Hansard -- Monday, February 23, 2004 a.m. -- Vol. 20, No. 12 (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		8701
	The importance of a strong small business and economy in B.C.
	D. Hayer
	Hon. J. Les
	Bringing out the best in B.C.'s human resources
	M. Hunter
	Hon. S. Hagen
	A sense of community
	G. Hogg
	Hon. M. Coell
	Addictions and their effect on our province
	H. Long
	Hon. S. Brice

Motions on Notice		8708
	Broadband access in rural B.C. (Motion 21)
	W. McMahon
	Hon. J. Murray
	K. Stewart
	B. Suffredine
	B. Belsey
	J. Wilson
	G. Trumper
	High school and post-secondary education of aboriginal youth (Motion 67)
	G. Trumper
	J. Nuraney
	J. Bray
	V. Roddick

D. Hayer: Small business is the engine that drives our economy. Small business touches all of us and makes up 98 percent of all businesses in British Columbia. There are, in fact, more than 337,000 small businesses in British Columbia. By definition, a small business is one that employs fewer than 50 people. More than 187,000 of all businesses in B.C. — better than 54 percent — are operated by just one self-employed person.

It is a spirit of entrepreneurship that we can all be very proud of. People from every walk of life, from every age group, operate small businesses. It touches every ethnic group. Small businesses are operated by professionals, by union members, by single people and by families. Small business creates jobs, being the source of 952,900 jobs in B.C. in 2002 and making up 47 percent of total employment in the province.

Small business generates taxes, wages, and is the heartbeat of every community. Small business is so important to our economy that it now has its own ministry within the government, the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development. I must congratulate the Premier for recognizing that this extremely important segment of our economy needs and now has a direct voice at the cabinet table.

A few days ago British Columbia celebrated Chamber Week, a week of recognition of contributions of small business by chambers of commerce throughout the province. We learned last week that there are 147 chambers of commerce in B.C., representing more than 25,000 businesses in communities the length and width of the province. While that is an astonishing number of businesses to be represented by an organization, there are literally hundreds of thousands more businesses that generate the dollars that help government provide the health care, education and infrastructure that are required in this great province of ours for all British Columbians.

I know personally the strength and the huge contribution that a chamber of commerce exerts on a community, because for many years I was on the board of directors and a president of the Surrey Chamber of Commerce. These are dynamic organizations, and they speak for the small business community, the medium-sized business community and all sizes of businesses in the community to ensure that we have an investment climate in an economy that not only works but grows.

I also had the opportunity to volunteer for the small business council in B.C.'s largest chamber of commerce, the Vancouver Board of Trade, under the leadership of managing director Darcy Rezac. The Vancouver Board of Trade has been serving businesses of all sizes for more than 100 years. Because of what this government has been doing for almost three years to turn our economy around, we are now experiencing the business growth that will ensure a bright future. We are bringing back the hope, prosperity and investment that cause new businesses to begin to grow and to create the necessary wealth to provide for the services that many of us in this province need.

The third quarter of 2003 saw positive interprovincial migration numbers. This is the first time in six years that more people are moving into British Columbia than leaving it. That means that those who left this province during the past decade are encouraged by what we are doing, are excited about jobs and business opportunities, and are returning with enthusiasm to enjoy the results and contributions of the buoyant, growing economy. As the Finance minister so proudly said last week, the best is yet to come. I know people are excited about the economy and thrilled that we now have a balanced budget for this year and for years to come.

By having the government's books in order, by demonstrating that we can effectively and efficiently manage the working of government, investors are now coming back to British Columbia. That is good for small business, and what is good for small business is good for the economy. It means more jobs, more tax revenues and a greater ability for government to provide a secure, sustainable safety net for those in need. The tax revenue that small business generates allows us to add more advanced education spaces, increase spending in education and send more money directly into patient care.

I know the economy is growing, because not only is my riding of Surrey-Tynehead one of the fastest growing in population, its growth in small business development is amazing. In the Port Kells area of my riding, it seems there are new businesses opening daily, and at almost every major intersection throughout my riding there is a new business popping up. Many of these are just small, hard-working, family businesses, but those vital businesses feed and educate children and provide a nest egg to cushion them in their senior years.

Those reasons are why small business is so important. If people work hard, are careful with their money and provide good service, they will succeed, and that success creates jobs. It creates prosperity, and it shapes our society. That is why small business is so important to our economy and to the very fabric of our province. It is the foundation upon which we all can and will prosper.

Hon. J. Les: I appreciate the remarks of my colleague from Surrey-Tynehead. As a former chamber president, I think he has a great insight as to what makes business grow and thrive in local communities.

Small business is the engine that drives our economy in British Columbia — of that there can be no

doubt. My Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development recognizes that small business entrepreneurs are the foundation, the very foundation, of a thriving B.C. economy.

Small business people were the cornerstone of the plan that we set out in 2001. Over the past three years, under the leadership of the Premier, we've created a competitive and fair environment for small business with tax cuts, deregulation, flexible and sensible employment standards and increased venture capital opportunities. I am pleased to say that we're seeing concrete results of that plan that has been put into place.

Today B.C. is number one in Canada in job growth. B.C. today is number one in new housing growth. B.C. is the number one destination for investor immigrants, and B.C. is number one in small business confidence. The Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development builds on the renewed confidence of B.C.'s small business entrepreneurs with a coordinated approach, putting tourism, culture and sport under one roof. With 2010 coming up, these are the industry sectors that have the greatest potential for growth over the next six years, particularly for small businesses.

I see 2004 as a year of great opportunity for B.C.'s small business. Just this morning I met with John Winter, the president of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of that discussion was how we as government can continue to get the needs of small business on our agenda — how we can work together to foster a supportive environment for business formation and growth. As I told John, the government of British Columbia is committed to working collaboratively with businesses and communities to support and encourage ongoing development as we prepare to welcome the world in 2010.

The 2010 Olympics is not about 17 days in 2010. It is about 17 years of opportunity starting now. We are working to fulfil that commitment by putting tourism and economic development under one roof and working to better coordinate interagency collaboration on tourism policy.

I was once the mayor of Chilliwack, and it's particularly exciting for me to be the head of the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development because, as my colleague has said, I have a particular passion for economic development as a result. I am pleased to say that today the largest private sector employer east of the Port Mann Bridge in the Fraser Valley is located in Chilliwack. That was a business that was not there three years ago.

In conclusion, I just want to simply say that our province today is open for business and investment. We've had some tough times, but things are looking up, and there are many, many reasons for us to be optimistic. I am here to work with the chamber of commerce, communities, and small businesses to maximize the benefits of growth for all British Columbians.

D. Hayer: I thank the minister for his insightful comments. I know they are spoken from the heart, because I know how much he values the contribution and success of small business. In fact, before he entered this House, in his previous political life as the mayor of Chilliwack he had a billboard placed on the outskirts of the city. The billboard said this: "Chilliwack, where business grows. Call the mayor." That signalled the openness to business. That billboard still stands along the freeway at the entrance to Chilliwack. His legacy of encouragement to business continues in his community. So I know that the minister will do everything in his power to encourage small business, to promote economic development.

I don't know if we will see billboards popping up all over the province saying "British Columbia, where the business grows," and "Call the minister," but I do know that he will be open and accessible to small business. I know he will be the number one advocate for small business because I know that he has demonstrated over many years his support and his acknowledgment of the importance of small business to the economy of British Columbia.

M. Hunter: I appreciate this opportunity to speak this morning about a theme that is in the throne speech this year. It's bringing out the best, and I want to talk about bringing out the best in British Columbia's human resources.

Over the last two and a half or three years, a lot has been said about the changes that this government has introduced into B.C.'s employment and assistance program. A lot of it has been, in my view, designed to advance political agendas that, frankly, I don't share. There's been a lot of talk that has, basically, worried a lot of people who are often not equipped to sift the truth from what's being said. I cite as an example of this a lot of the concern that was expressed last year about the changes that were introduced in people with disabilities and the issue of making sure that people who were receiving those benefits were entitled to — and also to putting more people on that list, identifying people with disabilities.

I think I would have to say that it was that kind of debate and the discussions around changes to this program that is one of the social issues that I, as a new member in this Legislature, had to learn. I've been quite frank with people that when I first took this job, with my business background I didn't know a lot about some of the important areas of human resources that governments have to deal with. I'm not at all shy about saying that this is an area where I've had a tremendous amount to learn over the past three years. I do want to say thank you to a lot of the agencies in my community who are service providers, not-for-profits particularly, who have helped me understand how the changes that we've gone through have affected people and, in fact, how we are moving forward.

I want to spend time this morning focusing on the positives of the changes that have been made as we

have reformed employment and assistance programs in British Columbia. I think it's worth noting that the changes have made British Columbia a leader on this continent on how to focus help on people who need the assistance the most. Focusing help on people who need assistance the most is what our changes are all about.

I want to see improvements in my constituency. There is no secret that Nanaimo has had difficulties in the past. Throughout the history of my community, not everyone has shared the prosperity of the day. This goes back to coalmining times, to times when the forest industry was the key industry in town employing the most people. Not always has everybody in our society shared in good fortune. In fact, that continues. In September 2002 the proportion of people in Nanaimo who were accessing the basic B.C. Benefits that existed then was significantly higher than the provincial average. As the MLA for Nanaimo it's my responsibility, frankly, to try to help government and help the minister to address that.

I'm proud to note the achievements that we are making and the prospects for the future in our region, because we are indeed fortunate to live where we do, to work with the businesses and the volunteers who make such a positive contribution to my community and to their community. I've stood in this House before on a number of occasions to remind members of this Legislature about how the volunteer and not-for-profit in my community is a leader in the province. Some people disagree with that, and that's great. We can have a very interesting discussion about who's got the most volunteers per capita. I think Nanaimo is outstanding, and I really appreciate what people are doing.

I talked about social indicators and how the statistics sometimes cause concern. We can't ignore those indicators, and I submit that we are not ignoring them. I think the staff of the Ministry of Human Resources in our region deserves huge credit for helping to deliver the new programs that define what I think is a sensitive approach to providing assistance to those who need help the most, to providing programs that help people to become productive citizens again.

I also want to give credit to the city of Nanaimo and the United Way and the Vancouver Foundation, who are linking up in work to develop a new social development strategy for Nanaimo. It seems to me that when groups like that and local governments can work with not-for-profit organizations and the community to start to address some of these issues at the ground level rather than pretending they didn't exist…. I think that's a huge positive. We are going to move forward on the basis of what's being done today — starting, actually, as recently as last week — and getting that community social development strategy out for public discussion.

I think there's an old adage that I learned in school. When I went to school…. I'm old enough to have learned Latin. I've forgotten a lot of it, but there is a phrase that always bears remembering, mens sane in corpore sano, which means a sound mind in a sound body. I think that applies in the civic sense as well as in the personal sense. Again, credit to my community for taking this issue by the scruff of the neck and dealing with it.

When you look at what's really happening in the whole area of human resources, when you look behind the smoke and the heat that the opposition has generated on this issue, you do actually find important improvements. When you actually look at what's happening, when the scaremongering stops…. In my own community the Ministry of Human Resources, working with an organization called Nanaimo Youth Services Association, sponsored a program over the past few months to assist long-term employment and assistance clients to develop objective, observable and documented increase in levels of personal independence that are leading them towards self-sufficiency. Programs like these can help people to improve basic work-related skills or identify volunteer opportunities or other opportunities that can act as a start of a path that will see people who need help liberate themselves from dependency on government income assistance programs.

Bringing out the best from the people of B.C. means helping them to change from dependency to being able to make choices and take responsibility for themselves. Choice and responsibility are things most of us take for granted, but unfortunately dependency on government became part of the culture under the last government. Businesses and individuals figured that if they couldn't make it, well, the government would step in. The government will still step in with a big assist to people to help them obtain the tools that will allow them to become productive citizens.

There are many situations that can stand in the way of an individual moving away from dependence. That's what this program I referred to, the Nanaimo Youth Services Association, has discovered. People need a higher degree of self-reliance. They need safer and more secure housing. They need better health care, better eating habits, higher social functioning — i.e., talking to people about the workplace — better personal resources, including the development of assertion skills. People are being assisted in finding that all of these are qualities and all of these are resources through the programs such as the one I referred to now in place.

I think this is an important, critical issue certainly in my riding, and I'm pleased to be able to take the opportunity to speak today and listen to the response.

Hon. S. Hagen: I would also like to echo the member for Nanaimo's statement that the best social safety net is a job and to join him in celebrating the successes of income assistance clients in his riding and across the province. I want to compliment him and his community for the partnerships they've achieved to make these programs work.

Our new B.C. employment and assistance program provides assistance for people most in need while emphasizing long-term employment and self-sufficiency

for people who are able to work. In fact, this approach is working not just in Nanaimo but provincewide. The temporary assistance caseload — people who are able to work — has dropped by more than half. That's 50,000 cases since this government took office. We implemented a two-year time limit as a tool and powerful motivator to keep our employable clients focused on employment. To help our clients reach their potential, we invested $300 million in employment programs that provide them with the skills, the supports and the jobs they need to break the cycle of welfare dependency.

In Nanaimo that caseload of clients who are able to work has dropped by 50 percent in this past year alone to fewer than 1,500 cases. We know that the majority of the clients who have left income assistance left for employment or to go back to school. For people who can work, the Ministry of Human Resources is really the ministry of jobs — good jobs like painters, security guards, dishwashers, landscapers, retail clerks and administrative assistants. They're jobs that pay two or three times what an individual would receive on assistance.

So far nearly 30,000 income assistance clients have been placed in jobs through the ministry's four job placement service providers. Job Wave and Destinations, our job placement service providers in Nanaimo, have already placed over 900 clients in jobs. That is real success.

Currently, there are more than 10,000 job vacancies for income assistance clients through the ministry's job placement service providers across the province, as we continue to help our clients achieve their potential. Over 75 of those jobs are available right in Nanaimo today. These former clients are not only achieving self-reliance but also providing a better life for their children and the future of British Columbia.

In closing, I again would like to echo the member for Nanaimo's statement that the best social safety net is a job.

M. Hunter: I'd like to thank the minister for those remarks and, indeed, some of the good news that he's stated about opportunities in my community that I see on the ground every day as well. I think the fact that this government's focus on helping people in a planned way is working is big and important news that we don't hear enough about. The focus we have is one that is responsible to the taxpayer and to the person who needs help.

I want to echo and repeat what the minister has said in words that have been said to me by professionals in the field, people who are actually delivering services — professional social workers for all their lives: "The best income security in a market economy is a meaningful job." It's an important philosophy that is expressed around this House and by most social workers. It's a philosophy that I personally, of course, share. I think our approach to individual MHR clients and B.C.'s recent job creation record leads me to conclude that we can express real hope that communities like mine, where social indicators have been troublesome for a long, long time, can finally be improved in a sustainable way.

To those who oppose the development of sound human resource programs by government and approaches that respect the circumstances of individuals and of taxpayers as a whole, I say: take a look at what's happening in my community. Treating people with respect and trying to assist them to overcome serious problems is not mean-spirited, as some people would have the public believe. It is, in fact, progressive and successful.

G. Hogg: Last year I had the privilege of having breakfast with author, social theorist and practitioner John McKnight, who is an important worldwide leader in community development. We talked about building capacity in communities and in families. He believes that each one of us has a mental map of the social world in our minds and that the way we act — our plans, our opinions and, as politicians, our social policies — is a result of that map. He argues that by closely and carefully examining our programs, we can detect the nature of our mental maps.

Using this process, he has concluded that most social maps have two polarized points on them — one being individuals and the other being institutions. By institutions, he means large organizational structures like universities, child protection systems and government ministries. These institutions organize a large group of people so that a few of them will be able to control the rest of them. These hierarchical, managed service delivery systems do not produce goods, but they do produce service plans, protocols, procedures and risk assessment plans. Some policy-makers think they produce child welfare, education and health care. If these systems do produce service commodities, then the recipients are consumers. They are the individuals, and the other part of the social map is created by social policy-makers.

This two-map system — institutions and individuals — has built-in systems problems. Many individuals do not see themselves as consumers. These people often refuse to fit into institutional models that we use to provide programs, so we on the institutional side develop comprehensive multidisciplinary, coordinated and integrated services. We develop institutions without walls; we create unsustainable systems with the requisite incumbent costs of growth.

As an example, I was reading about a community services society in New York that was providing services to low-income families, and they found that only 37 percent of their budget actually reached their clients. Nearly three-quarters of their budget was consumed by the operation of the institution. In this model — indeed, in this society — programs are increasingly more ineffective. We have developed crime-making corrections systems and problem-making child welfare systems.

McKnight argues that the typical social policy map is wrong and creates problems because it excludes a major social domain, that of the community. By community, he means social place used by family, friends, neighbours, neighbourhood associations, clubs, civic groups, unions, churches and temples. The community is the informal sector, and agencies are the associational sector. They have unique social skills and social tools that are unlike the institutions. They learn differently. Institutions learn and pass on knowledge through studies and statistics, while individuals in community learn and pass on knowledge through stories. Institutions control people, while the structure of engagement with individuals with the informal and the associational sector is one of consent. They assume that the best idea, the best solution, is the sum of the knowledge of the people who are the citizens, who are the individuals. They have what Harvard public policy professor Robert Putnam calls social capital: the ability to effect change through relationships. An institution — a structure of control — can deliver services, but it cannot deliver care. Care is the result of special relationships characterized by consent, and the community is the context for enabling individuals to contribute — contribute gifts for providing consent.

McKnight says that the notion that our society has a problem in terms of effective human services is wrong. He says that the essential problem is weaker communities. Communities must be the centre of our lives because it is only in community that we can be citizens. It is only in communities that we can find care. The past ten years have helped to teach us that big government detracts from the abilities of families and communities to build informed support networks that represent a real long-term capacity to address social problems. Positive change means that the power balance must shift from the state to families and communities which they serve. Research and experience from around the world shows us that the result will be better quality of life for children, youth, families and adults with special needs.

I believe this approach will give British Columbians more options to obtain the services they need to live their lives to the fullest. I believe it will give British Columbians more say in choosing the option which they feel best fits their needs, and I believe it is the morally correct way for government to respond to the needs of the citizens it serves. I believe the only true discrimination that exists is that of social isolation. Putnam argues that we have reached a social crisis and that it is time we looked at and found ways to give more authority, more control and more ability back to communities so that we can have consensual care rather than hierarchal, dictatorial service delivery models.

Hon. M. Coell: Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my good friend from Surrey–White Rock. I'd like to give maybe some practical examples of what he is speaking about with regard to social policy development and to look at some of the areas where I believe that community-initiated programs are successful and how and why they are. In many instances, what he has said is that big government doesn't always work and that things need to come from the community to serve people.

I'll give you one example. I think probably we're all aware of a program called Meals on Wheels, which is a volunteer program of serving dinners or lunches to people who are shut in, people who are elderly and people who are frail. This was a program initiated from the grass roots, from around the British Columbia community. To this day it's still delivered by volunteers who pick up a meal made centrally, deliver it to a senior, sit with that senior and check on them. They have, as the member for Surrey–White Rock stated, that sense of community, that sense of responsibility for one another.

In this area, greater Victoria, we have a number of hospital foundations that are continually raising money to provide services that are brought forward by the community. I look at the Saanich Peninsula Hospitals Foundation in my riding, which raised well over $1.5 million to build an emergency room in the hospital. The Greater Victoria Hospitals Foundation has raised literally tens of millions of dollars for additions to the hospital that volunteer groups bring forward as needy. I look at the many, many sporting organizations and musical organizations that help young people. These are all volunteers. They work in the community. They deliver — really — health services. They deliver well-being for young people. I think that what the member is talking about…. Community-initiated programs are alive and well in British Columbia. You really have to look not very far to find programs that are working well in the social policy realm. They may not be called social policy. They may not seem to be doing that, but they're there and they're working well — as I said, Meals on Wheels and Silver Threads, the hospital foundations, the many sporting and volunteer groups that work with youth. There is a broad spectrum of people who initiate programs at the volunteer level. They initiate programs that help seniors and the youth throughout our society. I think in many respects the community-initiated response is alive and well, and I think it will only grow.

I also agree with the member for Surrey–White Rock, in that as government we need to be responsive to the suggestions of the community and not think that because we're government and we have large ministries that can direct services to people, the community doesn't have a very, very valuable part in the development of social policy. I think we always have to look to those people who are out there, who are volunteering, suggesting changes to government. In many instances if government doesn't act, they act and create the programs and deliver those services — whether it is to young people or seniors or, as the member said, people with mental illness in the community living areas as well.

I think there are great opportunities in British Columbia, as we all are very proud to be British Columbians because of the individual initiatives people take in making our province and our country a better place to live and work.

G. Hogg: Thank you to my colleague and friend the Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services — the famous merman. I appreciate those comments, as they help us look at and manage our issues — particularly bringing up the issue of Meals on Wheels.

My father was one of the first physicians in White Rock and helped bring a hospital to White Rock and work on that. He spent 14 to 16 hours a day working. The closest hospital, when he started practising, was in New Westminster. He was gone many hours a day. When he retired, one of our concerns — my brother and sisters — was what dad was going to do. He started delivering meals on wheels. As soon as he retired, he was out there and more active and more engaged and more involved in the community in many ways that were much more pleasing to him, I think, than the practice of medicine, which seemed to be evolving into more business than medicine with his partners. It was interesting to look at that and look, in a very personal and practical way, at how he was able to engage in community.

A lot of the research to date suggests that we are becoming increasingly disconnected from family and friends and from neighbours and, indeed, from our democratic structures. We have to find ways to look at reconnecting. Some of the research suggests that the social trends over the last 25 years are that as a society, we're attending 58 percent fewer club meetings, we have 33 percent fewer family dinners where we invite people over, and we have 45 percent fewer friends coming to visit us than we had. Those are significant trends in terms of the whole fabric of our society.

How do we look at that notion of social capital? How do we start re-engaging in ways that provide services and actually increase our sense of involvement and engagement and joy with life? The very fabric of our connections with each other has plummeted, and there is the sense that this is impoverishing our lives and indeed our communities. We have to bring that life back to communities. The things John McKnight talked about really need to be re-engaged in ways that make sense.

As the Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services said, it's things like Meals on Wheels — the engagement of volunteers as we look at the way they provide services to society — that will start that re-engagement taking place. It's not that the state can somehow do better and impose things on it. It's about engaging and facilitating and being a part of. We can't be separating the state from communities. Communities have to be re-engaged, and we as individuals, to become full citizens, have to become more fully engaged in our communities so that it starts to reflect the type of service, this type of commitment and this type of caring that come out of it — again, not imposed as hierarchical structures of the state but consensual and relationship. Then it doesn't become service; it becomes care. Care is what makes a difference in terms of change and process in our communities.

I thank my colleague and friend for those comments and for bringing that tangible, substantive sense of practical application to those notions. I think that's really what we need to look at as we move forward and change the way we engage in our communities and in our society.

H. Long: As per normal, I'm probably not the conventional type that just reads off the script, because I have a very difficult time at times getting my message out by reading off a script.

Today I want to talk about addictions — mental health and addiction services here in the province — and what they're doing to our society, what we're doing about them and what we can do about them. I think the first thing I want to say on addiction services is that I want to basically touch on what it is doing to our families, our health system, our justice system. I also want to talk about how people can get involved through companies, us as MLAs and through our governments.

But first I want to congratulate the Premier, and I want to congratulate him for one reason. This is because for the first time in British Columbia's history and, I understand, in Commonwealth history, we have a ministry of mental health and addiction services. It has finally been recognized that addictions come under health, be it mental health…. A lot of the people that have addictions also have a mental health problem at times, as small as it may be or as large as it may be. Still, addiction is one of the areas that is taking our province and our country down very badly.

Now, what I want to talk about here…. I know the government is moving forward. They have a plan to move forward in addiction services. I know they have stakeholders involved, and they have people talking to the ministry and dealing with it. But I have to ask a few more questions. I believe that we as a government should be looking at putting together some of the addiction services and bringing it towards the Health Committee of this legislative House. Under the Committee on Health for the Legislature, possibly we can bring those addiction services to them and have people come to that committee and through the Health Committee coordinate a segment for this province which would come under addiction services — how we see it to be — and bring in the people from all the ministries, because every ministry is involved. When you talk about addictions, you are talking about the spinning-off onto the health system, the justice system of course, the Solicitor General, Attorney General, Health and others, and mostly on the families. I think most people know that addictions are tearing families apart.

I'm not putting down the Vancouver police force here, but something became very clear to me. When we

talk about addictions, we talk about someone with a major problem. But recently in Vancouver there was a case in the police lockup where one of the prisoners was found in a cell on the floor and, I understand, was there because of either addictions or alcohol or whatever. If that person had been on the floor in that cell because they had a heart attack, they would have been carted off to a hospital and fixed. What happened in this case — and, as I say, I'm not laying blame on anyone — was that the person was put in the alley and, I understand, passed away — died.

We need a whole new paradigm, a whole new way of looking at our addiction services. What are we going to do in the future? How are we going to look at them? How are we going to deal with the people at the top who are not addicted, who are making horrendous amounts of money off the backs of these poor people and the people with addictions?

A lot of people say addictions are a choice. You are either addicted, or you use or are not addicted. I have to correct some of that because probably 20 percent of our population has an addiction problem. It could be eating; it could be sex. It could be alcohol; it could be drugs. It could be a whole host of addictions. You know, there are going to be addictive natures if we like it or not. Let's find out how we can help them get off their destructive addictions, and maybe we can point them on to some positive addictions — helping people, working with people. I think that's where we've got to go in the future.

I also have to say that I would like to see a process where companies get involved, where we encourage — through our government — companies to get involved with the system that helps their own employees if they're found to have a problem, to work with those people to get them the help they need. Maybe through our taxation system, we could help them, give them some kind of benefit for helping their own employees — therefore really helping ourselves and our whole society.

I also believe that those at the top who are making the big money, who end up in our justice system and cannot prove where they're making those horrendous profits…. We have an ability, through the Attorney General, to pass a law where we can call in Revenue Canada, bring them to our province and target the person we believe to be breaking the law. Revenue Canada does a study on them. If they can't prove the paper trail where that money came from and how they're doing their business, they should lose every penny of their existence. If you can't prove it…. I can prove everything I do in my life, and you can prove everything you do in your life financially. Until we do this, until we have a forum for cutting off those top people and taking away the profits, it's going to continue. It's going to continue addicting our children. I really am looking forward to working with the Minister of State for Mental Health and Addiction Services to see what we can do in the future.

Recently on the Sunshine Coast — just to show you how bad it can be — an area director for the regional district, Adrian Belshaw, made statements to the RCMP in a meeting and asked them to lay off the grow ops on the Sunshine Coast and to put their efforts into something more suitable and which was more of a problem: traffic. How stupid can this person be? When you look at what's happening…. He is talking about marijuana grow ops in the Sunshine Coast. Maybe I should tell him that half the marijuana grow ops in B.C. are now being transferred for cocaine in the States back to B.C., so it goes deeper than that.

Hon. S. Brice: It is a pleasure to stand in the House this morning and respond to my colleague from Powell River–Sunshine Coast, who brings a very, very important issue to the floor this morning and brings it, obviously, with the appropriate passion that an issue such as this must have.

I do have some good news to bring to this issue, and I want to put that out there for the member. Under the strong leadership of the Premier, who has shown vision and resolve, B.C. is taking a new look at addictions and substance use problems. We want people who misuse substances to receive the best possible treatment and care. Addiction is an illness and a health issue, and we're striving for a model of care that supports better health outcomes and is recovery-oriented and, therefore, will include health promotion, prevention — which, of course, is the best of all — early identification, treatment, rehabilitation, relapse prevention and self-management of illness.

We have merged administrations and integrated policy of addiction and mental health services. Integration has brought new challenges and a fresh opportunity to develop a more comprehensive, effective and responsive addictions system for our clients.

The profound burden of disease and harm associated with addictions and substance use problems — along with the consequent suffering, economic loss, disability and death — clearly warrants the most effective and well-conceived approach possible. In fact, the member has put on my desk this morning the sad news that three kids in one of the ridings of this province died from crystal meth this last week — just a tragic situation.

Let's for a minute examine the magnitude of the problem. In British Columbia, of people 15 years and older, it's estimated that 171,000 suffer from an alcohol dependence and that somewhere between 270,000 and 400,000 people use illicit substances, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin. It's estimated, very sadly, that 3,000 zero-to-six-year-olds and 20,000 zero-to-20-year-olds are affected by FASD. Rates of illicit drugs in B.C. are higher than in other provinces, and B.C. has a significantly larger number of pregnancy and childbirth complications as a result of maternal alcohol and drug abuse.

B.C. needs an evidence-based, effective addiction service delivery system that is integrated, that recognizes the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of substance use disorders, that provides many entry points and a continuum of services to meet varied needs, and that emphasizes and supports prevention, health promotion, early intervention and self-care. Through our government's restructuring of addiction service delivery, we can develop these options now. To aid in the process, we will soon be releasing an addictions planning framework that will help the health authorities plan and develop the most effective system of addiction services. It's designed to assist government, health authorities, agency partners and communities in their response to these dreadful substance use problems.

We need a plan to develop a system of addiction services that will provide the most effective array of options. Many people say we need more treatment or more detox, and it's not as simple as just creating more detox beds. Detox beds operating in isolation without adequate wraparound services can prove to be ineffective and can result in many return visits by clients, or the revolving door. It is more important to have a range of options that meets the needs of the client — from wet shelters to sobering centres, supportive housing, intensive residential treatment, recovery services, counselling and home or day detox centres.

Last week I had the opportunity to open the Victoria Sobering and Assessment Centre, a very innovative additional option for treating those who have substance addiction in the Victoria area. One of the speakers at that — I wanted to just put this on the record here today — was Gordon Harper. He's chair of the board of the regional addictions advocacy society here. From his own vantage, he says — and I think it's important to hear his own words: "Some years ago I found myself driven to my knees by my own addictions. Nothing that I tried seemed to make any difference at all. I was paralyzed. I was mired in guilt and shame and fear. I felt helpless, hopeless and useless."

He eventually sought help: "My first encounter with treatment was quite remarkable. I was so frightened and so ashamed that my legs would barely carry me forward. I fully expected to be met with criticism and scorn, because that's how I felt about myself. Instead, I was made to feel welcome and was treated without judgment."

That, I think, is what we would strive for, for all of our citizens. Regrettably, time constraints only permit limited discussion at this time. I look forward to working with my colleague from Powell River–Sunshine Coast on this matter.

H. Long: I appreciate what the minister is doing for the people of British Columbia. The new ministry will go forward. I thank her for everything that the ministry is doing at this time.

I also want to make sure that the MLAs and, specifically, possibly the minister can help us with making sure that through our Health Committee here in the Legislature, we can get that on the agenda. I mentioned that before.

I want to say again that the two things I want most are to make sure we get the services to the people that count…. That's one of the things I want to do. Well, actually, there are three: get the services to the people that count; get an understanding in this House and in British Columbia of what addictions are doing and how large their scope is and how it affects all these people in the justice system, so we coordinate all the ministries together and get a good handle on how we're going to do it…. And in the end, I want to get at those criminals at the top end, the people who aren't addicted and are making the money, which I said before. The top-end people that are making the money and importing the drugs are the ones causing the biggest problem we have.

We have addictions, I know. We can handle those. We can direct those, in time, through treatment centres, and I believe we should have even more treatment centres. I know there are lots of great private treatment centres around. I also want to thank the New Life Society in Powell River for all their help over the last ten or 12 years in which they helped Powell River people. It now comes under the Vancouver coastal health authority.

But I want to leave people with one idea. If we're going to get at those people at the top and going to change the legislation to make it effective…. Going back in time, you will remember that in the United States, Al Capone was not convicted of murdering all the people he did murder. He was brought down on tax evasion. That's where we should be giving our effort, then — to the people we should be going after — and if they're found to be doing this…. I believe it is like a speeding zone on our highways. Anybody that's dealing in these kinds of drugs, same as with the speeding zones, should get double the penalty for what they're bringing down on our children in this province.

W. McMahon: I am pleased to introduce Motion 21 standing in my name on the order paper, which reads as follows:[Be it resolved that this House recognize the importance of access to broadband technology to the economic development of rural communities.]

Mr. Speaker: Just before we proceed, pursuant to standing orders, we must ask leave of the House to proceed to Motion 21 so that we do not jeopardize the standing of any orders preceding it.

W. McMahon: During the throne speech on February 10, we heard that the government has pledged to bridge the digital divide and work in partnership with local service providers, schools, first nations, community organizations and the federal government in order to bring affordable broadband Internet access to all communities in B.C. Currently, 89 percent of B.C.'s population has broadband access. We plan to bring that to 100 percent.

That leaves more than 170 communities in British Columbia that still need broadband high-speed Internet access. They're mainly small communities with populations less than 400 people. A hundred of those communities are predominantly aboriginal communities. We're going to bridge that digital divide. Until now, many of B.C.'s heartlands communities were lucky if they had low-speed dial-up access to the Internet. Many homes and businesses had no access whatsoever. Now these people have been given hope. Within the next few years, the government and its partners will connect these communities to the broadband network.

Some may ask: why does it matter? Who cares whether you have low-speed or high-speed access? But when you consider the opportunities provided by broadband access, the advantage is clear. Already, new technology has been brought to the heartlands, such as telehealth, enabling health providers in remote communities to have access to the most up-to-date health and medical information. Tele-imaging and digital technology advancements help rural British Columbians receive better patient care closer to home. This is already benefiting residents in the East Kootenay where, with telehealth technology, patients can receive care in the regional hospital. Before, they would have had to travel to Vancouver, Kelowna or Alberta for care.

Residents of remote communities will be less likely to have to flee to urban centres, because they will have expanded job opportunities, educational opportunities and expanded access to health services right in their own hometowns. Communities that have experienced great challenges over the last few years in the form of the softwood lumber dispute, the mad cow crisis, forest fires and the pine beetle epidemic now have hope for their economic futures. Rural communities throughout British Columbia have some of the highest quality of life anywhere in the world. People come to enjoy our outdoor recreation, and more and more, that is becoming a priority for families. These small communities are also much more affordable for working families than large urban centres.

However, without high-speed Internet access, new businesses and entrepreneurs have to locate in major centres to be connected with the rest of the business world. Bringing high-speed Internet to rural communities gives those people more options on where they want to live. With this technology, they can live in the heartlands, enjoy a quality of life unique to British Columbia and do business by staying connected with the rest of the world.

Schools in these communities will also have broadband Internet access, enabling heartland students to have the same advantages as urban students. Last week our government announced that 170 schools in 40 districts will get better, faster Internet services through the provincial learning network. This includes Field Elementary school in my riding, which I know is very excited to upgrade the service for the benefit of both students and teachers.

Urban communities have come to take the advantages of broadband access for granted. The past, when low-speed connections provided only limited information and services, is all but forgotten. But many heartlands residents are still living with that past as their reality. They cannot access or develop services as quickly. They have fewer opportunities to expand their education and participate in the new knowledge-based economy. Now, with the help of our government, these British Columbians will be able to enjoy the same level of Internet service as their urban counterparts.

Students, who will now benefit from broadband access in school, will be able to stay in their home communities when they graduate and put their expanded knowledge to use in creating new employment opportunities. These communities will be able to grow and join the economic spinoff that always follows job creation and increased educational opportunities. Those rural residents who choose to expand their knowledge and pursue post-secondary education will now have the option of doing so via courses offered over the Internet. They will no longer have to leave their hometowns in order to attend a post-secondary institution.

The rural areas of the province are our backbone. They are the foundation that B.C. was built on. They developed resource industries such as forestry and mining that the rest of the province has come to depend on. We need to encourage people to stay in and move to rural B.C. because we need these communities to be successful. Giving them access to broadband Internet connections will help to do just that, as the Internet is now such a large part of daily business transactions and educational tools all around the world. We in rural B.C. do not want to be left out.

I know my constituency of Columbia River–Revelstoke will benefit from improved Internet access. My riding encompasses some very remote communities that will quickly realize the benefits of having reliable, fast access to the Internet that connects the world. The opportunities for my constituents are endless, and I know they will take advantage of them.

The reason the government has undertaken this major project is simple: we deserve the same advantages in rural B.C. as our urban counterparts, and students in all parts of the province should enjoy the same educational advantages. It is another example of this government living up to our new-era promise to bridge the digital divide. We are keeping our promises, and

we are endeavouring to make B.C. a place where people can not only live but can also prosper, be successful and enjoy the latest technological developments.

I'm sure there is one thing that everyone would agree with: we all want British Columbians to succeed. Projects like these will help to ensure we meet that goal. Rural B.C. is finally getting what they deserve, and the future of B.C. looks bright. I'm excited to be part of the government that is accomplishing this.

Hon. J. Murray: I'm very pleased to be speaking to the motion that was described by the member for Columbia River–Revelstoke. In fact, a week ago I had the privilege of announcing my ministry's plan to bridge the digital divide, which, as the member mentioned, is a new-era commitment and is, in particular, an initiative that Premier Campbell has shown great leadership on.

I'm very thrilled that this government is opening up new economic opportunities across B.C., especially in rural and remote communities in the heartlands, through this broadband technology. When all communities in British Columbia have access to high-speed Internet in 2006, everyone will have the potential for the benefits that this technology provides.

Having high-speed Internet access is great for communities; it's great for people. Technology can contribute to the viability of resource-reliant communities faced with economic challenges. With new opportunities for work, it also provides new opportunities for learning and health care. That way, people don't have to leave their communities. They don't have to leave their homes the way they've had to in the past to access some of these opportunities.

As well, women and men caring for small children at home can run a small business or even a larger business without leaving the house. When they have access to high-speed Internet and broadband service, it is just that much easier to do that.

My ministry has received letters from professionals in small communities — a wide range of people from veterinarians to registered massage therapists — and they've told us that having greater access to learning and information on the Net will greatly enhance the quality and value of the services they can provide to their communities.

Having high-speed Internet access is a boon to business. Right now, 193 communities have high-speed Internet. They can teleconference with other people, and they can buy or sell goods and services elsewhere in the province, the country or around the globe.

Then there are 173 communities with no high-speed Internet. These communities are located all across the province. Some of the people in those communities are essentially sidelined from the wealth of options that high-speed Internet access does open up. Of the 173 communities currently without this access, 100 are predominantly first nations. High-speed Internet access through this digital divide project is a big benefit for first nations communities.

Let me give you an example, Mr. Speaker. Last year our government announced a pilot project to help the Nisga'a link their four villages with fibre optics. Over the summer Nisga'a citizens received training to install their own network and were connecting their communities. Through a unique partnership with Telus, the Nisga'a people will operate and maintain Nisga'a Net, which creates good jobs for Nisga'a people and technical knowledge and skills they can offer outside their communities.

Think of the kinds of things the Nisga'a will be able to showcase through high-speed Internet: their rich culture, tourism attractions, the lava beds park, their fishing lodge and the magnificent scenery of the Nass Valley. They will be able to market these things to visitors from around the world. Nisga'a Net will also bolster the Nisga'a's existing trade in fisheries, forestry and pine mushroom harvesting.

Just-released figures show that Canada leads the world in Internet use, and we're proud of that. According to this research, 71 percent of Canadian adults accessed the Internet in 2003. Within Canada, British Columbians are tied with Albertans in being the most Web-active.

As with so many other aspects of our province, we aim to be number one. Seventy-six percent of small businesses in British Columbia use the Internet, compared with 73 percent nationally. Seventy-six percent sounds good, but it is not good enough. We would like over the next few years to create that opportunity for all businesses to use high-speed Internet to increase their business opportunities. That's why we're bringing high-speed Internet access to all 170 communities that currently don't have it.

We're fulfilling our new-era commitment. We believe everyone in British Columbia should be able to participate in a knowledge-based economy. We're closing the gap between the 89 percent of British Columbians who do have access to new technologies and those who don't, so that everyone can keep up and benefit from technology. This year we'll see 72 communities connected to our high-speed telecommunications networks, and by 2006 all communities in British Columbia will have these connections.

Some may ask: "Where is the money for this coming from? Is this not a time of fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget?" My answer is yes, we have just announced a balanced budget for this coming year and the two years following. We are a fiscally responsible government, so I will be telling you about an innovative business approach that we are taking to this digital divide project. We're consolidating provincial government telecommunications networks with other public sector agencies such as the health authorities, school districts and Crown corporations. By buying all of our services all at once from companies, we expect to get a better price, and indeed we have negotiated some price reductions already.

This way, no new money is required to bridge the digital divide. We are reinvesting the savings as we

renegotiate contracts in the project so that we do not need to put new money into this project over the term of the next three years. We'll have a network that travels further and faster than ever before. We expect to see hundreds of millions of dollars from the private sector being invested in our province over the coming decade to update these networks.

In 2001 our Premier, Gordon Campbell, established the Premier's Technology Council. B.C.'s plan responds to the technology council's recommendations to help small community-based networks connect homes and workplaces to high-speed Internet. The Premier's Technology Council also did make the recommendation that we have this be a self-supporting project by finding savings that we can invest in the project. Up to now, local businesses could not offer high-speed Internet in some of these rural and remote communities. The costs of bringing the technology to the edge of the community were just too high. So the provincial government is bringing the network connection points to the communities, which puts the affordable high-speed Internet within reach of all British Columbians.

My ministry will provide workshops and information to help the communities themselves determine how to make the last-mile connection that will actually take the high-speed Internet from the pipe in the community to local homes and businesses throughout the community. Our plan to bridge the digital divide will help British Columbia develop into one of the most computer-literate workforces and to become one of the leading high-tech centres in the world. That's our vision. We'll be accomplishing that, and this initiative is an important step along the way.

By the end of 2006, British Columbians — whether they live in Toad River, Surge Narrows or Buick — will have access to a new world of economic possibilities, and British Columbians and B.C. as a whole will benefit by making the most of our people, their talents and their resources.

K. Stewart: First, I'd just like to echo some of the comments from our Minister of Management Services. She had a number of information details with regard to the number of the users of Internet and how in British Columbia we're leading the country, along with Alberta, in the usage.

Just a few personal notes of what I have seen with the digital divide and how it's impacted our community…. Recently our alternate school has been connected with the fast services for the Internet, and it's allowed another group of people to have access to it who wouldn't have had in the past. That was directly as a result of a provincial project.

It is not only the students in the alternate schools and regular schools who are starting to feel the advantage of the new digital frontier but also the seniors. Our local library has conducted a number of recent courses for seniors to get them involved in the Internet. With the rising telephone costs and other rising costs, seniors are encouraging…. The Internet is a wonderful way for them to communicate with family and friends. It's so easy for a granddaughter to send an e-mail of their new child to a grandparent who may not have the opportunity to see that. With the streaming video opportunities, you can see…. You know, if you happen to be a parent away from your family, travelling on business, you can maybe see that birthday party that you missed. That's all new technology.

The movement of technology is really quite amazing. I remember going back to the late eighties, when I was getting some promotional work done for a project and the person that was doing the work was showing me this fancy new laser printer he had. Things were a little pricey in those days, and I believe it was about $15,000 and the size of a big table. It did a black and white laser print from the computer, and we all thought this was amazing. That was about $14,000. Now for a few hundred dollars, a person can get a laser, a scanner, a printer….

So technology is really allowing people to gain access to this. The advantage it's had in some of the outlying communities that are now going to be serviced by this new connection, to the home-based business type, where a person with some of the fancy machines that I just mentioned can, in one room of their own house, now have a virtual office where they can compete with people all over the world….

The advantage of having the broadband technology in some of these remote communities is just going to be astronomical because of the opportunities that will be coming out of that. I talked to a person recently who has a small accounting office in their home as a home-based business. If you look at their webpage, you would think they were the biggest accounting firm in the world. They are doing business in the Caymans and doing business through banks in Switzerland, etc. It is one room in a guy's house. That's the type of opportunity that this broadband technology will allow.

Another interesting aspect that was brought up by the minister is how Canada is a communication leader. We go back to the Anik satellites which connected the remote northern communities. I'm not sure what decade that was in, but it was probably the sixties or seventies. We were the leading edge at that time, and now we're starting to pick up again. Again, in North America, British Columbia is one of the highest per-capita users of these services, and it is through the innovation and programs such as the Minister of Management Services was discussing earlier that we're now managing to keep that edge. As I mentioned earlier, we're now managing to get this technology out not just to our younger students but to our older seniors.

I believe that as a technology becomes more refined and if we can stay on that leading edge, it will give families an opportunity to be closer as they're being divided and being taken away to all points of the

world for different types of work opportunities. They can stay connected and have some form of communication that's not through a costly telephone line also.

I look forward to the opportunities that this new technology is going to bring to British Columbians. I encourage anyone out there who hasn't had the opportunity to experience this new technology. Maybe you think that the cost might be prohibitive, but just go down to your local library. They're there for free for you to use. It's a service that's offered, and it opens a whole new world of training and knowledge that's there. If you have an interest in anything, just punch it into the Internet, boy, and you've got the latest studies on any part of medicine. If you have some concerns about your health, that's the place to look it up. If you have some concerns about some technological issues that seem a little remote, there are many webpages that will clarify it and bring it back to very simple terms.

It is just a wonderful opportunity. I know personally, since I first became a little bit computer literate, the advantages that I have gained are educational advantages, some school work I've had an opportunity to do and just general self-improvement. It is all there, and I strongly encourage people to utilize those services.

B. Suffredine: I'm pleased to rise and speak in favour of this motion. When you live in a riding such as mine, with very mountainous terrain, it is more difficult than in lots of places in this province to connect areas with either wireless service or broadband.

The Kootenays is full of really small communities. They're among the many communities that are about to be served. The digital divide is a gap between 89 percent of the population that live in the large centres and the remainder. The breakdown is that out of 366 communities, 193 have broadband Internet access — high-speed Internet access. There are 173 that don't. The average population in some of those small communities that don't have access is 400 — places like Silverton in my riding, a small community that is very, very difficult to access.

In communities with high-speed Internet access, residents have the opportunity to do things like participate in video conferencing. They can take educational courses. They can promote their businesses and trade information on the Internet and sell goods around the world.

Internet connection speed and level of service is vastly different in various parts of the province. Dial-up connections. When we first got dial-up connections they were delightful, but in today's world dial-up connections are very slow, and the users receive information that's very limited. It eliminates them from opportunities like telehealth, where you can actually go to your doctor and participate in a conference with a specialist. The doctor is there, and you are sitting in your own community.

The other day, Saturday night, I was in Creston attending an awards ceremony for volunteers in the search and rescue business. It was interesting. Through the dinner I was talking to the mayor of Creston, and his wife is creating her own Internet site to sell porcelain dolls on the Internet. That's just an example of the kinds of things that are open now to smaller communities that were more difficult in the past. Anybody with any service that needs high-speed access and wants to build a Web-based system that makes them the equal of some of the larger companies around the world can now do that from their own homes in very small communities around this province.

To build a network, the province intends to work with the broader public sector, including the health authorities, Crown corporations and community networks. They're going to create the next-generation network that extends to every region of the province. The new provincial network is to fulfil the new-era commitment to bridge the digital divide by putting affordable broadband access within the reach of all communities.

Now, one of the things that I think is very exciting for my region is upgrades in schools. There are faster connections proposed for 154 schools in 40 districts. I'm pleased to say that of the 154 schools, we're going to get a significant share. Elementary, secondary schools and six post-secondary institutions, including Selkirk College in our region, are proposed to be upgraded from low-speed dial-up to high-speed broadband.

Let me just give you a list of some of those schools. In the Kootenay Lake school district, Blewett Elementary School is a little school just out of Nelson, a very small school about five miles out. Jewett Elementary School in Meadow Creek. Meadow Creek is a very remote community. That's great to see them getting an upgrade. Salmo Elementary School and Salmo Secondary will both benefit. W.E. Graham school in Slocan will benefit. Winlaw Elementary School, Wyndel Elementary School and Yahk…. Anybody that's ever been to Yahk knows they sell T-shirts that say: "I've been to Yahk and back." Yahk is a little bump in the road that you'd hardly notice except for the fact that it's winding, and you have to slow down for the fact there are curves in the road. Burton Elementary school, another real small community in the Nakusp area, is going to get an upgrade, as is Edgewood.

Now, Edgewood is an extremely small community that really is looking forward to seeing high-speed access. I was at the Edgewood community access program conference a few weeks back, and the very question is: "Well, when are we on the list?" Lucerne Elementary-Secondary School in New Denver — another small community that's going to love to see that. As I mentioned earlier, the Kaslo Selkirk College centre is going to get an upgrade, as is Nakusp Selkirk College.

Many people have asked me what the last-mile connection is. Basically, how does this work? We get a connection to a community library or a public building. How does that benefit the average citizen? Well, what we're hoping is that a number of community access program societies or small businesses will start. They'll be able to get a connection from the public location like the library, and they will be able to resell that service.

They will be able to install the necessary facilities to connect to people's homes and businesses and resell the service in the small communities, essentially through non-profit societies or small businesses within their own communities. That's what's called the last-mile connection. Before we go the last mile, we really need those central sites. To see those sites in small communities, as I have said, like New Denver within the coming year is going to mean a great leap forward for those people.

I attended a recent workshop in Edgewood where many communities from across the southern interior were represented. I know this commitment is the one they were waiting for. The federal government's broadband for rural and northern development pilot program provides matching funding for those communities, and they will want to know about that. The private sector, we hope, will likely respond to the opportunity created by the provincial plan by connecting unserved communities and improving services overall for British Columbia.

In short, broadband access for the Kootenays is one of the biggest opportunities that we've seen in the Kootenays for a decade or more.

B. Belsey: I want to speak in support of this motion. This is an extremely important aspect of rural living — being able to be connected to the Internet, the privilege or the use of that. A lot of people in southern British Columbia have advantages in their ability to connect up to high-speed Internet.

I want to talk about a couple of things that happened, certainly one that happened in the campaign during the election, that really brought this concern home. I was in a community called Klemtu — or Kitasoo, as is the aboriginal name for it — and spent some time talking to people in the community. Eventually this young lady came up to me. I don't know. She was probably in her late teens. We talked about what she was doing in the community and whether she was working. She told me she was really trying to finish her grade 12 and how challenging it was because she had the dial-up type of connection, and it was costing her an arm and a leg every time she did dial up. The time it took to download the various lessons she was dialling into and the challenges she had to try to complete her grade 12…. I believe it was a biology course she was taking. It was a tremendous disadvantage and very difficult for her.

Another community that's been involved with getting high-speed Internet into their community is Stewart, another part of my riding. They've seen a tremendous decline in population over the years. As a result of that, some of the courses that are being offered in the higher grades — grade 12, grade 11, grade 10 — are being done through the Internet and through the provincial learning network. They have had a very tough time trying to get this program up and running. This is the first year in which they're very, very happy with the success they have, due partly to the high-speed Internet. Also, they're getting more and more used to the program and the instructions, and students are developing a better attitude, I guess, to working on their own and with computers instead of instructors in the classroom.

It's a very important aspect for rural communities to be connected with high speed and have the advantage and opportunity to get some of those courses out there. Right now you can take part of your helicopter mechanics training course through the Internet. To take that on a dial-up connection would be very cumbersome. In a lot of rural communities you don't even have that option. The ability for these rural communities to connect up is extremely important.

We heard from the Minister of Management Services how the Nisga'a are connecting up their communities. This is part of my riding as well. I know how excited they are, how it is creating some employment, and how important it is to bring families and students and get them into the Internet to give them the opportunities to connect up and be able to be the beneficiaries of a program. We have nine schools in my region, and they are looking forward to receiving access to high-speed Internet.

I just want to make a note that it is not just the education system that benefits from high-speed Internet. Certainly, the health care system is using it to its advantage. They're able to send back and forth digital information from X-rays, from ultrasounds. They can do all kinds of internal examinations that can be on a screen, digitized and sent to specialists around the world. So it's very important that we as government in this province work to bring these communities together.

This upgrade is part of our government's new-era commitment — to work to extend high-speed broadband Internet access to every community. Faster Internet is coming to the Central Coast school district, to the Shearwater Elementary school district, to Agnes L. Mathers Elementary–Junior Secondary, to Port Clements, to Hartley Bay. This is all very, very important to rural communities — education, health care, all of it, and all these communities being able to take full advantage. Like the rest of the communities in British Columbia, they're all looking forward.

I want to put my support behind this motion. I know it is something communities want, something communities deserve, and it is great that we have a government with the foresight to build this program.

J. Wilson: I would like to stand today and support this motion. I think it is one of the really good-news items that this government has brought to the people of British Columbia.

Today we've got many of our rural communities that do not have access to the high-speed Internet or broadband. What that does is limit people in their abil-

ity to work in their community, to pursue the type of employment opportunities they may wish to. Otherwise they have to relocate to an urban centre.

There are many rural communities in this province that offer unique places to live, lifestyles you can't find anywhere else in the country. What they lack in many cases is the ability to be connected to the information base in the twenty-first century. This high-speed access…. We start with the schools. In our rural task force on education, it was realized that the school system in many of our rural communities did not have access to high-speed Internet and broadband.

This is the beginning. We start with the schools, and we integrate our schools and our post-secondary institutions on a network that opens up huge opportunities for students out there. By 2006 all of our rural communities will be connected to high-speed Internet access. The next step, once this goes in, is that it then opens up the door for businesses, corporations, health authorities, hospitals. It has the potential to greatly improve the health care system in rural and northern British Columbia — huge potential there. People can access the services they need, get the diagnostic tools they need right in their communities and not have to travel hundreds of miles to other centres for the same diagnostic work.

Last week we had an announcement in Hixon. Hixon Elementary School was one of the first schools hooked up to high-speed Internet access. Hixon is a small community in my riding between Quesnel and Prince George — about halfway. We have got other schools coming up in the riding. We have 150 Mile Elementary. We have Horsefly, and we have Likely. All of these communities are wonderful places to live. With our ability now to connect to the rest of the world in a timely fashion — to not have to dial on line and take forever to bring something up and all the problems that presents — it is like going from the space age back to the horse-and-buggy days. Anyone that's ever dealt with high-speed Internet would not want to go back to a dial-up line. It is so much better, so much faster and so much more efficient. It allows people to do their business and their work in a timely fashion.

It is with a great deal of optimism that I look at this. Bridging the digital divide was part of our new-era commitment. The rural task force on education recommended this. We heard, and we've acted on that. These are all good-news items, and it is with that that I support this motion 100 percent.

G. Trumper: I rise to support this motion. Many of us represent rural ridings in British Columbia, and many of us have students who do not have the opportunity to have the access to many of the programs that they have in the urban areas.

I want to go back a little bit in time and tell you. Back in 1975 North Island College came into the Alberni-Clayoquot regional district to provide programs. One of the first programs that went in was upgrading for people who had left school before they had finished their grade 12, and they took the opportunity to get into the college. I can remember, on the first graduation day, a woman coming up to me and saying: "You know, I never thought I would walk through the doors of a college when I left school at grade 10. Now I have done that, and I've graduated." I know that particular individual is now doing extremely well — has stayed in Port Alberni and is doing really well.

You know, it was hard work at that time. North Island College came into the community. It provided programs in places such as Bamfield and Ahousat, which is up on the west coast, but it was a difficult job for people first to get their education and take those courses. Now, as technology has moved on, it has made the opportunities for people so much easier and so much better in these outlying communities. They now have the opportunity to take programs with the new technology so that they will have the same opportunities as those of us who do live in urban areas and have access.

In part of my riding, the community of Qualicum is known as the community that has the highest percentage of people over 75 as population. Those people have absolutely bought into the new technology. As somebody said to me the other day, she's not able to get out a great deal, but with the technology that is available now and with her being able to go down to the library, it has opened the world for her. From being a shut-in person, she is now able to go out to access courses through the universities and college, able to connect with her family. It has just brought a whole new life to that individual and to many of our seniors.

I would also like to say that in the health area, it has just made leaps and bounds into access for people in rural communities, particularly people on the west coast. I mean, now you can do diagnosis through the high technology that we have. Maybe sometimes it is not always the best, but you can also look up information for yourself on whatever you have been told may be wrong with you by your physician. You can get the information on it.

This opens new doors, and I am really pleased to be supporting this motion because it makes and will make such a difference to the rural communities, to our children, to our seniors and to businesses, which are able to access bigger markets. It is just a new world for everyone.

Deputy Speaker: Hon. members, pursuant to standing orders, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 67 without disturbing the priorities of motions preceding it on the order paper.

G. Trumper: Over the last three years we have seen graduation rates for aboriginal students increase from 37 percent to 42 percent. These increases are due to aboriginal communities, school districts and our government working together to develop education programs that allow students to have access and preparation for post-secondary institutes while maintaining a focus on local cultures.

Forty-four million dollars has been dedicated to furthering education achievement in British Columbia. This money has been used to support aboriginal language and culture programs, aboriginal support service programs and other localized aboriginal education programs. Since 2001 the province has funded 85 special projects to help more than 2,000 aboriginal learners further their education in a variety of areas of study.

We support many innovative aboriginal post-secondary programs: Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University aboriginal community economic development bachelor of arts program, Capilano College aboriginal film and television program. These programs provide opportunities for first nations youth to participate in post-secondary education in areas that will provide them with skills so that they can go back to their communities. We need to encourage aboriginal interest and achievement in careers that will directly benefit first nations communities.

Another important commitment that we as a government must make is to continue to fund updated technology for first nations communities. These communities need to have access to communications technology and high-technology equipment in order for them to continue to see economic growth and prosperity.

One example of this, as has been said earlier, is high-speed Internet to Nisga'a communities for the first time. We will now be extending high-speed Internet access to every B.C. community by 2006. Now first nations communities will have access to high-speed broadband Internet access points.

To give some examples in my riding on the west coast of Vancouver Island, there are aboriginal students who live in areas where there are no roads. The students in Hesquiat take a boat from their village round a point open to the Pacific swells to the next village for their education. Obviously, there are days when the sea is too rough and they miss school. Broadband Internet will be a huge advantage to these students. There are students in Kildonan, Dididaht and Bamfield who will also benefit from broadband.

Currently, aboriginal students are still lagging behind their non-native peers in academic achievement. However, with renewed commitment to this cause, I have no doubt there will be positive increases in the academic performances of aboriginal students so that they can also have the opportunities to graduate from university, colleges and trades and be able to provide the expertise in their own communities as they move forward.

J. Nuraney: I rise in support of Motion 67. This province is home to many beautiful and diverse aboriginal communities. Their arts and culture are renowned throughout the world. Historically speaking, B.C.'s aboriginals played a crucial role in making this province what it is today. Were it not for their assistance, European explorers may not have come to realize the true value of our natural resources and the opportunities for trade with other settlements in the west.

It is no secret that B.C.'s aboriginals have faced many challenges in their communities over the past few decades, such as poverty and substance abuse. While these problems certainly transcend all cultural boundaries, our aboriginals and our government have made a concerted effort in recent years to find positive solutions for these challenging social concerns. But as we work to overcome these difficulties, B.C.'s aboriginals still have much to contribute to our society and to the success of this province.

Key to that success is education of all young British Columbians, wherever and whoever they may be. This government has made a commitment to improving the literacy of our young people and to improving the public education system as a whole. We will live up to these commitments and do our best to ensure that we open as many doors of opportunity for British Columbians as we can.

There is an old proverb that says a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and I believe there is a great deal of truth in this statement. I also believe it is a reasonable assumption that the long-term success of this province hinges greatly on how well we prepare our young people for the future. Improving youth literacy is crucial to our objectives. Taking this first important step will pave the way for an increase in high school completion rates.

We also need to encourage our young people, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike, to pursue post-secondary education. We need to reinforce the idea that education is power. Education is a gateway to prosperity and the key to realizing our dreams. I, for one, will be looking ahead to the days when we can boast North America's best high school completion rates for aboriginal students. I will also be looking forward to the days when we can boast having the most aboriginal post-secondary graduates.

One must acknowledge the ills of the past and the injustices of the past. But rather than dwelling in the past, we must move ahead and recognize the determination of this government to bringing the aboriginal

communities — and students in those communities particularly — up to speed and to making sure that they, too, avail themselves of the opportunities offered to them and to making sure that they become a very great part and parcel of our communities of the future.

J. Bray: I rise in strong support of Motion 67, brought forward by the member from Qualicum.

I come from a community here in Victoria that has a large urban aboriginal population, so I'm going to come at it from a slightly different perspective than perhaps some of my colleagues. I'm talking about aboriginals, by and large, who are off-reserve. Although we're seeing good improvement with respect to the graduation rates for aboriginal young people, I'm actually going to take my learned colleague's looking-forward prospect one step further and say that I look forward to the day when graduation rates between aboriginals and non-aboriginals are exactly the same.

I look forward to a day when, in fact, our aboriginal youth here in the city of Victoria graduate at the exact same rate as non-aboriginals, and I think that is a goal the first nations communities here in the capital region are working toward. Certainly, it is something I am very excited about and look forward to.

But there is another aspect I want to focus on. We have such an exciting opportunity in the next 15 years for individuals who graduate from high school. The old argument 20 years ago was: "Why worry about graduating, because there isn't a job there?" or "I can get a job without high school." So some of the prospects didn't seem to be linked to graduation from high school. We now know — and I think it is common throughout communities now — that a high school diploma, that Dogwood Certificate, is in fact the base foundation by which you can move forward. We also know that over 60 percent of all the new jobs that are going to be created over the next 15 years will also require some form of post-secondary education.

Being a member of the Finance Committee, I heard a lot around the province about the looming skill shortage. I want to quickly read one quote from Northwest Community College:

Here on the South Island we have a huge marine industry. We have shipyards here. We have huge tourism potential. We have a lot of specialty agriculture that is occurring on the Saanich Peninsula. We have three world-class post-secondary institutions in Camosun College, UVic and Royal Roads. We have the infrastructure, and now we have a situation where the demand for skilled employment is going to grow, and the opportunities for our youth — aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike — to take advantage of that are going to grow.

We need to make sure that we make the link in our urban aboriginal population here in Victoria — that they realize that those potentials and those futures are their futures, just like everybody else's, and that staying in school, getting that Dogwood Certificate and investing in programs at Camosun or UVic are the ways in which they can take advantage of these opportunities to create their own destinies and opportunities for themselves and their families.

We need to continue to support the specialty programs in our school districts here in the capital region to ensure that aboriginal youth feel connected to those opportunities and can choose those opportunities. If they do, that is how you are going to see an improvement in the quality of life for urban aboriginals and for the next generation. Their elders see the importance of this and are encouraging aboriginal youth to stay in school. But we as a community need to highlight these opportunities that exist for aboriginal youth to participate in, to make their own choices. They have the opportunities.

I believe this motion is critical for us as a Legislature as well as community members to support aboriginal youth in the aspects of not only secondary education but also post-secondary education.

Finally, we're addressing the needs of the skill shortage by expanding the spaces in post-secondary education. In fact, this year alone we're adding 5,800 additional spaces. In 2006-07 that will be up to 17,600 additional spaces, and in 2010 it will be 30,800 additional spaces. So as aboriginal youth improve their completion rates in high school and get that Dogwood Certificate, there are going to be spaces available for them to work in tourism, oil and gas, specialty agriculture, forestry, mining, aerospace and medical services — to work in literally any field they choose.

I know that I'm working with local service providers here in Victoria to ensure we're expanding our services in school to keep aboriginal youth connected and allow them to take part in this future. So I strongly support the motion from the member from Qualicum, and I congratulate her for bringing it forward to the House.

V. Roddick: I rise today to speak on behalf of Motion 67 put forward by the member for Alberni-Qualicum. The province is committed to working with aboriginal communities on all fronts. After years of neglect, it is imperative that we work together on behalf of all our peoples.

Education is the key to achieving success. Planning with the local school board is certainly a beginning. Tsawwassen first nation has signed its fourth two-year renewal of an educational agreement between themselves and the Delta school board. Both the board and the band are developing a curriculum designed to encourage and enable aboriginal students to complete high school and pursue post-secondary education. A

home school support counsellor has been retained to work with parents, students and local schools to deal with the problems before they become barriers to furthering education.

As Chief Kim Baird says, it's a good deal of trial and error. Even though only nine bands of 60 have completed agreements with their local school district, she feels confident that slowly but surely they are gaining ground. With the help and cooperation from the federal government, who also have financial responsibility for aboriginal education, we can reinforce their Indian identity and provide training necessary for making a good living in a modern society.

The discussions in our community around the possibility of student nurses training or practicum work in mental health and aboriginal health show the commitment that our educators, our health care system and our government are prepared to undertake.

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