Hansard -- Monday, February 23, 2004 p.m. -- Vol. 20, No. 13 (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

Introductions by Members		8719

Tributes		8719
	Sohan Surinder Singh Sangha
	Hon. G. Cheema

Statements (Standing Order 25B)		8719
	Development of gravel industry
	R. Hawes
	Role for Vancouver Island in offshore oil and gas exploration
	G. Trumper
	Roots of Empathy program
	L. Mayencourt

Oral Questions		8720
	Health care wait-lists
	J. MacPhail
	Hon. C. Hansen
	J. Kwan
	Management of Forests ministry recreation sites
	J. Wilson
	Hon. M. de Jong

Budget Debate (continued)		8722
	Hon. L. Reid
	Hon. C. Hansen
	Hon. K. Falcon
	P. Sahota
	L. Stephens
	Hon. J. Les
	J. Wilson
	B. Suffredine
	B. Penner

Hon. S. Brice: On behalf of my colleague the Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services and myself, I would like to acknowledge some guests we have in the gallery today. We have Norm Bradshaw, Ed and Shirley Excell, and Graeme and Kathy Roberts from Saanich North and the Islands and Saanich South. Would the House please help me make them welcome.

R. Hawes: In the House today there are two tireless workers in the tourism industry from my constituency: Sharon Vallance, who is a tour guide leader from the Powerhouse, which is B.C. Hydro's wonderful facility in Mission, and Nancy Doerksen, who is a visitor service coordinator with the Mission Chamber of Commerce. They are both here this week for a tourism seminar that's being held in Victoria. Could the House please make them welcome.

R. Masi: It's my pleasure today to introduce two longtime friends and former colleagues, Gerry and Lynn Powlik from Langley. Would the House please make them welcome.

Hon. G. Cheema: This past weekend myself and hundreds of others attended the funeral of a historian and prominent member of the Sikh community, Mr. Sohan Surinder Singh Sangha. Through his participation in many literary and cultural societies of the lower mainland, as a member of the multicultural advisory committee of British Columbia and in his role as a secretary of the Khalsa Diwan Society of Canada, Mr. Sangha has made a significant contribution to the Sikh community and the community at large. Would the House please join me in offering his family our most sincere sympathy.

R. Hawes: Many areas of this province continue to grow at a record pace. To ensure this continues, an adequate and economic supply of gravel is essential. Construction, transportation and drainage all rely on great quantities of gravel.

With growth, however, comes increasing friction at the interface between urban and rural residential development and the quarries needed to supply this gravel. This friction at times almost takes on warlike proportion as residents face off against the industry and government.

In the mid-1990s a method of ending this war was explored. Using an enhanced Geological Survey of Canada indicating where gravel deposits were, local government, the gravel industry and the provincial government worked to negotiate areas where gravelling could take place, where it could not take place and where it might under strict conditions. Local government called it "the yes, no, maybe." To the industry it was called "green light, red light, yellow light." For reasons completely unknown to me, the previous government stopped the discussion, abandoned the concept and let the gravel wars continue to happen. Perhaps it just made too much sense for them.

I am proud to say, though, that this government understands the importance of promoting harmony between community and the industry. Not only did the minister empower an MLA mining task force to consider the restoration of mining in British Columbia, but he asked that they also consider the issue of aggregate supply as well.

I am very pleased to inform my constituents that the Minister of State for Mining understands the significance of an orderly, cooperative approach to future gravel mining and supports the consultative process — such as the yes-no-maybe concept. This is indeed good news for the Fraser Valley and the industry, who both support this approach. Any means of ensuring community harmony while protecting the necessary supply of gravel is a welcome step.

G. Trumper: As the interest rises in the evaluation of the opportunity for offshore gas and oil exploration, it is vital that all communities on the west coast of B.C. avail themselves of the opportunities that can come. Last week Pacific Offshore Energy Association was on the west coast holding meetings in Ucluelet and Port Alberni and giving information. The meetings were well attended, and very good questions were asked of them.

Port Alberni lies at the head of the Alberni Inlet. It's an industrial-based town that has a deep-sea harbour able to accommodate Panamax ships. Over the past several years, the authority has supported the community in many ways by contributing to the infrastructure with new marinas and has been a partner in the development of the waterfront. There is industrial land available on the waterfront, and with an airport, that with some new lighting can only add to the infrastructure that is required.

The community is ready and open for being able to participate in the servicing needed for seismic exploration. We have the Tofino basin just off the west coast. With the Charlotte basin, the opportunity for Vancouver Island and for the Alberni-Clayoquot regional district is there. We need to be part of the planning that is

taking place so that our community can also benefit from the opportunity that is there in the oil and gas business.

L. Mayencourt: I started the morning at Lord Roberts Annex, an elementary school in my riding, and I was joined there by 22 grade 1 students, a couple of babies and the Minister of State for Early Childhood Development. We were all there to learn a little bit more about and to promote Roots of Empathy. Roots of Empathy is a program that we have in about 250 B.C. schools, where a parent brings their baby into a classroom and children have the opportunity to interact with the infant.

The program has been identified as an anti-bullying program. Children are taught to understand how the others feel and are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions and their feelings. Roots of Empathy's mission is to build caring, civil and peaceful societies through the development of empathy in children and adults.

What is empathy? It's the ability to identify with another person's feelings. This is an important skill for children to learn, and it is successfully developed by having children interact with infants and parents of infants. Roots of Empathy further promotes anti-bullying messages through celebrating diversity. Different families from different ethnic groups, religions and cultures have participated in the program. Children are being exposed to how other people live their lives, and they are exposed to the differences between them as well as the striking similarity that bonds us all together.

Children are never too young to learn about the importance of caring for others, and the Roots of Empathy program creates awareness of risk factors to babies and has a strong focus on abuse prevention. When kids learn about a baby's feelings and emotions, they learn about their own feelings and emotions and those of their friends. They learn how to empathize, and they learn how to be better citizens in our province. That's why I'm so proud of the work of the 250 schools that bring us the Roots of Empathy.

J. MacPhail: No surprises today about question period. The government knows exactly what the opposition is asking about.

Here's what the Health minister said last year about this time when I asked him about the growing health care wait-lists. He said that although there were some short-term increases to wait-lists, the government is "putting the kind of systems in place that are going to give British Columbians more timely delivery of services they need and deserve."

To the minister. It's a year later. Would he like to tell British Columbians how well his government is doing to reduce wait-lists in British Columbia?

Hon. C. Hansen: There's actually good news for British Columbians. Last year the health care system in B.C. performed an additional 38,000 surgeries and other major procedures as well. That's not based on some wait-list website that the member designed when she was in cabinet, but rather, that's based on the actual number of billings from physicians to the Medical Services Commission in this province.

Included in that, we saw a 13 percent increase in the number of hip replacements that were done in this province. We saw an 11.4 percent increase in the number of knee replacements that were done in this province. Generally speaking, we are seeing more surgeries being done so that British Columbians can get the care they need when they need it.

J. MacPhail: Well, even though he had all morning to prepare, knowing this was coming, he's saying exactly the opposite of what his Premier is saying today. Today in Vancouver the Premier is meeting with other Premiers to talk about health care, and he's wringing his hands about growing wait-lists — his Premier.

First the Premier said that there was enough money but that it was bad management. Then he said that there wasn't enough money. Today the Premier doesn't know what to do, but he knows wait-lists are growing. So, perhaps the Minister of Health needs to make a phone call.

When I asked the Minister of Health about the growth in wait-lists last year, they had increased by 21 percent since the Liberals took power. Today, according to the government's own website — the latest numbers — that figure has grown to a 26 percent increase. Over 16,000 more British Columbians are waiting for surgery today than in June 2001. For hip surgery alone, the one the minister just bragged about, wait-lists have grown by a phenomenal 66 percent.

Can the minister of state responsible for seniors, who are the majority waiting for hip surgery…? Can she tell us what she's doing to bring exploding orthopedic wait-lists down? Otherwise, why does she exist if she can't answer that question?

Hon. C. Hansen: Actually, it's interesting, because the members opposite put out a press release last February 28 claiming that there were 95,265 British Columbians waiting for surgery in B.C. In fact, if she goes

One of the things I explained to the House last year in response to her questions at that time is that when you start looking at things like a wait-list for hip replacement or knee replacement, you've got to start pulling those numbers apart. What we see is that, increasingly, surgeons will put their patients on a wait-list in anticipation of a future need, because we're talking about conditions that are degenerating. It may not be required today, but it might be required 18 months from now, so what we see is that some physicians will actually put their patients on a wait-list in anticipation of some future demand. What we need is better methodology around how we actually calculate wait-lists, and that's one of the things that will be coming out of the western Canada wait-list project.

J. MacPhail: I'm not exactly sure how much comfort British Columbians will take with the Minister of Health saying that it's a statistical problem, not a health care problem. My gosh, every year this government comes up with a new explanation for how they're not delivering on their promise.

What was their promise? Let's just see. The government campaigned on a promise of health care where you need it, when you need it. It's been just over a thousand days since the Liberals took power…

J. MacPhail: There are 2,500 more people waiting for eye and cataract surgery; 7,500 more people waiting for other eye surgeries; 2,000 more people waiting for general surgery. Can the minister give any comfort other than his statistical explanation and point out to us where in the New Era document it says that under a Liberal government, wait-lists will grow by a whopping 26 percent and counting?

Hon. C. Hansen: We've undertaken a very fundamental change in the way health care is delivered in British Columbia to build around centres of excellence. We now see that more patients are getting care in the regions in which they live. We see that the median wait times across health authorities are coming down. We are actually seeing that British Columbians are getting better care in a very short period of time.

As the member knows, I've got a bunch of wonderful quotes that were attributed to her when she was…. Here's one from when she was Minister of Finance on March 30, 1999. It talks about a budget increasing health care investment by $615 million. The overriding goal of that new money is simple: more beds, more nurses and shorter waits. Guess what happened. The wait times went up during that same period of time.

We are building a more comprehensive network of care in this province that actually gives better care and that every year is producing more surgeries and better care for British Columbians.

J. Kwan: You know, every year we ask the minister about growing wait-lists, and every year he makes excuses. He says: "Don't worry. We're making changes. Soon the wait-lists will come down." And then this year we asked a question that he's expecting, and what is the answer? He says: "Well, if the numbers don't come down, we'll re-spin it. That's what we'll do. We'll blame it on the stats."

Mr. Speaker, excuses just don't cut it anymore. Not only are wait-lists increasing, but so is the amount of time British Columbians are on those wait-lists — 33 percent longer for orthopedic surgery, 38 percent longer for cardiac and 23 percent longer for gynecological. Will the minister just admit that the numbers are telling him that wait-lists are going up, and thanks to this government's mismanagement of health care, there are thousands more British Columbians languishing on the wait-lists for longer than ever before?

Hon. C. Hansen: The member for Vancouver-Hastings will know well the work that's being done by the Western Canada Waiting List Project, which is actually trying to bring some standardized ways of measuring this.

I do wish that the members would go back and pull their own press release from last February 28, speaking of statistics, at which time they claimed there were 95,000 British Columbians waiting for surgery in this province. You talk about the use of statistics. They should try to get their statistics a bit more accurate when they roll that out in this House.

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

J. Kwan: You know what? News flash for the Minister of Health: wait-lists and wait times are going up. It doesn't matter how you want to re-spin those numbers. The reality is that British Columbians are waiting longer and longer to get surgery.

This kind of arrogance and denial is why British Columbians have had it with this government. While they waste millions of dollars on advertising, telling British Columbians what a good job they're doing in health care, health care is in crisis. While wait-lists are

exploding, the government's handpicked health care directors take more than a million dollars in fees and per diems.

Again, to the minister: how high do wait-lists have to go? How many more British Columbians will have to be denied surgery before this government admits that it's destroying our health care system?

Hon. C. Hansen: As I mentioned earlier, the health care system in this province produced an additional 38,000 surgeries and other major procedures that year. That means that there were 38,000 more British Columbians getting access to the care they needed last year compared to the year before.

I think we are making progress. One of the things, as that member knows from when she was Minister of Health, that she should not be relying on is that particular methodology that goes into calculating the wait-lists on the wait-list website.

We have some challenges in the health care system. No one will deny that. It's one of the things that all of the Premiers in Canada are talking about — how to deal with the wait-list challenges. But we are making progress in this province. We get great feedback from other jurisdictions, who tell us that they're looking at what we're doing in British Columbia as a model that should be duplicated elsewhere.

J. Wilson: Today I have a question for the Minister of Forests. Last year our government announced that forest rec sites were to be managed through new partnerships to ensure these sites and trails continue to be accessible and well maintained. In the recent throne speech our government has said that we will reinstate funding to maintain forest recreational roads and recreational sites in the heartlands.

Can the minister tell me when this will be done, who will be responsible, and what this will mean for the maintenance of these forest recreation sites and the people who use them?

Hon. M. de Jong: The opposition leader will want to hear this. She'll want to use one of these rec sites for her next vacation.

Hon. M. de Jong: Well, the fact is that actually British Columbians do want to have access to their wilderness areas. For many of them, that means having access to the forestry rec sites. The good news is that the government in the budget — the Finance minister's presentation — confirmed that there will be in excess of a million new dollars devoted to maintaining those rec sites in the year ahead. That means there will be better servicing, so even the opposition leader can leave her toilet paper at home. There will be more of them serviced, and there will be more partnership agreements in place so British Columbians can get out to our wilderness areas and use that most valuable resource that we have. It's going to happen starting right now.

Hon. L. Reid: I am pleased to rise today and provide my remarks on this year's budget in British Columbia. Balancing the budget is purposeful, and the purpose today is to have sufficient dollars to realize this government's sense of priority. I can tell you that early childhood development in British Columbia is a priority.

This budget marks a great opportunity for the approximately 250,000 children under the age of six in British Columbia and for those who will follow. These little souls can now look forward to a future based on a solid foundation. Stability is one of the cornerstones of a positive childhood. This balanced budget is the beginning of stability for all children in British Columbia. It's the beginning of new chances for families and new hope for communities. It's the first step on a new road for growth for this province and its youngest citizens.

I'm here today not only as the minister responsible for early childhood but as an interested and expectant B.C. parent. Research tells us that the key to raising healthy children is recognizing their parents as their number one caregivers and teachers. Therefore, it follows that it is also important that we give them the necessary tools and information so they can do their jobs better.

When our Premier created this role, he demonstrated enormous leadership. He and I both believe that the commitment to effectively resource young children and their families will result in stronger communities and a stronger British Columbia. Over the last three years this government has consulted with families, individuals and communities on services to our young children. We have looked at research on early childhood development conducted in British Columbia, Canada and throughout the world. We have

Through this process we have identified priorities for new investments and worked with our partners to implement them. It is part of what we are calling service transformation, and it is building on the strengths of each community to care for their children and to care for their families. We know that if we put supports in place in the community, early in children's lives, families and communities will benefit through lifelong health and development.

This is a task that government cannot do alone. It requires the skills, knowledge and dedication of all British Columbians to effectively resource young children. As well as a close working relationship with other jurisdictions and provinces, I know that we have the people, the knowledge and the support to accomplish this important task.

I mentioned earlier the 250,000 little souls under the age of six. In June of 2001 our Premier asked me to create a cross-government integrated strategy for early childhood development in British Columbia to ensure that we have coordination on this important issue and to go forward from the base of the best possible science. We are accomplishing this in several ways.

Ministers and deputies in the seven child-serving ministries meet on a regular basis to discuss progress and strategic opportunity and to further the work of early childhood development. We have established several interministry committees on important ECD issues such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, autism services, child care and early childhood development. As well, I meet regularly with my federal, territorial and provincial partners to ensure there is coordination on a national level.

I am pleased to share with this chamber that on April 1 of this year, British Columbia will assume the leadership of the Canada Northwest FASD Partnership. This is a fine collaboration of the four western provinces — Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia — and the three territories — the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The launch of the partnership is incredibly important in that it allows each province and each territory, each partner, to refine their research focus and refine their practice, because the purpose of any of these collaborations is to develop better public policy. We want to be making better decisions as we go forward, so we're looking to expand our reach and looking to expand our focus around research. I'm hoping we'll share the lessons that we learn much more efficiently and much more effectively with the other partners at the table.

Certainly, you've heard me speak often in this chamber on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and any of you who have heard me speak will know that we talk often of the pre-conception piece of how we ensure that people have healthy pregnancies in British Columbia. Fetal alcohol exposure prior to birth has a devastating impact on the lives of children and their families in British Columbia. Since 1993, B.C. has been a leader in the prevention of and education on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Canada. But when up to 320 children are born every year that have some form of the disorder, we know we still have work to do. We are taking steps to get this work done.

On this September 27 of this past year in Burns Lake, British Columbia, our Premier released B.C.'s FASD strategic plan, the first in Canada to address this lifelong disorder. It is comprehensive and wide-ranging and is the underpinning to how we will address this issue over the next few years. The report is a collaborative effort across nine provincial and three federal ministries. It sets a framework for community ownership and for the development of responses.

My sincere appreciation goes to the staff at the Children's and Women's Health Centre of B.C. for their input and for their expertise and to our colleagues in the federal government for their contributions to making this plan a reality. Since we have the provincial lens on this issue, governments must help to provide the road map to address fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, but the challenge must ultimately be met at the community level in homes, hospitals, schools and community centres. Therefore, this plan is not a static document but will develop as we receive feedback and new research developments.

Over the next year our goal is to establish ten community-based implementation plans to support the larger strategic plan with our goal being to eventually be able to combat this terrible disorder in every British Columbia community. It is about providing hope for the future. It is about ensuring that we look out for the little souls so that they, too, can benefit from a balanced budget in British Columbia.

These working partnerships are a reflection of the diversity and the depth of children's issues and our commitment to the young of this province. I was pleased to hear of the continuing appointment of the Hon. Ethel Blondin-Andrew. As you may be aware, the minister's responsibilities will include the national child benefit and both the early childhood development and the early learning and care child agreements with provincial and territorial governments. These agreements and the appointment of Minister Blondin-Andrew illustrate the national awareness of the importance of children's early years. I look forward to working with the minister to continue to raise public awareness and improve services to children and their families.

Our work on behalf of B.C.'s young children could not have been accomplished as quickly or as well without the support and assistance of a number of key people here today. Jennifer Sweeney, a recent appointment on behalf of early childhood development, is our provincial adviser for pediatric therapies — whether we're talking about occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech language pathology or audiology. She began her work with us last fall. We welcome her assistance, because we must have a systematic approach to how we attract and retain therapists in all regions of our

province. We need to identify the gaps earlier, and frankly, we need to put in place a systematic approach to ensuring that children under the age of six have access to the services that will matter in their lives as they approach their readiness for schooling.

I'd also like to highlight the work of a few people in British Columbia who continue to guide our work as we go forward. You heard my colleague the member for Vancouver-Burrard talk about the Roots of Empathy. The founder of the Roots of Empathy, Mary Gordon, continues to excel at work that's all about parenting and family literacy. She, in fact, has just concluded training in four of the five regions of our province. We have been in Vancouver coastal, Vancouver Island, the interior and the Frasers. We have two days of training set aside in May of this year where we'll go to northern British Columbia, and we're going to Moricetown.

That work is for front-line practitioners who wish to include parents into the process, understanding from the aspect of research how important that is and understanding how critical it is to tie in the aspects of family literacy. That work is underway. So, in addition to her superb, world-class work on the Roots of Empathy, she also does amazing work for us in British Columbia on early literacy and parenting.

We are well supported in British Columbia by Jean Rasmussen of Literacy B.C. and by Linda Mitchell as they go forward. The reality is that there's sufficient work for all of us to continue to be more involved in this area.

Another superb supporter and partner at the table with government today is Dr. Clyde Hertzman and Jacklyn Smit Alex from the University of British Columbia. It is their work on the human early learning partnership that will truly allow British Columbia to be the first province in Canada to have a snapshot of the learning of every single five-year-old. That work will be done in the next number of months, and for us to have that snapshot will allow us to drive better public policy.

We have the University of British Columbia's Dr. Pat Mirenda, who's doing the evaluation for us on our levels of autism programming in British Columbia — again, to follow up on the Premier's commitment that we go forward from the base of the best possible science. If you do not craft the evaluation questions, you cannot make that commitment at the end of the day that, in fact, they have been driven by the best possible science.

Dr. Carol Matusicky, B.C. Council for the Family. You always need incredibly thoughtful, incredibly skilful people who tie together the pieces of the puzzle to ensure that we have the strongest possible early childhood development fabric in British Columbia, and I thank Carol for her leadership in this regard.

Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is doing research for us on the Roots of Empathy in British Columbia and is, in fact, leading the Canadian evaluation of Roots of Empathy — again, to honour the Premier's commitment that we go forward from the basis of the best possible science.

My colleague from Vancouver-Burrard talked about our visit this morning to a classroom hosting the Roots of Empathy. When you have the opportunity to view very young children understanding more and more about vulnerability and how they can understand fragility in a very young learner and hopefully carry those lessons forward so they are not bystanders on a playground bullying incident, on a harassment question in a classroom where someone's rights and issues have been compromised…. We want children to be very proactive on those fronts, and we believe we can do that work if we continue to expand the emotional literacy of very, very young children.

Each of these individuals that I've mentioned is contributing their talents to help us reach our goal, which is to build capacity with families and their communities towards real and positive change in the quality of their lives. We believe this approach will help parents and communities to maximize the potential for their children's growth and development. We understand the important dynamics between communities and families and the challenges parents face, especially as we count on them to raise healthy children.

We want to encourage and support parents in preparing their children to learn. We want to provide them with good information and services based on evidence and best practice, because we know that in order to realize healthy outcomes for all British Columbia children, they must have an equal place on the starting line.

We know that diversity and difference on all levels needs to be recognized and needs to be valued, and that a one-size-fits-all approach is not effective for the health and well-being of children and their families. One size rarely fits anyone. There are a number of initiatives underway that are assisting us help address B.C.'s diversity.

B.C. is a cultural mecca with people moving here from all over the world to enjoy its rich resources and natural beauty. It is also the traditional home to first nations bands, each with their own cultures, traditions and ways of life. In September of 2002 our ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with aboriginal communities to work together to improve the safety and well-being of aboriginal children and families. There is a recognition that we must return historic responsibilities for child protection and family support to aboriginal communities. Currently, 40 percent of the children in the care of the ministry are aboriginal, although they represent only 8 percent of the actual child population. We want to make sure that aboriginal children remain in their communities so they are connected with family and with their culture, because we know when children are placed within those contexts, within the extended family, within their community, they will have far better outcomes. It needs to be about healthy child British Columbia.

In the past, non-aboriginal service providers delivered the majority of services to B.C.'s aboriginal com-

munities. Family supports are much more effective and much more relevant when delivered within the context of culture. We believe the capacity of families to parent their own children must be strengthened. Communities must be able to deliver comprehensive, integrated and culturally relevant programs to children and their families, and this growth must take place across British Columbia.

Through our aboriginal early childhood development initiatives, we are focusing resources and energy on B.C.'s aboriginal communities. Over the next three years 38 of these communities will benefit from annual funding of $8 million for aboriginal early childhood development services. These services will be most closely attuned to what each community really needs. It is an exciting opportunity to create a more effective service delivery system focused on the healthy development of aboriginal children and their families.

Another program which has now been expanded to provide additional services to aboriginal communities is the infant development program. In the last two years we increased funding to this valuable program by $3 million to ensure the continuation and growth of this important connection to our families.

Dana Brynelsen, our provincial coordinator, has been an integral part of this program since its inception in 1972. This is a world-class program ensuring that parents have the comfort, resiliency and supports to seek the services their youngsters need.

Research tells us that supporting children with special needs early helps to mitigate developmental challenge. The infant development program is a touchstone for families with children up to age three who are at risk or have a developmental delay. Public health nurses refer approximately 35 percent of children to the program due to developmental delay; 34 percent are referred for being at risk, and 24 percent of those referred have a diagnosed disability. In 2000 the infant development program served more than 5,300 families in 52 programs with assessment, consultation, counselling and referrals to relevant community professionals and resources.

Let me share with you one family's story, which illustrates the impact this important program can have on the families involved. Emily was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. Her parents had just immigrated and were socially isolated. They thought that Emily was fragile and that they shouldn't take her out of her crib unless she cried. Using the Building Blocks program, a local agency sent out a home visitor to support the family. The visitor immediately recognized that Emily was at risk for developmental delay and called the infant development program. An infant development program consultant began regular home visits when Emily was two months old.

Through the consultant, Emily's parents were shown how to stimulate and play with her and were introduced to some other new parents of children with special needs. Emily immediately began to make developmental gains. Her responsiveness surprised and delighted her parents. At age one Emily is now communicating, smiling and reaching for objects. Her parents are loving and protective and are beginning to feel optimistic about the future.

It is heartening to hear that this program is improving the lives of families. It is a tribute to the calibre of our infant development consultants across British Columbia. To each and every one of them, please accept my heartfelt thanks. It is critical that parents get the support they need, particularly in the early years of their child's life. Last year we increased funding to this valuable program to ensure the continuation and growth of this important connection.

To ensure the growth and development of targeted infant development services that address the cultural needs of aboriginal communities, I am pleased to tell you that Diana Elliot, our aboriginal infant development adviser, is having a wondrous impact on aboriginal communities as she guides them in the creation of programming for babies and young children.

Supported child development is the opportunity for us to build a continuum in British Columbia. We have infant development in British Columbia from birth to three years of age. It was my challenge to see if we could build a seamless, streamlined system that would allow those parents of vulnerable youngsters to move themselves through the process to the end of that child's first year in school, to get them to the age of six, to get them into the grade 1 program in British Columbia. We have taken a supported child care program and expanded it — enhanced it, if you will — to see if we can actually support children across a variety of settings in their communities.

I wanted very much for us to build a continuum that makes sense for families. It was the Premier's expectation that we increase parental choice, and offering supported child development in a variety of community settings is evidence of that commitment. Our provincial coordinator for supported child development is Lorraine Aitken. I, too, thank her for the work she's done on behalf of British Columbia's youngest learners.

We are blessed in British Columbia with having access to researchers who on a daily basis are helping to expand our knowledge about children's growth and development. For the last two years, our ministry has been involved in a research project which I believe is unique to British Columbia. Our work with Dr. Clyde Hertzman in the human early learning partnership is helping us gain a better understanding of how we can best support B.C.'s young children.

Dr. Hertzman has provided the ministry with the ability to use the early development indicator, or EDI, which was originally developed in Ontario. Some of you are probably familiar with EDI and its purpose, which is to provide a sense of the readiness of five-year-olds in our province.

By this summer we will be the first province in Canada to have a provincewide snapshot of the learning of all five-year-olds — an enormous achievement. I'm incredibly proud of the dedication of Dr. Clyde Hertzman. He has logged a million miles taking that

data back to communities and providing ownership of that data to communities, so they in fact are empowered to make decisions which they believe to be in the best interests of their communities. It's a powerful piece of work, a piece of work that will guide us as we move forward in terms of drafting and creating and devising the best public policy, but will also allow those communities to have a real sense that their babies are their most important priority — vitally important. In addition, this work will produce a series of neighbourhood-level maps detailing how children's school readiness is affected by socioeconomic characteristics, neighbourhood resources and other community assets.

We are pleased to be in partnership with school districts and teachers across British Columbia. We're well on our way. So far 49 districts have completed the early development indicator. As I noted, this data is already helping us identify where to make our next best strategic investment. If we were to have the opportunity to drive ever-increasing public policy that mattered in the lives of children and families, we will have been successful on this front.

The collection and delivery of the EDI is facilitated by our Children First learning initiatives. Though they started as a pilot a few years ago, these projects have become an integral part of our planning for young children. We began with three sites in British Columbia. We now have 17. The information gathered is helping families have access to a wider range of choices for their children in an environment where communities can be innovative and share responsibilities. Currently, these projects are operating and hoping to expand across British Columbia. For the communities and families involved, it is a chance to make their children come first. These initiatives, along with the human early learning partnership, or HELP, are the key overarching pieces of this research project.

The information gathered from the community maps is then given to the human early learning partnership to overlay with EDI maps to pinpoint areas that may need additional early childhood development supports. Taken together, these maps will also help us gain an understanding of how children are developing on a provincial level.

This last point is crucial. We know that to best support children, we need to look not only at the local level but at the province overall. In British Columbia, community populations are constantly changing as people move for work, housing or schooling. An early childhood network across British Columbia will ensure that families know how and where to access services no matter where they live.

Other areas of responsibility include autism in British Columbia. This government is concerned with the healthy growth and development of all children, including those with special needs. This includes autism.

Research into autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is complex and growing rapidly. Every year there are new levels of knowledge and new approaches to test. It is the challenge for governments, families and communities to keep up and ensure the ability exists for training both families and caregivers. Our government is meeting this challenge. Families now have the option to choose from three specific programs for children and youth with autism. Two are direct funding programs — one for children under age 6, the other for school-age children. Direct funding allows parents to choose the services, based on expert advice, that will best meet the needs of their children and their family.

Children in B.C. communities also have access to contracted services for specialized, interdisciplinary, intensive treatment and intervention, also based on a growing body of expertise. Since the 2000-01 fiscal year we have increased funding for children and youth with autism by $21.8 million. This does not include other ministry support services, such as respite and supported child care, or the $30.1 million in additional funding to school districts this year to support children and youth with autism.

We are moving forward to put the interests of vulnerable children first. We will continue to consult with experts and researchers in this field to make sure that services best reflect current knowledge. My heartfelt thanks to the Minister of Health and to his deputy for their very fine collaboration, which has resulted in incredibly diminished wait times for the diagnosis of autism. It has truly been a cross-government integrated strategy.

In closing, I want to thank you all for the opportunity to highlight the work being done in British Columbia. We know that as we build on community supports, as we increase each family's capacity, as we increase public awareness, the opportunities for children and families will improve. Our society will benefit as a whole, and our youngest citizens — our children — will have what they need to continue to grow, develop and contribute to our great province. Thank you all.

Hon. C. Hansen: This budget is really a turning point for this government, and it's a turning point for the people of British Columbia. If you look back on the challenges that we inherited as a government and that we were faced with subsequent to becoming government…. They were absolutely enormous. You know, the previous government had left us a legacy of economic decline, where the province had gone from being the number one province in terms of economic growth to the last place.

We saw that the cost of providing government services was climbing exponentially every single year without any benefit for individual British Columbians in terms of better services or more services. They were simply designed in a way that cost the taxpayers more for the same or less than they had been receiving earlier. So when we went to the electorate in the last election, one of the things that we did not promise them was the status quo. I think every British Columbian — whether they live in Atlin, Cranbrook, downtown Vancouver or any other part of this great province — could tell you that the status quo was simply not acceptable

To bring in that kind of fundamental change really requires strong and consistent leadership. I think we've seen that from the Premier of this province over the last 2¾ years since the election campaign. The changes have been phenomenal both in terms of economic growth and trying to get that economic engine back on track again but also in terms of how government operates and how we get the cost of government under control so that British Columbia taxpayers will know they're getting the best value for every single dollar that is spent in the health care system.

Often I think that we as Canadians don't recognize how significant or how beneficial change has been until somebody from the outside comes and tells it to us. I had an experience last year where I was down in Seattle to give a speech to the Washington State business association. After the speech was over, in the coffee break in this conference, I was chatting with a gentleman who does a fair amount of business on both sides of the border. He follows political developments in British Columbia fairly closely. He came up to me, and he was telling me of some of the things he knew about that we were doing as a government and that he was pretty impressed with. His comment: "When it comes to reforming government," he said, "you guys have put the American Revolution to shame."

I don't think the change in government has been quite that fundamental, but clearly we have a lot to be proud of as to what has been achieved by our Premier and by this government through a lot of very hard and diligent work over this period of time.

You know, I've often talked in this chamber about the growing challenges that we have in funding a health care system that's going to work for us into the future. We see health care costs growing at a rate of 7 percent to 8 percent every single year. Clearly, we're not going to see our economy grow at that rate. So to what extent is it sustainable? There are a couple of things we have to do to make sure that we do have a health care system that's going to meet our needs into the future. One of those is to encourage strong economic growth, and the other is to bring our cost structures down in the health care system.

Economic growth is probably key to making sure that we have the social services and the education system that we want both today and into the future, in a way that is truly sustainable. I think the signals that the Premier has given us — both in terms of the recent changes in the ministries and cabinet, and also in the budget — are really an important signal that economic growth is of key importance. If we don't have a strong economy, then we're not going to have a strong health care system or a strong education system or a strong social safety net in this province today.

But we do have a lot to be proud of. I'll speak for just a moment about some of the things in health care that I think we have every reason to be proud of. We are getting more and better care throughout British Columbia. We've gone through the biggest reorganization of health care that any province has undertaken in Canada.

We reformed government a little over two and a half years ago. There were 52 health authorities in the province that were really in a very confrontational arrangement with the provincial government, everybody trying to jockey for more money or more resources for their particular region. There was really no coordinated or systematic approach to making sure that British Columbians in every part of the province got their fair share of the limited resources that we have available. Changing the health care system and consolidating a lot of those health authorities into the five regionally based health authorities that we have today has really made a tremendous difference in making sure that there is now cooperation between the health authorities and the Ministry of Health Services to meet the needs of patients.

I don't think anybody in British Columbia wants to see confrontation in their health care system. They want to see all of the parties working together to meet some of these real and huge challenges that are there. I know there's been lots in the media about the challenges and confrontation between some of the health union leadership and the ministry or the government, and perhaps between the doctors' organization — with the BCMA — and the provincial government. In reality, when I go around this province and talk to individual groups of nurses and doctors and other health care professionals and health care workers, they want to be part of a system that really provides for better health care. There's lots of opportunity for us to work together to find those solutions. What I have found is that some of the best ideas come from front-line health care workers in this province. We certainly have tried to tap into that resource at every opportunity to get that input.

As a result of some of the reorganizations, we are now getting more services for those who are in most need. When you start seeing changes taking place in things like home support…. Yes, there are some individuals who may be facing less support than they had last year, but overall there is actually more support being provided. What we're focusing in on are those who need the support the most. You are seeing the frail elderly who need more hours, in fact, getting more hours under some of the reorganizations. We're seeing that the financial need that's provided, whether it's a subsidy for residential care or financial support under the Fair Pharmacare system, is going to those who need it the most as a priority in how we design the changes to our health care system.

There was lots of controversy one year ago today around the changes to the Fair Pharmacare system. There were lots of community groups that were, I think, doing a great disservice to seniors in this province by the fearmongering that was going on a year ago. There were people saying that seniors were no longer going to be able to get access to the pharmaceutical needs that they had. In reality, when the Fair

Pharmacare system was rolled out, what seniors and every British Columbian saw was a system that was much fairer than what had been in place previously.

I was just talking to a pharmacist on the weekend, and I said: "Well, how is it going now that we're not quite through a one-year cycle of the new Fair Pharmacare program?" What's the feedback that he's getting from his customers that come into his pharmacy? He said it's been very positive. A year ago, where he was facing a young family that would come in that really couldn't afford the very high deductibles that were in place even for low-income families a year ago…. Now they get more financial assistance out of the Fair Pharmacare program. They can get more access in an affordable way for the medications that they need for themselves or their children.

It's something that I'm quite proud of. That Fair Pharmacare system saw that 82 percent of British Columbians wound up with either the same amount of financial assistance that they had in the past or greater financial assistance than was there previously. If you look just at the seniors segment of our population, you will see that the majority of seniors in fact are getting more financial assistance under the Fair Pharmacare system now or are staying the same. By and large, the majority are either better off or the same than they were under the old system. Even now that we're many months into that program, I still get feedback and letters from individuals who recognize that they're getting better care than they were under the old system.

What's true is that some with higher incomes are in fact paying a little bit more, whether it's for residential care in a long-term care facility or for the Fair Pharmacare system. By and large, I think even those with higher incomes accept the fairness of that system that's there. We made some changes to the rates for residential care in our long-term care facilities. In doing so, we actually froze the rates at rates that were in place six years ago for 72 percent of seniors who are living in long-term care facilities in the province — again, making sure that those who need the assistance the most are in fact getting that assistance.

I was speaking earlier today in question period about the increased number of surgeries we were able to do in British Columbia last year — an increase of 38,000 surgeries and other major procedures over what had been done a year previously. When you start looking at the regional breakout of some of those numbers in terms of where surgeries get done, it's an even better story. What we found in the past in places like the East Kootenays…. Patients used to have to travel outside of that region to get access to care and are now able to get care right there in their own region instead of having to fly to Vancouver or travel long distances by car, perhaps to Calgary or to Kelowna, to get the care they need.

It's a direct result of the consolidation of services we put in place that allowed us to build that centre of excellence around the hospitals like Cranbrook and Trail in order to make sure we could attract more specialists into that region. For example, in some of these communities some of those specialists had never been represented in recent years. It wasn't really a case of not finding the operating room time. We just didn't have the specialists available in some of those regions to provide the surgeries or the care that was needed. Now, as a result of that consolidation, we've been able to bring those specialists into those regions, because we've been building those centres of excellence around the province.

I think we will continue to see a strengthening of the kind of care people can get right in their own regions rather than having to travel. I think that underscores what we mean by the health care you need, when you need it, where you live instead of having to fly to major centres to get access to that care.

There have truly been some phenomena taking place in terms of new technologies. We've got new telehealth opportunities that have been put into smaller communities so that, again, patients don't have to travel outside of their regions. Again, they get the health care they need, when they need it, where they live as a result of some of those new telehealth technologies we are putting in place.

We're putting in place more options for seniors. One of the messages we heard from seniors as we went around the province leading up to the election is the frustration seniors had when they were faced with no other option than to go into a long-term care facility or a nursing home. I think we all have experiences in our own families where a senior was not looking forward to that loss of independence when the family would say it was time to go into a nursing home.

Now we're creating new options around assisted living and supportive housing so that seniors can actually get access to the care they need when they need it but still be able to maximize their independence in these new kinds of environments. Again, there were lots of naysayers, lots of people fearmongering about what this new assisted living might be all about. But as we see some of these new facilities open and seniors actually get to see what they look like, they are so impressed with the quality, with the environment and with the hominess of these new facilities that really do give them a sense of comfort in their older years — knowing they've got their independence but still have that care right down the hall at the end of a call button that they can access when they need it.

In these facilities, they've got meals they can access. You get two meals a day down the hall. They can socialize with other residents of the same facility. Or if they want to make sure they can have their independence, they've got a little fridge or an ability to prepare meals in their own unit if they're feeling up to it on those particular days. There really are some wonderful changes that are taking place.

You know, the other thing we heard a lot about when we formed government was the shortage of nurses and doctors in the province. We still do have

some challenges in those areas, but you don't hear the talk about the nursing crisis you did three years ago. We have been able to significantly increase the number of nurses who are working in this province, and more importantly — or as importantly — we significantly increased the number of nurses who are being educated in British Columbia today. Where in the past we had this reliance on bringing in nurses who were trained in other jurisdictions from other countries of the world or other provinces across Canada, increasingly we're being able to provide those education opportunities to our own young British Columbians. Whether it is in medicine, medical school, nursing school, physiotherapy or pharmacy, we need to make sure our young British Columbians have opportunities in those great careers. They are great careers in the health care system in this province today.

We have today almost 2,000 additional nurses that are in education in nursing schools in this province. We have underway right now an expansion of the medical school to almost double the number of students who will be going into B.C. medical schools by the year 2006. It's a great model in terms of the opportunities for training in Prince George and at the University of Victoria — still integrated into the UBC medical system model to build on the strengths there but providing opportunities in other parts of the province.

In addition, we see the same is true in some of the nursing opportunities and nursing education being provided in communities all throughout British Columbia. There is better access not just for those living in the lower mainland or in southern Vancouver Island but indeed for nursing students throughout this province to get access to education in the communities where they live. We also know that if more education of health professionals takes place in smaller communities, there is a greater likelihood those students will stay and work in those communities after they graduate. Clearly, that will go a long way to meet some of the future challenges we have for nursing and other health professionals in some of these smaller communities.

One of the other areas I am really very proud of in terms of the health care system over these last 2¾ years has been the financial controls we've been able to put in place. I remember that day, shortly after we were sworn in as government, when I was meeting with the Deputy Minister of Health, and she informed me that here we were only…. The fiscal year started on April 1 and we were sworn in on June 5, so it was just a couple of months into the start of that fiscal year. She told me they were already projecting a $580 million cost overrun by the end of that fiscal year, a little over two months into the start of the year.

Now we've been able to put into place the kind of financial controls that allow us to manage those scarce health care dollars. With our health authorities we actually get timely financial statements. We're able to see where some costs are starting to go out of line, so we can bring them back into focus and make sure that patients' needs are being met in this province instead of dollars perhaps being unnecessarily spent in areas where they shouldn't be.

Today we've got that kind of financial rigour. I'm really quite pleased that for the first time in over 20 years, the budget for the Ministry of Health Services actually came in on budget. It was a pretty small surplus, but I think that's appropriate. As we got to the end of the fiscal year, it allowed us to deal with some of the one-time funding challenges we had because of the financial stewardship that was in place. We went out and said: "Yes, we want to make sure patients get the care they need, but we don't want to spend any more scarce taxpayers' dollars than is absolutely necessary. We want to free up those dollars for other priority areas." It is that kind of financial discipline that has allowed us to meet some of the new and emerging challenges that we have.

The Minister of State for Early Childhood Development was talking earlier about meeting some of the challenges we have in autism. She mentioned the fact that we have been able to get the wait-lists down for diagnosis. One of the responsibilities of the Ministry of Health Services is to make sure we deliver timely diagnoses for children who potentially may be suffering from autism. By getting through that diagnosis faster, they can actually get into the treatments they need earlier, and they can have some of those challenges met. It has been a real success story in the work that the Ministry of Health Services and the work the Minister of State for Early Childhood Development have been able to do through the children and families ministry to meet some of those real needs. We would not have been able to do that if we had not had some financial discipline that allowed us to free up some dollars in order to make sure those wait times for diagnosis were in fact reduced.

Another good example is the increased funding we were able to put in place for cochlear implants. This is absolutely revolutionary technology. I was at Children's Hospital recently when we were able to announce an additional $1.3 million that we could put into cochlear implants. These are devices that allow a child or an adult who was either born deaf or lost their hearing to once again have that gift of hearing. When I was at Children's Hospital for that announcement, I met a young boy about six years old who had been born deaf. With the cochlear implant he was able to hear for the first time. His parents were so thrilled with the progress he had made. He is going to be able to go to school and have a normal life that he would not have been able to have if it was not for this new technology.

As a result of that increased funding, we were actually able to bring the wait-list down to three months for cochlear implants for children. That's phenomenal compared to the 18-month wait-list that children had faced in the past. It truly is a gift for these children.

We have been able, as a result of that financial rigour and the financial discipline, to do some pretty phenomenal things that have made a huge difference in

the lives of individual British Columbians, which we would not have been able to do otherwise. I think one of the things that has been pointed out on several occasions in this House over the course of this budget debate is how we've been able to increase health funding in this province.

We know there are huge challenges. By 2006, which is the furthest year out that is addressed in this particular budget, we will have increased health spending by 10 percent over even the 2003 base budget that was brought into this House just one year ago. So now we have in this province today among the highest per-capita spending for health care of any province in Canada. We are spending taxpayers' money on health care in a way that is certainly among the highest of any province in Canada.

That's not to diminish the fact that we still have some huge challenges that are there. I mentioned earlier that we've got cost pressures going up at a rate of 7 percent to 8 percent a year, but what does that mean? What it means is that if we continue to do things in health care the way we've done them in the past, we will see our costs go up by 7 percent to 8 percent a year.

I was pleased to hear the Minister of Finance talk about our projected growth for the economy in British Columbia this year. I think he was being very careful not to forecast a number too high, but you know some of the forecasters are saying that the projected economic growth in this province is going to be up over 3 percent in this coming year. That's great news for everybody in British Columbia. Even with economic growth of over 3 percent, we're still not going to be able to sustain that 7 percent to 8 percent increase in health care and allow us to do everything the way we had done it in the past. We have to find more cost-effective ways of delivering health care, and that's clearly one of our challenges.

If you start looking at the year-over-year actual spending in health care as opposed to the base budget from a year ago, it does show that we spent a fair amount of money last year. We were able to take some of those increased federal dollars that were not built into the budget a year ago and, as a result of the supplemental estimate, bring those in and be able to spend them in this current fiscal year in ways that we're able to meet some patient needs. They actually also allowed us to make some fundamental changes that would bring down the cost pressures in health care in the years to come.

A lot of the money that was spent in this last year was restructuring money. People often say that to make changes costs money, so we were able to invest in some of those changes. We were able to take advantage of some of the contracting-out opportunities in health authorities throughout the province. In contracting out it also means the staff that's been there doing the functions of security service or landscaping services in the past — or whether it is housekeeping or laundry services…. We need to be able to make sure the employees that were there providing those services up until now were dealt with fairly — that there be the severance provisions in place that were provided for under our agreements. We had the payouts of sick leave, vacation accrual and severance payments. Those all cost money, and a lot of those we saw in the last year's budget.

It also allowed us to put in place some of the new contracts and new staff that are able to provide those services going forward, but we're also seeing that we can provide them in ways which meet the needs of patients in our hospitals and other health care facilities in a way that is more cost-effective. It's by going through these kinds of changes that we are actually going to have a sustainable health care system in the future.

We've also been able to bring down administration costs. We went to every health authority and said that, at a minimum, they had to bring down the cost of administration and support services by 7 percent. We have seen that happen across every one of the health authorities in the province. In fact, some of them have greatly exceeded that 7 percent target, and every single dollar that has been saved is a dollar that has been reinvested in health care, into direct patient care, so patients can get the care they need, which would not have been there had we not been able to find those savings in the administrative and support costs.

There has also been some talk about the extra money that the province will get from the federal government. As we know, a year ago the federal government promised some additional health care funding to the provinces. We've argued that it should bring federal funding back to at least the 25 percent level that Romanow had suggested in his report. What was in place a little over a year ago, prior to the federal health accord, was funding from the federal government that made up for about 14 percent of our health care funding in hospitals and physician services. The money that was agreed to last February brought that up to about 16 percent of overall health funding being provided by the federal government. We argue that that's still not enough, given the priority that Canadians place on health care in Canada today.

The federal government also agreed that if there was to be a surplus federally in this year's fiscal year, they would provide for an additional $2 billion to be allocated to all of the provinces and territories. Well, $2 billion sounds like a lot of money, but B.C.'s share of that on a per-capita basis would be $260 million. Again, $260 million sounds like a lot of money, but it was to be allocated as part of that three-year health accord money. If you were to take that $260 million and spread it across the three years of the health accord, it would actually amount to about 72 hours of health care in each of those three years. Every bit helps, but clearly it's not going to be the panacea to some of our challenges in health care funding in the province.

We now know that $260 million to British Columbia is certain. What we don't know at this point is how the federal auditor general and the provincial auditor

general will allow that money to flow. So as a result, that $260 million is not included in the budget that the Finance minister brought down last week. There will be a supplemental estimate that will be brought into this House by the Finance minister as soon as we know how those dollars can be allocated.

I think, as the Finance minister indicated in his remarks, it is our hope that that can be allocated at a rate of $130 million for this coming fiscal year and $130 million for that following year, so we can make sure it is applied in a way that can have the maximum benefit for patients.

Even that raises a concern for us, because what we need from the federal government is not only that increased funding, but we also need to have certainty over the long term. It's one thing to have another $130 million and another $130 million the year after, but we still need to fund the health care system the year after that. To have moneys that sort of come in on a one-time basis and then suddenly fall off does not allow us to build a stable health care system in this province. So we will be seeking that kind of certainty from the federal government as we go forward.

We have lots to be proud of in British Columbia in the health care system, in terms of the improvements that we've seen. We also have lots to be proud of on the economic front, whether it's the work that our Premier did to secure the Olympic Games for British Columbia or the economic growth that we're starting to see in this province, which has taken us from the tenth place in economic growth that we inherited from the previous government to — not to number one, which is our goal — the number two spot, second only to Alberta. I think, as the Premier would tell you, that's still not good enough, and we're not going to stop until we're again the number one province when it comes to economic growth.

We've seen job creation in this province — number one by far. We've seen small business growth in this province. Housing starts, where young British Columbians for the first time are going to have the opportunity to own their own homes because of the great economic future that we have in this province as a result of some of the changes that we've made….

The other thing that I think is phenomenal is the net interprovincial migration we've seen. For six years we saw a net outflow of British Columbians to other provinces. Typically, what we saw were those in the ages of 25 to 40 who were leaving — in the prime income-earning years of their lives. I have this vision of that young British Columbian who is packing his car outside his parents' house. I think every parent, when kids get into their twenties, is glad to see them move out of the house — but to Alberta? I don't think so. We've got to make sure there are opportunities right here in British Columbia so that those young British Columbians can stay here, raise their families and contribute to this great province.

What we have seen in the third quarter of last year for the first time was a reversal of that out-migration. For the first time we're starting to see those rented trucks, the moving vans coming back to British Columbia. That's good news for everybody. It is that kind of economic growth that is going to stimulate the economy and provide the kind of revenues we need to sustain a healthy health care system in the future and a proud education system.

I'm proud of the work this government has done. I'm proud of the work our Premier has done, and I'm proud of the work our Finance minister has done in bringing down this budget which allows us to look forward.

Hon. K. Falcon: When we were elected all the way back in May 2001, British Columbians were ready for renewal. Their previous government had absolutely no sense whatsoever of fiscal responsibility. It was a government driven by a tax-and-spend philosophy with no regard, certainly very little regard, for what impact that would have on working and average British Columbians. They found that their economy in British Columbia was dead last. They found that British Columbia in 2001, when we were elected, had been declared a have-not province a year and a half earlier, back in 1999-2000. For the first time in the history of this great province we were now in a position to have to accept transfer payments.

Their children were leaving for greener pastures, as my colleague just pointed out. Their pride in British Columbia had really taken a hammering. It had been significantly diminished. They were demanding solutions. The public sent us an enormous mandate because they were demanding solutions. They wanted a government that would turn things around, which would have the fortitude to chart a course and get this economy turned around, because at the end of the day British Columbians wanted to be proud of our government. They wanted to be proud of the province they lived in, and they wanted to see trust and integrity restored in government.

Three years later I stand in this House, proud to be part of a government that has worked so hard and so diligently to try and ensure that in these few years we deliver what British Columbians were demanding. They were demanding solutions, they were demanding a realistic plan that could set us on that right course, and they were demanding that we help restore that sense of pride in British Columbia.

Under our Premier's leadership we have helped to restore accountability in government, which in itself restores and breeds trust. The free votes we instituted in this House, which allow members to vote against the government where their conscience or constituents dictate, are an enormous step forward and something that I'm very proud of.

With the fixed election dates, we have now said to British Columbians, by legislation, that you will know when the next election will be in British Columbia, and you won't have to worry about governments playing jiggery-pokery with when the election is going to be.

We set up a citizens' assembly so that regular folks, randomly selected from across the province, will actu-

ally sit together without any political interference whatsoever and decide what kind of future and what kind of Legislature we will have to govern the province.

It's a government where cabinet ministers take a 20 percent pay cut at the beginning of every year that we have to earn back in two phases. Half of that pay cut — 10 percent — we get back if we meet our own ministerial budget targets, and the other 10 percent we get back if we as a government meet our overall budgetary targets. That is what you call accountability.

Then all of my colleagues — in fact, all of the MLAs in this House except for the two opposition members — took a voluntary 5 percent pay cut. We did that because we recognized that we were going to be asking for some tough choices and some tough decisions for British Columbians, and we wanted to demonstrate upfront that we were prepared to take part in that.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what leadership is about. That is the kind of leadership this Premier has driven our government towards, and it is the kind of leadership our Finance minister is now providing in terms of our budget.

I'm proud of this budget. I'm proud of this budget not just because it is a balanced budget; I'm proud of this budget because I can stand before British Columbians and say, with real integrity, that this is the first honestly balanced budget that British Columbia has probably seen in 50 years.

Why do I say that? One of the things that we did, one of the commitments that we made as a government in opposition and that we instituted was that we would bring in truth-in-budgeting legislation — legislation that would force the government to keep the books the same way we force the public to keep theirs. That's called generally accepted accounting principles. That may not mean a lot to British Columbians, but I'll tell you, it means a lot in terms of the transparency and integrity of the bookkeeping, and that, I think, is important.

All British Columbians deserve credit in this achievement, because all British Columbians have worked hard to achieve this outcome. We did make some tough choices, but I can tell you I believe most British Columbians expect that out of a government. That's what leadership is all about.

I will be candid and tell you that I had some people who would come and visit me and say they were concerned about the changes. They were concerned about what these changes meant, and I actually am sympathetic to that concern. But one of the things I reminded those folks who came and spoke to me about that was that if we didn't make changes, if we kept doing things the same way they were done in the past, we would get the same result. We have to be very clear what that result was. It was have-not province status and being number ten in the country, and that is unacceptable. That's why we started to make those changes.

It ties into something else that I think is important when we talk about a balanced budget. It ties into the whole concept of government and government's role and government's responsibility. Every day we hear the members opposite talk about how government needs to spend more here and government needs to spend more there. It builds on a myth that there is government money out there. You know, one of the things the Premier is so fond of saying is that there is no such thing as government money, and it is true.

There is no government money. There is only the taxpayers' money. There is no federal money or provincial money or local government money. There is just the taxpayers' money. Every time we talk about spending more government dollars, we're really talking about reaching into the wallets of taxpayers and taking money out of their pockets, or we're talking about borrowing more money and having our children or their grandchildren pay for it in interest costs. That is something that we think about and the Premier thinks about and our Finance minister thinks about and my colleagues think about. I think British Columbians recognize and are starting to realize the value in having a government that thinks about their tax dollars that way.

With that in mind, we laid out three-year plans. We told the public exactly what we were planning on doing and laid it out responsibly over three years. We said exactly what we were going to do with government and taxpayer dollars over the next three years in every single ministry of government. We also told the public that we would balance the budget by the third year, that we would need to responsibly get to that goal and that we would do it by our third year. Through the discipline of our Finance minister, we have achieved that goal.

A key element of the plan we laid out was actually implemented on our second day in office when we cut personal income taxes by 25 percent. We did that because we wanted to stop the flow of British Columbians leaving the province. We wanted to restore some hope that if you work hard in British Columbia, you can actually get ahead, and you won't be penalized for moving ahead. That's why today I'm particularly proud of that fact, because I have a lot of low-income folks and working-class folks in my riding of Surrey-Cloverdale. I'm proud of the fact that if you earn up to $64,000 of income in this province, you pay the lowest tax rate in the country — right here in British Columbia.

Now, we should be clear. There is another plan. There is actually another plan out there that Carole James and the NDP and the members opposite are not too eager to talk about, and I'm a little baffled in kind of understanding why they don't want to do that. That was a plan put together by a group called the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, for those folks in the viewing world out there, is what I call the economic think tank. This is a left-leaning think tank that gets its moneys largely from public sector unions but also, sadly, from the province of British Columbia under the previous government.

In their dying, gasping last weeks in power, the NDP government threw a cheque — without any process whatsoever — of a couple of hundred thousand dollars to that organization, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Now, why would they do that? Well, they did it because it's their economic think tank. This is where they get their ideas, a lot of the brilliant ideas we saw that brought British Columbia to its knees over the last decade.

So let's look at the alternative budget, the NDP alternative budget that came out of there — the Carole James budget that came out of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. I'll just give you a few of the highlights. To most British Columbians these will appear to be lowlights, but to the members opposite these are the highlights of their alternative budget. The highlights include taking the folks that are in the lowest-income brackets — that's the folks I was talking about, who earn up to $64,000 — where we put into place the lowest tax regime in the country…. Well, under the NDP Carole James alternative budget they would see a tax increase of almost 40 percent. Imagine that — 40 percent on the working-class folks. Those that dare to earn over $65,000 would see a 51 percent increase in their tax load. Those that earn over $81,000 — I want you to think about doctors and nurses today — would now see a 65 percent increase in their tax load. What possible impact would…? Imagine the impact that would have on the economy of British Columbia. Overnight we would see British Columbia once again become the highest-taxed jurisdiction in North America, as it was under the previous government.

But they've got more, folks. They've got more lowlights to the alternative budget. Gas taxes would go up 5 cents a litre. Here's what I love about this as Minister of Transportation. They want every penny of that gas tax increase to go right into the lower mainland: nothing for the heartlands of British Columbia; nothing for the folks who are creating the wealth that really fuels the economy of this province, not a penny — all of it shovelled into the lower mainland.

And they want to run deficits until 2010 — every single year back into deficit budgets. They say that maybe in 2010 we might get to another balanced budget in British Columbia. You know, they just don't get it. They just don't get it. This is the same group that took our debt from $17 billion to $35 billion in ten years, and they just want to go down that same path again. And we're not going to do it. We reject that. It is wrong; it's the wrong approach. We ain't doing it. We're going down a different path.

I'll tell you, the people of Surrey-Cloverdale, the constituency that I proudly represent, certainly didn't vote for that. They will not vote for that, and most British Columbians won't. They voted to keep more money in their pockets, and I'm pleased to say today we've done that. B.C. Stats shows that after-tax family income in British Columbia jumped 4.7 percent in 2001 — the largest rise in after-tax income for B.C. families in the last two decades. That is pretty significant. That makes a difference in people's lives. More importantly perhaps, or equally important in the overall tax burden, when you take all the income taxes and consumption taxes and municipal taxes and all the taxes that folks pay, British Columbia is the second lowest overall in the country, behind Alberta. I want to say this to the people out there: we're not satisfied with being number two. We want to be number one, and we're going to be number one in British Columbia.

So, our plan is working and the tax cuts are working. You know, I remember when we cut the taxes…. Even still, you hear the members opposite going on about this once in a while — that the tax cuts don't work; they haven't worked; they've created this big hole. You will never balance the budget. Well, that talk stopped once we balanced the budget, but they're still saying the tax cut didn't work. Well, just a minute. What did we say we would judge ourselves on? We said we would judge ourselves on job creation, because job creation is the one indicator that will tell you whether what you are doing is working or not working. Where are we in job creation in British Columbia? Well, in spite of the fact that 2003 had to be one of the toughest years this province has ever faced — we had SARS; we had BSE; we had floods; we had forest fires like we've never seen before; we had droughts…. I mean, truly it was a challenge if this province ever faced a challenge. Yet in spite of that, British Columbia led the country in job growth in 2003. More importantly, British Columbia, since we were elected in 2001, has seen almost 160,000 new jobs created. That is the number one job creation record in the country. And they want to tell you that tax cuts don't work.

But that's not all. We've got the number one housing starts in the country. We've got small business confidence up to one of the highest levels it's been, which is critically important because 98 percent of businesses in the province are small business. We're seeing new businesses being created at the highest rate we've seen in nearly a decade right here in British Columbia.

Importantly — to speak to what my colleague had said earlier in his speech when he talked about that sad situation we had under the NDP decade, where so many families were forced to see their kids loading up their cars or vans and moving off to other provinces for opportunities — today, for the first time in six years, net migration is favouring British Columbia. Our kids are coming home, families are being reunited, and people are moving to British Columbia because this is where the jobs, the opportunities and the hope are once again, folks.

Some will ask us: "Why this focus, this incredible focus, on a balanced budget? Why is the government always talking about this, and what does it mean to me? What does it mean to average British Columbians?" I will tell you what it means in one word. It means choices. It means that we have choices that allow us to do things now, which you don't have when you are staring at huge deficits year after year after year. Now that we have choices, we can spend some

In this budget we're proposing to do exactly that. Education funding for K-to-12 is going to increase by $313 million over the next three years. That's $313 million in spite of the fact that overall in this province we have a decline in the student population in kindergarten to grade 12. We're increasing the spending, especially on a per-pupil funding basis. I can tell you that from the community of Surrey, which is the largest school district in the province — a lot of people don't realize that; it's even larger than Vancouver — that is hugely important. It's an investment in our children. It's an investment in the future because when we have a better, stronger education system, it means we've got more students that are heading on to post-secondary education alternatives, that are going to look to upgrading their skills to meet the high demand we have for skilled workers. It means, ultimately, a stronger economy.

It is not just the investment of money. It is the refocusing in education that is also making a huge difference. It's the focusing on student achievement, to measures…. The Premier is always fond of saying that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. You have got to measure in order to see whether we are truly improving or not improving. That is hugely important. That's something we're doing in the education field.

We're ensuring that parents are involved. In fact, we legislated parental involvement in our schools, because we know how important it is to have parents involved in their children's education and what that means in terms of bringing out stronger students. We also ensured that we would have greater choice for families, more choices in education so that there is a greater variety of options out there for parents. That really steers excellence. That creates excellence in the education system, and we're already seeing that.

We also focus on those sorts of hidden things that are important should any situation ever develop, like seismic upgrading. We have increased the budget for seismic upgrading from $8 million to $23 million to ensure that our kids are safe in our schools, especially the older schools that have real structural challenges we need to meet. That is part of the choices that a balanced budget allows us to do.

A balanced budget also allows us to invest more in advanced education, and we're doing that. We're doing that by increasing funding by over $100 million over the next three years. We're going to increase student spaces by 25,000 by the year 2010 — 25,000 new spaces to ensure that our young people have the opportunity to get into their post-secondary school of choice and to get in with a B average. That, frankly, is probably what most of us had to get in when we went to university. Just over the next three years we're going to create over 11,000 new spaces in the post-secondary system. That is what choices are all about.

You know, a balanced budget also means creating more choices by allowing us to invest more in patient care. I emphasize patient care because patient care is a critical part of the health care investment strategy. Now, most of you folks will know we're investing a billion additional dollars over the next three years, and we're targeting that directly to patient care — every single penny into improved patient care.

Why are we doing that? The 20 percent budget increase we've had when we were elected up until now, which represents almost $2 billion, almost all went into increasing salaries for our highly skilled nurses, highly skilled workers in the system and, of course, our doctors, who received a 20 percent increase in 2002. That's important, and I don't begrudge that. That's an important investment, because these folks are absolutely critical to the system. My mother is a retired nurse, and I can tell you I know how hard the nurses work, and I know how valuable and integral they are to the system. They deserved the 23.5 percent increase we gave them when we were elected in 2001.

This $1 billion over the next three years is to make sure we improve patient care. We're going to focus that to ensure it goes into the 30 percent of the health care system that isn't consumed by salaries and labour costs. We want to make sure we can see some direct benefits there. That's part of what choices give you in a balanced-budget situation.

I want to talk about one other group of choices we have when we have a balanced budget, and that means transportation. I want to touch on that in my role as Minister of Transportation. For too long in the heartland communities of this province, frankly, transportation was ignored. It was utterly ignored. I asked folks, particularly in the lower mainland, to think about what it must have been like to live in the heartlands of British Columbia, where you know you are generating most of the wealth in the province, yet you have to sit and watch billions of dollars being invested into SkyTrains you will never ride. You watch half a billion dollars being flushed down fast ferries that will never sail and will provide no benefit to you whatsoever. You sit and watch your roads deteriorate year in and year out, and you see the impact that has on your ability to create economies that will sustain your families and your kids.

It's totally unacceptable, and we made a commitment as a province to change that, to make sure we addressed that impact. That's why, over three years, we're investing $1.3 billion in transportation. Fully $836 million of that is going into heartland communities to ensure that we reinvest in the communities that are creating resource wealth and creating a lot of the wealth that British Columbians throughout this province can enjoy.

This is important. That reinvestment supports our forestry community to ensure that it can once again become an industry that is going to lead this province, as it always has in the decades past. It is important for our booming oil and gas sector in northeastern British Columbia to ensure that we're investing in resource roads, which will ensure that important sector continues to thrive and grow. Of course, it is critical to our

tourism industry to make sure we have access for tourists to get to our resorts throughout this great province. We have over 500 of them. It is also important to make sure that when we welcome the world in 2010, we are welcoming them on roads and infrastructure that are safe, reliable and get them to where they need to go efficiently and effectively. That's part of what choices means in a balanced-budget environment.

Finally, I want to talk about one other thing I think is important in terms of the balanced budget, and that is the Olympics. We all know what an enormous opportunity the Olympics provides. It is hugely important to recognize that we have, through our own fiscal discipline, been able to invest early into some of the costs we're going to see in the Olympics so that we get some of the dollars out the door now while we've generated the savings through fiscal disciplines in our current budget year.

We all know about the hundreds of thousands of jobs. We know about the billions of dollars of investment. We know there is going to be literally hundreds of thousands of people visiting British Columbia and billions watching on TV. The real value of the Olympics is not in any of that. The real value of the Olympics is the impact it has on our young people. It's the little kids we see today — the young figure skaters, the young hockey players, the young kids involved in winter sports. They're the ones who are going to realize this incredible opportunity of all the lessons we derive from the Olympics — the lessons of dedication and discipline and what hard work, dedication and discipline can mean when we all strive to a common purpose and a common goal.

That's really what the Olympics is all about. That's why I'm so excited about the fact that we are investing early to ensure that through opportunities like LegaciesNow, we will be able to get that message out into the communities and get our young people excited about what the Olympics can mean for them personally.

We take our obligation to British Columbians seriously. A balanced budget allows us to provide the important services to British Columbians but allows us to provide those services on the framework of fiscal responsibility, on the framework of a balanced budget and in the disciplines we put into place within that balanced budget. I know how important this is to the residents of Surrey-Cloverdale, the riding I'm proud to represent, but I also know, as I go around the province as Minister of Transportation, how important it is to British Columbians generally. British Columbians have always long held pride in this province as a province that isn't afraid to pay its way, as a province that understands the value of the taxpayer dollar and the importance of having a government that respects the importance of the taxpayer dollar.

I believe that British Columbians are starting to realize…. Their pride is starting to grow once again as they see the effects of what good financial leadership can provide, the kind of financial leadership we're seeing from the Minister of Finance. Knowing that once again British Columbia is starting to lead — leading in job growth, leading in retail sales, leading in growth of retail sales opportunities, housing, etc., — is important to British Columbians because it is instilling pride again.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion to my speech on the budget, I just want to say this. Once again in British Columbia we are seeing opportunities, and we are going to see benefits in ways that British Columbians are only just beginning to understand. The Olympics and the investments that we're making in transportation, the investments we're going to see right across this province in all the venue construction and all the private sector investment that's going to dovetail with a growing economy and with the lead-up to the Olympics, are going to have enormous impacts.

Already British Columbians are talking about the kinds of problems we face, but they're the kinds of positive problems we like to face — a shortage of workers, a shortage of skilled workers. Those are the kinds of problems that I like us to deal with in British Columbia, because they're the kinds of problems for which we can create positive solutions. Those positive solutions mean more opportunities for our young people here in British Columbia. I'm proud of the direction we're going in British Columbia, I'm proud of the future that we have in British Columbia, and I'm proud to be part of a government that is working to build a bright future for British Columbians all across the province.

P. Sahota: Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to be able to respond to the budget speech delivered by the Minister of Finance last week on behalf of my constituency of Burnaby-Edmonds. As the minister mentioned, it is about bringing out the best in British Columbia. That's what the budget speech is about. It is about our economy. It is about our forest industry, mining industry, technology industry and about bringing out the best in our people through sports, music and culture.

As a province we've had many moments that have signified our best and have shown to the world why British Columbia is so special. Much has happened in our province over the last two years. As a province we have pretty much experienced a huge range of intense emotions. As the member for Surrey-Cloverdale mentioned in his remarks, we have been under tremendous pressures from the softwood lumber dispute to BSE to SARS to the forest fires. But we have also experienced incredible joy and pride when Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Olympics.

I remember and I know that a lot of my colleagues talked about the possibility of winning the bid at one point, and now that we have it, we know the opportunities for our province are huge. Of course, before the Olympics come to British Columbia, there will be other major events for us to celebrate. We have won the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship bid. We will also be hosting the 2009 World Police and Fire Games, which were awarded to Burnaby and British Columbia last year.

These three huge events will bring unprecedented economic opportunities for our province. This is part of building the foundation that the Minister of Finance spoke about. This is a foundation that is important to the future of British Columbians.

In each of these events, I want to point out that the Premier was instrumental. He was there to endorse the bid and to support it wholeheartedly. He travelled to Prague for the 2010 Olympics bid. He was in Calgary last month to make sure we landed the World Junior Hockey Championship. I, along with the Premier, had the pleasure of presenting the case for Burnaby to the selection committee for the 2009 World Police and Fire Games. I know from talking to the selection committee members, who came from all over the world, that they not only were appreciative of the Premier's attendance but knew the provincial government was committed when the Premier announced that the province would be a funding partner for the 2009 World Police and Fire Games.

I believe that we are progressing and taking the right steps in the right direction. Another step in the right direction has been our pursuit of diversifying our markets. I have previously spoken about diversifying our markets, especially when it comes to our forest industry. The Premier travelled to China. Then I had the opportunity to travel with the Premier on a trade mission to India late last year. Both of these countries are very important for British Columbia's future, as they are the world's fastest-growing commercial economies. I believe it is important for us as government to show that these two emerging markets are places where we as British Columbians want to do business.

I believe that these trips, these trade missions, are very important for this province, because it gives us an opportunity to build relationships with these two countries which are emerging economically on the world scene. Not only did it give us a chance to speak to the Indian business people and hear them express some interesting things, but it also made us really think about where we are in terms of the global scene. You know, the Indians aren't worried about us; they're worried about the Chinese and how cheap the Chinese can produce the products. That is our competition. It is truly global.

As British Columbians we have to make sure our prospective markets know about the competitive products that B.C. and Canada offer in a variety of industries. This is especially true when it comes to our forest industry. We are investing $19 million a year in the forest sector alone to expand new markets in Asia and around the world. In China the Premier promoted the forest industry by launching the $12 million Dream Home project announced this past spring, a model developed that will be marketed in China using B.C. capital, wood and expertise.

You know, housing starts in China are ten million per year, and that means a great opportunity for B.C.'s forest products companies to supply a significant portion of the housing market needs in China. Not only that, the Chinese market is poised to expand, because currently only 1 percent of the housing starts are wood-frame construction. This means there is plenty of room for us as British Columbians to expand in that market.

It is critical that we continue our efforts to diversify and expand our softwood lumber industry. All of us know that the U.S. market is our biggest market when it comes to the forest industry, but we also know that the U.S. has thrown some pretty big roadblocks in our way. In spite of that, our forest industry continues to move in the right direction. The people in this industry continue to look for ways to meet challenges head-on; and of course, we are also doing more things right here.

Last month I had the pleasure of welcoming businesses from all over British Columbia to Burnaby at the Showcase for Canadian Exporters, and I want to thank organizations like SUCCESS which have been sponsoring partners and are involved in organizing these showcase events in British Columbia. This trade show was about showcasing our best people, products and services that we can offer to the world. Organizations like SUCCESS are also aggressively working to help open up markets for our suppliers and exporters, because they know there is a need for it. So all of us must continue to do our part and look for ways to reduce our reliance on the U.S. market by actively forging relationships with India, China and Japan. I believe we are on the right track.

As government we have also said our economy is key, and we believe we're doing everything possible to stimulate the economy so that important services like health care and education are protected. We are opening up the forest industry by implementing the forestry revitalization plan. By actively pursuing other markets, as I've mentioned, we're restoring the economic potential for our mining industry. We're building partnerships with first nations. The three biggest sporting events, as I mentioned — the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships, the 2009 World Police and Fire Games and the 2010 Olympics — will bring huge economic opportunities to our province. All of these are foundations that have been laid because our government has made the right choices.

I believe the government has made progress — progress worth defending, progress that the budget speech indicates our province is on the right path. Of course, in my own constituency, Burnaby-Edmonds, progress is being made on many fronts. This month we had the official groundbreaking of a new southeast secondary school, which marks a very important turning point in my community. We're just a year and a half away from the grand opening of what will be one of the neighbourhood's most important new developments. It's right on the corner of 10th Avenue and Griffiths Avenue. My colleague from Burquitlam was actually there with me as we celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony this last month.

By next year this project will be ready to go for the new students. It is close to a $35 million investment in

our community. I know Burnaby-Edmonds constituents are excited about this new school, because overcrowding has been a longstanding problem in Burnaby South. So this new addition to our community is arriving at just the right time. The new school is going to give Edmonds students a place to learn that is closer to home, and it will alleviate classroom pressures in other neighbourhoods.

The Minister of Education has announced another new school whose home will be in Burnaby-Edmonds — the Royal Oak Elementary school. I'm very proud that these two schools will be going ahead in Burnaby as planned for the next two years. We have also said we would focus dollars where they're most needed. Part of that commitment is ensuring the 450-student-capacity Royal Oak Elementary is built to serve the families in the central-east part of my community.

Not only is the government bringing out the best in our students in Burnaby, but it's trying to do that provincewide. Nearly $311 million will be spent on 45 schools as part of the 2003-06 capital funding program, and 36 schools will be replaced, renovated or expanded. Other capital projects include consolidating existing schools, site acquisitions and school bus purchases. An additional $300 million will be spent provincewide over three years for school maintenance. These funds will be used to maintain, upgrade or replace aging building components to ensure existing schools reach their intended life expectancy. Burnaby school district's share will be almost $4 million, and the budget speech announced additional funding for the next three years — $313 million more for K-to-12 provincewide.

We are also doing more in the area of advanced education. Last year when I travelled around the province with the Select Standing Committee on Finance, one of the biggest pieces of input we got from the people was in the area of advanced education. We were told to create more opportunities for our young people. We were told about the skills shortage, developing skills and more training opportunities. Well, we are responding to that; 25,000 more post-secondary spaces will be added between now and 2010 to address this problem. I know that young people in our province are more excited because we have also said that a target of a 75 percent grade point average to allow entrance into post-secondary institutions will be the standard.

We said we will do more once the economy starts to turn the corner, and we are doing more in the area of health care — more for patients because the economy has turned the corner. Balanced Budget 2004 will increase the Health ministry budget by an additional $1 billion compared to the base amount in last year's budget. As the Minister of Finance said, every penny is targeted to patient care. In addition, the province will provide $694 million in capital funding for new construction, equipment and upgrading of existing health facilities over the next three years.

I know the signs are showing. The signs of confidence in the economy are there in my community. There is a lot of construction activity going on in my community. Middlegate will become Highgate, and construction has already begun. I'm advised that the two towers which haven't even begun construction are already sold out. The local realtors tell me that they have never been busier. In my area the demand far exceeds the supply. The economy is on the move.

We're also making progress in the film industry front. The owners of MJA Studios have invested millions of dollars in a studio project in the Big Bend area. The MJA studio is a state-of-the-art facility, a Hollywood — or Bollywood — director's dream. Burnaby has tremendous film facilities, and we have a tremendous skilled workforce in the film industry, and that is why people and businesses are looking to Burnaby for their future.

I know most people don't think of forestry when envisioning Burnaby, but Burnaby is home to Taiga Forest Products, a distributor of building products. Taiga's press release said: "Thanks to very favourable building product market conditions, Taiga's third-quarter profits jumped to $1.8 million from $364,000 — a sales rise by 20 percent"

Burnaby is bringing out the best in British Columbia. I know our challenges are also there, be it in health care, education or in the area of safety and crime. It is important to recognize them and continue to ask for solutions and input. As an MLA, I hold regular public meetings the first Saturday of every month to hear firsthand the concerns of my constituents. Over the past two and a half years I have met with many stakeholders — from health care, to small business owners, to women leaders, to educators. I have seen firsthand the situations that police have to deal with. It's a challenging environment, but the people of Burnaby are working together to find solutions.

Our government is creating opportunities and the right economic climate and is asking people to take more responsibility and be more accountable. People do not want us to change the course. They tell me it has been tough, but it had to be done. I know the choices haven't been easy, but they're the right ones. We will now be able to choose how best to utilize surplus funds by directing the surplus into programs and services like health care and education. British Columbians now have a choice, and they will see the benefits of balancing the budget.

I also know we're getting positive results in our economy. B.C. is leading in job creation. We've created more jobs in British Columbia than the rest of Canada. More people are moving back to British Columbia for the first time in six years.

I am proud of the record of our government. I know the job is not finished. There's a tremendous amount more to do, but we have laid the foundation to build our future prosperity on.

L. Stephens: It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise in my place today and speak in support of Budget 2004.

Last Tuesday afternoon the Finance minister delivered the provincial budget on time and on target. Last Tuesday British Columbia became the first province to introduce a balanced budget that completes and complies with the legislated generally accepted accounting principles. By law, introduced by this government in 2001, all subsequent budgets will be balanced on that basis.

As the Minister of Finance said on Tuesday, this is the day British Columbia turns the corner to economic prosperity, and the best is yet to come. After spending the past two and a half years in cabinet and on Treasury Board, I know how difficult it has been to arrive at this budget. After ten years of economic decay, ministers, the Minister of Finance, all the government members, Treasury Board staff and ministry staff have worked long and hard to get our government's fiscal house in order, and on Tuesday we did just that.

In fact, not only is the budget balanced, but we have a projected surplus of $100 million for 2004-05, $275 million for '05-06 and $300 million in '06-07. In addition, cushions of more than $400 million in each of the next three years will protect our balanced budgets against unforeseen circumstances such as we faced in 2003 with horrendous forest fires, catastrophic pine beetle infestations, drought, floods, SARS and BSE. Other members in this chamber have spoken about these challenges that we've faced as well.

At the same time, we are ensuring that our priorities are not only protected but enhanced. Education from K-to-12 gets a $313 million boost, plus tens of millions for seismic upgrading of the schools our children attend to make sure that we keep them safe. Another $105 million will go into advanced education over the next three years to improve access to higher education for all our students.

An additional $1 billion will be invested in health care over the next three years — every penny of it going to patient care — and $694 million will go into new construction, equipment and upgrading of existing facilities. In my community a huge local concern is transportation infrastructure and much-needed improvements to get our products moving and our commuters to and from their jobs in a timely fashion. Over the next three years $1.3 billion will be spent on infrastructure.

About $460 million of that is directly provided to improve the lower mainland transportation, and my constituents certainly know how important improving our transportation infrastructure is for our region. Moving people and goods and services is critical for our long-term economic prosperity. The Sea to Sky Highway upgrades, rapid transit improvements, Fraser River crossing, twinning the Port Mann Bridge, the south perimeter road are all vital initiatives for the Fraser Valley and for my Langley constituents.

The provincial budget is balanced, as planned and as promised. A balanced budget is more than just a piece of paper; it's a significant accomplishment that opens up more choice and more opportunity for all British Columbians.

In 2002 our government laid out a plan to revitalize B.C.'s economy, restore sound fiscal management and direct resources to health care and education — all while balancing the budget in '04 and '05. Our plan is working. Together we have built a new foundation for a brighter future.

We're number one in job growth. Over the past two years British Columbia created 159,000 jobs, enjoying the fastest growth rate in the country. More than two million people are working, and British Columbians' take-home pay is growing. For the first time we have over two million people working in the province.

We're number one in new housing growth. B.C. saw a 21 percent jump in housing starts in 2003, the largest increase in Canada, and it's one of only two provinces where starts are forecast to keep growing in 2004. We're number one in small business confidence, and new businesses are being created at the highest rate in nearly a decade — 9 percent in 2003. We're the number one destination for new investor immigrants. As well, for the first time in six years, more people are moving to B.C. from other parts of Canada to build their futures than are moving away.

Balanced Budget 2004 will add on these successes to deliver a sustainable future that brings out the best in our province. Our costs are under control. The economy is strengthening. Government is making more than $1.3 billion in new investments in improved health services, a better education system, greater access to advanced education, enhanced services for children, for youth and families, and a continuing commitment to open up the heartlands of our province to renewed economic growth. With these investments we will build our future, and at the same time our government will balance the budget this year, next year and every year thereafter.

One of the questions we have to ask is: are we on the right track? There are a number of organizations in this province who have come out quite strongly in favour of our balanced budget. The Investment Dealers Association of Canada is one of them. This is a national self-regulatory organization that is representative of the securities industry. The association's mission is to protect investors and enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the Canadian capital markets, and this is what they have to say. They commend this government "for delivering a balanced budget and a three-year fiscal plan that conforms to GAAP accounting for more comprehensive and transparent public accounts. The IDA notes that estimated business investment spending rose 4 percent last year, a marked turnaround from the previous year."

The Certified General Accountants Association of British Columbia also had some good things to say. They've said:

Those are just a few of the comments that members of the broader community and the business community are saying about this particular budget. Our government believes that a balanced budget has always been part of our government's vision. It means the budget is balanced, including the broader public sector, not just in ministries and Crown corporations but including schools, universities, colleges and hospitals.

The balanced budget also shows the benefits of prudent management. Even though we faced a lot of challenges last year from such things as the forest fires, floods and all of those other issues that I talked about earlier, our government expects to end '03-04 with a deficit of only $1.7 billion — excluding schools, universities, colleges and hospitals — and that's $590 million better than the target that was set in last year's budget.

As the economy continues to gain strength, overall funding to ministries will increase, and because the government has managed prudently, we also have savings — unspent funds — for fiscal '03-04. From these savings, the government is refocusing $66 million to help address wait-lists and meet other pressing needs in health care, offset maintenance costs for post-secondary institutions, improve literacy, and establish new arts and music initiatives under the mandate of LegaciesNow. Year-end savings from lower debt service costs will also be used to meet part of B.C.'s financial commitment to the 2010 Olympics.

In 2001, while the government introduced its economic plan for B.C.'s future, our province was struggling. Businesses were closing, investors were leaving, and young people were choosing to build their future somewhere else. The jobless rate was rising, disposable incomes were falling behind, and in 1999, as we now well know, B.C. became a have-not province. The province's plan, a plan we are committing to build on today, was specifically designed to turn things around through a series of bold, decisive actions, including cutting personal income tax rates for all British Columbians by 25 percent, cutting the corporate income tax rate from 16.5 percent to 13.5 percent, eliminating the corporate capital tax for general corporations, and eliminating the sales tax on production machinery and equipment. That was just a start.

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

These are just a few examples. We've achieved a lot. We've laid a strong foundation for a prosperous economy, and Budget 2004 builds for the future.

Budget 2004 also contains some good news for homeowners. As you know, the province is experiencing a real estate and housing boom. That's certainly true in my community. While it reflects a growing confidence in our economy, it also affects affordability. In my community we have a number of seniors, and these seniors…. As we all know, most of them are on fixed incomes. They've been worried that they might lose some or all of their homeowner grant this year, and that concern is squarely addressed in Budget 2004. It raises the threshold for the grant from $525,000 to $585,000. That's the point at which the grant starts to be reduced. People who get the basic grant will still receive a benefit for homes valued up to $632,000, and seniors will receive at least a portion of the grant for homes valued up to $659,000. With these changes, fully 95 percent of B.C. homeowners will still receive the full grant.

Our energy sector alone directly employs 35,000 people, helping us to diversify the B.C. economy — not to mention growth in sectors from high technology to tourism and to agriculture. This diversification has helped us to weather the economic storms of the past few years. The government will continue to work with the people of British Columbia to realize our vision — generating jobs, growth and opportunities that continue to strengthen every single B.C. community.

B.C. has created more than 84,000 new jobs since December 2002. That's twice the national growth rate and the highest rate in the country. To help ensure we keep that lead position, Budget 2004 introduces changes that will make our investment climate even more attractive. It expands the international financial business program to help bring jobs and growth to communities all across British Columbia. This program was originally designed to boost Vancouver's financial services sector, and now the government is moving to allow a broader range of businesses to participate and to allow them to locate anywhere they choose in British Columbia.

In addition, the list of activities that qualify for tax refunds under the program will be expanded effective September 1. Corporations carrying on international financial activities will be eligible for refunds in areas including treasury functions, back-office operations, TV and film distribution, and one-sided foreign exchange transactions.

The second change is consistent with a key recommendation from the Premier's Technology Council. The government is extending the scientific research and

experimental development tax credit for a further five years. The credit provides an income tax incentive of 10 percent of qualifying expenditures, fuelling growth in emerging sectors such as biotechnology, fuel cells and software development. Since its inception, this credit has helped generate an increase of about $700 million a year in qualifying research and development initiatives.

Transportation. As the Transportation minister talked about just a few minutes ago, this has been increasingly important as British Columbia moves to open up the heartlands of British Columbia. In keeping with the plan that was announced by the Premier a year ago, the government is investing that $1.3 billion over the next three years to improve the transportation infrastructure, and $836 million are dedicated specifically to the projects in the heartlands. This government is making a concerted effort to develop the capacity in the heartlands for those communities to benefit from the economic opportunities that are now apparent in the province.

Before I conclude, I want to take a short trip down memory lane. I've had the great good fortune to represent the people of Langley for the past 12 or almost 13 years in this House. Beginning in 1991 when the NDP formed the government, I and a number of my colleagues witnessed the decade of decline of a great province. Under the NDP the total provincial debt more than doubled from $17 billion to $36 billion. It had taken previous governments 115 years to accumulate a debt of $17 billion; it took the NDP just a short eight years to double that debt. Under the NDP taxpayer-supported debt increased 184 percent.

Year after year members on this side of the House stood in their place and told the government that what they were doing was wrong, wrong, wrong, and every year we were proven right — every single year. Every single budget that the NDP government brought forward missed its target, overspent or added to the debt.

I want to list just a few of the many examples where the taxpayers' money was wasted under the NDP: the billion dollars in the blundering Forest Practices Code; $463 million on the fast ferry fiasco; $73 million on the failed Vancouver convention centre; $1 billion in business subsidies, including the Skeena Cellulose buyout; $65 million in the failed photo radar cash grab; $125 million in lost federal revenue from Nanoose Bay; $1 billion without a strategic plan for Forest Renewal B.C.; and $310 million on the fixed-wage policy. The NDP had no plan to stimulate private sector job creation, investment or confidence in our economy and no plan to combat the brain drain or to increase opportunities for young British Columbians.

Today the NDP's B.C. Solutions Budget 2004, developed by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is more of the same tax, borrow and spend policies that took British Columbia from first to last in economic growth in Canada from 1991 to 2000. The NDP failed to provide any long-term vision for this province. They failed in the financial management of this province. They failed to provide confidence to the business community and the consumers of the province that they understood the principles of economic growth and development and developing a strong and prosperous future for British Columbia.

Our plan brings out the best in sound fiscal management for a sustainable future. It maintains and enhances the competitive tax and regulatory regime that makes growth possible. Balanced Budget 2004 supports 31 tax-related measures that have returned more than $1.1 billion in annual tax savings to consumers and business.

As I mentioned at the outset, Budget 2004 commits an additional $1.3 billion in programs and services over the next three years. It builds on the hard work that all British Columbians have done since 2001 to revitalize the economy, get costs under control and put the needs of people and communities first. That is why it is so important to have a balanced budget. It's not just an arbitrary benchmark; it is a major step towards meeting the commitment that the government made with its first full budget.

Today it is clear that our government's plan is working. The business sector is growing again, take-home pay is rising, our children are doing better in school, they have more opportunities, and we are making much-needed improvements in health care. The decade of decline is over; the decade of opportunity is before us. We've laid a new foundation for that growth and prosperity. With Budget 2004 we will build on that foundation to bring out the very best in British Columbians.

Hon. J. Les: It's my pleasure this afternoon to take my place in the House and make a few remarks with respect to the budget that was tabled last week by the Minister of Finance. Last week was a date that I think will in some respects go down in history in British Columbia. Not only did we for the first time in a long time table and present a balanced budget, but it was a budget that was based on generally accepted accounting principles. I guess another way to put that is that it's the gold standard in terms of financial accountability and transparency.

British Columbia is the first jurisdiction in Canada that has held to that standard and, on that basis, has balanced its budget. Not only is the budget for 2004-05 balanced, but the budget will be balanced in the years going forward as well. That is now the law in British Columbia. It is against the law to bring in budgets that governments know are going to be in deficit.

I think it's fair to say we have very significantly improved the fiscal and financial framework in British Columbia to give confidence, first of all, to the taxpayers of British Columbia that the moneys they remit to Victoria are properly spent and accounted for. Also, and very importantly, the investment community that is so important in terms of the generation of new busi-

ness opportunities and new employment opportunities can have confidence that the environment in which they do those things is one that is supportive and respectful of investment and employment-generation activities.

Now, we've heard it said quite a few times that tax cuts don't work. Ever since June 6, 2001, when our government introduced the largest single tax cut in the history of the province, the Left and other naysayers have made it their business to constantly repeat: "Tax cuts don't work." I think it's fair to say that many of us had confidence and had faith that tax cuts do indeed work. In fact, tax cuts, when properly implemented, are a great way to incentivize the economy.

I'm pleased with the fact that as the past couple of years have unfolded, we can now confidently say that the tax cuts that were introduced in British Columbia have obviously worked. They're working their magic through the economy, and I would like to spend just a few minutes to review some of the solid evidence of how those tax cuts have worked. I know that others who have spoken in the last several days have picked up on various facts I'm about to bring up and that to some extent I might be repetitive, but I enjoy these facts so much that I can't repeat them often enough.

I think it bears reminding how far we've come in British Columbia in terms of revitalizing the economy of our province. Last month, the month of January, B.C. housing starts were up 94 percent. Can you imagine? It's 94 percent that housing starts were up in January over the year previous. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has stated that it expects B.C. will be one of only two provinces where housing starts will continue to increase in the year 2004 — one of only two provinces where that will occur.

From December 2001 to December 2003, British Columbia had the highest employment percentage increase in Canada — 8.1 percent. The national average was 5.5 percent, so job creation in British Columbia over the last two years was way ahead of the national average. That 8.1 percent is an astounding employment increase and something we can all be very proud of.

Building permits over the entire year last year were up 13 percent over 2002, and the national gain was only 7.5 percent. There was $6.4 billion worth of new construction in British Columbia last year, and residential permits were up 16.2 percent. The national increase that corresponds was 8.3 percent. In all of those aspects we are definitely outperforming the national economy. It looks like, from the predictions of independent agencies, we are going to continue to improve and to build on that very good start that we've made in the last several years.

In the month of January just past we created an additional 1,000 jobs in British Columbia, and that builds on the 83,400 jobs that were created in British Columbia in 2003. In total since December of 2001, that's 159,000 new jobs in British Columbia. What a turnaround. Before the last election, we had people leaving British Columbia in droves. Now they're coming back in droves, and we are creating jobs at the rate of almost 160,000 in two years. That is good news for our province and for the taxpayers of our province.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank is forecasting that British Columbia will have the second-highest GDP growth of all of the ten provinces in 2004. That's not bad. It's not quite good enough yet. We want to be number one. Number two is just a little off, but it sure beats being number ten as we'd almost gotten used to during the nineties. For 2005 the Toronto-Dominion Bank is forecasting 3.3 percent growth for B.C., which is tied with Quebec for second among the ten provinces.

I talked a minute ago about people moving out of British Columbia during the nineties. In the last quarter of last year, for the first time in six years, we actually had more people moving from other parts of Canada to B.C. than were leaving British Columbia for other parts of Canada. That's the first time in six years that has happened.

I personally know of people in the Fraser Valley who during the nineties, because of their inability to find work in British Columbia, were actually commuting weekly by WestJet from the Abbotsford Airport to Calgary and Edmonton to go to work. They would come home Friday nights to spend the weekend at home and then leave again early Monday morning. Not a very good social situation, but these people were doing that out of desperation. There simply wasn't work for them here. I'm talking about tradespeople, for example, who were doing that every week. Certainly, it was a good thing for them that we had an airport facility available and WestJet available in Abbotsford where they could easily do that on a weekly basis, but of course people's kids suffered and people's home lives suffered as a result of that. Thankfully, that situation has now reversed itself, and people can find work in spades here in British Columbia.

During 2003 there was a 63 percent increase in TV and film production in Victoria, which has generated an estimated almost $24 million in direct economic impact. The Greater Victoria Film Commission attributes the increase to the provincial government's new regional 6 percent tax credit on labour costs for productions shot outside of the greater Vancouver area. Again, these fiscal policies act as incentives, or under the NDP as disincentives, to economic job creation and capital formation.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has found that small and medium-sized businesses in British Columbia are more optimistic today about their business prospects over the next year than anywhere else in Canada. That might sound like just an interesting statement, but it is very, very important. When people are optimistic, when people are confident, when people trust their business environment, that is when they're going to make investments. That is when they're going to hire a few extra people, and that is what creates the growth at the grassroots level in our economy. That is a very important statement that's been made by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

The Economic Forecast Council is expecting British Columbia to see stronger economic growth in 2004 and beyond. The average forecast growth for 2004 is 2.9 percent, up from 1.7 percent in 2003. The council also forecasts further growth in 2005 and beyond at something like 3.2 percent per year. Now, this is an agency that is not known for wild-eyed projections. This is a fairly conservative forecasting agency, and they are projecting continued growth, building on the base that we have built over the last several years.

Credit Union Central of British Columbia reports business incorporations in B.C. are up 9.3 percent in the first nine months of 2003, following a 7.7 percent increase the year before that. Credit Union Central says this is the strongest performance since 1994. It's been a long drought, Mr. Speaker, but clearly the economic environment we have set in place in British Columbia is working. You cannot deny that those kinds of statistics are proof and evidence of the fact that we are on the right track here in B.C.

The number of small businesses in B.C. has increased by 3.1 percent in 2002, following three consecutive years of decline before that. Small businesses account for 98 percent of all B.C. businesses. They provide 58 percent of all private sector jobs. They support 30 percent of B.C.'s gross domestic product — which is, by the way, the second highest in Canada — and they ship 33 percent of B.C. exports. The small business sector in British Columbia is an important contributor to our economy.

Aftertax family income in British Columbia jumped 4.7 percent in 2001 to $57,500, the third-strongest increase in Canada and the largest increase in aftertax income for British Columbia families in at least two decades. It's clear that was a direct result of the tax cuts we announced on June 6, 2001. It's also clear from that statistic that those tax cuts went, in large measure, to the families of British Columbia. As much as the NDP and others continually want to try to underline the fact that the tax cuts went only to the very rich and to the corporate sector, this statistic I've just outlined is clear evidence that those tax cuts went, in large measure, to the families of British Columbia. The average income tax paid by B.C. families decreased by 13.5 percent — again, the largest decrease in 20 years in taxes payable by British Columbia families. That is a vindication of the tax cut of June 6, 2001.

I've outlined a summary of all of the tremendous economic indicators that are starting to become part of British Columbia's economic life. I underline again that we are absolutely on the right economic track in this province, and we are going to continue to build on that very solid foundation. The budget tabled last week by the Minister of Finance forecasts a surplus this year, based on prudent assumptions, of $100 million. We're projected to build on that surplus so that we are going to have a slightly larger surplus in '05-06 and a slightly larger surplus again in '06-07. I repeat that these assumptions are built on prudent forecasts in the years going forward, and I expect we will easily be able to achieve those targets.

The Conference Board of Canada projects that B.C.'s economic growth in 2004 will be tied for third place, and the board projects that the economy, as I pointed out earlier, will grow by 3.1 percent in 2004. In their case, they're suggesting 3.5 percent in 2005. I repeat: we have laid a strong foundation for a prosperous economy, and with this budget we are building for a future for our children.

In the coming year we're going to continue to refine and develop an environment to ensure the focus remains on bringing out the best in British Columbia by building a strong and vibrant economy that is characterized by new investment, new job opportunities and a higher standard of living for British Columbians. We're taking a more coordinated approach to small business and economic development by putting tourism, culture, sports and the Olympics all into the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development.

As we all know, in 2010 we've got the greatest show on earth coming to British Columbia, the 2010 Winter Olympics — a marvellous once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase our province. When we properly integrate and develop all of the potential inherent in those games, the opportunities that will present themselves…. This is one huge economic springboard opportunity for our province, second to none, and it is certainly the intention of myself and my ministry to ensure that we extract every possible opportunity for British Columbians and for British Columbia from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I want to commend the Premier and the many others who worked so hard during the last several years to ensure that when the momentous announcement was made in Prague in July of last year, the magic word was uttered: "Vancouver." I'm sure it will be a long time before we forget the suspense of that moment.

Small business remains a critical source of strength in the B.C. economy. As I pointed out earlier, it accounts for 98 percent of all business in B.C. Nearly one million people are employed by small business in the province, representing 58 percent of all private sector jobs. Over the last three years we've created a competitive environment for small business with tax cuts, deregulation, flexible and fair employment standards, and increased venture capital opportunities. The balanced budget that was tabled last week supports and continues 31 tax-related measures that have returned more than $1.1 billion in annual tax savings to consumers and businesses. British Columbia now has the lowest small business corporate income tax rates in the country, and the threshold for this rate was increased to $300,000 in the last budget.

A single business number is in the final stages of implementation and should be fully available in March of this year — in other words, next month. We're just in the process of putting the final, finishing touches to that. The single business number will simplify the relationship between business and government by creating a common identifier for business among partner agencies and expanding on the one-stop business registra-

The introduction of competition to venture capital funds has had a dramatic and successful impact in our province in the last year. Capital raised increased 600 percent over the last year. We went from $15 million in 2002 to $80 million in 2003. Eighty million dollars in venture capital was raised for 135 small businesses across the province. From Dawson Creek in the north to Sumas in the south, every region of British Columbia benefited from this investment confidence. Over time, this $80 million private sector investment will translate into jobs, economic spinoffs and benefits for communities throughout British Columbia. Exceeding expectations in the venture capital market demonstrates we're on the right track, and it's a clear indication of investor confidence in the British Columbia economy.

Since 2001 our government has eliminated nearly 90,000 regulations. It has cut five regulations for every new one that we've had to introduce, for a net reduction of over 79,000 regulatory requirements. There is no doubt that in a civil society you need to have government regulations, but we had built an inventory in excess of 400,000 regulations in British Columbia — 400,000 regulations that were there to somehow encourage something or other, but I've never truly been able to figure out what it was.

However, we made a commitment upon being elected that we would reduce the regulatory burden by one-third by the third full year of our term in office, and we're well on track to doing that. As I said, we're already down 79,000, and the balance you will hear more about in the next several months. Regulations, when they are unnecessary and when they are unworkable, act as a heavy, wet blanket on the economy of any jurisdiction.

My goal is to build on the strong foundations that have been put in place by the previous Minister of State for Deregulation. We will continue to cut red tape and remove unnecessary regulatory requirements. We will ensure that all new regulatory requirements are results-based and contribute to a smaller, more competitive regulatory environment.

This isn't a one-time effort; this is something that we need to continue to focus on in the years going forward. Regulatory vigilance ought to be the hallmark of every government that seeks to promote an economy that can grow and thrive without undue interference by government.

We are well on our way to a regulatory environment in B.C. that is smart, sound, modern, accountable, results-based and transparent. Our efforts are showing positive results. Businesses and investments are again returning to British Columbia. These people are telling us we are on the right track.

KPMG's 2004 Competitive Alternatives report shows that British Columbia's featured cities — which were Vancouver, Kelowna and Chilliwack — are cost- and tax-competitive with key competing locations across North America and internationally. According to this study, within the Pacific region of North America, Vancouver's average business costs are 16 percent lower than the highest-cost U.S. location — which was San Jose, California — and 4 percent lower than the least-expensive U.S. regional city, which was Boise, Idaho. Relative to Vancouver, Kelowna has an additional 4 percent cost advantage and Chilliwack, 3 percent.

The government of British Columbia remains committed to working collaboratively with the tourism industry to support growth and encourage ongoing development as we prepare to welcome the world in 2010. The balanced budget allows us today to accelerate our Olympic investment plan in 2003-04 and cover nearly 20 percent of our overall commitment to games' venue construction. This includes $51 million toward early venue construction and a $55 million endowment to sustain the operation of certain venues after the games conclude.

The Olympics and beyond give us an opportunity to stimulate and grow tourism throughout the province. Our four primary objectives are increased numbers of visitors, increased tourism investment, increased use of existing tourism resources and using the Olympics to leverage new tourism opportunities. The Olympics are expected to create about 200,000 jobs in all sectors, and it is projected that there will be 50,000 more tourism jobs by 2010.

The British Columbia resort task force will deliver benefits to investors, developers, operators and surrounding communities by creating an atmosphere of greater involvement in a sustainable industry and increased global visiting opportunities for British Columbia. We have a tremendously great environment in British Columbia where we can create more resort opportunities, whether those are ski resorts, golf resorts, fishing resorts or what have you. I believe we have only scratched the surface in developing these new opportunities across our province. When we see what Whistler has become in the past quarter century, it doesn't take too much of a leap of imagination to think about what could happen in other parts of the province — in the Kootenays, for example, and in Valemount, where there was a recent announcement, and so many other places — and also along the coast where there could be more resort opportunities based on sport fishing, ecotourism and sightseeing. Again, I believe we have only begun. We have only just scratched the surface in terms of developing those opportunities.

We're also collaborating with Alberta to develop our tourism industry and economic development. A collaborative approach with Alberta will help small communities become more self-sufficient, create new jobs, fuel new growth and revitalize investment in B.C.'s heartland. There are many opportunities for working collaboratively with Alberta. For the first time we are starting to do that in a serious way in British Columbia. You'll recall that the cabinets of Alberta and our province met in the year past, and there are plans to do that again in the next two months. I believe it is a tremendous step forward to encourage that kind of

collaboration at that level between our two provinces. The 2010 Olympics provide a unique opportunity to promote that kind of collaboration, given that in 1988 the province of Alberta and the city of Calgary were hosts to the Olympic Winter Games.

Exports account for one out of five jobs in British Columbia. We're working with the private sector, other provinces and the federal government to resolve trade issues and improve access to the U.S. market. At the same time, we are working hard to broaden the province's export base and regain market share in key areas. In addition to trade missions by the Premier to key U.S. and Asian markets, cross-government, industry-specific marketing strategies have been developed for key sectors. An example is Leading Edge B.C., with more than $8.3 million invested over three years to develop the increasingly more diverse technology industry in British Columbia.

Forest revitalization accounts for the promotion of the forest industry in B.C. Tourism B.C. has received another $1.25 million in additional marketing funds. I could go on in terms of the measures that we have taken as government to ensure that those sectors of the economy that have the most potential for growth have obstacles removed from their path and are encouraged by our government, by the incentives that we have put in place and by the fiscal environment that we have provided. They are encouraged to grow and thrive, to employ British Columbians and to bring out the very best success of all.

The proposed budget presented last week by the Finance minister, I think, is an extremely responsible document that we are going to be looking back at over the years to come as a true turning point in B.C.'s history. I believe that the budget presented last week brings out the best by giving people a chance.

J. Wilson: Today it's a real privilege for me to stand in the House and speak on the budget that we've brought in. It is, in my mind, one of the goals we've set as government. We were elected on a platform, and it was a very high priority in that platform to balance the budget — and not just balance the budget but balance it under generally accepted accounting principles.

That's a first. It means that the government has got to keep its books the same as anyone else out there. That's important because, having been here for some time, I've watched different budgets come in and previous governments…. What was going on was that they were allowed…. They did what they called creative accounting. In creative accounting, there was no way that the average person — or anyone for that matter, except the people that wrote the budget — could figure out exactly what was going on and where the province stood on a fiscal basis. It was impossible. Today we have an accounting system in place that lays it out in black and white — very, very simple, easy to understand and no question. As I say, it's a really good day for me. I'm really happy because we've achieved something that was a very difficult position to get to.

I think I should maybe step back a little bit here and go back over the last few years to reinforce in my mind and the minds of the majority of British Columbians where this province was headed. The government of the time was really not focused on the economy. They were focused on increasing taxes. They were focused on spending money, large amounts of money. It didn't seem to matter what the cost or overrun would be. Fast ferries are a really good example — such a waste — as is Forest Renewal B.C., another huge waste of dollars.

When this was going on, businesses in this province looked at it and said: "This is not a good place to be." They started packing up and moving their corporate headquarters. They moved them out of British Columbia. They moved them to Alberta, to Washington State and to Oregon. They moved them to a lot of different jurisdictions. With those companies moving, employment became difficult to find, so people began to move. People followed the jobs, which is what they have to do. Being involved in all of this over the years and watching our economy go straight downhill…. It went from number one in Canada to number ten, and it didn't take that many years to put it there.

Having recognized what was needed, our Premier and our government set upon a road that would focus on the economy, focus on this province and bring back the jobs and the people we lost. It really is rewarding to stand here today and see that this is actually happening — very, very satisfying.

You pick up almost anything, and you read the headlines or read the news articles. It doesn't matter what area you go into, there's optimism for British Columbia and in British Columbia. "Building permits post strong growth." "B.C. continues employment growth." "B.C. forecast to lead Canada in housing starts." "B.C.'s consumer confidence leads the country." "B.C.'s growth forecast to be second in 2004." More people are moving to British Columbia for the first time in six years, Mr. Speaker. That is really good news.

"Record-breaking TV and film production." "B.C. small business most confident in Canada." "Council forecast increased economic growth." "B.C. family income posts the largest gain in 20 years."

They go on and on. "B.C. job creation leads Canada." "B.C. home sales near record levels." "Forecast increased economic growth." "Port of Vancouver shipments are at record levels." "Business and corporations show strong increase."

They go on and on here. "Exports are up." "Wholesale sales are very strong." "Less red tape opens up oil and gas drilling." "Seventy-eight percent of small businesses surveyed said the provincial government is moving in the right direction with changes to help small business." "Two-thirds expect B.C.'s business climate will continue to improve over the next two years." So you see, all of the work that's been done is paying off.

When we were elected, we realized that it was a big job. Government had to reduce its spending. There was going to be some pain, and there has been some pain.

We've had to make cuts, but the good news is those cuts are pretty well finished. From here on, it's uphill. Things will get better in this province. The cutting has been done; the investment is returning; people are returning. All the indicators are positive.

Now in this budget there is a focus on certain things probably more than others, and one of them is to revitalize our economy. The old approach ignored our resource communities and the people who live there, including the first nations people. A strong economy is what we need in this province, and we have to work at that. We can't just do a little bit and then back off and leave it. You have to stay at it.

Seventy percent of the wealth in this province comes out of our resource sectors. If you read through the budget, you'll find there's a lot of stuff in here that makes mention of the heartlands and the north. That's not just coincidence. Our Premier recognizes the importance the north can play to the economy of this province. He recognizes the importance of the resource sectors in this province and their contribution.

There's something else that I think is contributing to that. It's the fact that in the north, all of the political representatives there speak with one voice. They're called the northern caucus, and they speak as one. They bring the issues to government and say: "This is what we need to do to get British Columbia back on the road." If you go through this budget and look at it, you'll see that the north is being heard. They're being heard loud and clear because they have a strong voice.

In the budget here we've looked at a lot of things. We've modernized a lot of our policies, and that's a good thing. We've reduced red tape. I'm not going to do all the stats, because you've heard it from other members. We have restored competitiveness in this province. Our tax rates are down, and B.C. is now number one in job creation. Confidence is returning to the resource industries. Those are the industries that are key to driving the economy in this province.

Investment in forestry. There's been more investment in the last year than I can remember in the last ten years.

Mining exploration. We watched mining leave British Columbia. It went down. It was pretty sad to see all the mining companies pack up and walk out. They said: "We can't operate in British Columbia." Do you know what the biggest complaint today is in mining exploration? "We can't find drills. They're all working; they're all busy. We can't get our exploration work done in the time we would like to have it done because the drills aren't available." Now, that is a positive indicator. If I've ever seen a positive indicator, that's a positive one.

Gas and oil. We've done a lot of work there, and there are going to be a lot of benefits gleaned by government and people in the industry through our gas and oil exploration and our coalbed methane. We have huge energy reserves in this province, and we're going to tap them.

There's another industry out there that you probably don't hear a lot about. They go about their work very quietly. That's the ranching industry. We are finally getting the recognition from this government that is long overdue from other governments. In our budget here I'd like to list a few of the things this government has done for the industry. On the BSE relief programs, we have provincial BSE funding commitments of more than $10 million which, when added to the $25 million in business risk management programs, can trigger federal funds, giving the cattle and dairy industry access to almost $70 million.

We have a five-year $250 million cost-sharing agreement with the federal government called the agricultural policy framework. We have deferred 2003 grazing fees until March 31, providing extra time for ranchers to plan and make decisions. We've waived the $100 application fee for the B.C. whole-farm insurance program and extended the deadline of last fall. We've established the Food Industry Advisory Council to improve competitiveness of the B.C. food-processing industry, turned over the Buy B.C. program to the British Columbia Agriculture Council and the operation of the Share B.C. program to the provincial food banks. We have appointed a B.C. agrifood trade council to respond to international and international-provincial trade negotiations for the next three years.

We're an advocate for farmers and ranchers — drainage, water management, land use conflicts, harmonization of regulations, food and safety concerns, environmental issues, and shellfish and finfish licensing with DFO. You see, Mr. Speaker, it doesn't matter what sector you go to out there; this government recognizes their needs and is dealing with them.

As I've said, it's really encouraging to see people coming back to B.C. For five or six years we watched our young people pack up and go elsewhere in Canada or the U.S. to find work. It split up families unnecessarily. Today those people are coming back to B.C. They can come back, work in British Columbia and be close to their families again. That's good news.

Investment is moving back. We have been working on land use and creating certainty out there on the land base. The land use plans are nearing completion in this province. I've been involved with a committee that is assessing the land use plans. We will be reporting out later this spring.

We've got working forest legislation in. It's going to be important to provide certainty for the people that work on the land base. We've got many resource-sharing agreements with first nations. All of these things add to certainty. Our forestry revitalization plan is increasing the availability of cut. The first nations are part of that, and they are now sharing in that harvest. There will be some energy-sharing agreements coming in later this year.

In order for all of this to come together and happen, we had to do some things. One of those was that we leased the rolling stock on B.C. Rail to CN. That in itself was a pretty big project and a pretty big thing to get

through. We got through it. The benefits from this agreement are going to go on for years. We're going to put money into the port of Prince Rupert as a container port. That will provide access to Asian markets from the north. As a matter of fact, from western Canada and the central interior of British Columbia they can now ship north to Prince George and west to Prince Rupert and market products where the cost is reduced. Once this terminal is in, the service will be improved.

The forest industry has had a lot of duress. Now, with this containerization and these port facilities opening up, we see an emerging market in China that has got huge potential. As we develop that, our focus can then come off the U.S., and we can put an awful lot more product, more export, from northern British Columbia into that Asian market.

Another thing that's happened with the CN Rail agreement is that we have put out a request for proposals for passenger tourism service. This has huge potential to create jobs all through the north and the interior of British Columbia. If you tie that in with the cruise ship lines, it's good news all the way around.

You look at places like Barkerville that have really been hit. We've had to make some reductions in our budget there. The number of people that go there has not been increasing proportionate to everything else; it's been pretty level. The numbers are pretty level — not really a lot of increase. The costs don't stay level; the costs keep rising. When I look at a tourism rail service, it's got huge potential for Barkerville. It could be the way that Barkerville can get back in the black after many years of being subsidized by government.

I wanted to go through and put out a few…. I have some numbers here. I said I wouldn't get into a lot of statistics, but down the road we've got some things in here that are, I think, good news for the people in my riding and other ridings in the north. Our small-scale salvage program will be quadrupled. Timber sales in that will be quadrupled. Over the next three years we've put in $6 million to see that that program gets up and running.

Forestry — $176 million is going to go into the B.C. timber sales program, and that's part of our forestry revitalization plan. In the next three years for health care there's an additional $1.047 billion. You can ask anyone if that is a good move, and they'll tell you it is. Transportation plan — $1.3 billion over the next three years, and out of that, $836 million is dedicated specifically to projects in the heartlands.

Education — $313 million over the next three years for K-to-12. In post-grad, by the year 2010 our goal — and I'm sure we will get there — is to create another 25,000 available seats for our high school graduates in this province. Now they can stay in British Columbia, receive their education and go into the workforce with all of the skills they need instead of having to leave the province to attend universities. This is the road we've taken, and I think people in this province should be quite proud that we recognize the importance and the need for all of those university students when they graduate. It doesn't matter what sector you go to today; they will tell you that they have a lot of problems finding the trained people they need to hire for the jobs.

Broadband access. All of our rural communities, 154 of them this year, will receive the services to bring them into the age of digital technology. They won't have to dial it up on a phone line anymore and sit there and wait for minutes or hours to do business. It's fast, efficient and something everyone needs if they're going to compete in today's world. It allows them to live anywhere in this province and access the world market out there, in effect, and do business without ever leaving their home — a step in the right direction.

In that aspect, by bridging this digital divide, we see a lot of potential there for health services, diagnostics. People may be able to access the diagnostic services that they require right in their own communities — another step in the right direction.

Is the job over? No, it's not over. We have a balanced budget, and we have a very small surplus. It means that we have to continue to be extremely frugal with the taxpayers' dollars. We can't spend for anything; we have to stay right on target here.

I was reading through this B.C. Stats and its business indicator — what drives the economies of the B.C. heartlands. I was going through it, and in here they have what they call a forestry vulnerability index. It lays out the communities and their dependency on the different sectors that generate dollars. Now, these are percentage income dependencies, aftertax incomes. It goes through, and it takes in forestry, mining, fishing, ag and food, tourism, high-tech, public sector, construction, film production and "other" — meaning, in a lot of cases, small businesses. We've got transfer payments and other non-employable income, which could be investment.

When I look at the major centres in my riding, there's something that pops out here. One is that for Quesnel, the percentage that is depending on forestry is 43 percent; Williams Lake is 30 percent. In mining: 1 percent, Quesnel; 2 percent, Williams Lake. Fishing. Well, that's out. We don't have a lot of salt water around there. Agriculture and food: 2 percent, Quesnel; 3 percent for Williams Lake. Tourism. I would have thought it was higher than that, but in tourism it's 5 percent for Quesnel and 6 percent for Williams Lake.

High technology: zero. Why? Well, we need to bridge that digital divide, and that's what we're doing. Perhaps the next time this comes out, there will be a number there. Public sector: 21 percent for Quesnel; 24 percent for Williams Lake. Construction: 3 percent and 6 percent. Film production. Well, we haven't been lucky enough to attract any film producers yet, but that's something we can hope for. "Other" is 2 percent for Quesnel and 3 percent for Williams Lake. Transfer payments: 16 percent. Another is non-employable income. It's 8 percent, and 9 percent for Williams Lake.

Now, when I look at this, I see some problems we have to start addressing today, and we are. Actually, Quesnel is the second-highest forest-dependent com-

munity in the north or the interior. It makes it very plain that we have to look at other things to build our employment on. Considering the fact that we have a pine beetle scourge going on, destroying our pine forests, down the road — ten, 15, 20 years from now — people…. They're going to live there, but they may not be working. There will be a downturn in the forest industry — everyone has recognized that — but they will still be living in these communities, and they will still be finding employment.

Where are they going to look? Well, agriculture. There's considerable growth potential right there when you're looking at 2 and 3 percent.

Mining. Mining's got huge potential now. I see that coming up into the two-digit numbers very shortly. If mineral prices on the world markets stay where they are, we could see a couple of mines open as early as sometime this fall or early next year.

Tourism. We've got one of the greatest areas in the province for tourism. Natural beauty, lakes, rivers — you name it. The potential to grow there is huge. We can grow that into a two-digit number.

On it goes. Construction. With the confidence coming back in this province, we'll see that number grow.

So you see, Mr. Speaker, diversification, as recognized in this budget, is the key to success. With that, I think I will….

I'm not going to go into all the problems we've encountered in the last year. It's been a wreck from start to end, with BSE, fires, flooding, softwood lumber and all the rest of it — a lot of potholes in our road to success. The way the communities came together to deal with these was amazing. That gave you a real good feeling to be part of this province. Through all this, we managed to stay on course. We managed to balance our budget, a real balanced budget, and wherever I go in this province today, people say to me: "Stay the course."

B. Suffredine: It's a pleasure to be able to rise and speak on the contents of the budget, the first balanced budget in years for this province. I want to begin with a little history, though. One of the things that happens is that we all tend to forget things because of our busy days. Our days run one after another, and we forget some of the important things that have happened to us as we've gone along.

In 2001, when I got elected, the people of B.C. threw out the NDP government of the day. That government had driven this province from first to last in its economy and driven business out for most of a decade. Once I got elected, I was, as usual, optimistic. I was looking forward to being part of positive change. It didn't take very long, and we got into briefings. I learned about how bad things really were. The NDP, on their way out, had left a number of traps for the new government.

There had been an energy crisis in California in the years that preceded the change, and that resulted in unanticipated windfall revenues that, to the best of my recollection, were between $1 billion and $2 billion. Those were revenues that could not reasonably be expected to repeat in years following. The government of the day decided they would spend the windfall revenues, and they contracted for increases in services for years to come. They had no idea how they were going to pay for it. In fact, they reasonably knew there was no money to pay for it, but they signed contracts in any event and left that as a problem for the new government coming in.

Of course, when I got elected, the election was marred by a nurses strike that continued through the election and continued on afterward. That left us, as well, with the challenge of trying to settle that strike. We got through that, and we got that reasonably ended within the summer. But in the fall we began with a series of unforeseen challenges. Early on a Tuesday morning in September, I came into the office in Victoria thinking it would be another challenging but fulfilling day.

I had no idea when I arrived at the office that within minutes, I'd be watching as the Trade Center towers collapsed in New York. In the months that followed, we saw tourism revenues go in the tank as people were afraid to fly on commercial flights. It took months and months for travellers to begin to have the confidence to fly again. In that intervening time, tourism revenues to the province — and the tourism industry is a huge part in this province — were disastrous. Then before the next spring, an arbitrator gave an award to our doctors in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That just simply could not have been predicted.

In the time that followed, there has been almost every kind of natural disaster — fires, floods, BSE, SARS, West Nile virus. The list seems just to go on and on. Perhaps there could have been more that would have happened, but to say it has been uneventful is gross understatement. Throughout this, the Minister of Finance has insisted we stay the course and reach financial sustainability, and I support him in that. He jokingly told me the other day that someone had said to him that all these natural disasters that occurred are his fault. He said they were his fault because he said he would balance the budget come hell or high water.

Now, it has taken some time for us to get things under control, but we actually have made a plan, and we're sticking to it. Everyone needs to know that change is never easy. Getting our finances in order means sacrifices. Those short-term sacrifices will be worth it. Most people understand that in their own lives. They know they can't spend more than they earn. They know that before they go out to a restaurant for dinner, go on holidays or make a charitable donation, they have to put food on their own table. They have to pay the rent, and they have to buy their clothes.

They know that when they can pay all their necessary expenses, then they can look at optional extras like holidays. They know that every time they borrow some money, they have to pay it back, and they have to pay

it back with interest. That reduces the choices available in the future, as some of their income will be taken in paying that interest as they repay the principal.

They also get it that their cities and towns have the same rules, that local cities have to live within their means and that if they borrow money it has to be repaid by taxpayers within the city. For some reason, it's more difficult for people…. That same logic escapes a lot of people when they think about federal or provincial budgets, but the principles are identical. To many, balancing the provincial budget seems like an abstract goal. But what we do as government has to be sustainable from year to year and from decade to decade.

Let's look at what a few notable people have to say about this budget and the principle I've just described. I'm just going to quote from a few of them I picked out. The first is: "Balancing the budget means we're no longer running up a tab and expecting our children to pay for it. We're living within our means rather than borrowing against our future. The government made a promise to break the cycle of never-ending deficits and mounting debt. Today they've kept that promise, and I congratulate them." The same source: "This budget sets the province on a course for fiscal stability and prosperity, securing the health and education programs British Columbians expect." Those are both from Richard Rees, CEO, Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C.

The next one: "They inherited what was a supertanker headed for the rocks. They stopped it; they've turned it around." Dave Park, Vancouver Board of Trade.

Now finally, a comment from a source not generally known to be complimentary to this government. "First, I'd prefer this to the NDP budgets I've covered. Ministries have come in on budget; the government is on plan. There is much to praise when people do what they said they'd do. Second, the budget is balanced. It's a real and reasonable projection without trickery. Third, the Liberals deserve credit for having cut government spending, in many areas wisely and without serious harm." Paul Willcocks, editorial, Kelowna Daily Courier, February 18. That's an interesting commentator who doesn't usually heap praise on the government.

All of those comments are amplified by the lack of comment by the Leader of the Opposition, who gave only a few minutes of comment in her reply, reserved her position for the following day but then couldn't add anything. Perhaps she recognizes the facts. The facts are that we're keeping our promises, we made a plan, and we're sticking to it. The plan is working, and the results are beginning to show.

Those results are that we're number one in job growth. The NDP drove B.C. to last place in job growth. In the past two years B.C. created 159,000 jobs and enjoyed the fastest growth rate in the country. For the first time ever, more than two million people are working in British Columbia.

We're number one in housing growth. B.C. saw a 21 percent jump in housing starts in 2003, the largest increase in Canada, and is only one of two provinces where starts are forecast to keep growing in 2004.

We're number one in small business confidence. New businesses are being created at the highest rate in nearly a decade — 9 percent in 2003. We're also the number one destination for new investor immigrants. The NDP drove investors and families out of B.C. For the first time in six years, more people are moving to B.C. from other parts of Canada to build their futures than are moving away.

Now let me deal with some of the specific areas being addressed in this budget. The $70 million in early childhood development is a recognition that is long overdue. Children in their preschool years learn more quickly than they do at any other time of their lives. This investment is proof of a Premier with a government that is thinking long-term.

Reinstatement of funding for forest recreation sites is big news for us in the Kootenays. The need to cut back our expenditures affected these sites, which were highly valued by local residents and tourists. They were more than a nice campsite for the night. These sites helped keep our forest safe from random fires caused by careless campers and helped to reduce the negative effects of unrestricted camping. Many of these sites are the best locations known in the region. I'll be working to ensure that as many community groups as possible get a chance to participate in the management of the sites under the new program, and I'm certain that this choice will be welcome by all outdoor enthusiasts.

The broadband initiative to serve the 171 communities that don't currently have broadband. In Nelson-Creston there are many communities that don't have high-speed access. Communities like Edgewood, Fauquier, Burton, New Denver and Meadow Creek are all really small communities. Silverton is the smallest incorporated town, I think, in the province, and they use that as an advertising thing. Slocan, Winlaw, Salmo — all of those kinds of places really look forward to the opportunities that are available through expansion of broadband, the access it will bring and the opportunities for employment within their communities.

This access is primarily to occur through our schools and our other public facilities like libraries. It will make living and working in the Kootenays a real option for people from diverse walks of life who traditionally need to live in cities. Those opportunities are

just beginning. They'll make running a business on the Net from these locations a realistic opportunity.

I'd also like to touch on the Olympic LegaciesNow. The $30 million that's been announced for Olympic legacies to encourage initiatives in sports, music, arts and culture will be getting a close look from people in Nelson-Creston. There are projects like museums, art galleries, aquatic centres and arenas that all stand to benefit and are ready to go in my region, so the timing just couldn't be better.

The revitalization of forestry. For decades we struggled with a market system that was complex. U.S. producers complained that we were subsidizing our lumber production. It wasn't so, but simply put, the system was so complex that it was difficult for anyone to understand. When misunderstandings occur, disputes occur. That has been the case in forestry. It's been that way for decades. Former governments resolved it by agreeing to quota systems, but the resolution of it is really in having a system that both can understand. The new market-based system addresses this in a way that clearly makes it obvious to all that we're competing fairly. The price of lumber is established in the open market by auction. There's no room for argument that we're any longer subsidizing our lumber.

Like every other sector of the economy, forestry needs certainty and consistency. That process will create new opportunities for communities to participate in the industry. It will also create new salvage opportunities to increase utilization of the trees we cut to expand value-added production. That means more net income for people in B.C. than we get from the current method with logs or dimension lumber.

It's time, as well, to diversify our markets so we don't depend so much on one customer. There are markets emerging in China, India and Mexico that offer B.C. producers a chance to diversify their products and their markets. I look forward to helping producers in my region do just that.

The announcement of $836 million in transportation improvements dedicated to the heartlands is vital to the Kootenays. The Kicking Horse Canyon is a long overdue project. It's also a project that demonstrates more than any other the priority being given to interior region projects. That stretch of highway has been a dangerous stretch of road for decades, and it's been a constant source of agitation with provincial governments. The truth is that when you're trying to decide where to spend your money, you usually try to spend it on, say, a roadway which is creating the most problems — the one where the most accidents are and most people die. If that was the criterion alone, then the Sea to Sky would clearly take precedence, because I think it's close to a thousand people a year who are lost on that stretch of road. But the Kicking Horse Canyon has been waiting almost a quarter century or more, and recognition of an overdue obligation of that magnitude is very positive in terms of the volume that speaks for the commitment of the Premier to the heartlands.

In my own riding there's another example. The Needles bridge that I am very proud of is a promise made and broken by a government way back in the 1960s. Premier Campbell made a commitment that if a former government had made a promise that it had withdrawn from, this government would try to keep that promise. It would do its best. With the help of people from the Arrow Lakes, I was able to provide evidence to the Minister of Transportation and to the Premier that, in fact, a firm commitment had been made back in the sixties and broken by the government of the day.

In that regard, I certainly would want to acknowledge the help I received from the mayor of Nakusp, Bill Cowan, and from a reporter from the Valley Voice, Bonnie Greensword of New Denver, who helped me gather that evidence. It was really invaluable. Then with the assistance of the other three Kootenay MLAs and the member for Okanagan-Vernon, this project was identified as an important regional transportation link. We were able to take that to the Premier and show him the evidence. He accepted our advice and committed to building that link.

Design work is proceeding this year, and we'll likely see a contract let to build the Needles bridge in 2005, with the construction commencing in early 2005. I'm very pleased to see that happening, again, as a commitment to the heartlands. It will be great for the Kootenays. That project is to be funded out of gas tax, that 3.5-cent extra tax we're all paying and not borrowing. Again, pay as we go. Let's not look to pay things back and add the interest to it.

If we'd been willing to do this in the past and pay as we go, today we would have an extra $2 billion a year to spend. That would virtually mean we could build a school every week or a hospital every month if we chose to do that, and that's the effect of what we've done by making the choices that were made in the past. That's why and what balancing a budget is all about. As we make progress, the economy improves, and so will our revenues. That extra money will give us the ability to make choices and provide more.

The House Leader for the NDP threw out a couple of one-liners as she scrambled to avoid the facts. She likes that, because she couldn't deal with the facts. At one point she said: "This dog won't hunt." Now, I don't know a lot about the Leader of the Opposition, but I can't imagine many or any in this House who are less likely to be experienced hunters.

Perhaps she didn't have time to prepare. Perhaps she was so flustered by the real facts that she just lost focus. Now, if she'd said something instead like, "This ship won't sail," or "Bogus bingo," we could all have accepted that's spoken from experience. She was so lost for words that although she reserved her place to speak the next day, and she had all night to prepare to speak the next day, she didn't come back. Perhaps she was having difficulty with the Carole James–CCPA alternate budget.

While the two NDP members are in here saying that taxes have risen — when they haven't — and

complaining about how wrong it is to increase taxes, their leader is out there advocating tax increases of between 27 percent and 70 percent if the Carole James–CCPA budget is adopted. I wonder how they deal with that.

I heard this morning that someone on the radio denied that the CCPA budget is something the NDP adopt, but in fact they just don't have a plan.

So far I have yet to hear any of the opposition members comment and say: "We don't like the CCPA budget, and here's what we don't like about it." I have yet to hear any of them distance themselves from it. In fact, I heard Carole James agree with the suggestion of the CCPA budget that the 25,000 new university spaces proposed in our budget…. She said those should happen right away, and she'd like to borrow the money and put those in place, which would be $2.5 billion a year to fund all those spaces immediately.

I haven't heard anyone say that she doesn't endorse it, and I have yet to hear them object to or not endorse any part of it. I guess it's understandable that the opposition members are really having trouble saying very much. If your party leader, who's not in the House, is out there contradicting you on the streets, it's pretty hard to know what to say. When the NDP-funded think tank is torpedoing your ship — an already-listing NDP ship — by proposing huge tax increases, what more can you say?

Perhaps we'll hear something from the member for Vancouver–Mount Pleasant. She's never been known to let the facts get in the way of a good story. Perhaps, as they say, the NDP are just saving their best player for last. The fact is that there really is only one rational conclusion to draw on the evidence. The plan is working, and B.C.'s economy is getting back on track. It's taking time, and it should, but we're doing way better than most could. The CCPA says, on the cover of its alternative budget: "We've invited the world, and the place is a mess." You know something, Mr. Speaker? The mess was created by the kind of thinking the CCPA are proposing we adopt. We're cleaning up the mess, and we don't want to adopt any of that thinking.

A budget is a time when we actually look forward to the future. It's about creating a plan that everyone in the community can rely on, which gives them hope that the years to come will be better than those in the past — for confidence that we can look forward to having healthy, happy lives and to enjoying new opportunities. This budget gives us all of that.

B. Penner: It's an honour for me to take my place today in the Legislature to respond to balanced Budget 2004, a budget that puts us on a sound course and a straight course for financial prosperity, economic prosperity and social prosperity for this entire province in the years ahead.

We have finally turned a corner, as the Minister of Finance noted. Instead of putting our children deeper and deeper into debt and asking future generations to pay our way, we are doing our part to live within our means while strategically investing in key sectors of the economy and the public sector so that there are services to bring everybody along and benefit in the future from the growth that will take place in this province under the leadership of the current Premier.

It's not just me who said that. I'd like to share with members of the House and others who may be listening some comments from third-party validators in terms of their thoughts on the budget. A group known as the Certified Management Accountants were quoted in the Vancouver Sun on February 18 saying that the balanced budget was a positive step.

Certainly, the Certified Management Accountants are not a group that typically get a whole lot of attention on a regular basis. That's probably because they're not a flashy group. They're the kind of people, I think, that prefer sound and prudent planning. That's the kind of expertise they bring to their clients, and that's the kind of thing they're looking for from the provincial government when we plan how to spend the public's money. According to the Certified Management Accountants, the balanced budget the Minister of Finance tabled last week is a positive step.

Another individual I'd like to reference is Mr. Lloyd Craig, president and CEO of Coast Capital Savings, an institution that's very well known here on Vancouver Island. Certainly, on occasion I have the opportunity to make use of their ATM machines when I'm in need of some cash here in the capital. This is what that gentleman had to say: "This government has done a good job. We have to be competitive and to establish an environment where business people are willing to invest their capital."

I'd like to also refer to the comments of John Winter, president of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, an organization that represents literally thousands of small businesses from big cities to small towns in every part of British Columbia. Here's what he said on February 18, as quoted in the Vancouver Sun: "They did what they said they'd do. They've managed very difficult circumstances very well."

We have had a number of difficult circumstances to deal with. I know they've been talked about at length here, but I'll just briefly summarize them. They started on September 11, 2001. Who saw that coming? Certainly, U.S. intelligence sources didn't see that coming, at least not with any degree of certainty. It caught the whole world by surprise. As a result, the world's economy went into a major slump. We are certainly not immune to it. In fact, we were hit, in many ways, as much as anyone.

I remember being in Victoria that day and just the uncanny silence you heard being outside near the harbour. We take for granted the constant commotion of planes, helicopters and boats coming into the harbour — all of that tourism activity that takes place and helps

generate wealth for the province. Well, that all came to a complete and utter standstill that day, and not just that day but some of the days that followed.

That kind of economic standstill wasn't just limited to tourism. I think that collectively people were in a state of shock. I know you could just feel the breath go out of the economic engine, and not just here but in other parts of Canada and the United States, which is our largest trading partner. The terrorist atrocity that was committed on September 11, 2001, obviously took many lives — precious, innocent lives. That was the most serious consequence, but the economic consequence was also very dramatic and was felt around the world.

Of course, we were left with a legacy of ten years of financial mismanagement by the previous government. I know they like to claim that somehow they managed to balance the budget in their dying days in office and had seen the light on the road to Damascus before their electoral wipe-out in May of 2001. The reality is that after doubling B.C.'s debt in just a few years with their hand on the helm, they managed to eke out a surplus how? By a one-time accounting change representing about $1.5 billion to public sector pensions and relying on a one-time windfall in energy sales during the California crisis in 2000-01, when B.C. Hydro reaped unprecedented prices for electricity sales in that overheated market.

In fact, there were moments of time when electricity was selling for $1,400 (U.S.) per megawatt hour. The more standard price is maybe $30 or $40 per megawatt hour. Just imagine. You can do a lot of wonderful things in terms of accounting and making your chequebook balance if your commodity is selling for $1,400 a megawatt hour instead of just $30 or $40, as it is today and as it usually does sell for.

No wonder, then, that they had projected a deficit budget of $1.3 billion and ended up with a surplus. Certainly, the NDP didn't plan to have a surplus that year. They had fully planned on borrowing $1.3 billion and running a huge deficit. They were as surprised as anyone, and they can take very little credit for what took place. They just happened to be in office at the time when that electricity crisis hit California and affected the whole of western North America.

The real legacy we were left with as a result of the NDP's years in office was, as I mentioned, the provincial debt doubling in size and our economy having gone from being first place to being last place in Canada in terms of economic growth. That was a huge challenge for us to overcome. In fact, we were getting used to hearing about people leaving British Columbia, not just for places south and not just for Alberta. Actually, people were leaving British Columbia for Saskatchewan. Now, my parents left Saskatchewan to come to British Columbia. Certainly, as a young person I never had any intention of turning that trend around and going back to where my father had come from. Unfortunately, things had gotten so bleak in British Columbia under the NDP's reign of error that people felt obliged to seek opportunities elsewhere.

I'm proud to say that last year for the first time in quite a few years, according to Statistics Canada, more people were moving to British Columbia than were moving out from the rest of Canada. [Applause.]

I'd like to thank the member for West Vancouver–Capilano for leading that round of applause.

Anyway, I digress. Those were some of the challenges that we faced even before we entered 2003 and were faced with a whole host of problems straight out of the New Testament's dire predictions for the future in the book of Revelation — everything from fire and pestilence and the pine beetle, to drought, followed by floods. Just about the only thing we were missing, I think, was an earthquake. I hope I'm not tempting fate by pointing that out, and I'll knock on some wood.

Despite all those challenges, the B.C. economy is actually showing significant growth, and the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the employment statistics collected not by this government but by Statistics Canada. According to Statistics Canada, for the last two years British Columbia has actually led employment growth compared to any other province in the country — 159,000 new positions created in our economy in a 24-month period. That's a track record that hasn't been matched by any other province in Canada in that period of time.

When you talk in terms of impacting people and what people realize as they live in their communities and spend time with their families…. If they see a potential to get a new job, they see an opportunity to go from being on social assistance to actually earning an income and being self-sufficient. I think that's a huge improvement in their lives.

I have never been one who thinks that people who are on social assistance are actually having a good time. In a previous lifetime, I spent a considerable amount of time working on legal aid cases, and all too often my clients were social assistance recipients. I can tell you that their lives were not the kind of lives to be envied. Certainly, I would not wish that future upon anyone that I know or for my brother's children, for example. Rather, what we should strive to do as a government and as a society is to help people who are disadvantaged, to give them a hand up, get them out of their circumstance and get them working.

I know it's become trite to say it, but the best social policy really is a job. It's not the only social policy, but it is the best one, because all of the studies prove that people who are working have better health outcomes. They have better family lives; they have better self esteem. Their longevity, in terms of health outcomes, is better if they're working. It's no surprise, because I don't believe we were created to do nothing, as human beings. We're clearly here, given certain skill sets to go and utilize those skill sets — to work. That's why some MLAs who probably should be retired by now, according to some people's estimation, instead go out looking for difficult challenges. It's because by our nature…. It's innate to human beings, I think, that we strive to make

our lives better and the lives of those around us better. We're here to put our God-given talents to work, and that's what I think all people have a right to do.

Through our government, we've increased the amount of job training that's available for people on social assistance, and in the last two and a half years the number of people who are dependent upon welfare or social assistance has dropped by 85,000. In just two and a half years 85,000 people are no longer dependent upon a handout, because they were given a hand up in terms of job training.

I could go on about other statistics in terms of housing growth. It's just incredible. We're leading the country again after setting records last year. We're projected to show a huge increase again this year, and that's having a benefit in terms of employment too. I think that for every house built, something like 2.3 jobs are created in order to accomplish that task.

I think the real proof is in the employment statistics, and I take great solace in the fact that we're seeing that growth. Clearly, there's more to be done, and more has been done. One of the really bright spots in British Columbia has been the growth in our oil and gas sector, particularly in the Peace River, but it's been pointed out that we have great opportunities elsewhere — in the Nechako basin, areas close to Prince George, central parts of the province. There's the potential offshore as well.

I find it interesting when we're told by certain groups, usually based outside of British Columbia and funded by organizations outside of Canada in many cases, that we can't do oil and gas exploration safely off of British Columbia. Well, they're doing it in California. They're producing oil off the shores of California, well known to have serious risks in terms of seismic activity. They're doing it off the coast of Alaska, also prone to earthquakes and also prone to very stormy weather — more severe than what we encounter in our part of the world. They can do it off of Hibernia on the east coast, off of Newfoundland. There they have icebergs to contend with that are absolutely mammoth, and yet somehow they're able to manage. They're right in the hurricane storm track, and they're able to get by. They do it in the North Sea, and they do it off Norway.

You know, Scandinavian countries are well reputed in terms of their environmental record. Their environmental reputation is, frankly, one that's held out by environmental groups as a good example for the rest of the world to follow. Guess what. Norway is a Scandinavian country, and they have offshore oil and gas development. If they can do it there, I believe that with our know-how and technology we can do it safely here. [Applause.] Thanks for the cheering section.

Frankly, I think we owe it to future generations in British Columbia to leave no stone unturned in terms of looking for economic opportunity. We always have to be prudent, we always have to do it in a sustainable way, and we always have to be mindful of any pitfalls. I believe that British Columbians are up to the challenge. They're up to the challenge of finding responsible, environmentally sustainable ways of producing wealth from this province so that we can all benefit. If we don't do that, we've done everyone in this province and future generations in this province a huge disservice.

There's another small change that's mentioned in the budget documents. I would just encourage people, if they haven't already done so, to pick up a copy of the main budget document. It's available on line from the Ministry of Finance website. You can get it through the B.C. government website. We have taken off the provincial sales tax that's applicable to pen stock for small hydro developments. Already in this province we've signed agreements with 32 independent power producers who are looking to build environmentally responsible, small, run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects to help meet our growing needs for electricity.

Last August, I believe it was, I had the opportunity to join our Minister of Finance and the member for West Vancouver–Capilano and, I think, the member for Burnaby North at an announcement at Furry Creek — better known as a golf course but soon to be known as a producer of clean, renewable electricity for British Columbia. There the Minister of Finance announced that we are abolishing this tax on pen stock. By the way, I should point out that pen stock is just a fancy term for pipe used to deliver water into the turbines that generate electricity.

For some of these projects the pen stock cost is the most significant cost of the entire project because, in some cases, this pipe, or pen stock, can extend for seven kilometres in length to carry the water out of a stream and down to a powerhouse normally located perhaps several hundred or several thousand feet below the intake level. By reducing this provincial sales tax off the pen stock, the government has clearly signalled its support for this renewable form of electricity that has zero emissions.

I know some people watching will say: "What about the fish? Are you hurting the fish habitat?" Clearly, we would not support doing that in a reckless way. Most of these projects — in fact, I think, all of these projects — are located above a natural fish barrier, which means there's typically a waterfall or some other obstruction at the bottom so that fish are not a factor in the creeks where this activity takes place. In all cases some water is left behind in the creeks. Only a portion is diverted, and once it goes through the turbine and the generator, it's immediately returned to the watercourse. The temperature hasn't increased in any measurable degree in the water, and there are, as I pointed out, zero emissions — virtually no impact.

Under the previous government, we didn't see this kind of activity in British Columbia. They talked a lot about paying tribute to the environment. But what did they actually do in terms of promoting and encouraging this kind of renewable energy? Nothing. That's the sad reality.

Since the 2001 election, B.C. Hydro has signed agreements with more than 30 such projects in the

province, including two landfill gas projects — gas that would otherwise escape from rotting debris in these landfills in the lower mainland and harm the atmosphere. Instead, under our government these projects have gone ahead. They're actually capturing that methane gas and harnessing it for a positive purpose, producing renewable electricity. What a concept. It's all done on an economic basis. Actually, they're paying dividends to the city of Vancouver for using their waste gas.

The city of Vancouver is reaping a windfall in the form of a royalty from the private operator of this power plant, and this is really found money. This is not money the city of Vancouver would have realized without our policy initiative of encouraging independent power producers to pursue green projects. It's really something remarkable, and I'd encourage members, if they have the opportunity, to go out and take a look at the power project out at the Delta landfill. It's really an innovative way to make something productive, something profitable and something very useful out of things that we throw away — our garbage — so that's another positive attribute.

Lastly, of course, there is the one wind project that has been signed by Stothert Engineering out of Vancouver to develop about a 50-megawatt wind power project — I believe it would be — in Holberg on northern Vancouver Island. This project would be B.C.'s first-ever wind power project and would help us catch up with most other states in the Pacific Northwest and other provinces like Alberta, where wind power has become common.

Yet sadly, under the previous NDP government, we saw exactly zero wind power produced or developed in British Columbia. I look forward to the day when on northern Vancouver Island, we can go up to those communities and see economic activity taking place, people having jobs working on these wind farms and producing clean, renewable electricity that Vancouver Island very desperately needs.

A number of important investments in this budget and, in fact, in previous budgets from our government are going into the form of transportation. Transportation really represents the arteries that carry the lifeblood of our economy, which is trade. Without the arteries, we can't carry that lifeblood of trade. We can't get our goods to market. B.C. depends on foreign trade pretty much more than any other province in Canada, and without those exports, we don't have economic vitality here in the province.

In order to get those exports to market, we have to have transportation corridors, so we have made a strategic decision to invest additional dollars in our transportation infrastructure. It's a long-term plan that will pay dividends down the road in terms of increased economic activity. As the member for Chilliwack-Kent, I'm pleased to report that we're seeing some of these investments in the very constituency I represent. For many years when I was a member in the opposition, I would ask the NDP's Minister of Transportation where the Vedder Road interchange project was on their list of priorities. Answer? It's not on the list of priorities.

Under our government, we have funded that project in cooperation with the city of Chilliwack and the government of Canada under an infrastructure program. I look forward to that project being complete in the next few months, helping increase economic activity in our community, reducing traffic bottlenecks, reducing air pollution and really helping our community move ahead in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I see that my time is sadly coming to an end in terms of speaking here tonight, so I will make the appropriate motion and suggest that we adjourn debate on response to the budget speech.

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