Hansard -- Tuesday, February 17, 2004 p.m. -- Vol. 20, No. 8 (HTML)


CONTENTS

	Routine Proceedings
		Page

Statements (Standing Order 25B)		8603
	Scout-Guide Week
	H. Bloy
	International student safety in Vancouver
	L. Mayencourt
	Multiculturalism and multifaith initiatives
	V. Anderson

Oral Questions		8604
	B.C. economy and employment
	J. MacPhail
	Hon. G. Collins
	Hon. G. Campbell
	Government tax revenues
	J. Kwan
	Hon. G. Collins
	Alternative budget
	M. Hunter
	Hon. J. Les
	Offshore oil and gas development
	B. Belsey
	Hon. R. Neufeld

Budget Debate		8607
	Hon. G. Collins
	J. MacPhail

Introduction and First Reading of Bills		8614
	Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2004 (Bill 5)
	Taxation Statutes Amendment Act, 2004 (Bill 6)
	Social Service Tax Amendment Act, 2004 (Bill 7)
	Ports Property Tax Act (Bill 8)
	Hon. G. Collins

Tabling Documents		8615
	Government strategic plan and service plans, 2004-05 to 2006-07
	Industry Training Authority, statement on establishment of corporation

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Mukhi Akhter Premji, who will lead us in prayer today.

Al-hamdu lillaahi rabbil 'alameen, Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem; Maaliki yaumid Deen. Iyyaaka na'abudu wa iyyaaka nasta'een. Ihdinas-siraatal-mustaqeem, Siraatal-lazeena anamta 'alayhim, Ghairil maghzoobi 'alayhim walaz-zaal-leen.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful; the Lord of the Day of Judgment. You alone we worship and You alone we seek for help. Guide us to the right path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favours, not of those who earn your anger and not of those who have gone astray. Amen.]

Mr. Speaker: Hon. members, we have many guests in the chamber with us today. It is my pleasure on your behalf to welcome everyone to the precincts of the parliament of British Columbia.

H. Bloy: This is the third year that I've had the honour of wearing my scout uniform into the House, and I thank you for that. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Scout-Guide Week, which takes place from February 15 to 22 of this year.

This is a time of celebration for Scouts Canada and Girl Guides of Canada, a time when both organizations come together in the spirit of friendship to honour their heritage. It is also an opportunity for the public to recognize the limitless potential of Canadian youth and the work that scouting does to help build a better world for our future leaders. Scouting instils values of leadership, honour and teamwork through the many exciting outdoor programs it provides for over 100,000 boys, girls and youth. These programs are developed and maintained by over 30,000 energetic, dedicated Scouts Canada volunteers who give selflessly of their time, who deserve our full-hearted praise and thanks. I ask the members of this House to join with me in wishing both Scouts Canada and Girl Guides of Canada success as we move forward in the new century.

L. Mayencourt: Vancouver hosts many international students, travellers from other countries who come to learn English as well as a variety of topics and trades. They bring an estimated $760 million to our city every year. Hosting these students is an honour, and it's also a responsibility. It's our responsibility to make sure that these students have the best experience that Vancouver can offer, to ensure that these students are welcomed and embraced and supported as they pursue their further education. Most importantly, it is our responsibility to ensure that these students feel safe and secure in our city.

International students have been the target of violent attacks and victims of crime. Sometimes these attacks are driven by racism, and others are entirely random. This violence is disturbing and unacceptable, and we need to do what we can to make sure that all students are safe in our province. How can safety be developed for these students? We can help to educate them on safe practices, places they can go for help and ways to avoid danger.

Our citizens recognize the value of having diverse cultures around us. We can continue to celebrate the benefits of multiculturalism and take pride in the fact that we are a city and a province that are called home by many people originating from around the world.

On February 27, I am hosting a forum on international student safety in my riding. It will be the second annual meeting I've held with students, educators, public officials and social workers to discuss how we can make Vancouver a safer place for our guests. It's my sincere hope that we will be able to reflect on the many initiatives from last year and be able to brainstorm some practical ways that we can improve on our efforts to create safety for international students. We want our province to maintain the international reputation it has now — of being a beautiful place to live, of having friendly people and of being safe.

V. Anderson: Last Sunday Dr. Cheema, Minister of State for Immigration and Multicultural Services, inaugurated the B.C. multicultural recognition week at Hastings Community Centre in Vancouver. This week celebrates the important contribution that people of world cultures make to B.C. and to Canada. As part of this recognition, I would like especially to celebrate and recognize the contribution of the many faith communities, for these form the basis of much of our culture.

It was my privilege for 11 years to be coordinator for Multifaith Action, formerly known as Ecumenical Action, and to be the editor of MultiFaith News. The purpose was to understand each other and, through appreciation, to work together in projects of community service. The founding of the Vancouver Food Bank was one of these projects. Another was the multifaith calendar, highlighting faith and cultural special days. Another was to support a school course developed by Sid Bentley on world religions, which

After 30 years Multifaith Action is still enabling people of faith to respect one another, to respect the world cultures and to be enriched through mutual cooperation and experience. British Columbians have always been a multicultural community, beginning with the first nations, who have been joined by people of various cultures and faiths from across the world. The richness of this experience has made Canada a unique nation and enabled B.C. to become a welcoming place for all from around the world, as everyone may feel at home here. We are most fortunate.

J. MacPhail: It doesn't matter how big the big guy is next to me. I still get to go first.

The government has spun and will continue, I'm sure, to spin a tale about job growth under its mandate. That's despite a record number of people looking for work and the fact that unemployment is higher today than in May of 2001. Today the latest statistics from the Canada survey of employment earnings and hours paints a much grimmer picture of employment than I think the government will reveal today. It shows that there's a much lower rate of growth for job creation in B.C. — much worse than the labour force survey. Can the Minister of Finance or the Premier tell the House if he's aware of these new employment numbers and tell us how they affect particularly the heartlands of British Columbia?

Hon. G. Collins: The member is correct. There are generally two methods by which StatsCan tracks employment numbers. In the fall or so, those two numbers have diverged a little bit. The gap from one to the other in British Columbia, I think, is about 23,000 jobs. The truth…. The actual number, one would think, is probably somewhere in between, for a net impact up or down of about 11,000 jobs. Given the 150,000 — I think it is — jobs that have been created in British Columbia in the last two years, 11,000 jobs is not a significant up or down adjustment. In fact, they do go up and down month by month.

The reality is that what people need to do is look at the trend. The trend has been extremely positive in British Columbia from December of 2001. British Columbia still is the number one job growth leader in Canada, and we're very proud of that.

J. MacPhail: Actually, I know the minister likes to have fun with charts, except that he says the trend actually has been positive. The only thing that's been positive is the advantage to this government in job creation between the overestimated labour force survey and the most recent survey. The only advantage is the advantage to this government to claim that they've created more jobs in this province than have actually been created.

Despite the fact that this Finance minister is forecasting a balanced budget, B.C.'s economy continues to underperform, lagging behind the rest of Canada. In fact…

J. MacPhail: …the Bank of Montreal is forecasting that B.C. grew by 0.9 percent for last year — one of the worst-performing economies in the country at a time when every province faced challenges. We're the worst performing in 2003. Can the Minister of Finance tell us how our exports fared in 2003 from the same period in 2002?

Hon. G. Collins: The softwood lumber dispute continues to put pressure on resource-based economies across this province. I don't think that's a secret to anybody. I think the important thing to note from the comments that the member makes opposite is that, in fact, British Columbia has created more jobs than any other province in Canada for the last two years.

I note that she quotes selectively from economic forecasts as well. I'll throw another one back at her. Toronto Dominion Bank has British Columbia number one for economic growth in 2004.

J. MacPhail: Yeah, when you're underperforming, it's easy to show that a tiny little bit of movement makes you number one. It's comparative in your own province.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Order, please. Order, please, hon. members. Let us hear the question.

The Minister of Finance refused to answer the question, but here's what the Credit Union Central of British Columbia reports on exports — and remember, we're an export economy. For 2003 as a whole, B.C.–origin export revenues dropped by $475 million from 2002, the third straight annual decline. And it isn't because of softwood lumber, because the Minister of Forests will get up and say that the reason B.C. Rail has done so

well recently is because of the increased exports of softwood lumber. That's why the Minister of Finance wouldn't answer that question.

J. MacPhail: All right. Let's talk about how well people are doing in British Columbia.

J. MacPhail: The B.C. Liberals also like to pretend that paycheques are getting larger. Can the Finance minister tell British Columbians what the average weekly wage rate was in British Columbia a year ago and what it is today? Has the average weekly wage rate — with all of these new jobs — gone up, as he likes to pretend, or has it gone down?

Hon. G. Campbell: The member opposite should know this. I know it's difficult for her because of the total lack of performance, the dismal performance, of her government, but let me say this. British Columbia is number one in housing starts. British Columbia is number one in job creation. British Columbia, for the first time in a long time, is actually watching as small businesses grow in this province. British Columbia is number one in consumer confidence. British Columbia is number one in small business confidence. For the first time in a long time, we're bringing our families home to hope and opportunity in this province because of economic growth.

J. Kwan: The Premier doesn't want to answer the question. You know why? Because the average weekly wage rate has gone down since this time last year by 0.4 percent, from $679 in January 2003 to $676 today. We're the only province where the average weekly wage went down. So much for a new era of higher paycheques.

The Premier and the Finance minister will remember the promise they made in 2001. What's that? That the tax cuts will pay for themselves. Well, not true. Revenues from income taxes and corporate taxes are way down. But they're being offset by huge increases to regressive taxes like the MSP, the sales tax, the gas tax, sin taxes and property taxes. The list is endless.

Can the Minister of Finance tell us how much the government has collected in regressive taxes in 2001 and how much it collects today to offset the cost of the high-income and corporate tax giveaways?

Hon. G. Collins: It's amazing how quickly they forget their dismal era in government, because 29 separate taxes went up under the NDP in this province — 29 separate tax increases. The reality is that this government has reduced 31 separate taxes in the last year. Even if you include the MSP premium increases and the PST increases in an effort to fund the health system, which the NDP cries every day for more money, more money, more money…. If you put all of the consumption taxes, the property taxes, the personal income taxes — all the taxes British Columbians pay — in a big pile and you compare us to the rest of the country, we're number two, only behind Alberta, for having the lowest taxes in Canada.

Mr. Speaker: The member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant has a supplementary question.

J. Kwan: It is not a wonder that the Minister of Finance does not want to answer the question once again.

Well, here are the facts, for the information of all of the backbench MLAs and the government members. In 2001 the government collected $7.7 billion in sales, fuel, tobacco, property, MSP premiums and other tax revenue. Today, according to the latest published numbers, the government collects $1.7 billion more. That's $1.7 billion directly out of the pockets of middle-income and low-income British Columbians to pay for tax giveaways that have done nothing to grow the economy. No wonder retail sales are flat, exports are down and unemployment is up.

Will the Finance minister care to admit that the reason he's forecasting a balanced budget is that he has gouged the average taxpayer to the tune of at least $1.7 billion in tax increases?

Hon. G. Collins: We all know what the public of British Columbia would be paying if they elected — and had the temerity to elect — another NDP government, because the NDP put out their budget last week, Mr. Speaker. The budget they put out last week is revealing for all British Columbians. We should actually pay to print a copy and to distribute it to every community, every family in British Columbia, because if you work hard and earn $30,000 in British Columbia under the NDP budget, you're going to get a 39 percent personal income tax increase. If you have the temerity to earn up to $60,000, the second-lowest tax bracket in British Columbia….

Hon. G. Collins: Working British Columbians have every reason to be nervous with these guys still sitting

in the opposition, because if you earn $60,000 or below, you'll get a 41 percent increase in your B.C. personal income taxes. If you happen to be a skilled worker in the high-tech sector, you'll get a 104 percent increase in your B.C. income tax rate under the NDP. I know exactly how British Columbians are going to vote in the next election, and I doubt if there'll be two people sitting here in the opposition next time.

M. Hunter: I had the chance to read the Carole James tax-and-spend budget, which the Minister of Finance just talked about, over the weekend. Not only will it raise personal income taxes on a massive level to every working family in this province, but it would also drive out large and small businesses again from our province because of these huge business tax increases it proposes. But as well, it proposes the establishment of a public investment bank.

M. Hunter: …are old enough to remember the Soviet Union. They had a public investment bank called Gosbank. The Berlin Wall fell nearly 15 years ago. Now Carole James wants to erect a new Gosbank in British Columbia.

My question is to the Minister of Small Business and Economic Development: what will the NDP's new public investment bank accomplish for the people and businesses of British Columbia?

Hon. J. Les: I, too, was very intrigued to read the NDP budget as prepared by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Will the Leader of the Opposition please come to order.

Hon. J. Les: …into the intentions of the NDP, should they ever form government in this province again. And it is their budget, Mr. Speaker. I want to remind the House that in the very dying days of the past government, they gave $200,000 of taxpayers' money to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, so they cannot now disown the budget that was prepared last week.

In answer to the question of what this public investment bank would produce for the taxpayers of British Columbia, in one word: nothing. It would just be another socialist experience, with the result being another series of misadventures with taxpayers' money.

Hon. J. Les: More command and control by government. More taxpayers' money wasted. More fast ferries.

Hon. J. Les: More Skeena Cellulose deals and more white elephant office buildings in places like Surrey.

B. Belsey: My question is to the Minister of Energy and Mines. Yesterday the federal government released their study on the scientific barriers preventing oil and gas off the coast of British Columbia. This report was good news, because they have not identified any barriers or gaps in science that allow us to drill for oil and gas off this coast.

Can the minister tell my constituents what he plans to do with this information and what it signifies to investors who are looking to invest along our coasts and in our communities?

Hon. R. Neufeld: Again, some more good news for British Columbia. In fact, we're going to hear some more good news in just a short little while, but the member is right. The Royal Society gave their report, and it says with the proper regulatory regime in place there are no scientific gaps that would not allow us to lift the moratorium for drilling offshore oil and gas.

Our Premier has had a vision for this province to actually bring well-paying jobs to this province — whether they're in the mining industry or the oil and gas industry — so people can work, raise their families and pay taxes so we can continue to receive health care and education.

This is another positive step forward in that process, and we're going to take every advantage we can to make sure it happens for British Columbians in British Columbia.

Hon. G. Collins: I move that this House at its next sitting resolve itself for this session into a committee to consider the supply to be granted to Her Majesty.

Hon. G. Collins presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: Estimates of Sums Required for the Service of the Province for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, and a supplement to the estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, recommending the same to the Legislative Assembly.

Hon. G. Collins moved that the said message and the estimates accompanying the same be referred to Committee of Supply.

Hon. G. Collins: I move, seconded by the hon. Premier of British Columbia, that the Speaker do now leave the chair for the House to go into Committee of Supply.

Hon. G. Collins: Mr. Speaker, today marks a turning point in the history of British Columbia, a day that future generations will recall with pride. This is the day we turn the corner, the day where we can see that as great as this province has been, as great as it is today, the best of British Columbia is yet to come. Today we take a major step towards a better future, because today we are tabling a balanced budget on time and on target.

This balanced budget will help to lay a solid foundation for bringing out the best — the best in our economy, the best in our society, the best in our communities and the best in all of our people. British Columbians deserve nothing less, especially considering the year we've just come through together.

British Columbia was tested last year by an unforeseeable and unparalleled string of natural disasters that could have brought a lesser people to their knees. British Columbians were the first in Canada to deal with SARS. We felt, along with the rest of the country, the impact of mad cow disease. We endured a major drought, flooding and the most horrific forest fire season in our history. But British Columbians passed that test, because 2003 was also a year of triumph. We faced some of the toughest challenges we've ever seen, and the people of British Columbia rose to the occasion.

Last year we triumphed in a different but no less significant way as well. We did it with the very same hard work and perseverance, the same dedication to a common cause and a vision that British Columbians are known for around the world. We captured the dream of hosting the 2010 Olympics right here in British Columbia. Mr. Speaker, 2003 brought out the best in us. The Olympic bid brought out an undeniable spirit of strength and confidence and a spirit of pride in what we can accomplish together as a province.

British Columbians can feel the same kind of confidence in their future today as we table a budget that is balanced this year, next year and every year thereafter.

The first time I stood here as Minister of Finance in July 2001, I told the House that we were facing very serious challenges. The province had for years been spending more than it was taking in, and an independent fiscal review panel told us that if we continued down the same old path of poor planning and overspending, we would face a tidal wave of deficits year after year after year that would destroy the very fabric of our province. I said at the time that we could overcome that challenge with a clear plan to balance our budget by revitalizing our economy and getting our costs under control while protecting funding for health care and education. And here we are — as planned, as promised.

The people of British Columbia have laid a strong foundation for future growth, opportunity and prosperity. This is not the time to turn back or to change course. What got us here were tough decisions, hard work and discipline.

Because of that, today I'm able to announce that government is making more than $1.3 billion worth of new investments in our province and in our people. We're investing more in improved health services, in a better education system and in greater access to advanced education. We're investing more in services for children and youth and families and more into opening up our heartlands of our province to renewed economic growth. With these investments, we're building for the future, and at the same time we will balance the budget this year, next year and every year thereafter.

A balanced budget has always been part of our vision. It's something we talked about before the election. It's something we talked about during the election. It's a vision we set out in detail in 2001.

We had just endured as a province a decade of decline, and people understandably had lost their hope for a better future for themselves, for their children and for our province. People were giving up on British Columbia. Our young people couldn't find work and were leaving the province. We were losing our future. While the rest of the country, and indeed North America, was doing well, British Columbia was not, and a steady flow of British Columbians was leaving our province, heading east or south.

That was what we inherited. That's how the province looked when we came to office less than three years ago. The Premier promised to turn things

around, to build a new foundation for a brighter future, and, Mr. Speaker, he has.

Today, as planned, we're tabling a balanced budget with a $100 million surplus, and this is something we've achieved under legislated generally accepted accounting principles. Now, that may sound straightforward, but it's a major achievement, something no other government in Canada has accomplished. It means the budget is balanced, including the broader public sector — not just in ministries and Crown corporations, but schools, universities, colleges and hospitals.

Nothing is left out, because we passed a law that says the government has to tell you the truth about how it handles taxpayers' money. There is no longer the ability in B.C. for governments to push the deficit onto Crown corporations or organizations such as school districts or hospital districts. The budget we're presenting today shows the whole picture, and it's a picture we're proud to show the world.

I hope you'll let me take a minute at this point to thank the people in the public sector — the people in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury Board staff in particular — who have worked long, long days and even longer weekends, most of the time, in order to put this together. I also want to thank the people across government in the public sector who have worked very hard over the number of years — my colleagues, my caucus colleagues as well as ministers — to put this together. I think it's important that we have a balanced budget, and those people have worked incredibly hard to make that happen.

In spite of all those challenges that we faced last year from the forest fires, the floods and changes in equalization payments — in spite of all those blows, impacts that amounted to more than $1 billion in unexpected costs — we will end this year we're in, 2003-04, with a deficit of only $1.7 billion. That's $590 million better than the target set in last year's budget.

Looking forward, we're projecting surpluses in each of the next three fiscal years, and we have fiscal cushions of more than $400 million in each of those years to deal with any other unexpected circumstances that may arise. These numbers are based in part on economic growth projections of 2.8 percent in 2004 and 3.1 percent in each of the following two years, and independent private sector forecasters expect even better growth in British Columbia.

As our economy continues gaining strength, overall funding to ministries will increase by more than $1.3 billion. Because we've managed prudently, we also have savings — unspent funds for the year just ending. We're focusing some of these savings, $66 million, to help address wait-lists and meet other pressing needs in the health care system, to offset maintenance costs for post-secondary institutions, to improve literacy and establish new arts and music initiatives under the mandate of LegaciesNow.

In addition, we're using year-end savings from lower debt service costs to meet a significant part of our previous financial commitments to the 2010 Olympics, a showcase for all the best that British Columbia has to offer. Hosting the Olympics is an honour, and it's an amazing opportunity to tell our story to the world — the story of a province whose citizens are confident and secure about their future and their place in the world; a province with a thriving economy, a vibrant business sector, a healthy environment and endless potential for future growth. It's the story of a place where everyone in every single region has the opportunities they need to bring out the best in themselves, their community and their province; a place with an incredibly high standard of living and even higher hopes for the future. That's the Spirit of 2010. That's the story we want to tell the world about the people and the province of British Columbia.

We also want to tell the story of good fiscal management, and to that end we're moving now to meet our Olympic funding commitments. We're investing $55 million to fully fund our share of the Olympic endowment, offsetting future costs for operating venues. We're also investing $51 million as the first instalment in our funding commitments for venue construction and all the jobs and growth that go along with that initiative. This means we will have already met 20 percent of our financial obligations for building the venues for the Olympics six years before 2010. Most of that investment is from year-end savings, money that was earmarked for servicing the debt — money that, because of good, prudent fiscal management, we're able to reinvest in economic service and economic priorities. These investments are further proof that our plan is working; more importantly, so are the improvements we've seen in our economy.

Since we introduced our economic plan in 2001, we've seen a major positive change. The 1990s were the decade of decline, but this will be known as the decade of opportunity. At the turn of the millennium, our province was in trouble. Businesses were closing, investors were leaving, and young people were choosing to build their futures somewhere else. The jobless rate was rising. Disposable incomes were falling behind. In 1999, as we well know, British Columbia became a have-not province.

The plan we introduced in 2001, a plan we continue to build on today, was specifically designed to turn things around through a series of bold, decisive actions, including cutting personal income tax rates for all British Columbians by at least 25 percent, cutting the corporate income tax rate from 16.5 percent to 13.5 percent, eliminating the corporate capital tax for general corporations, and eliminating the sales tax on production machinery and equipment.

That was just a start. We've also put in place targeted plans to revitalize key economic sectors. We've updated employment standards legislation. We've restructured Crown corporations. We've eliminated almost 90,000 needless regulations, and we're on track to meet our commitment to reduce the red tape and regulatory burden on British Columbians by one-third by June of this year. These are just a few examples.

We've achieved an incredible amount. We've laid a strong foundation for a prosperous economy, and with this budget we're building for the future. That means, first of all, building on the heartlands economic strategy that the Premier announced last year to strengthen every single part of our economy, starting with our number one industry, forestry.

As part of the forestry revitalization plan, we're investing $176 million over the next three years to expand and enhance the B.C. timber sales program. Its mandate is to get more value from our forests and help ensure that more people and more communities benefit from them. The program markets Crown timber competitively at auction, establishing a credible reference point for costs and pricing as we implement a market-based stumpage system. The timber is harvested mainly by smaller operators, including many heartlands communities and first nations. They'll have increased opportunities to benefit from our public forests in the next three years. We'll also increase the amount of timber earmarked for the program from 13 percent to 20 percent of the annual allowable cut, creating new opportunities for business growth and supporting local economies.

We're also going to invest $6 million over three years in the expanded small-scale salvage operations, creating further opportunities for first nations and other communities that want an enhanced role in this evolving industry. As well, we'll invest the same amount, $6 million over three years, to make a modest increase in the annual allowable cut to allow for timely harvest of timber damaged by pine beetles and forest fires. At the same time, we'll continue to build on the Premier's efforts to open new markets for our forest products in China and elsewhere and continue working with the industry and the federal government to resolve the softwood lumber dispute.

We're working with people and communities to strengthen B.C.'s forest sector, and we're going to do the same with one of our fastest-growing industries, the oil and gas sector. With this budget we're building on our oil and gas development strategy, helping to expand investment throughout B.C. Last year alone, drilling activity increased by almost 40 percent. To keep that momentum going, we're investing in targeted royalty credits, infrastructure development and programs to give more young British Columbians the skills they need to work in this well-paying sector and industry. We're also dedicating $17 million over three years to lay a firm foundation for the offshore oil and gas initiative. We'll continue to work with the industry to upgrade roads and open up access to energy resources throughout B.C.'s heartlands.

Consistent with our goal of opening up the province, we're also building on the transportation plan the Premier announced a year ago. In keeping with that plan, we are investing a total of $1.3 billion over the next three years to improve transportation infrastructure; $836 million of that is dedicated specifically to projects for transportation infrastructure in the heartlands of British Columbia.

Our plan also includes benefits from the $1 billion B.C. Rail investment partnership agreement. The partnership delivers greater capacity, faster transit times and lower rates for interline shippers. It also eliminates the B.C. Rail debt, which was costing close to $30 million a year in interest alone.

On top of that, the agreement supports a $135 million northern development initiative headquartered in Prince George and mandated to leverage funds to make sure that every community in the entire north benefits from the partnership agreement. The initiative will be in the north, of the north and for the north, shaped by northern priorities, creating opportunities and generating new investments for the future. It will support transportation improvements, maximize Olympic opportunities in the regions, enhance efforts to eradicate the pine beetle, help make communities more sustainable and foster growth in sectors such as forestry, energy, tourism, small business and mining.

The investment partnership also provides funding for a $15 million B.C. Rail–first nations benefits trust, supporting the initiatives of 25 first nations all along the B.C. Rail corridor. The trust will be run by first nations people and used as they see fit to support economic development, educational advancement and cultural renewal.

This is just one example of our government's new approach to building stronger relationships with first nations people from across British Columbia. We've made remarkable progress since 2001, with three agreements-in-principle signed and approved and two more pending — more progress towards B.C. treaties than we've seen in over a century. We've also committed up to $120 million for forestry revenue-sharing agreements over the next three years, including a new agreement with the province's largest first nation, the Cowichan.

We have extended direct invitations to 18 first nations to apply for rights to millions of cubic metres of Crown timber; completed more than 90 resource development agreements; invested over $20 million to create new opportunities for first nations in the oil and gas sector; moved ahead with an unprecedented effort to strengthen family ties, cultural awareness and childhood development amongst aboriginal children, and to return to aboriginal communities their rightful leadership role in child protection. We've instituted a series of annual meetings between the cabinet and First Nations Summit to further support our effort to build new and better relationships. Across the province first nations people are playing a growing role in everything from aquaculture to forestry to tourism, creating jobs and opportunities and hope in communities that for too long governments either ignored or overlooked.

Well, Mr. Speaker, those days are over. This government recognizes and values the unique contribution that first nations make to our society, our economy and our way of life every single day. I'd like to say to the people of the first nations of British Columbia: you are an integral part of our province. Your successes are our

successes, and we want our relationship with first nations people to reflect that reality.

With this budget we're moving away from ad hoc support for first nations economic development initiatives. Instead we're moving forward to build a strong new relationship based on reconciliation, mutual respect and economic participation. Through revenue-sharing, land transfers, forest tenures, resource development and other agreements, we're working to help ensure that first nations have the tools they need to bring out the best in their communities, because we can't bring out the best in British Columbia unless we bring out the best in every British Columbian.

We've moved quickly and decisively, as well, to strengthen and revitalize our province and our economy, but we haven't done it blindly. We've monitored our progress, and we've made adjustments where necessary to ensure the best outcomes for our citizens. For example, last year, after a mid-term service plan review, we increased the budget for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. We'll continue to provide that extra funding above the base amounts in last year's plan of more than $120 million in 2004-05 and more than $115 million in each of the following two years. With this budget we're also increasing funding to the Ministry of Human Resources, recognizing the changes in the makeup of the income assistance caseload.

Since we came to office, the number of people able to work who remain on welfare has fallen by close to 60 percent as more and more employable British Columbians have found work. Today a large and growing share of those who remain receiving income assistance are people with disabilities and those who face permanent multiple barriers to employment. These are people who cannot move quickly or easily into jobs. They receive a higher rate of income assistance, and we owe it to them to continue to work together to overcome their challenges. To help ensure that they get the support they need, we'll increase the ministry's budget plan by $80 million a year, because every British Columbian deserves an opportunity to bring out the best of his or her potential.

Obviously, the best way to do that is by finding employment. British Columbia has created more than 84,000 new jobs since December of 2002, a little over a year ago. That's twice the national growth rate and makes this province Canada's number one job-growth engine. Today I'm announcing changes that will help us keep that lead position by making our investment climate even more attractive. First, we're expanding the international financial business program to help bring jobs and growth to communities across British Columbia. The program was originally designed to boost Vancouver's financial services sector. Today we're moving to allow a broader range of services to participate and to allow them to locate anywhere in British Columbia.

We're also expanding the list of activities that qualify for tax refunds under the program. Effective September 1, 2004, corporations carrying on international financial activities will be eligible for funds in areas including treasury functions, back-office operations, one-sided foreign exchange transactions and TV and film distribution.

The second change I'm announcing is consistent with the key recommendation of the Premier's Technology Council. We're extending the scientific research and experimental development tax credit for a further five years. The credit provides an income tax incentive of 10 percent of qualifying expenditures, fuelling growth in emerging sectors such as biotechnology, fuel cells and software development.

Since its inception, this credit has helped generate an increase of approximately $700 million a year in qualifying research and development investment in British Columbia. Extending that credit will build on this record and further our goal of making British Columbia one of the top ten high-tech centres in the world.

These changes will further improve our investment climate, but so will the progress we're making with first nations, which is bringing certainty back to our land base. Investors want stability, and that increasingly is what we have to offer in British Columbia.

Homeowners need stability as well. The real estate market is booming in British Columbia, and the boom we're seeing now shows immense confidence in our economy. It underlines the fact that people are moving here and are building their futures in British Columbia once again. But those higher housing prices also affect affordability, and a number of people, especially seniors on fixed incomes, are worried that they could lose some or all of their homeowner grant.

Today we have good news for those British Columbians. Effective immediately we are raising the threshold for the grant from $525,000 to $585,000. That's the point at which the value of the grant starts to be reduced. People who get the basic grant will still receive a benefit for homes valued up to $632,000, and seniors will receive at least a portion of that grant for homes valued up to $659,000. With these changes, a full 95 percent of B.C. homeowners will continue to receive the full grant as in past years.

Mr. Speaker, that adds stability, but so does a stronger management we've demonstrated since 2001. We have a balanced budget and a law that requires us to keep it balanced year after year. The costs of the province's programs are under control, and our tax rates are competitive. We have a strengthening economy, with growth across a wide range of sectors and communities.

Energy alone in this province directly employs 35,000 people, helping to diversify the B.C. economy, not to mention growth in sectors from high technology to tourism to agriculture to aquaculture. This diversification has helped us to weather the economic storms of the past few years. We'll continue to work with the people of British Columbia to realize our vision, generating new jobs, growth and opportunities that will continue to strengthen every single British Columbia community.

No wonder people are moving back to British Columbia again. No wonder business and corporations registered their biggest increase last year in almost a decade. No wonder, in its latest survey, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that small business owners are more optimistic in British Columbia than in any other province in Canada. No wonder British Columbians' confidence is on the rise. Our plan is working. People are working. The province's budget is balanced, and we're forecasting surpluses in each of the next three years.

Now, as promised, we can make new investments in the programs and the services that British Columbians want and need. Since our first day in office we put patients and students at the top of the agenda. We protected health care funding, and we protected education funding. In fact, every year we've worked to increase funding in those priority areas. Since the spring of 2001 this province has added $2 billion to the health care system. We're among the top three provinces with the highest health care funding per person.

But funding is only a part of the picture. We've also done the hard work of restructuring health care delivery and management to make sure that more of every single health care dollar goes directly into patient care. We've streamlined the system, reducing the number of health authority bureaucracies from 52 to six, saving millions of dollars each and every year that now go directly into patient care.

We've implemented strategies to increase the number of doctors and nurses in the province, and they're working as well. We funded over 1,800 new nursing spaces since 2001, and today more than 90 percent of the nurses who train here in British Columbia stay here to practise, in spite of intense competition for their talents from employers in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. We're training more doctors as well. By next year we'll have doubled the number of first-year spaces in our medical schools, and provincewide we've placed over 180 new doctors and 85 nurses in vacant positions through our continuing strategy to recruit and retain health care professionals.

Thirty-eight thousand additional surgeries and other major medical procedures were performed in B.C. last year. That's an increase of 4.5 percent from the year previous. We're seeing real improvements in patient care across the province, many of which result from more efficient use of the resources available. For example, last year alone the number of mental health beds in Prince George doubled. A new permanent MRI in Kelowna is providing scans for up to 20 patients a day. A community clinic in Nanaimo has tripled its capacity for kidney dialysis. An eye centre amalgamation in Chilliwack has opened up operating room resources for other surgical services at both the MSA Hospital as well as Chilliwack General. Work is underway to double the size of the emergency room at the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. All across British Columbia new and enhanced technologies are bringing patients and specialists together more efficiently.

With this budget we'll continue to build on our progress in health care, increasing annual funding an additional $1 billion by 2006-07. As well, we're expecting an additional $130 million from the federal government in each of the next two years. We'll put these new dollars directly into measures to further improve patient care across British Columbia. However, there are no additional funds for wage hikes for doctors or nurses. They have already received major increases in the past two years that make them amongst the highest paid in Canada. This time the new money goes to patients. It's their turn. It's only fair.

One of the reasons we're able to balance the budget is that everyone across British Columbia has done their part to help keep costs under control, and today I want to acknowledge those people and thank them for their efforts. Almost every ministry has tightened spending. Government MLAs volunteered to take a 5 percent pay cut as soon as we took office. Funding for the Premier's office is down this year, and one of the largest public sector unions in the province, the B.C. Government Employees Union, has agreed to do its part to keep costs under control.

Many other public sector workers have agreed as well, including 13 bargaining groups that have settled collective agreements in the university sector, four groups in the colleges and institutes, and nine groups in Crown corporations. Tens of thousands of people in the public sector have done their part, and we expect those still at the bargaining table in the weeks and months ahead to do their part as well. Their cooperation will ensure that we keep the budget balanced and build on our growing reputation as a province with a sound, stable investment climate. As we see continued growth, we can continue to invest in more services like health care and education.

We have an excellent education system in British Columbia, focused on supporting and improving student achievement. To help our youngest British Columbians excel, to make sure they start school as ready to learn as possible, we're investing more than $70 million over the next three years to increase families' access to early learning and child care programs through continuing partnerships with Ottawa.

We're also increasing per-student funding for the K-to-12 education system, just as we have in each of the last three years. Even though the numbers of students in our schools are falling, we're boosting funding by $313 million for the education system over the next three years.

By 2004-05, the year we're about to start, per-student funding will be $530 higher than it was in 2000-01, and the figure will rise by a further $107 per student the following year. These investments will help schools build on the many successes we've seen in recent years. These include higher grade 7 math scores, improved writing proficiencies amongst grade 4 students, improved reading skills amongst grade 10 students, higher marks on provincial exams and a record high graduation rate of 79 percent last year.

These improvements are happening not because of funding alone but because, as in health care, we've refocused education, emphasizing student achievement, parent participation and choice. We have also given districts increased autonomy to shape their schools to better meet the needs of local families, and they are.

For example, in Prince George, Dunster elementary was struggling with declining enrolment until they decided to turn their school into a magnet school. It is now a school of fine arts, attracting young people from across the district and giving them new opportunities to apply their talents and build their dreams. That kind of success is happening provincewide. It is happening in our cities, our small towns, high schools, elementary schools, middle schools and those newly minted magnet schools.

With this budget we're taking steps to make schools safer in the event of a major earthquake. We're undertaking a provincewide review to assess and update the need for seismic upgrades and to find the best way of making those improvements. Funds will flow accordingly, based on needs and priorities. We're currently allocating $8 million a year to seismic upgrades for B.C. schools. This will be boosted by $15 million a year for minor structural fixes and $50 million a year for major capital expenditures by 2006-07.

In addition, funding for advanced education will increase by $105 million in the next three years, improving student access to higher education in communities across British Columbia. We'll create almost 12,000 new student spaces by 2007, rising to more than 25,000 by 2010. At that rate we'll be adding new spaces twice as fast as the population growth among 18-to-29-year-olds. These are vital improvements at a time when the majority of jobs require at least some higher education and tens of thousands of jobs are sitting vacant every year because we don't have workers with the right skills to fill them.

This is a great investment, but like all investments it has a cost. Some of that is covered by the budget increase I've just mentioned. However, in order to start the work of adding new spaces this year rather than three years down the road, we are also refocusing money and funds from the current student grant program. Those funds will go directly to the cost of additional spaces and directly to post-secondary institutions. At the government level, access to student loans will be expanded to ensure that students who need support will have the same level of funding.

We're also looking at new assistance programs such as loan remissions and completion grants to reward those students who work hard and complete their program of study. We'll be making further announcements in the weeks ahead regarding additional new access opportunities.

This is about building for the future. It is about a new generation of leaders, a generation that will build on the work we're doing here today and ensure that this province has what it takes to compete and win in tomorrow's world and tomorrow's economy. That's why it is so important to have a balanced budget — not to meet some arbitrary benchmark, not to be able to say we did it. It is important because when we manage budgets carefully and properly, when we treat taxpayers' hard-earned dollars with the respect they deserve, we can afford to give our children greater opportunities, to give them an early chance to get ahead and to stay ahead. We can invest in programs and services that make a real difference for real people every single day.

I'm talking about people like David Smith and Veronica Healy. They're just two of the nearly 87,000 British Columbians who have left welfare since this government took office, and like thousands of others, they have found work and built new lives. Dave had been struggling for many, many years when he was referred to a job placement agency. With that support, Dave moved, in his own words, "from unemployment to full-time employment almost overnight." Dave says the job is more than just a paycheque. It has given him a whole new direction in his life.

Ms. Healy has a new direction as well. She applied for income assistance after finding the courage to leave an abusive relationship. With counselling support from a job placement agency and funding to help her upgrade her skills, Veronica landed a job as a tour guide. She says it is the career of her dreams after years of adversity. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about bringing out the best in every single British Columbian.

British Columbians have faced and overcome enormous challenges since 2001. We've proven that when we work together, have a clear plan, follow that plan and don't shy away from the hard decisions, British Columbia has the drive, the spirit and the talent to be nothing short of the best place anywhere to live, work, invest, start a business or raise a family.

In 2010 British Columbia will host the world, and we have a choice about the face we present. We can move ahead as we have in recent years with resolve and confidence, with dedication and purpose, or we can go back to the old ways of poor planning, high taxation, overspending and downright hostility to business, to investors and to the taxpaying public. But British Columbians have made their choice. We haven't come all this way to turn back now. British Columbia will never go back.

Individual British Columbians are rising to the challenges that life presents to all of us each and every day, and they deserve that very same commitment from their government. When we delivered our first budget, we made a commitment to the people of this province. We said this government will return British Columbia to its rightful place as a leader in Canada and around the world. Today it's clear. We've made huge progress. The business sector is growing again. British Columbians' take-home pay is rising again. Our children are doing better in school. We're making real improvements in health care. Thousands of people are leaving welfare and finding jobs in our growing econ-

omy, and perhaps most telling of all, people are once again moving back to British Columbia.

During that decade of decline, a lot of British Columbians felt we had lost that spirit. We looked back at the boom years, at a time when this province was full of pride and optimism, and many felt that our best years were behind us. But times have changed. We've laid a firm foundation of good fiscal management, a solid foundation for economic growth and a sound foundation for sustainable social programs.

Now British Columbians can move forward together in the Spirit of 2010, the spirit of strength and confidence that won us the Olympic bid and pulled us through a year of natural disasters. With that spirit we'll work together as a province to bring out the best in our people and to show the world in 2010 that British Columbia is indeed the best place anywhere to live, invest and build a future full of hope and promise. The decade of decline is behind us. This is the decade of opportunity, and the people in British Columbia know our best is yet to come.

J. MacPhail: After three years of the biggest deficits in our province's history and a $3 billion increase to B.C.'s debt load, the Premier and his Finance minister are now hoping that British Columbians will thank them for forecasting a small budget surplus. Well, this government should not assume too much. This year's budget culminates three years of broken promises, anemic-at-best economic growth, increased regressive taxes and fees, and big cuts to many vital public services. As a result, middle-income and working British Columbians are worse off today than they were when this government took power.

The story behind this year's budget begins the day after the Premier was sworn in. A tax cut favouring mainly the wealthy was, the Premier believed, the magic bullet that would cure all that ailed our province. But like most ideas born of ideological fervour rather than reasoned analysis, once they are tested against reality, they fail and little of substance remains. In British Columbia, like most other places, the radical tax-cut experiment has been carried out. As soon as it had been carried out, the Premier's plan soon hit the rocks.

Rather than spur an economic boom, B.C.'s economy slipped further into decline — the slowest-growing economy in the country. The record surplus the Liberals inherited turned into a record deficit. Unemployment increased dramatically.

Only a government blinded by ideology would claim success by balancing its budget when it inherited a balanced budget three years ago. Only such a government would claim success when per-capita disposable income is back to where it was when they came into office. Only an ideological government, blinded, would claim an economic turnaround when unemployment is higher than when they took office. Only such a government driven by ideology would whine about the future debt burden while adding over $3 billion to that burden in less than three years and having nothing to show for it. Only such a government would claim success by lowering the taxpayer-supported debt-to-GDP to the same as it was when they took office. Only such a government would claim life is better for the average wage earner when B.C. is the only jurisdiction in the country to see the average weekly wage actually go down.

The economic facts are easy to read. Perhaps that's the real reason for the Premier's new-found focus on literacy and numeracy. His caucus is incapable of reading the facts and doing the simple arithmetic. They seem to think that having crawled back to where they started in 2001 is progress. Getting back to where you started is not progress; it is failure. It's three years of ideology trumping good government.

We are all paying for this government's failure. The promised new revenues to the public purse failed to materialize, forcing dramatic and unprecedented cuts which have not stopped with this coming budget. With revenues in free fall and continuing in free fall, and growing public anger about declining health and education services, the B.C. Liberals soon turned to regressive taxes to meet their balanced-budget promise, clawing back more than half the original tax cut in dramatic increases to fees, licences, sales tax, MSP premiums, gas taxes, sin taxes and tuition fee hikes skyrocketing and continuing to skyrocket under this budget.

The end result has been a huge tax shift to the middle class who are now shouldering more of the burden for government programs and getting less in return, from longer hospital wait times to overcrowded classrooms to far fewer services for children in need.

In keeping with the supply-side mantra, the Finance minister insists that owing to big tax cuts, B.C. is now better positioned to take advantage of global economic opportunities. How wrong he is. But this, too, has much more to do with ideological faith than practical reality. In the global economy a competitive tax environment is very important, but it is just one factor among many that must be attended to.

Just as importantly, governments must ensure that their economies are fed by a highly educated, flexible workforce. True, private capital is attracted to jurisdictions that provide low wages and few workplace protections, but re-creating the conditions of a southern U.S. right-to-work state should not be a public policy goal for British Columbia. Instead, we should be aggressively marketing the skills of our workforce to global investors, and this government cannot do that.

Education drives growth, it drives investment, and it drives innovation. Access and quality are equally important, and this Premier's government is failing on both accounts. Classrooms are overcrowded, and tuition fees at colleges and universities are putting education out of reach for many low- and middle-income families. As a result, B.C.'s education system is falling behind our competitors around the world, which over time will leave us playing catch-up with the rest of the country and the world.

Despite the promise of a balanced budget for this coming year, ending with a huge deficit this year — the third in a row — it's clear that as a whole, the government experiment with radical tax cuts has been a failure. The price for balance has been increased regressive taxes, declining public services and an overburdened middle class.

In the last election, the now Premier said over and over again that a Liberal government would preside over a so-called new era of hope and prosperity. Almost three years later, everyone other than the richest British Columbians and big corporations is still waiting. What the rest of us have seen instead is one of the most incompetent and arrogant governments in British Columbia history staggering from scandal to scandal, from crisis to crisis. In the meantime, as they do this, B.C. continues to lag behind the rest of the country with a growth rate so anemic that if the economy were a person, she would be in intensive care.

The Finance minister blames our dismal economic performance on the spate of natural disasters that has befallen British Columbia over the past year, and he doesn't mean the police raids on the Legislature or the misleading of the Legislature or the disastrous mismanagement of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The Finance minister rightly reminds British Columbians that SARS, BSE and the softwood lumber dispute have hurt British Columbia, but those disasters, along with other disasters, have also affected virtually every other province in the country. In fact, some would argue that other parts of the country have been affected even more so than British Columbia. But other provinces are performing much better than ours. This province continues to lag well behind the rest of the country.

Some have suggested that the government will injure itself today by the incessant patting of itself on the back for its accomplishment of balancing the budget. I wish I could join in those congratulations, but there is nothing in this budget for the millions of British Columbians who have seen their services reduced as their taxes have grown thanks to this government. That's not what the people voted for three years ago. It was not what they were promised.

We see in this budget that after three years of terrible economic policies that have punished the many to reward the few, we are essentially right back where we started — not a step further ahead. There has been no progress over the past three years. There have been mean-spirited cuts to services across the spectrum and a thoroughly botched reorganization of ministries like the Ministry of Children and Family Development that have cost tens of millions of dollars and rewarded Liberal friends and insiders.

I want this economy to succeed. I truly do. I want British Columbia to be a place where my son can succeed and thrive as he reaches adulthood. I want B.C. to be a place that attracts the best and the brightest from around the world. While I disagree passionately with this government's approach, I was almost hoping the results would prove me wrong. Unfortunately, they haven't.

This budget shows that the B.C. Liberal version of trickle-down economics is every bit the failure that it's been wherever it's been tried. Whether it is Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush or Mike Harris, this dog won't hunt. It's time this government started looking at other visions for the economy — visions that don't start with a three-week Olympics six years from now. That's the vision this Premier has — a three-week Olympics six years from now. Our children and their children deserve better. There will be much more to say about this dismal budget, so I move adjournment of debate.

Hon. G. Collins: I have the honour to present a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor.

The Lieutenant-Governor transmits herewith Bills 5, 6, 7 and 8, intituled Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2004; Taxation Statutes Amendment Act, 2004; Social Service Tax Amendment Act, 2004; and Ports Property Tax Act, and recommends the same to the Legislative Assembly.

Hon. G. Collins presented a message from Her Honour the Lieutenant-Governor: bills intituled Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2004; Taxation Statutes Amendment Act, 2004; Social Service Tax Amendment Act, 2004; and Ports Property Tax Act.

Hon. G. Collins: These bills create the legislative framework for many of the changes announced in Budget 2004. The amendments in these bills will help deliver on our commitments to bring out the best in British Columbia's economy and restore sound fiscal management.

Bill 5, the Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2004, amends several acts to improve transparency and accountability. The Budget Transparency and Accountability Act is amended to provide for the government's move to full compliance with generally accepted accounting principles, to add additional time to make the public accountability statements for ministers of state

and to exclude the B.C. timber sales program for the Minister of Forests' accountability requirement in recognition of the program's revenue and economic growth objectives.

The Build BC Act is amended to eliminate the Build B.C. special account. Amendments to the Financial Administration Act will change vote recovery provisions and eliminate the provincial treasury revenue programs special account. A new special account called the provincial home acquisition wind-up account is established under the Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act, effective April 1, 2004. Bill 5 also repeals the Medical and Health Care Services Special Account Act, as well as a number of acts associated with loan and financial assistance programs.

Bill 6, the Taxation Statutes Amendment Act, 2004, contains amendments that improve the fairness of the provincial tax system and clarify and confirm longstanding administrative practice under several tax statutes. Among the amendments to improve fairness, the Home Owner Grant Act is amended to increase the phase-out threshold for the homeowner grant to $585,000.

The Motor Fuel Tax Act and the Property Transfer Tax Act are amended to expand the definition of family farm to better reflect current practice. The Motor Fuel Tax Act is also amended to increase the maximum refund of fuel tax available to persons with disabilities to $500 annually.

On December 19, 2003, I announced the government's intention to introduce legislation to increase tobacco taxes effective December 20. Bill 6 includes amendments to the Tobacco Tax Act to retroactively implement this increase.

Bill 7, the Social Service Tax Amendment Act, 2004, contains amendments to improve the fairness of the social service tax, to introduce a new exemption for certain avalanche safety equipment, to change the application of the tax to better reflect modern business practices, and to clarify and confirm current administration of the act.

In October 2003 we announced the Ports Competitiveness Initiative that capped local property taxes on port facilities in the lower mainland, including new investment in those facilities, and provided compensation to affected municipalities. The initiative is designed to ensure our lower mainland ports are able to secure the new investment that's crucial for the growth of this sector.

Bill 8, the Ports Property Tax Act, implements the major elements of the Ports Competitiveness Initiative announced in October and extends the initiative to Prince Rupert and Squamish. Bill 8 includes a five-year cap on municipal tax rates for existing port facilities, a lower cap for new investments in port facilities and the annual compensation that will be available to the affected municipalities for each of the five years the program is in place.

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

Bills 5 through 8 introduced, read a first time and ordered to be placed on orders of the day for second reading at the next sitting of the House after today.

Hon. G. Collins: Mr. Speaker, I table, on behalf of the ministers responsible….

Mr. Speaker, I table, on behalf of the ministers responsible, the government's 2004-05 to 2006-07 overall strategic plan and service plans required under the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act. There are two packages, which I've given to the Clerk. The first package contains service plans for the office of the Premier, 19 ministries and five related organizations. The second package contains service plans for the 28 Crown agencies.

The second package also includes a list of organizations that have been exempted from section 13 service plans of the BTAA and for which service plans are not being filed. One of these organizations does not meet the materiality threshold for the BTAA reporting. Another is in the midst of a major reorganization and cannot provide a meaningful service plan at this time, and a third is in the process of winding up its operations. Also in the second package is the removal of one Crown agency that was previously exempted, as it will now be continuing operations.

Hon. S. Bond: Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a statement as required by section 17 of the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act.

This statement sets out that a corporation named the Industry Training Authority has been established, and its board, chief executive officer and management team were appointed in January 2004. The authority is not in a position to table its service plan at this time, and I am committing to make that public — the authority's service plan — by May 31, 2004.

Hon. G. Collins: I move adjournment of the House and wish members a good rest of the day.

Hansard Services publishes transcripts both in print and on the Internet. Chamber debates are broadcast on television and webcast on the Internet.

Official Report of

DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY