healthy development for children and teenagers requires constant and consistent community attention to support, empower, give clear boundaries and expectations, provide meaningful activities, encourage a commitment to learning, instil positive values, build social competencies and form a positive identity in young people.

The asset development program assists youth with developing these skills and supports, or assets, necessary to contribute positively in the school system as well as in life in general. Research has shown that young people who have ten assets or less are 16 times more involved in high-risk activities than those who have more than 30.

These assets have been well defined and offer support to young people in every aspect of their lives. All of them can be built into our homes, neighbourhoods and communities. Some of the knowledge gained by this extensive research and the best practices of this approach has been modelled by several organizations in our province that have shaped unique, made-in-Canada approaches to asset-building. The program has been implemented in several B.C. communities — Summerland and Port Alberni, to name a couple. The response by parents, teachers and youth to the program has been extremely positive and showed results in just a few months. Youth were able to identify their assets and endeavour to find ways to build upon them. Likewise, parents were enabled to set out goals to achieve every day when they interacted with their children or another child.

A young person needs a lot of support as they encounter the ill effects that society can offer. Impressionable youth without a support structure and a sense of self-worth are susceptible to high-risk behaviour such as early alcohol use, illicit drugs and violence. The study performed by the Search Institute documented that of youth with fewer than ten assets, 49 percent had problem alcohol use, while youth with 31 to 40 percent had a rate of 3 percent. Likewise, youth violence dropped from 61 to 7 percent.

Youth asset development works because of its simplicity. Youth and their surroundings work together to build relationships with one another. Gaining a greater understanding of one another entrenches ideals of community and family into youth. Working together to build assets strengthens the bond between individual and community. The more assets a youth has, the less likely they will participate in that high-risk behaviour. What we have to realize is that we can have a direct influence on what path youth will take, and we can make it easier to choose the more positive route.

Over the past century the role of community has changed drastically. Government took over the role as a social safety net, and individuals slowly relinquished their personal responsibility. When I was growing up, my grandfather taught me the importance of personal responsibility, and my parents drilled that in. My dad, my uncle and my aunt tell me that the family home was a revolving door as they grew up. My grandfather brought in people who were new to the country and found them a place to live and a job to set them up. He never forgot the people who helped him when he came to B.C. as a teenager, and he felt his responsibility to others. His efforts led him to help form the Welfare Society of B.C., which mobilized a greater number of

people to continue that work. He embodied personal responsibility in building the community, and those beliefs instilled the values and importance of community responsibility in me.

We have moved away from the tight-knit community interactions that dominated and enriched people's lives in the past. Mobility has enabled close, extended families to separate across this country and around the globe. Now more than ever, we need to revitalize our communities by coming together in a common goal to inspire and motivate our youth.

Many youth feel detached and separate from their communities. We can reverse that. We can make youth feel as though they are valued members of our communities by allowing them to take ownership over themselves and areas of their surroundings they're interested in. By doing very simple things, I think we can achieve that.

Next time you're at home or in and around your community, try doing a few of these simple things. It will make a positive difference in the life of a young person. Notice them. Talk to them. Smile at them. Laugh with them. Do anything that will allow to you positively interact with them. It will build their personal assets, and you will see a difference.

Most of all, treat them respectfully, as you would any individual regardless of age. By providing positive experiences for youth and proactively initiating relationships, anyone can make a huge difference in the life of a child.

B. Belsey: I'd like to thank the member for his statement and for his enthusiasm in representing the interests of youth throughout the province. I suppose it helps that the member was 11 years old the last time the Olympic Games were in Canada.

The asset development and youth entrepreneurship project that is currently under consideration as a pilot project is a very significant opportunity to advance British Columbia's commitment to youth. You know, when people talk about British Columbia's natural resources, they talk about timber, and they talk about mineral deposits. But if you ask me, British Columbia's most important natural resource by far is our young people.

The 40 distinct elements necessary for positive youth development mentioned by the member from Port Coquitlam, as identified by the youth asset development, fall into eight categories: general support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive use of time, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies and positive identity. The project proposed by the youth asset development is an opportunity to set out the basic building blocks that are most important for the development of a healthy, successful lifestyle.

The youth assets development program focuses on the commitments, attitudes, values and skills that support our youth from within, and on the external assets that focus on the support for community members and institutions. Parents often complain that when the stork brings the newborn, they rarely bring along an instruction manual. Well, the asset-building program and the youth asset development projects come pretty close to filling that need. Parents need to know that the more assets a youth has, the more he or she tends to succeed, and they need to know how to make sure that these assets are there.

The British Columbia asset development initiative is an exciting opportunity to bring these assets to youth throughout B.C. I know the proposed asset development and youth entrepreneurship program is eager to implement their extensive workplan in four B.C. communities, including my community of Prince Rupert. Let me tell you: I, for one, know that the youth of Prince Rupert and other northern communities have not had it easy. High unemployment rates have not had a good impact on children and families in our communities.

I fully support the proposed project to find out the best ways to help our children succeed in life, in work, as future parents, as community leaders and as community members. I'd like to thank the member from Port Coquitlam for bringing this to my attention, and I congratulate him on his initiative and his work on behalf of this province's greatest natural resource: our youth.

K. Manhas: I'd like to thank the member for North Coast for his reply. I have seen the care and commitment he shows to his riding and the needs of his people — specifically, the youth — in his work in and around the Legislature. I am consistently impressed. The caring he shows representing his riding is truly a blessing to the people in it.

A handbook I read recently for the asset development program in Summerland stated: "Perhaps the most urgent task facing North American society is rebuilding a sense of community, a village in which everyone reclaims and accepts their share of responsibility to and stake in nurturing the youngest generation." I believe that is true.

In Summerland they've done that. Through the work of Ellen Lloyd and the support of the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism, Summerland has changed the way a community and the youth in it interact. It has created a safer, more vibrant place to live and grow up in. Doug Wells, an RCMP officer who mentioned to me his initial skepticism, spoke gushingly about the quality and the magnitude of the transformation. The levels of bullying, depression and violence have dropped significantly.

I want to thank Ellen for her dedication in Summerland and for introducing me to this approach and showing me what was possible with it. When I saw what she was able to do there, and seeing the needs of the youth in my community and recent effects, I thought: I want to help do something like that for my community, and I want to see that happen for the benefit of all youth across British Columbia.

I want to thank the many people who are helping to bring this dream to reality: the Minister of Children and Family Development; the Minister of Education; the Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise; and the many people like Ralph Hembruff, the Boys and Girls Clubs of B.C., Wendy Cooper, Siobhan Ashe, Cheryl McKeever, Linda Baker and Robin Swets, who have helped, contributed and supported this initiative to get us to this point.

With the help of the member for North Coast, I hope we can help kick-start community mobilization around the province by starting in our own respective communities. At the end of the day, the success of our society will be judged by the individuals who come from it. I believe the makeup and success of our society in the coming decades will be directly correlated with our success in equipping and developing our youth. Our youth are the most important asset we have in developing a British Columbia that is a beacon of success and a hope in an ever-changing, ever-competitive world. Let's hope we leave a legacy of happiness and success. We have the ability, and it starts in our communities.

The asset development approach is an excellent method of focusing on the key deficiencies in a community and including all members of it — most importantly, the youth — to build a safe, caring and connected community. Each individual has an inherent opportunity to build something positive in his or her life. It is up to us as individuals to ensure that all kids in our communities have the most and best opportunities possible.

R. Visser: More often than not when I rise in this House, I'll be speaking on issues like forestry, fishing or mining — things I am familiar with and things I know. One thing I can assure this House is that I am not now — nor have I ever been, nor certainly will I ever be — a geneticist. But genomics and proteomics are what I want to speak about today. I want everyone to remember that as I speak about mapping the DNA and identifying proteins in the life forms around us, I am talking about those very important issues of fishing, forestry and mining. But I'm looking at them at the most elemental level.

The greatest privileges we have as parliamentarians is the ability to open the doors for personal learning. I've been able to do that many times. I've called on industry experts and leading thinkers in different industries to come explain to me the challenges they have, and it helps my level of understanding grow. I value this privilege immensely.

That's why I wanted to talk about the genome today. As legislators we're traditionally challenged by seeing the forest for the trees. Now we're going to have to learn how to see the forest for the DNA of those trees. Last week in the basement of the engineering building at the University of Victoria, I came face to face with the reality of what our future is going to look like.

I remember, when I was a kid, seeing the punch cards they'd give us for the computers. If I filled out all the little boxes correctly and put it in the machine correctly, my name would come up on a screen, and I thought that was remarkable. That was 30 years ago. What was remarkable for me was when I looked at an ordinary glass microscope slide, I could see little grey dots on it. The only difference between that punch card, which was rows and rows of dots, and this grey slide, with grey etchings with rows and rows of dots, was that one brought the name up. The other has the 4,000 individual genes of an Atlantic salmon, and that represents only 10 percent, maybe, of that species' genetic makeup.

It is this revolution in understanding the building blocks of human health, forestry and salmon that is becoming fundamentally important to how we develop public policy. In March of this year the government announced a commitment of $27.5 million in funding for an organization called Genome B.C. It's a commitment that is entirely consistent with our government's commitment to an economic strategy for the heartlands.

I wanted to know what difference this was going to make in the lives of my constituents and how genomics research could benefit the residents of coastal communities. So I decided to ask the scientists. It's always interesting when you're there one-on-one to see what those answers are going to be. There have been very few times in my life where I've come to realize in a moment that the way we look at life is about to change, and it was in that basement that day with Professor Ben Koop.

Genomics and proteomics will be to the next 20 years what computers and the Internet have been to the last. It's going to be a quantum leap into the frontiers of knowledge. The research we're funding is transforming how we view disease, how we manage our resources and how we generate energy. This new era of genomics research will create opportunities for B.C.'s resource industries. It's going to change our health care system too. It will allow us to attract and retain world-class talent and invite future investment in British Columbia.

It's health care that I want to start with. Health care is one of the most pressing concerns for B.C. and the world. The knowledge gained from genomics research has considerable potential to benefit patient care and reduce costs through early diagnosis and efficient and personalized drug delivery. For example, B.C. researchers are beginning to learn more about genetic recurrences of cancer so they can determine if radiation treatment is necessary. Only with research are these type of breakthrough discoveries possible — discoveries that enable the development of new methods of prevention, detection and treatment.

At the B.C. Cancer Agency, a Genome B.C. partner, a number of projects are underway. An early-detection

project is discovering the important genetic markers which will help with diagnosis at the pre-cancerous or early stages of disease. Early detection of cancer will increase the chances of long-term, disease-free survival. In addition, the research focuses on learning how cells become malignant at the earliest stages. This will help us understand how to develop better preventive measures.

Another project focuses on how we get diseases in the first place. Using bioinformatics, the scientists at the B.C. Cancer Agency are beginning to understand when and where every single gene in our body is switched on and off. This means they will be able to understand the relationship of those genes with various diseases such as cancer.

Additional research into the genetics of aging uses the mouse as a model organism to study human disease. Researchers believe that we can get a unique perspective on how our genes change as we grow. Genes that are activated at various stages of mouse development are being documented in an atlas, which will be maintained in an electronic database and made available to researchers around the world. It will help us understand such things as why and when we develop various age-related diseases.

But the projects we're funding aren't limited to human health. Many of them are tied to the historic pillars of our provincial economy: forestry and fish. The forestry genomics project studies the mechanisms of wood formation and pest resistance in two specific tree species. The work is allowing us to understand the relationships between genetic markers and the physical attributes of trees, including wood quality, resistance to disease and growth rate. Ultimately, this understanding will help us protect the value of our forests.

One of the goals of funding Genome B.C. was to create an internationally recognized life sciences cluster. This will give us that world-class standing that is so critical.

I'm going to conclude, after this has been responded to, with how I think this is going to bring us to the future.

Hon. C. Hansen: I thank the member for his initial comments. It was certainly a day that I was very proud of when I was joined by the Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise at Children's and Women's Health Centre in Vancouver to announce $27.5 million of funding to Genome B.C. for the kind of research project that the member outlined earlier. In addition to the $27.5 million that we were able to announce that day, there was also an additional $6 million that came from the Michael Smith Foundation, which was also initially funded by the province of British Columbia. In total, it was about $34 million of money that came either directly from various ministries of provincial government or indirectly through the Michael Smith Foundation. That, in addition, was matched by $34 million from Genome Canada. A total of $64 million is being pumped into this really exciting and leading-edge innovation and research that's being done right here in British Columbia.

The head of Genome Canada was there that day, and he spoke just prior to me. He made an interesting comment, which the member alluded to in his opening comments, and that's the real impact that biotechnology is going to have. He went back beyond the computer generation that the member referred to, and he talked about the industrial revolution and how that so fundamentally changed our society and fundamentally altered the quality of life around the world — in some cases for better, in some cases for worse. Truly, the industrial revolution really brought us to the twentieth century.

Then, as we got to the second half of the twentieth century, we saw the information and the computer revolution that the member alluded to earlier. I, too, can remember from my university days 30 years ago the stacks of punch cards. In fact, I took computer science in first year university, and I can remember having the box full of punch cards that you would have to run through the machine to process. It was your unfortunate day if you should happen to drop that box, because it was impossible to put it back together again.

Today we are on the cusp of the next big revolution in our society, and that is the biotech revolution. This funding that is going into these projects is going to position British Columbia as an important player in that global initiative to capitalize on the changes that biotechnology will bring to our society. In British Columbia, Genome B.C. is carrying out this research in partnership with a bunch of key organizations. The University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria, the B.C. Cancer Agency, Vancouver Hospital and the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics are all part of this partnership and are all part of delivering the kinds of projects the member was talking about earlier.

He talked about the research into the early stages of cancer, in which we're trying to identify exactly how malignancies are started. This research will enable the development of better therapies and medicines in the treatment of cancer.

He mentioned the research into the genomic structure of Atlantic salmon. This will help us to understand the function of 20,000 Atlantic salmon genes, including their reaction under different conditions.

There's another research project from UBC into microbial envirogenomics, understanding the function and determining the location of specific genes in a microbe with great metabolic abilities. You can tell I wasn't a science student. Such microbes can be used for environmental cleanup and the development of safe industrial processes.

Another interesting piece of research that's being done at UBC is looking into the nematode as a model organism. It's to learn the function of specific genes in a small roundworm. In fact, the nematode, as I recall it, is part of the nemesis of the agricultural industry or potato farming industry in British Columbia. What's in-

teresting is that the nematode shares 7,000 genes with humans, and the knowledge that's gained can actually be used in medical diagnosis and treatment in the future. Some of this stuff is really quite exciting.

One other one I want to point out, which is also really quite important to us in British Columbia, is research into fungal genomics — the sequencing of the genome of a specific fungus which is known as cryptococcus. It's to better understand the role in life-threatening diseases. I know there was a lot of controversy about some of the fungus that was causing people to get very ill on Vancouver Island recently.

This kind of research is going to lead us to the kinds of solutions we need. It's going to position British Columbia as a key player in this new cusp of innovation that is worldwide, and B.C. will be a key player in that.

R. Visser: I want to thank the minister for his words and also his leadership on this issue, and certainly the Premier's leadership on technology.

I started by talking about health and fish, and I want to close by talking about salmon. Willie Davidson and Ben Koop are working on mapping the genome and deciphering the genome of Atlantic salmon, because they believe this is the key to understanding growth and reproduction. Their work will provide insights on which genes combat infections, how genes change when salmon move from fresh to salt water and how they respond to different river conditions. This product will have direct applications for fish conservation and will help us understand the environmental interactions between different stocks. For every question I had posed to Dr. Koop, there were 10,000 possible answers. It felt like, in listening to him, we were walking through a new door into something that was quite different.

I want to recommend a book to the House: As the Future Catches You by Juan Enriquez. He says that the dominant language and economic driver of this century is going to be genomics. Those that remain illiterate in this language won't understand the force making the single biggest difference in their lives. I'm proud to be a part of a government supporting genomics and life sciences. I'm also proud that we're able to bring this back to something that's very important to me — coastal communities and the economy that supports those communities. These scientists in the laboratories in Vancouver and Victoria sequencing the DNA of the mouse or the Atlantic salmon are contributing in immeasurable ways to help the future of the environment, our forest industry, our fisheries and ourselves. They're at the leading edge of a revolution in understanding our life and the relationship that we have to all life around us.

This economic development strategy — it's all part of what we're doing to make this province a leading-edge jurisdiction in the world, from science to resource management to the environment. I'm very proud of what we're capable of doing and where we're placing our commitment as a government in those endeavours.

P. Sahota: I rise to table an amendment to Motion 7. I move the following amendment. The motion with amendment may now read:

P. Sahota: Over the past few months I have been dismayed, disheartened and outraged at the number of needless accidents that we have seen in the lower mainland as a result of reckless street racing. As many of us know, this is not a new phenomenon amongst our youth. There are many factors involved as to why our youth decide it is acceptable to take not only their own lives but also the lives of innocent people into their own hands.

We read of young people who have had their cars modified so they can drive at excessive speeds. We read of young people who say they don't care, who don't fear the repercussions and who say that pedestrians should really get out of their way. These young people, at some level, believe that they're invincible and that the streets belong to them. Why else would they engage in reckless and careless behaviour?

I believe a strong message needs to be delivered about our laws. Drivers have a speed limit. Bike riders use bike lanes. Pedestrians use crosswalks. These laws, when followed, work together to protect us all. When these laws are broken, the safety of all citizens is compromised. It is our duty to find solutions and look at ways to discourage those who speed recklessly.

A change of attitude is needed, and that's where we all come in. Parents can make a difference, and as a society we can all say this is wrong. We can say this in one voice and support the initiatives to stop this irresponsible behaviour.

I know this government is trying to do as much as it can. The government introduced legislation to give our police more tools to punish and, hopefully, stop street racers. This legislation is among the toughest in our country, and I believe this zero-tolerance policy is the right way to go.

Last spring we gave police the ability to impound vehicles involved in road racing. We gave them the authority to ask for immediate suspension of a driver's licence. We introduced heavy fines. There's no doubt in my mind that these policies will help make British Columbia's roads safer and will help save many lives.

But we know more needs to be done. Although we have given police these tools and they're using them, it is not enough. Police have said it is not enough, and I've heard from my constituents, who tell me it's not enough. I have heard British Columbians' outrage at the lenient sentencing of two street racers who caused the death of Irene Thorpe.

The Attorney General wrote in a letter in which he outlines this government's additional efforts: "You should know that for some time, this government has been pressuring Ottawa to change the laws around conditional sentencing so they cannot be used for crimes of violence as was the situation in this case where someone was killed. That way it will be easier to punish offenders appropriately who commit these kinds of crimes. We must use sentencing as a deterrent."

It is often said that those people have lost faith in our justice system's ability to act as a deterrent, and I believe that a very powerful message must be sent to those would-be street racers that their actions not only are very wrong but also carry a stiff punishment. Street racers need to know that there are very serious consequences for their actions. They need to know their actions will not be tolerated.

The provincial government takes this seriously, and I feel confident that our government will be able to work with the federal government to help stop this needless violence on our roads. All of us know that to deal effectively with the problem of street racing, we need to work together to find solutions. It will take the concerted effort from parents, community leaders, police and especially young drivers to make our roads safe, but I am certain that this is not an insurmountable task.

A. Hamilton: I rise to support the amendment put forward by my colleague from Burnaby-Edmonds.

As a police officer of 30 years, there was nothing worse than having to go to the parents' home and tell them that their child had died. Street racing occurs all over the province, and we have to educate young drivers to the dangers not only to themselves, but if there are passengers as well.

Some people think that photo radar will stop street racing, as an example. A ticket in the mail several weeks after the offence is not much of a deterrent, especially if that driver, after passing that van, gets into a serious accident and someone is killed.

Our government, as previously mentioned, has a zero tolerance for street racing and speeding. Our legislation is amongst the toughest in Canada, and police are allowed to immediately impound vehicles for 48 hours for the first offence and 30 days for subsequent offences. Drivers who speed or race can get penalty points and fines up to $2,000. Furthermore, the driver can be charged under the Criminal Code and have his licence suspended.

B.C.'s graduated licence program, implemented by this government, has also reduced the accident and death rate among new drivers. Since all this new legislation came into effect, 60 drivers have had their vehicles seized and 180 drivers have received roadside driving prohibitions for street racing.

Our government is doing its part, and now it is up to the federal government to come forward and amend the Criminal Code to ensure that our society feels safe on the roads.

B. Locke: I rise in this House in support of the amendment. I thank the member for Burnaby-Edmonds for her amendment and the member for Esquimalt-Metchosin for his words. I thank all of those who supported this original motion before the House. I rise in support of this amendment because it casts a wider net, and while the original motion was restricted to street racing, this amendment now encompasses all those who are convicted of a serious crime of violence.

In my community we have numerous incidents where victims simply do not feel justice and, worse, loved ones do not feel closure. These are concerns of many support groups in our province like Family Survivors Against Street Racers, Angels in Heaven and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. These are the issues that the family of Irene Thorpe deals with every day. This is the turmoil that her sister Nina and her daughter Tina face day in and day out. They deserve to feel justice and closure, as do all families and friends. But this amendment goes even further and says to all victims and their families that the province of British Columbia cares — cares about innocent people. We care about seniors brutally attacked in their homes. We care about children and adults who are mowed down by those who have no right to be behind the wheel of a car. We care about all people who are harmed by criminal actions. Too often victims and their families feel that the justice system isn't serving them. Too often they see the system protect the criminal and disregard them. They feel that they are alone and no one cares, and while we all can express our sorrow for their pain and for their loss, it is incumbent on us as legislators to seek justice.

Be clear: this motion also speaks to those thugs, those criminals whose blatant disregard for others and the law has to some degree been validated by the actions of the courts. It is time to send them a strong message. B.C. is not their haven. Conditional sentencing is not an option. I was re-reading the comments in Hansard of the Solicitor General, and I thank him very much for his thoughtful and caring remarks. There is no doubt he cares deeply about the human tragedy and takes his responsibility seriously in ensuring that victims of crime are supported and that criminals face real penalties for their actions. I also want to thank the Attorney General, for he too shares not only the personal concern for victims but also the concern that they must

feel justice in order to have closure. While the jurisdiction for criminal behaviour clearly is a federal responsibility, there is no doubt that British Columbians feel strongly that in offences where people are hurt by violence, death or sexual assault, those criminals should never receive conditional sentencing.

So it is on behalf of Irene Thorpe and all the victims of criminal violence and their families and friends that I support this amended motion. I move passage of motion 7 as amended.

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 46 without disturbing the priorities of any preceding motions.

J. Wilson: It is my pleasure today to rise and speak on Motion 46, which reads as follows:

Mr. Speaker, probably the most important single factor in the health of people is the quality of drinking water that they have available. If you were to ask any Third World country for a wish list of what would benefit them the most in maintaining the health of their people, they would tell you: good quality and an abundance of drinking water. This motion represents a concern of not only this government but a lot of British Columbians that drinking water quality is paramount in keeping our population healthy.

This government is showing its commitment to ensure that all British Columbians have access to safe, reliable drinking water. The Ministry of Health Services Action Plan for Safe Drinking Water in British Columbia summarizes this commitment. For example, funding of water quality monitoring has increased. Nearly 100 water-related improvement projects have been approved to this date. It is funded from the British Columbia–Canada infrastructure program. That is allowing these projects to proceed.

We all know that it cannot stop here. We must continue to support advances in technology that help to improve the quality and accessibility of our drinking water. Health concerns must be monitored and minimized. Our water system's infrastructure is aging. This must be addressed so that future generations will have access to a safe, reliable water supply.

Our government is working to address these concerns with a set of principles for drinking water protection. These include making drinking water safety a public health issue, recognizing the importance of water source protection, risk assessments for all water systems and safety standards for tap water. The government has introduced comprehensive legislation to address these concerns, including an improved Drinking Water Protection Act. New groundwater protection legislation is being developed by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. Regulations that protect the health and safety of our citizens have been and will continue to be introduced to ensure that all British Columbians enjoy access to safe drinking water.

The Ministry of Health Services has taken the initiative to ensure healthy drinking water, clarifying responsibility for water quality within government. Coordination between all ministries involved with the provision of quality of drinking water is necessary. The importance of interministry coordination has been recognized. The action plan set out a commitment to establish an interministry committee to coordinate drinking water protection measures and ensure proper integration of services at every stage of drinking water production. The ministry will also take advice from expert advisory councils, ensuring that information is up to date.

Drinking water officers are also an initiative of this government, helping to ensure that all regulations are obeyed in the production of our drinking water by performing inspections and investigating complaints. The publication of water quality information also helps to keep government accountable. It is an important part of ensuring production of safe drinking water.

The commitment of our government is to funding the development of better infrastructure and water purification techniques, as evident. I believe that we will continue to work towards having the safest, highest-quality, most accessible drinking water possible for all British Columbians.

M. Hunter: I want to thank the member for Cariboo North for putting forward this motion this morning. Obviously, with events in other parts of our country over the last couple of years, the focus on the quality of our drinking water has become not an option for government but, in fact, a very clear and persistent priority.

I would like to endorse the comments that the member made in introducing this motion with respect to the actions that this government has taken with respect to starting to improve the situation with our drinking water quality, including the Ministry of Health Services action plan and the commitment to dealing with groundwater protection. It's on that issue that I want to focus my brief remarks on this motion.

I represent Gabriola Island as part of my riding. Gabriola is an island with approximately 3,500 full-time residents. It is, with a very minor exception, totally served by private well and septic tank disposal systems. The issue of groundwater management on Gabriola Island is one that I'm having a little bit of concern we're not addressing perhaps as ambitiously as we might.

There is clear evidence from a very active residents group on Gabriola Island, and I was pleased to have been able to assist them in forming the Gabriola Groundwater Management Society a couple of years ago — residents who are taking action, trying to develop an approach to groundwater management in their community that I think is responsible and which we need to adopt perhaps as a model and certainly as an example of how communities can help themselves. In a community like Gabriola Island with approximately 1,600 private wells and disposal systems, it's pretty difficult to regulate water supply in the way we are able to do in major cities or even smaller communities. Certainly in Nanaimo we are the beneficiaries, on the Vancouver Island side, of a very voluminous and excellent water supply. Such is not the case across the channel on Gabriola Island.

I've been watching the activities of the government and the improvements that we're making, obviously with support but also with a critical eye as to what this can mean to those constituents of mine who don't have the benefit of a communal water supply or even a water supply that benefits 25 or more people. I took the initiative in January of this year to put together a workshop on Gabriola Island that started to ask questions about what it was that we could do together — provincial government, local governments, the island residents themselves — to try to start to make changes that would address some of the issues that have been found on the island.

One of the first things that springs up is the fact…. Pardon the pun, but what we find is that in a community like Gabriola — and I suspect the same is true around the province in areas where private wells are the source of drinking water — you have a whole bunch of data. We have data on the status of the aquifers on Gabriola. There is some work that's been done on the geology, for example. We have work done by the Gabriola Groundwater Management Society on the quality of water, and, frankly, there are some fecal coliform problems there that need addressing.

We have some information about septic tank construction and practices going back over 50 years. We have some data about well construction techniques and what is going on, on the island, but we have nowhere where we can actually bring all this data into one place so that all of the people who have an interest and a responsibility in improving the quality of drinking water and managing the groundwater supplies can actually sit down and say: "Well, this is the source. This is the information we have. This is where new information can go and be added to the data set so that we can start to make some changes."

My interest in this motion is, indeed, to support it. I think it's a hugely important issue that we are dealing with, for obvious reasons. But I am concerned that for communities where private wells and private sewage disposal is the only way to go, there are some gaps in coverage that we need to start addressing. I have been speaking with the Minister of Health Services and with the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection with a view to seeing how our basic thrust in terms of improving drinking water quality can be actually tailored for communities like Gabriola Island and others like it. I look forward to meeting with the ministers to talk about this some more.

An idea that came out of our workshop in January was the formation of a Gabriola Island water authority that would have the responsibility for collecting data and protecting privacy of individuals that provide the data. We must never forget that the value of property is dependent on good water supplies, and nobody wants to impact property values by removing privacy from the data that's provided by individuals, but all of those things need to be done. We need to address these issues alongside the important improvements we've made with respect to drinking water quality around the province and for municipal and smaller domestic supply systems.

As I say, I look forward to making advances on that. I think this motion addresses some more attention on this subject, and I'm pleased to support it.

B. Suffredine: Many people, when they picture a fresh mountain stream, believe the water is pure and drinkable. Often that is the case, but unfortunately the reality is that it depends on the day. Nature cleanses the water in a stream just as a swamp is nature's way of cleansing the stagnant, smelly water that we find full of mosquitoes, tadpoles and bull rushes. In Nelson-Creston we value clean drinking water, and everywhere there people have a common concern.

One of the longest-running debates in my riding over the provision of a public system of pure water is at Erickson. That's just to the east of Creston. There's been a controversy there for years over chlorination to purify the water. Recently the Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services announced a new infrastructure grant there that will help to achieve the goal of pure water, but many issues still remain.

Filtration is the first end of that, followed by ultraviolet light which temporarily cleans the water, but there's still an open reservoir where the water can be contaminated. Once it's through there, there are old concrete pipes where bacteria can and do grow, which may mean that chlorine may be required at the bottom end of that in order to purify the water for some users.

A few miles north of Creston in Wynndel, they're seeking assistance to change an antiquated piping system to improve their drinking water quality. At Yahk, on the easterly boundary of the riding where the water quality is poor, there are concerns about Hawkins Creek getting contaminated by cattle. In Kaslo there was a debate over chlorination that recently concluded.

In the Slocan Valley everybody has heard of logging protests for years by water users who fear their water quality is being affected by logging operations silting the water. Those practices and those users should take into account the needs of users, but the users themselves must recognize they're at risk of contamination simply by using water from the surface. They should take the opportunity to make their water safe.

We must work to carefully ensure that everyone has pure, safe drinking water all year-round. That's a combination of educating users to understand where the risks lie and where the opportunities exist to ensure they have addressed those risks in a way that ensures safety.

I'm not an advocate for one system or another. There are many different approaches that will give good water quality. Water taken from deep below the surface of the earth is often completely pure and requires no treatment. Water from the surface invariably requires some attention. In the roughly 20 months that I've been the MLA for Nelson-Creston, I've had a number of opportunities to learn about the various systems. I've learned that ultraviolet can do the job as effectively as chlorine if the right system is in place. At other times chlorine may be the only option for older systems where concrete or wood pipes are a place for contamination to grow.

I encourage everyone to support this resolution and to ensure that everyone in B.C. has a source of safe, healthy drinking water.

Hon. S. Bond: I'm pleased this morning to rise in support of the motion tabled by my colleague. Certainly, as a member who lives in the heartlands, I understand the importance of safe and reliable drinking water. It doesn't matter whether we live in a city or a more rural environment, we count on having safe drinking water.

This government is committed to ensuring safe, reliable and accessible drinking water for all British Columbians. Living in a beautiful and abundant province such as we do, we sometimes take clean drinking water for granted and just simply assume it will always be there. It takes resources, vigilance and a plan to ensure that our drinking water is safe.

The action plan for safe drinking water in British Columbia includes comprehensive legislation and measures to protect drinking water from source to tap by improving standards for monitoring treatment, reporting and accountability to the public. There was widespread consultation, and this provided us with the groundwork needed to introduce legislation that provides strong drinking water safety measures. The most high-risk systems will be examined first, but eventually all drinking water systems will be assessed.

A 1996 report cited British Columbia as having the second-oldest water supply systems in the country. In the past year alone our government has approved 92 water-related improvement projects worth $239 million to be funded through the Canada–British Columbia infrastructure program. In Prince George the city received $3.66 million to build a new well and pump station in my colleague's constituency of Prince George North. This project allows the city to decommission two existing wells considered potentially vulnerable to contamination.

Rural communities understand the danger of poor water supplies, and many of our communities have experienced boil-water advisories. For far too long we took drinking water for granted, and we now have a plan in place to protect drinking water. The government is also increasing funding for water quality monitoring by $1.5 million a year for the next three years.

Our government has an aggressive and significant plan to monitor and maintain safe drinking water for the province of British Columbia, and I'm pleased today to be able to stand in support of the motion.

B. Belsey: Water is one of the most important nutrients our body requires. Our lungs are nearly 90 percent water, our blood is roughly 80 percent water, our brain is approximately 76 percent water, and our bones contain approximately 25 percent water. There's no doubt that man has an intrinsic relationship with water.

The challenge we face today is the protection of our water supply. This is certainly more important in some parts of the province — some parts of the world — than in others. Recently we have been inundated with images of Iraqi citizens and their struggle to acquire a safe source of drinking water. Here in Victoria we all felt the effects of a water shortage and spent a number of months under water restrictions, although it certainly wasn't drinking water that was restricted. Nevertheless, there were water restrictions that impacted almost everything else we use water for.

In contrast, my riding uses water with mixed emotions. From the community in Sandspit, which has been waiting patiently for infrastructure funding to improve its domestic water supply, to the community of Ocean Falls with an annual rainfall of over 200 inches — they hold the Canadian record for annual rainfall — water across my riding is viewed differently, depending on where you live.

The community in which I live has an annual rainfall of 120 inches — ten feet. I often apologize on those sunny days to people who are visiting Prince Rupert — apologize for the sunshine, pointing out the fact that I live in a rain forest, and that's probably why they're there visiting.

However, the rains I mentioned are only a small part of our real concern for a long-term, dependable source of pure drinking water. The normal source of drinking water in the heartlands is either through a well or surface runoff. This can be dangerous, especially when the source is located in areas where waste from both domestic and wild animals can enter the drinking water system. Seepage from septic systems or industrial effluent can also inadvertently enter drinking water systems.

Each and every day the access to safe groundwater and surface water is less certain as our population continues to expand and as we cover more and more of this province. British Columbia is blessed with some of the cleanest, most abundant water supplies in the world, but contrary to that perception of many, this resource may not be as pristine or endless as we think. The Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection considers water protection and management to be her top priority. The ministry is committed to ensure that clean, reliable, sustainable water for all British Columbians is a priority.

I applaud what she is doing, so when it comes time to support Motion 46, I will stand with my colleagues and support a motion that promotes safe drinking water.

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, unanimous leave is required to proceed to Motion 50 without disturbing the priorities of any preceding motions.

B. Penner: I rise this morning to speak in support of the motion which appears under my name in the orders of the day.

I've spoken before in this House about the importance of protecting British Columbia's most precious resource, and I've said that it's not our oil, gold or even our forests. It is our children.

Many people, including myself, are always outraged and saddened when innocent children are abducted and slain by sexual predators. I know we all feel utter contempt and loathing for people who commit these horrific crimes against defenceless children. Nothing could be more cowardly or pathetic. Whether the children are abducted here in British Columbia or elsewhere in Canada or even somewhere in the United States, we are all horrified by what has become an all too familiar scenario: a young child reported missing, frantic parents asking for help, police and volunteers conducting neighbourhood searches. And then sometime later and all too depressingly, a body is recovered. Grieving loved ones are left to wonder about imponderable questions such as why and what if.

Like myself, I suspect other members of this chamber have asked themselves what we could do differently to prevent the monsters which seem to dwell within our society from taking more young lives. This motion today is an attempt to answer that question in a positive way. This motion encourages the exploration of an AMBER alert plan in B.C., which would be a provincewide emergency alert system for police forces to access commercial radio and television frequencies during the critical minutes following an initial report of a child abduction. The goal is to disseminate accurate information as broadly as possible with details of the missing child, descriptions of suspicious vehicles and possible suspects, and other information. This is similar to the concept used to warn the public about severe weather emergencies.

The initial AMBER alert plan was created in memory of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was abducted while riding her bicycle near her home in Arlington, Texas, in 1996. A neighbour was able to provide details about the car and abductor to law enforcement officials, but no system was in place to get the information to local residents quickly. Amber's body, tragically, was found four days later. This senseless tragedy shocked and outraged the entire community. Residents contacted radio stations in the Dallas area and suggested they broadcast special alerts over the airwaves, so they could prevent such dreadful outcomes in the future.

In response to the community's concern for the safety of local children, the Dallas–Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed up with local law enforcement agencies in northern Texas and developed an innovative early warning system to help find abducted children. There are now approximately 39 states in the U.S. with the AMBER alert system in place, and so far, as of this morning, the systems are credited with saving 53 children, including a high-profile case this past August when two teenaged girls were abducted in Orange County in California. The girls were found about 12 hours later, just as it appeared their abductor was about to kill them.

In a very real sense, the AMBER alert plan is a public-private partnership. Government officials receive the initial information and assess whether it justifies activation of the alert system, which then relies on privately owned media outlets to get the message to the public. Strict criteria must be applied to prevent false alarms. If there are too many false alarms, the public will not be as responsive to an AMBER alert. While the criteria applied by different jurisdictions does vary, in general, the criteria include a determination by law enforcement officials that someone under the age of 18 has been abducted against their will, that a child is in danger of serious bodily harm and that there is enough descriptive information about the child, abductor and/or the suspect's vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help find the child. If these criteria are met, alert information is put together for public distribution.

Contrary to some media reports, a large electronic billboard along a roadside is not required for an AMBER alert system. These have proven very useful in California and elsewhere and certainly provide an enhancement in terms of quickly disseminating the information, but they are not a requirement for establishing an alert system in a particular area. The key ingredient, though, is a coherent, well-thought-out communication plan.

Typically, once law enforcement agencies have assessed the information and applied the relevant criteria to determine whether to use the AMBER alert, the information is faxed to radio stations. The information is also sent to TV stations and cable systems so it can immediately be broadcast to millions of listeners and viewers. Radio stations interrupt their programming to announce the alert, and television stations and cable systems run a crawl on the screen with a photo of the child.

The media continue to alert the public every 15 minutes with pertinent details that may lead to the safe return of the child. In child abduction cases, time is of the essence. According to one study by the U.S. Department of Justice, in 74 percent of abduction homicides, the child is killed within the first three hours.

It is my hope that some form of AMBER alert system can be developed in British Columbia. I know that already the Solicitor General is pursuing — the first in Canada — the PRIME-BC information system, which will more quickly disseminate key details of crimes to all police detachments within the province. This is a firm foundation from which to build. In addition, I support tougher sentences for child abusers and an expanded use of Canada's fairly new DNA database to help catch these criminals in the first place.

Together with the PRIME-BC information system, I believe the AMBER plan could add a measure of protection for young people in our province. I look forward to hearing the remarks of other MLAs in response to this motion. Thank you for your attention.

B. Bennett: I would like to thank the member for Chilliwack-Kent for bringing forward this important motion. It's an honour to speak in support of a motion like this. There can be no greater tragedy to a human being than the loss of a child. The overwhelming level of anxiety and stress is even worse, of course, in the case of an abduction. Parents in that situation don't know the whereabouts of their child and what has happened to their child. I can't even imagine what it must be like.

I have a couple of children of my own. I've been lucky. They're both happy and healthy young men, although they did test their parents somewhat during their teenage years. I have an older son, Dylan, who's 25. When he was a little guy up at my fly-in fishing lodge in northern Manitoba, I brought a new farm tractor in. It was actually an old farm tractor. It was an old Ferguson tractor with a three-point hydraulic hitch on the back of it.

My young son had just flown in from Thompson, Manitoba — 272 miles by air, which was the only access to our lodge. He got his little fingers stuck in the three-point hitch. I pulled the lever the wrong way, and he got his little fingers stuck in there. It looked like they'd squeezed his little fingers right off. He was only about four years old, and I remember how I felt when this happened. It was May, and there was still snow on the ground. We got his hand out, and I went and sat with him and put his hand in the snow and tried to cool it off and just helped him however I could.

Remember there are no roads in that part of the world, and the only way to get him out of there to see a doctor would be to call an airplane on a radio that often didn't work. We were very, very fortunate that day. We did get him out. But I remember how I felt to be so helpless in terms of being able to relieve the pain that my child was feeling.

I guess the point is that that's really nothing compared to the loss of a child by abduction. I can't, I don't think, put myself in the place of a parent who suddenly finds that his or her child is gone — here one minute, gone the next.

This AMBER alert plan is truly a wonderful idea. When the member for Chilliwack-Kent first talked to me about the motion, I actually had not heard of the AMBER plan. I just think it's a terrific concept. It's an absolute must for communities today. I want, again, to thank the member for bringing the motion forward.

In the East Kootenay, where I come from, we have a radio station that plays to the whole region, and we have a couple of cable TV stations. We could definitely do this in the East Kootenay, and I'm going to look into it. I've gotten excited about this as a result of the member's motion. Again, I appreciate the opportunity to speak in favour of the motion and thank the member for bringing it forward.

D. MacKay: I also stand up and would like to support Motion 50 put forward by the member for Chilliwack-Kent. Like the speaker before me, I also had not heard of the AMBER alert program until I spoke with the member for Chilliwack-Kent, but having reviewed it, I would like to make a few comments on it in my support of the motion.

As highlighted, we have to ask: what is the purpose of the motion? Obviously, the purpose of the motion is to protect our children and, as he said, our most precious resource. As a father to two children and now a grandfather to three wonderful children, I have to tell you just how important those three grandchildren are to me, as are my two children.

Yesterday I had the privilege of going bike riding with my three young grandchildren for about an hour and a half. I haven't been on a bicycle for several years now, so it was a bit of a chore for me, but the pleasure I derived from going on a bike ride with my three young grandchildren is pretty hard to describe, particularly when my five-year-old grandson got stuck in a mud puddle and I had to go in with my summer shoes on to retrieve him and his bike. I appreciate and understand just how precious children are and how it's critical that

As legislators and as a grandfather, we need to do what we can to protect our children, but this does not resolve or set aside the responsibility of parents for their children. Parents have to know where their children are, who their friends are and whether or not they live in a safe neighbourhood. I think that's a critical thing people should look at when they're moving into a new neighbourhood. Is it a safe neighbourhood? Are there lots of children? In most cases, I think that is the case.

I live in the heartlands of British Columbia where we don't normally have abductions, as we do in the lower mainland. We're very fortunate living in the heartlands, but having been a police officer for 28 years, which seems like a long time ago now, I can recall the agony of going and listening to parents whose children came home late from school and they thought they were lost or had been abducted. The heartache and the agony that those parents experienced because their children came home late from school, I recall very well. I can't imagine, nor did I ever have to attend and respond to a call where a parent's child had been abducted. The agony must be unbearable, and I'm thankful that I haven't had to go through that experience.

What is the AMBER alert program, and is there a cost associated with it? Well, the AMBER alert program was explained by the member for Chilliwack-Kent. Is there a cost associated with it? When you think about it, there is really not much cost. It's a process that has to be set up to make sure that children, if in fact they are abducted, are attended to quickly by police officers and the general public. The police officers are only allowed to or can only do so much. They can be the eyes and ears of only so many communities, but the public, the motoring public, the people that live in the areas are unlimited and have unlimited access to the resources that can be provided through an AMBER alert program.

In the simple process as was described by the member for Chilliwack-Kent, law enforcement must confirm that a child has been abducted. That doesn't mean a child who comes home late all the time from school or a child who is a habitual runaway. A child has been abducted — that's the first criterion — and the law enforcement must believe that the circumstances surrounding the abduction indicate that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm. That doesn't mean a child abduction where another parent takes the child, because chances are the child is not going to come to any harm. It has to be an unknown person, I would suggest, for the AMBER alert program to kick into place. There have to be some descriptive features that we can pass on to the media and other police officers.

Those criteria have been established. They're in place now, and I think they should continue to be in place. The cost associated with doing that is very limited. It's a matter of setting up a process where the police can contact the media, and the media can broadcast the alert so that the motoring public and other people in the neighbourhood are aware of what has taken place.

In rural British Columbia, where we don't have the large media content that they do in the lower mainland, the new bill introduced by the Solicitor General dealing with the PRIME-BC program is a step in the right direction. We may not have the media outlets to let us know what has taken place, but every police detachment in the northern part of this province will know within moments if a child has been abducted. The information will be provided quickly and within moments of the actual abduction taking place.

One of the things that parents are going to have to understand if the AMBER alert program is adopted by this province is that they'd better not start crying wolf every time a child comes home late. I can think back on my own days as a police officer responding to false alarms at banks time after time after time, putting myself and the other public on the road at risk as I responded to false alarms. After awhile we stopped responding in the same manner that we did if it was going to be a real alarm.

The AMBER alert program put forward by the member for Chilliwack-Kent has got some great, great benefits for this province and for those young children, those precious young people that we all will have to look after and have an obligation to look after. I stand up in this House and am proud to support Motion 50 put forward by the member for Chilliwack-Kent.

J. Bray: I, too, am proud to stand in this House and support the motion by my colleague the member for Chilliwack-Kent.

I'll endeavour not to repeat the fine words of my colleagues, but I do want to acknowledge that as a father of a toddler, this is a particularly important and really emotional motion. It's what we as legislators really are here to do, and that is to provide the best avenues for protection for our communities. It was certainly one of the pillar principles of our campaign in 2001, which was to build safer communities. I applaud the work of the member for Chilliwack-Kent in bringing this motion forward and, really, for providing a lot of education and information for all members of this House and indeed through this House for communities with respect to the AMBER alert system.

My comments are going to be from the Victoria capital region perspective, and that is that we already have some integration of services in this community that really improve the whole aspect of public safety. We have recently amalgamated Victoria and Esquimalt police departments to ensure that we have better coordination. We're moving towards an integrated police service in this community so that we ensure that our resources are at their most effective because, of course, as the Solicitor General has talked about before, criminals don't respect boundaries. They move wherever they want, and in the case of child abduction that's very much the same case. They aren't going to abduct a child in a particular community and stay in that community. They're going

As the member for Chilliwack-Kent pointed out, time is of the essence, and the AMBER alert system recognizes that. PRIME-BC, which the Solicitor General brought into this House a few weeks ago, breaks down the barriers between police forces and ensures that police officers from Skeena and Victoria can talk in real time when cases of abduction occur. But the police also need the reaction and the response of the community, and they need it in real time as well. The AMBER alert system will ensure that the public gets the information as soon as possible and are able to connect to police officers as soon as possible. Police officers will be able to post that information, those tips, in real time for other officers. That coordinated approach can have a real impact on the safe recovery of children who've been abducted.

A parallel example here in the capital region is the agreement between the local media outlets in radio, television and print and the provincial emergency preparedness program, where — if there was a major natural disaster or catastrophe in the region — those media outlets have agreed to provide information to the public in a non-competitive fashion. In other words, they will do it as a public service, not as part of their ongoing media competition between the various services. In other words, they have already agreed that in the case of an earthquake or a flood or some other major disaster, they will work together and work with government to provide the public with the information they need. In fact, that actual agreement already exists in the local community, and what that does is ensure that the public gets served by government, by government agencies and by the private sector media outlets to the benefit of everybody.

I see AMBER alert being a provincial example of what already occurs. I believe that it will lead to safer communities. It will lead to better outcomes in these awful cases of child abduction, and it will make sure that we get the very best responses possible. I'm proud to be a colleague of the member for Chilliwack-Kent. I'm proud of his passion for this issue and moving this issue forward. I fully support the member's motion.

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