2015 Legislative Session: Fourth Session, 40th Parliament
HANSARD

The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.

The printed version remains the official version.

official report of

Debates of the Legislative Assembly

(hansard)

Monday, September 28, 2015

Morning Sitting

Volume 28, Number 8

ISSN 0709-1281 (Print)
ISSN 1499-2175 (Online)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

The House met at 10:05 a.m.

[Madame Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Prayers.

Introductions by Members

Hon. N. Letnick: This is a great day for me, a great month and a great year because I’m here today to announce the birth of my first grandchild. I’d like to thank J.P., my son, and especially Joanna, my daughter-in-law, and everyone that was there to help with the birth at Kelowna General Hospital and to welcome Luna Letnick to our family.

Madame Speaker: Congratulations.

S. Chandra Herbert: Well, no kids for me yet, but I do have to say that I am a proud uncle. I would like to congratulate Sarah and my brother Doug for having their first child, Declan James Herbert, last week. I can’t wait to get up to Kamloops to visit the newborn. I’ll wait for a few years before I bring loud, noisy toys, because you’ve got to give them some time to enjoy the screams of childhood, of raising a baby, before the drum set arrives. I just wanted to congratulate them and say how honoured and privileged I am to be an uncle.

Orders of the Day

Private Members’ Statements

GROWING B.C.’S ECONOMY

D. Barnett: As the MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin, it gives me great pleasure to rise today to speak on behalf of my constituents about a topic that is of interest to everyone in our province: British Columbia’s growing economy and the conditions we are creating to keep it healthy and vibrant.

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

My riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin is heavily dependent on the natural resource industries of forestry, mining and agriculture. In fact, it is not a stretch to say the resource industries in rural ridings such as the one I represent pay most of the province’s bills and allow us to spend more money on health care, education and big projects in urban centres — and everywhere in B.C. for that matter.

In 2014, B.C.’s forestry exports were worth $12.4 billion. That’s an increase of 24.2 percent since 2011 and up 63 percent since 2009. In all, forestry accounts for 35 percent of all B.C. exports. Our government has consistently targeted the expanding markets of China and India for our forest products, and as a result, since 2001, B.C. lumber exports to China have increased by more than 7,200 percent.

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Mining is also important to Cariboo-Chilcotin and to every citizen of B.C. Since June 2008, eight new mines have opened or are under construction in our province, creating 1,300 new jobs. Total mining revenue in 2013 was $13.9 billion, up 44 percent since 2003. The industry contributes $7.3 billion to the B.C. economy and represents 132,200 jobs.

Agriculture. Here is some information on agricultural revenues in B.C. Agrifood and seafood revenue for 2014 was $12.2 billion, up from $11.6 billion in 2013. This includes primary agriculture, primary seafood, and food and beverage manufacturing.

By maintaining fiscal discipline and controlling spending, we have balanced the budget three times in a row. Right now in B.C., we have more than $296 billion in proposed projects, with more than $81.7 billion in projects in the construction stage. We have 20 potential LNG export projects proposed in B.C., with $12.5 billion already invested. International exports of British Columbia–produced goods totalled $35.8 billion in 2014, an increase of 7.1 percent over the previous year.

With October just around the corner, we are on the verge of Small Business Month in B.C., an ideal time to celebrate what small businesses mean to our economy and our communities. Small businesses generate 33 percent of our province’s gross domestic product. As a sign of small business owners’ confidence in our province, 20 percent of them indicate that they plan to add full-time staff. In fact, B.C. has one of the highest small business confidence rates in Canada.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business barometer shows a positive outlook, and 41 percent of business owners say that the state of their business is good. Our government has reduced red tape by 43 percent since 2001, receiving the CFIB’s A grade four years in a row — the only jurisdiction in Canada to receive an A grade this year. In fact, B.C. is the only province to ever receive this grade from the CFIB. Small businesses, which are the heart and soul of our communities, build strong local economies. We have created an environment that allows them to prosper and grow.

Tourism is another vital industry that is thriving in our province. B.C. is the destination for millions of people from all over the world. One of the benefits of our lower Canadian dollar is the uptick in the number of American visitors to B.C. this year. This is evident in my riding, where more American visitors are stopping in communities like 100 Mile House and Williams Lake. At the South
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Cariboo Visitor Centre in 100 Mile House, they saw a 235 percent increase in the number of visitors in the first quarter of this year, compared to 2015.

Many American visitors use Highway 97 as their corridor for the Alaska Highway. In years past, when the U.S. dollar was not as strong, they were not passing through. Now, however, U.S. tourists are stopping, staying and spending in different areas of the Cariboo. Even travellers from Alberta have told staff that they have vacationed in the Okanagan or Vancouver in the past but decided to travel this year to the Cariboo-Chilcotin, where they had never been. We are even seeing a lot of Australians and New Zealanders this year.

Our government continues to support tourism in smaller communities. This month we announced a three-year base funding model for 108 small and rural community visitor centres. The strategy includes a new minimum base funding of $10,000 annually for the next three years for small and rural community visitor centres, as well as an innovation fund available in 2016 to assist communities with projects that help them adapt to the changing needs and expectations of visitors.

This is a positive increase for rural and small communities across B.C. and acknowledges their ongoing contributions to the tourism communities. Cariboo communities receiving annual funding for the next three years include Williams Lake, Quesnel and Wells, the gateway to Barkerville.

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Visitors are discovering there is much more to beautiful B.C. than the well-known vacation hot spots. Our government’s track record in growing the economy is the envy of every other jurisdiction in Canada.

L. Popham: It’s a pleasure to stand in the House today. It’s nice to be back this fall and represent the people of Saanich South and the people that I represent in my critic role — the ranchers, the farmers and the eaters of this province.

It’s very interesting to listen to the member across the way talk about our natural resources and how important they are to this province. I completely agree. I’d like to focus in on one of our natural resources, which is our agricultural land. That is one of our most sustainable and important natural resources as far as our future goes as a province — and as far as our resiliency against climate change as that starts to take hold in areas around the world and affect food production.

One of the things that we have seen this summer, which has been very devastating for our ranchers, is a drought that has taken place over the western part of our country. B.C. was not immune to that drought, and we are going to be seeing the effects of that in our food prices over the next year.

In the Cariboo, for example, we do have a very bad situation happening around the price of hay. Normally, in an average year, a tonne of hay in the Cariboo would cost about $60 a tonne. Because of the drought that has taken place, a lot of those ranchers that need to purchase hay are going to be looking at having to purchase that hay for between $300 and $500 per tonne. That’s not economically feasible. That doesn’t make the case for any business plan when you look at the business of farming.

When we look at those prices and the access to that hay, the drought is one of the situations where farmers are going to have to walk away from some of their herds and reduce the size of the herds because they just can’t afford to feed them. This means that the price of beef in B.C. is going to increase.

That leads us to another situation, and that’s the lack of long-term planning for agriculture in this province. I have been saying year after year that it’s critically important to our industry of agriculture to have a long-term plan. I’m not the only one who has been calling for a long-term plan. The B.C. Agriculture Council has also been doing that.

One of the ways you find out what’s going on, on the ground in agriculture in B.C., is you create a standing committee, which the opposition members have done. You go and listen to the people who are actually doing the farming and the eating and who are operating the businesses on the ground in agriculture. We have presenters that come from all over the province to present to our committee.

One of the things that has come up over and over again, which leads to the situation with the hay in the Cariboo and the crisis that the ranchers are going to be facing, is the idea of unrestricted foreign ownership of farmland in B.C. This is a conversation that people want to have. The unrestricted foreign ownership of farmland in B.C. is something that other provinces have grappled with — provinces like Saskatchewan.

If you don’t have some sort of legislation which restricts foreign ownership, you create a really big problem in our food security equation. One of the biggest barriers for new farmers to enter into agriculture is the price of land. If you’re creating high prices of farmland because of foreign ownership, as one example, it makes it so that young, new farmers can’t afford to buy the land that they want to farm, and they walk away from a profession that we need them to be embracing in this province.

In the Cariboo and Prince George area, there are hay plants that are being set up by Chinese companies. These companies are bringing in temporary workers, so the jobs that are being offered with these foreign companies are not benefiting B.C. as well. This hay is being grown, it’s being processed in hay plants, and then it’s being shipped to China for their dairy industry. So not only are we losing ownership of our ALR land, but we’re not having any benefit from the food that’s being grown on that land.
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That’s something that the people of B.C. want to have a conversation about. It’s something that we need to embrace. The B.C. Agriculture Council also wants to have this conversation. I’ve talked to many ranchers and farmers in the Prince George area that are getting very worried.

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Combined with the foreign corporations buying our ARL land and misusing it for carbon offsets and foreign ownership of farmland, which doesn’t have any benefit for B.C., we are losing out on the future of agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture is something that we should be looking at as a priority in this province. One of the reasons is because, as other areas lose their opportunities to grow, our opportunity to grow increases.

D. Barnett: As I said earlier in my comments, our government has cultivated conditions that enable our economy to grow and prosper. I find it very interesting that my colleague from across the floor is so concerned about the Cariboo and the Prince George region. I can say that I meet with my ranchers, and I have for the last three months, probably once a week. I’ve had all of the ministers up there.

Yes, the price of hay has gone up because of drought, but all of the studies in the world will not bring rain if the conditions out there in the elements do not produce it. Studies do not help. Working on the ground and understanding your soil, your type and moving forward are what creates the wealth in the agriculture industry.

Part of our strategy is not just in agriculture; it’s in many land use issues. One that is very important is the transportation infrastructure in this province. One of the pieces of the infrastructure that has been simply one that has brought so much prosperity to my riding and the north is the Cariboo connector project, between Cache Creek and Prince George. An improved Highway 97 has increased and will continue to increase safety and decrease travelling times while providing communities with a first-class trade corridor that will support both local and commercial traffic.

We are also investing, as a government, in small airports — two in my area, one in Williams Lake and one in the 100 Mile area. As part of the move, the B.C. air access program is investing $486,000 in Williams Lake to rehabilitate about 1,000 feet of the 7,000-foot runway. The Williams Lake Airport provides a vital link to our region of the province, helping residents and visitors to and from our Cariboo communities.

Also through the B.C. air access program, our government is investing $26,250 in an improvement project at the South Cariboo regional airport in the 100 Mile area. The South Cariboo Regional Airport connects 100 Mile House to the provincial, national and international air transportation network, improving the potential for local economic development.

That’s why it is so important that our government support small, local community airports, which basically do so much for the economy of this province. They allow foreign investors to come to our province, to bring money here to help us. They allow jobs to be created through that avenue. Our province has a record of employment, with more than 2.3 million people working.

Deputy Speaker: By agreement, the next member is Vancouver–West End.

VALUING THE STUFF OF LIFE — WATER

S. Chandra Herbert: I come bringing a message, a call for action — which I’m sure many of us heard this summer as we travelled our constituencies and as we travelled the province — and that is that we have to value our water better, that we have to take care of the stuff of life.

As I speak, of course, NASA is unveiling that they have been studying water movements on Mars. They believe that they have found, for the first time, evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars in the summer. Now, why did they want to look for that? Well, of course because they believe that without water, it’s pretty darned difficult to have life. That’s true here. That’s true of Mars. So congratulations to those scientists for working so hard to find water on Mars.

Well, we’ve got a lot of it in B.C., but this summer we discovered that in some cases, we just didn’t have enough. Myself, while hiking Cape Scott Provincial Park, I discovered that where it showed there was water on the map that you could get to drink, well, in the middle of August, the likelihood and the reality was that no, there was no water there at all. Farmers have found that, folks in the northeast and the industries, oil and gas. Of course, we’ve seen that with forest fires in the droughts, and on and on we go.

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B.C. is a province which largely succeeds, in many cases, because of our water. Of course, George Vancouver came this way looking for a water passage through to the Northwest Passage. Many First Nations communities, the vast majority, are based in areas where there is water. Our cities and towns that built up after settlement are no different.

But for all that value, for the billions of dollars NASA spent, for the money that many British Columbians spend to search for water, this government has not been there for our water. It’s been a summer of failure that has shown how much more we have to do, how taking water for granted puts us all at risk.

What do I speak of? Well, I speak of a government that believes that — right now, anyways — you can pull as much water out of the ground as possible for zero dollars — no studies, no research, no mapping of aquifers, cuts of 30 percent of our science officers, and then a reliance on self-reporting of how much water you use.
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Well, we’ve seen where that fails. I speak of Fort Nelson First Nation, Treaty 8. Up in the northeast of this province, they have sometimes an abundance of water — it’s snow — and sometimes not a lot of water at all. They’ve had to shut off water access for communities, for industry, because of droughts.

Treaty 8 First Nation, Fort Nelson, has been raising the issue of concern in Tsea Lake. Now, it’s a smaller lake, but it’s a lake where a company was given the right to draw 2.5 billion litres of water a year. Now, Fort Nelson First Nation said to this government, “Well, the science shows that this is unsupportable,” that this water system will drain out, will leave it in drought situations, will kill the fish, will kill the beaver and will have huge impact on this area that they use for hunting, for fishing, for their way of life. The B.C. government said: “No, that’s nonsense. Our science supports this.”

Well, the Environmental Appeal Board showed that no, there was no science to support what the government was doing. In fact, the company was pulling water from the lake when there was almost no water left, during a drought. Did the government pay attention to Fort Nelson First Nation’s concerns? No, they didn’t. The company kept drawing the water. It took them taking the government through the Environmental Appeal Board to finally get the government to: “Hold on. I guess we can’t legally continue to allow you to drain this lake.”

That’s the amount of value this government puts towards water, the stuff of life, that they would allow a lake to run dry, because an industry backer continued to say it was fine when no science supported it. Now, that is not valuing our water. That’s the kind of thinking that puts us all at risk. When you think that just saying something makes it true, when you have no science to back you up, that leads to failure. That’s what happened in the northeast.

It’s not just the northeast. We’ve seen challenges all across this province. Up in the Nicola Valley, ranchers, people who needed to fish and people who needed water for their own homes are all dealing with an issue there now. The water’s been pulled out by so many people over so much time. They don’t have maps for the aquifers. They don’t know who’s pulling out which, what, where, how. You’re finding that fish can no longer swim up the streams because there’s not enough water, and they die.

We find that in the Okanagan with, of course, climate change impacting that region, while, again, some people pull a ton of water, some people pull a little bit less, some try to conserve and some waste.

B.C. still remains one of the worst wasters of water, per capita, in the world, and this government sits there and says: “Well, okay, instead of zero dollars, maybe we’ll charge $2.25 as our highest price for a million litres of water.” So $2.25 for a million litres of water.

Meanwhile, when you say that we need to invest in conservation, we need to invest in research, studies, as the member from Cariboo dismissed…. We actually do need that research. We do need the science so that we can plan ahead, so that we can work with agriculture, work with industry, so we can provide incentives for them. A proper valuation of water would allow us to provide incentives to industry to reduce the amount of water wasted, the amount of water used, so there’s more for all of us, so that the fish can have enough water to get up the stream.

It was tough for me this summer to watch in the Okanagan. I visited Penticton. They’ve been working so hard to help salmon get up the Okanagan lakes. They were forecasting over 500,000 new salmon to finally come home again, but because of too much withdrawal of water, because of climate change and a lack of care for what that will do to water supplies, the vast majority of those fish never made it.

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The vast majority of the Fraser salmon run never made it — millions upon millions of fish lost because, again, we’re not planning ahead, and we’re not properly valuing our water so that it’s there when the fish need it.

This requires action now. The government talks vaguely about: “Well, maybe we’ll think about a better price” and “Jeez, people were upset about it because we’re giving Nestlé water for free.” Well, it’s not people being upset. It’s people being outraged that this government is throwing away our ability to manage our water, to conserve our water, to protect our water, by taking a shortsighted view that we’re always going to have it.

Well, California has shown that that’s a bad point of view, that’s a failing point of view, as we see their industries struggle, as we see our food prices shoot up, because they don’t have water and they don’t have enough of it. Meanwhile, here we’re giving it away for nothing.

J. Sturdy: These private member statements can present a real challenge, in considering the preparation of a response. Today I have: “Valuing the Stuff of Life — Water.” What does this mean? It’s so broad that the latitude for a response is almost infinite.

I thought to myself: “What comes to my mind? What does water mean to me?” Well, for a farmer, it’s a complicated relationship — at times, too much, or maybe not enough. It depends on the weather. How hot is it? Are we irrigating? How’s the well holding out? Is the water table high or low, dropping or rising?

Well, last week in Pemberton it was rising. A virtual atmospheric river of water was flowing across the Pacific from west to east, and it parked over the mountains of the upper Squamish and the Lillooet River valleys. In Pemberton, it rained heavy at times, but only 45 millimetres was totalled.

However, in the mountains of the upper Lillooet — peaks more than twice the size of any on the North Shore, massive glaciers — summits, like Salal and Meager, Plinth
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and Devastation, received 120 millimetres in that same time on a very shallow, fresh snowpack. A surge came down the 75 kilometres of the valley, towards Pemberton, and the river gauge climbed — oh, how it climbed — 2.5 metres in just hours, from 200 cubic metres a second to 1,300 cubic metres a second, practically unheard of.

Roads washed out. Workers and campers were stranded. We watched in awe as the river churned and turned an ominous brown. We felt the bridge shudder as logs freshly afloat collided with the bridge and then twisted away. The dikes of Pemberton held, kept the water in its banks until further downstream, past Pemberton, in Mount Currie, the river jumped its course and spread across the land.

On the river left, at Xit’olacw, IR 2, the water flowed deep, while across the way, at the Pemberton fire base, the operations centre for the Elaho and Boulder Creek fires of this past summer, the river surged across the ground, where, in the smoke and heat of just months ago, the very spot where the Premier had stood and talked with firefighters was overwhelmed by the dirty, brown floodwaters.

Worse was happening just a few kilometres away at Knapp Creek on the Birkenhead River. Much worse had happened. It is thought that thousands of feet above, the remnants of a small cirque glacier finally collapsed, after such a struggle with a hot, dry summer. The rain flushed through the rock and ice and water thousands of feet and burst down through a gully, shredding a rail line like so much spaghetti, crushing a high-voltage transmission tower and overwhelming roads and homes and buildings, vehicles, greenhouses and orchards, smashing everything in its path, leaving in its wake nothing but mud and rock.

It’s incredible that no one was killed, but what is no surprise is how the community came together to support the families; how they were taken in; how the regional district and emergency management B.C. responded; how Hydro and Highways went above and beyond to bring the power back, to open up the area to the road to D’Arcy, Nequatque, Seton and beyond.

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This week in Pemberton we were very lucky that the stuff of life did not take life. While families will need to recover and rebuild, we are grateful that they will not have to mourn. In the city, sometimes the water you think of comes out of your tap and runs down your drain. On the land, it is what swells and sprouts seed and unleashes life and its potential. Or water can crash down and crush your hope, or travel overland and flood and drown and bring disease.

Water shapes the landscape. It defines the cycles of the season. Water can bring forth growth or end it. Water truly is the stuff of life.

S. Chandra Herbert: Thank you to the member for his moving tribute to rescue workers, to his constituents who have been affected by too much water and, in some cases, too little to begin with.

We have an issue here where we are surrounded by water. We get a lot of water in the rain, and sometimes we feel we just have too much of it, that we’re growing moss on our backs. But no, that abundance hides a great risk. We can all talk about how much water we got, how much rain there was, but that abundance hides the fact that in the summer, sometimes we have no water at all — months without rain. In parts of this province, their wells went dry. They had no water at all, and they’re not sure they’re going to get any again.

That myth of abundance puts us at risk when we don’t value the water, when we think there’s so much that we don’t really need to consider it. I think of the fact that we’ve had, last year, 3,500 spills of toxic, dangerous chemicals across this province. In more than half of the cases, the Ministry of Environment didn’t know how much was spilled and wasn’t really clear what was spilled, who spilled it and how they were going to clean it up.

Why was that so? Why did the emergency management folks and the Ministry of Environment admit that there were so many gaps in their ability to respond to spills that they couldn’t even write them down, because they didn’t have enough staff? Because this government has undervalued our resources, has undervalued the need to protect them, because they think they’ll just go on and on and on forever.

Well, while we may have a large abundance of water at times, which can cause a disaster, we also have many cases where there is no water at all — and that causes a long-term disaster in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and mining. There’s really very few industries that you could point to that don’t have a major impact on water or from the water.

We on the New Democrat side believe you need to value water properly. You need to put a proper value on it so that government has the resources to properly protect it, to properly conserve it, to properly incentivize and support industries to reduce their amount of water and to help people to bring their bills down.

We don’t need to see water continually spiking in costs in some sectors where they have no ability to deal with it and have their industries collapse. We can’t stand that. We can’t stand by as we see industries disappear because this government does not manage water properly, does not plan for the future, does not do the analysis, the science, the research and does not properly enforce the law to stop people from polluting it, to stop people from damaging our water resources.

No, the time for change is here. This government seems to think they’re in the 1950s, where things just stretched on forever: “Pollute; don’t damage; don’t manage.” But that time is gone. It’s time for real conservation, real education, real prevention, real valuing to protect our water.
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INVESTING IN POST-SECONDARY

D. Bing: On behalf of my constituents of Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows, I’m pleased to put forward the following private member’s statement on investing in post-secondary education.

British Columbia has a world-class post-secondary education system, and I’m happy to highlight some of our recent investments. High-quality, affordable and accessible post-secondary education continues to be a priority for this government.

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We have added 32,000 new seats throughout the province. As well, seven new university campuses have been created since 2001. We have broken ground on new trades-training centres. These are Camosun College in Victoria, Okanagan College in Kelowna and Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt.

These developments improve access to college and university programs for students throughout the province. We believe in creating universities in all regions so that students have access to university education closer to home. As well, communities have better access to skilled workers.

By 2022, more than 78 percent of job openings will require some form of post-secondary education. As part of investing in post-secondary, this government is re-engineering education and training. We want to make sure B.C.’s workers and students have the skills they need to be the first in line for the in-demand jobs. Our plan, the B.C. skills-for-jobs blueprint, will help us meet the needs of this rapidly changing workforce.

As part of this plan, we are focusing on programs that target in-demand jobs. Let me list a few of these accomplishments. We have invested $1.5 million to fund 183 new health education spaces at nine public post-secondary institutions. We are helping to address the needs of the health care system by making sure students have the skills they need to serve their communities.

We are supporting aboriginal students with an investment of $3.7 million in education and training programs and activities at 11 institutions. This additional funding will build on existing programs.

We have invested $2.1 million towards start-up in program delivery costs of the Emily Carr Centre for Design Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This centre is located at the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George. This funding will support art- and design-based education training needs that have been identified by the wood industry, the community and other stakeholders.

As part of meeting the need for skilled tradespeople in B.C., we are investing $12 million in new trades equipment at 14 institutions. This way, students can learn their trade using industry-standard technology. The new training equipment will give students the skills they need for the wide range of in-demand careers our province is looking to fill.

We have provided more funding for critical trade seats — $6.1 million for 1,429 more seats. This means that more than $13 million has been invested and nearly 3,000 additional critical trades training seats are available. These seats are in 14 public post-secondary institutions across the province. This will reduce wait-lists by an average of 44 percent for students entering trades that are in demand.

In addition to these investments, our government is focused on helping families to save for their children’s future post-secondary education. To help families start planning and saving for their children’s education after high school, this government is providing a $1,200 B.C. training and education savings grant. Children born in 2007 or later can apply for the grant at their local credit union and kick-start their savings. This is just another way we are making post-secondary education and training more accessible and affordable.

Now I’d like to speak a bit about investments in post-secondary closer to my riding. Many of my constituents commute to the University of the Fraser Valley. In 2013, this government provided the funding to create the centre of excellence in agriculture at the University of the Fraser Valley. It opened in 2014. The centre is located close to some of the most fertile land in the country. Students gain valuable hands-on training in this new, state-of-the-art facility. Innovation and research in both the agriculture and agribusiness sectors are able to thrive right in the Fraser Valley.

Another investment UFV is receiving is a $50,000 grant as part of the technology at work program. Aligning with the B.C. skills-for-jobs blueprint, this program helps people with disabilities access the training, resources and technology they need to secure employment. As part of increasing the number of critical seats available, the University of the Fraser Valley has received 132 additional seats.

Along with our investments in trades, all post-secondary education is valuable. As I mentioned, by 2022, more than 78 percent of jobs will require post-secondary education. The ability to think critically and to communicate are important skills honed at post-secondary. The choice to attend post-secondary, no matter what program, provides students with skills that will help them succeed in the career of their choice.

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Everyone has different abilities and interests, and our post-secondary institutions have a wide variety of courses and programs to meet those interests. This government is working at building an increasingly skilled and highly educated workforce. By investing in post-secondary, we remain committed to our world-class post-secondary system.

D. Eby: The member from Maple Ridge has stood up and raised some points about the importance of investing
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in B.C.’s post-secondary system. Now, instead of spending our time on “you’d put money here; I’d put money there” discussions, let’s simply point out that this government is not planning for post-secondary education with a long-term, coherent plan.

It seems like just yesterday that Geoff Plant had a Campus 2020 report, written in another lifetime for this government, decades ago. It’s only eight years old. It presented a coherent long-term plan for a post-secondary system. It seems like this government changes plans around post-secondary education as quickly as they change ministers responsible for Advanced Education.

Now surely, if investing in post-secondary education in B.C. has a purpose, the purpose is to make sure that British Columbians actually benefit from that investment, that they’re able to access that education to participate fully as citizens but also to have the skills they need for the jobs of today and tomorrow. If that’s the purpose, then what good are the investments if British Columbians can’t access them?

Let me tell you a story about what happened in my office just two weeks ago. A woman, a new British Columbian from Iran, came to my office. She wanted to participate in the investments that the member told you about. She wants to practise as a nurse in British Columbia, just like she did in Iran. But in order to access that program, she needed the academic English training in order to be able to go to post-secondary school. She needed $500 to pay for the academic English training that she needed. It might as well have been $100,000, as far as her family was concerned. They did not have the money.

I spent an hour with her going over resources on the Internet — with student loans B.C., calling SUCCESS, calling Vancity — that have microloan programs. Literally, no funding available for her, and $500 standing between her and accessing the post-secondary education she needs to enter the job market in our province. So instead of going to school, she’s volunteering and is currently unemployed.

Now, this is not a unique story of a British Columbian who randomly fell through and couldn’t access the post-secondary education investments you heard the member list off in an apparently endless catalog.

The maximum student loan in B.C. is not sufficient to even cover a first-year arts education at the University of British Columbia. When you count the books, the residence expenses, all the different fees that are levied on students, it doesn’t cover the full expense. That means that countless British Columbians aren’t judged in terms of when they access our most heavily provincially funded post-secondary education. They’re not judged based on their ability. They’re judged on whether or not they have parents who can cosign for private funding to supplement existing funding.

Tuition for many professional programs comes close to completely using up the entirety of the student loan program in British Columbia itself. Never mind books. Never mind living expenses. The interest starts immediately, by the way, on private sector loans, which is why B.C. students have the highest student loan debt of any students in Canada, according to the Bank of Montreal.

Now, I don’t know what the member hears when he sits in his constituency office in Maple Ridge and he talks to parents who would like their kids to go to school this year — how they’re going to pay for it, what programs are available — or what he tells people who need academic English to access post-secondary education. But I can tell him that when they come to my office, I have a hard time finding solutions for them under this government to access the investments that he’s very proud of making.

So who is accessing those investments? Is it students from other provinces where governments are more supportive of students? Well, that certainly seems to be the case.

Now, I’d encourage the member to spend some time…. Instead of making long lists of public investments in post-secondary education that all governments of all stripes would make, surely he can make a list of ways in which prospective students, British Columbians, could have their access to our post-secondary system improved. They have the unmistakable feeling, firmly grounded in facts, that the investments that are being made in the post-secondary system simply are not there for them, just like this government.

D. Bing: I’d like to take this time to talk about the importance of international education to British Columbia. International education is one of the eight key sectors of the B.C. jobs plan. This is because international students bring social, economic and cultural benefits to communities, schools and institutions in B.C.

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B.C. is a high-quality study destination for international students. Currently, British Columbia holds almost one-third of all international students studying in Canada.

When international students come to B.C. they spend $2.3 billion on such things as tuition, accommodation, living expenses, arts and culture, entertainment and recreation. Students that come to B.C. want to experience what our beautiful province has to offer. This supports almost 25,000 jobs and has created a positive economic benefit in communities throughout B.C.

International education is helping to drive B.C.’s economy. We have provided funding to the Irving K. Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society. This gives B.C. students the chance to study abroad and to bring more international students to B.C.

International students in B.C. also have a positive impact on their fellow students as they share experiences and understanding of different cultures. B.C.’s international education strategy promotes a two-way global
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flow of students, educators and ideas between countries. British Columbia benefits from the flow of ideas in creating new relationships with students and educators around the world.

Having the opportunity to study in another country means bigger opportunities for our students to learn, to work and to live in the global community. Students living abroad gain more than just education; they also gain an understanding of other cultures. This means British Columbians are better positioned to succeed in the global economy.

Deputy Speaker: By agreement, the member for Burnaby-Lougheed.

SMALL BUSINESS CONTRIBUTIONS TO B.C.

J. Shin: I’m happy to be back in Victoria for the fall session on behalf of Burnaby-Lougheed and, of course, to rise in the House this morning to make a private member’s statement on the contributions of small businesses in British Columbia as the new opposition spokesperson for this file. October is Small Business Month, making this a great time to think about the thousands of small businesses, in a wide range of industries in every corner of our province, that are an invaluable part of B.C.’s economy and community life.

In a province of 4.6 million people, small businesses employ over a million of us, providing more than half of all private sector jobs. They contribute nearly a third of provincial GDP, with $14.4 billion worth of merchandise shipped to international destinations — and that’s in 2012 — accounting for almost half of the total value of goods exported from this province. As such, there is no question that empowering not just some but a broad spectrum of local initiatives is imperative to support our small businesses and the jobs that they create, for not just a strong but also a resilient economy.

Now, when one speaks of small business, most people aren’t picturing an enterprise with 50 employees. We picture instead the likes of a tiny ice cream store that I used to help my parents run in the shopping mall. We picture the little momma-and-poppa stores like those lining the North Road in my constituency.

Many will be surprised that in British Columbia, a small business is an operation of up to 50 employees — that’s the current definition — and that we are home to a total of 389,400 businesses. Out of these, 382,200, which works out to be 98 percent of all businesses, would be classified as small businesses under the current definition.

What is perhaps an even lesser known fact is that 81 percent of these, which amounts to 310,000 businesses, are microbusinesses with fewer than five paid employees, and that 53 percent, or 285,000 businesses, have no paid help at all, as a one-man operation. Such microbusiness and self-employed setups are often the case for many immigrant families throughout the province: owner-operated, run by a couple or partners and with occasional help from immediate family.

Just in my community alone, 1,700 entrepreneurs are estimated to be working in their family business or their own business, without necessarily collecting any pay, to keep their businesses going. This is what I would like to highlight in my statement today for the attention and the consideration of the House.

As one would imagine, small business owners are some of the hardest-working people in the province, and that’s especially true for those in the microbusiness and owner-operated businesses. Many work long hours to look after all aspects of running an operation, be it advertising or accounting, and often with minimal resources and expertise.

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These are some 310,000 microbusinesses and owner-operated businesses that typically suffer from high turnover rates. Many of them do struggle with a lack of representation to voice what really hinders their success. What hinders their success is not the minimum wage or the benefits for their employees, when, in fact, over 50 percent of all businesses in B.C. don’t have any employees to begin with.

What hurts them is the rocketing costs of operations, be it hydro, the shipping, rent, triple-net, the bank charges, dealing with what is often complicated and quite lengthy administrative and regulatory red tape — like we saw during the “PST to HST, back to PST” transition — as well as the private bureaucracy of Multi-Material B.C. or even food safety inspections that remain inadequately acquainted, surprisingly, with the various food fermentation and preparation processes in ethnic cuisine in a province that’s as diverse as ours.

Be it the Commercial Tenancy Act that’s often articulated in complex languages with mainly the landlord’s interests, or the fine print of a long franchise contract in favour of the franchiser, these entrepreneurs, especially the older immigrants and those with a language barrier, are not only disadvantaged in understanding the laws and their rights for effective negotiations and also for their protection, but they’re also least likely to be able to claim, let alone to be aware of, what resources may be available in B.C., like Small Business B.C.

They seldom have the luxury of time and funds to participate in public consultation. They usually can’t afford to hire specialists or lobbyists. They struggle to find support and get training, and it’s often a luxury for them to take out memberships at various advocacy bodies.

Many of these entrepreneurs make less than minimum wage by the hour — the so-called underinsured working poor — with just enough income to be disqualified for exemptions or subsidies, and are crippled by the increasing user fees, be it medical services premiums that doubled in the last decade… All the while, they face the
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same challenges in the affordability, be it housing, daycare, tuition, transportation, like the rest of us who are employed. But we have jobs that come with benefits that entrepreneurs often are without.

Studies suggest that during uncertain economic times, people turn to self-employment. This is particularly true for immigrants, whose foreign credentials are unrecognized and who are often stigmatized by their language or cultural barriers for employment.

In 2012, the number of self-employed without paid help was apparently twice that of the self-employed with paid help, and this gap seems to be growing over the past decade. It is noteworthy that this is not related to the entrepreneurs, necessarily, themselves, but rather it can be a reflection of the society’s overall skills development for market readiness and the number of available jobs.

Other jurisdictions have taken on creative approaches not only to identify but also to customize support for many types of entrepreneurs under the small business umbrella. In the U.S., language like “minority-owned business,” “woman-owned business” and “disadvantaged businesses” exist in counsel or the legislative body but not in Canada currently.

It is also important to note that access to education and skills training are not only vital for job seekers of our province but also necessary tools to properly equip our entrepreneurs. The recent provincial cuts to both the English-language-learning program and the adult basic education are just one of several ways that this government may be disserving those who need the most help from our small business community.

Now, all of these are not what I googled on line. I welcome the new minister for the file, and I look forward to working with her as we go forward.

J. Thornthwaite: Thank you to the member for Burnaby-Lougheed for her remarks and support of small business.

Small business makes up 98 percent of all of our business in the province and employs more than one million people. They provide nearly 54 percent of all private sector jobs in British Columbia, which is the third-highest rate in the country. In 2014, nearly 400,000 small businesses operated in this province. B.C. ranks first in Canada, tied with Saskatchewan, for the number of small businesses per capita, with 83 businesses per 1,000 people.

B.C. has made great progress with the small business accord, with its six principles that guide government, ensuring that tools, supports and regulations are developed to make a welcoming environment for today’s small businesses and to encourage future generations of small business owners.

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We are particularly proud of the Open for Business Awards, which encourage local governments to step up to the plate to make their communities welcoming to small businesses. This is in direct contrast to the 1990s, when the NDP government’s relationship with the business community declined after eight consecutive deficit budgets.

Small Business Month is October, and we’re coming up to October this week. It represents the premier opportunity to promote government actions that support British Columbia’s small business sector and economic competitiveness, as well as to celebrate the contributions of small business to British Columbia’s economic community and social well-being.

Our government is recognizing this October as Small Business Month for the ninth consecutive year. In contrast to our government’s unwavering supports for small businesses, almost a year ago, on October 10, 2014, the opposition member for Cowichan Valley called his local chamber snobs and clowns, in this House.

Since 2001 this province has implemented a series of economic actions to make British Columbia one of the most business-friendly and competitive jurisdictions in the G7.

These include tax reductions, such as the small business corporate income tax of 2.5 percent, the third lowest in the country. Contrast that to the 1990s, when B.C had the second-highest small business tax rate from 1991 to 1999.

We’ve streamlined regulations for business. In 1990, the NDP enacted an average of 400 regulations a year for a decade. By 2001, there were 380,000 regulations.

We’ve improved labour mobility between provinces. New and upgraded transportation infrastructure. New international trade and investment representatives to help business identify and access export opportunities. International trade agreements that open new markets for B.C. goods and services. A fiscal foundation that has led to seven credit-rating upgrades. B.C.’s skills-training jobs blueprint to train skilled workers for future employment.

Combined, these actions have helped the province receive an A grade for cutting red tape from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business for four consecutive years. This is the only jurisdiction in Canada to receive this grade. In contrast, in 1999, the B.C. Business Summit gave the NDP government a failing grade. The government scored a D on taxation and a C for its efforts to reduce red tape.

Our government will continue to build on our excellent record of supporting small businesses as the economic jobs engine of the province of British Columbia.

More locally, I’d like to speak about the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. Every year, the chamber gives out awards in six different categories, including Business of the Year, Business Person of the Year, Community Contribution, Innovation, Lifetime Achievement Award, Service Excellence, and Young Entrepreneur.
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The chamber has a unique partnership with the Nat and Flora Bosa Centre for Film and Animation at Capilano University. Students from its film program produce short videos to introduce and promote the finalists. These videos also help to promote the businesses. Last Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the nominees announcement at the Capilano University film school.

The top businesses of the year that will be chosen: Browns Socialhouse, Procreation Design Works Inc. and AllWest Insurance. I encourage members to check out the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce website for the other nominees or attend, on November 5, the gala to celebrate North Vancouver and the province’s small business.

J. Shin: It’s the first hour back for the fall session, and I guess the gloves will have to come off earlier than I thought. I would like to thank the member opposite for her comments. It is important that we celebrate the successes and achievements of the small business sector in our province.

I would challenge the member to have consideration for the current ways of today’s policies that we can better improve for support of our small businesses. There’s only so much that we can talk about from the ’90s.

Further to my remarks earlier, I would like to elaborate more on the ways that we can be more sensitive to the unique needs of the various types of small businesses under the small business umbrella and how we can also be more specific in our support.

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As far as today’s policies go, the government’s preoccupation with the liquefied natural gas sector is no news for British Columbians and, as we are well aware, is cause for concern by both industry experts and community stakeholders, as we saw many other valuable drivers of our economy inflicted with growth limitations and even decline — like arts, technology, film, science. Many of these are small businesses right here in B.C.

Be it the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline project or the proposed LNG facility, the government-subsidized corporate operations are imposed on our communities without sufficient conditions to support the local small businesses for materials and services.

My colleagues and I on this side of the House have called on the government for more local purchasing policies that would promote B.C. foods, support B.C. orchardists and have more local foods, for example, served in B.C. hospitals and schools. We believe that our long support for these ideas has forced the government to move in that direction. We’ll continue to press them to go further.

We are also closely watching the government’s effort to simplify the procurement process to make it easier for small businesses to apply for government contracts. In general, the Liberal practice has been to negotiate large and complex contracts with large out-of-province companies, a practice that we’ve argued has wasted not just billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money but has also cut out and minimized the participation of many local businesses, especially construction contractors. I’ll take this opportunity to continue urging the government for fair and competitive procurement practices that respect the taxpayer dollars and include all B.C. opportunities.

It is also time for the government to finally step up — like five other Canadian provinces already have — and introduce legislation that will better protect the franchisees in British Columbia. My colleagues and I supported Bill M219 introduced this spring by the member for Victoria–Beacon Hill for regulation of the sales, improved disclosure practices and more legal rights for the franchisees.

During this Small Business Month, we would like to renew our commitment to look out for the best interests of B.C.’s small businesses, who make up the backbone of our economy.

Hon. N. Letnick: I now call private member’s Motion 23.

Deputy Speaker: Hon. Members, unanimous consent of the House is required to proceed with Motion 23 without disturbing the priorities of the motions preceding it on the order paper.

Private Members’ Motions

MOTION 23 — BALANCED BUDGET

D. Ashton: It’s great to be back in this wonderful place. I’m happy to see all my friends on both sides of the House and the great staff within these chambers, although I hope there are a few more friends than those just present at this time.

It is also my great pleasure to introduce the following private member’s motion on behalf of my constituents in Penticton, Summerland, Peachland and Naramata.

[Be it resolved that this House recognize the benefit of maintaining a balanced budget in British Columbia.]

As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, I’m looking forward to this morning’s discussion/debate and the comments of my caucus colleagues, who will examine the various benefits of a balanced budget and why it is so important to the people of British Columbia.

[Madame Speaker in the chair.]

I like to use a very simple analogy when I’m describing government finances to friends or constituents. Balancing the government’s budgets is not unlike balancing a family household budget, albeit on a much larger scale where there are many, many more zeros attached
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to the cheques and the chequing balances. However, you can simply not continue on acquiring things and amassing huge credit card debt without the ability to pay off that debt. Simply put, a balanced budget is achieved by exercising control over your spending, combined with a commitment to start paying down debt.

It is very much the same for government as it is for B.C. families. But as a government, we must also take into account all the demands for social services. There’s always an urge to do more in so many areas, but with constant demands on the public purse, a responsible government must consider the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens.

I have always been very fiscally responsible and financially accountable, but I have a huge social conscience, and I continue to practice those values. I have always kept these values throughout my entire career in public service, going back to my days as a city councillor, regional district chair and as the mayor of Penticton. In many of those local heated debates that we had, we centred on what we could afford, not what we could not afford.

My personal philosophy on finances is based on something that was instilled in me by my father. My dad always told me: “Look after the pennies, and the dollars will follow.” That is what we have done in government. We believe in focusing on fiscal discipline, balancing our budget and preserving our triple-A credit rating.

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This means government can spend less on debt financing and more on paying for the services that British Columbians so cherish. We have said it many times before, but it bears repeating. We have balanced the budget three years in a row, which provides room for modest investments that strengthen and encourage growth in the key economic sectors and sustain core public services that our citizens hold so dear.

We also believe in making life easier for families of those in need, and we do so with fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets. Ongoing challenges in the domestic and global economy mean our government must continue the fiscal discipline that has produced a balanced budget while looking for ways to reduce taxes and costs for families, invest in programs and services and reduce provincial debt.

Our government’s first quarterly update was released this month, and it shows that our fiscally prudent plan is working. Continued fiscal prudence means B.C. is on track for a balanced budget for the next three years, despite the lower commodity prices that we are facing, the economic volatility and the high cost of this summer’s wildfire season.

Based on the first quarterly report forecast, by 2017-18, our government’s direct operating debt will be at its lowest level since 1985-1986. At the current rate, it will be completely eliminated by 2019-20. This will mark the first time that British Columbia has had no direct operating debt in more than 40 years, since 1975-1976.

It is not an easy task for the Minister of Finance to balance the books of a budget worth about $45 billion, but by following the values and disciplines of our parents’ generation, our province is poised to prosper for many, many years to come.

C. James: Thank you to the member for the motion to recognize the benefit of maintaining a balanced budget for British Columbia and recognize the benefit and value. I’ll be interested in hearing the discussion from the members as we go through this debate.

We certainly recognize the importance of balanced budgets. In fact, if you take a look at one of the longest-serving New Democrat Premiers across this country, Tommy Douglas, you can actually see that in 17 years as Premier, he balanced the budget every single year. I think that’s important to take a look at that.

But I want to take my time this morning to talk a little bit about the other choice when it comes to budgets. The other choice that a government makes, one of the most important choices, is how to spend the money that they have. Budgets are about choices. They’re about governments showing their values. They’re about governments showing what matters to them and what their priorities are.

When I take a look at the public and what the public has seen over the last number of years around the choices of this government, I can tell you the public does not agree with the direction that we’ve seen in the budgets. They know that British Columbia can do better when it comes to choices around how to spend their tax dollars and how to make sure that their priorities come forward and come first.

I’ve heard the members on the other side — and I’m sure we’ll hear it in part of the debate this morning — talk about fiscal discipline. We heard it again: it’s really important. I heard the Finance Minister last budget go-round talk about tightening his belt, that all of us have to tighten our belt, and how important it was that tough decisions had to be made.

Yet when you actually took a look at that budget, I can tell you who tough decisions were made for. Tough decisions were there for families. Tough decisions were there for British Columbians. But this government, in fact, made the decision to take $230 million and spend it on a tax break for the top 2 percent income earners in British Columbia.

That was the priority and the choice that this government made. So I understand the public when they say to me, “How on earth can I trust what I hear,” when they hear that they’re supposed to tighten their belt, that things are going to be difficult for them when, in fact, the government did find resources — $230 million — and spent it on a tax break for the top 2 percent of income earners.
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What did that mean? What did that mean for families, for hard-working British Columbians? It meant that they would have to pay more. It meant that those families were now going to have to pay more in MSP premiums, medical service premiums. They were going to have to pay more when it came to hydro rates, to ferry fares. And cuts to post-secondary education, cuts to adult basic education. Those are the choices that this government made.

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Children and Families. Take a look at the chaos that we’re seeing in that ministry and the tragic results from that. That’s the choice that this government made when it came to the budget.

While balanced budgets certainly are a choice, and a critical choice, that I agree with, I also believe that the resources that you do have to spend need to be spent wisely and need to be spent on the public’s priorities. That is not what we have seen from this government and certainly not what we saw in this last budget.

We saw just the opposite. We saw people having to pay more. We saw the top 2 percent, the highest-income earners in our province, getting a tax break at a time when the Finance Minister says to the public: “This is going to be difficult.” Well, it appears that the people it was difficult for were not the people sitting on the other side of the House but hard-working British Columbians who are doing everything they can.

To make it even worse, the government is taking away opportunity from individuals — an opportunity to be able to better themselves, to be able to get that job so they can support their families. What does the government do? They decide to charge for adult basic education so the people can’t even get ahead.

They don’t even give the hand up for individuals. This is not talking about a handout. This is talking about a hand up for families who want to do better for themselves and their family: whether it’s English as a second language — ELL as it’s referred to now; whether it’s adult basic education; whether it’s post-secondary education, where tuition makes it almost impossible for many individuals to be able to get ahead.

Those are, again, opportunities that are taken away from individuals.

D. McRae: It is a pleasure to be back at the House. While I was going to speak one way, I think now I’m inspired by the member opposite to speak about choices. While I have not served in this chamber as long as she has — and I know she’s worked very hard for her constituency — I think we would argue as MLAs that we all want to serve and do well for our constituencies as well.

What I want to think about…. While we went through some tough times and we had that worst economic recession in not just my lifetime but in the last 70 years, we also had an opportunity, as we came out of this, to make some investments. I’m glad the members opposite are listening.

For example, let’s talk about choices. Well, in my community, this summer we were able to announce that we’re going to help protect children. How are we going to do that? This province is going to invest $30 million in a seismic rebuild of G.P. Vanier, one of the best high schools in British Columbia.

If I just sat down and that was it, maybe that would be enough for some, but I won’t.

We also had an opportunity this summer to talk about the government investing in an organization called Hospice. Hospice, I’m sure, is important to all of us in this chamber. Now, we helped invest in that project in the Comox Valley. Why? Because we want to make sure that people in these stressful times late in life have those supports and the resources necessary as they make that last, final journey.

There’s more. We also had investment in L’Arche, helping persons with disability — an opportunity to provide program supports, an opportunity to provide semi-independent living for persons with disabilities. Why? We are able to do that because we are balancing budgets.

That’s in my community. But let’s talk about the women’s recovery beds. We are now going to have 12 recovery beds in the Comox Valley. Now, we had three before. With increased resources, we’re going to have up to nine. The organization itself, through its non-profit fundraiser, Too Good to be Threw — it’s a social enterprise — are able to get to 12 beds to support women recovery beds for women who are struggling with addictions. That’s great investment.

Let’s not forget about some of the infrastructure. As well, we’re also working on a new bridge in the Comox Valley, $17 million to help move the flow of traffic and agriculture in the Comox Valley. Why? Because we’ve balanced a budget.

I haven’t even got to the $300 million hospital that we were able to invest in. Not just the capital build that will help persons for decades in Comox Valley and visitors to Comox Valley. We’ll also be able to have the infrastructure inside that hospital so young and old can be there to get the services they need.

Lastly, we just had the opportunity to see B.C. Housing come, and they made a purchase in our community — 120 units, a former hotel, for people who are basically renting on lower-income levels. They are an affordable housing environment. Sometimes they’re just bachelor suites; sometimes they’re one bedrooms. There’s an opportunity to make sure 120 individuals have some certainty because B.C. Housing and the province of British Columbia is once again stepping up, because we’ve made choices.

Sometimes those choices are to make sure we’re helping those who are vulnerable, and sometimes it’s about making sure we are not burdening our children. That’s why I’m so proud in this chamber that we have balanced the budget — not once, not twice, but three years running
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— and we have met that balance of being fiscally prudent and supporting people who are in need.

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I haven’t even got to the single-parent initiative, which I think, as a former Minister of Social Development and Social Innovation, helping vulnerable single parents…. Now, 97 percent of them are mothers, so oftentimes they get the recognition there, but there are fathers as well. It’s an opportunity to take vulnerable British Columbians and make sure that they have supports they need, whether it is through tuition, daycare, transportation through a transit subsidy or to make sure that their MSP or PharmaCare is covered while they are making those moves to not only support themselves in the future but their children in the future.

What is that about? Well, like the member opposite, it is about choices, and we have made choices that I think have found that balance. We have not burdened our children, saying: “You know what? You’re going to have to pay for our choices today.” We’re going to give you the opportunity to make sure that you can actually think about what you can do when you are 20 years out.

Let’s think about, for example, Newfoundland. I think about 12 cents of every dollar in Newfoundland goes to pay for debt. Well, if you throw in the federal government portion of it, that’s up to 11 cents. So you could argue that in Newfoundland, 23 cents on a tax dollar is actually going to pay debt for past generations.

Yes, sometimes there’s a place to make sure we make those debts. When the recession hits, when the Great Depression happened in the 1930s, what a great time to step up in government and make sure you spend. But when times are good, pay down some of that debt, because you cannot foresee the challenges that may come to a jurisdiction.

I have been in this chamber now for almost six years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time because one of the things we’ve been able to do is to find that balance. We have supported those in need. We have been fiscally prudent, and we will continue to be fiscally prudent and support those in need as this province and this government goes forward. I am proud to be in this chamber.

B. Ralston: It’s pleasant to be back here in Victoria in the fall, although some of the rhetoric on the other side appears to be remarkably unchanged from the spring and, indeed, from the summer. I suppose there is consistency, but it’s an unfortunate kind of consistency.

It is rather amusing to hear the member for Comox Valley lecturing Premier Danny Williams, the former Newfoundland Premier, about how to manage his economy. He made a very tough and courageous decision in negotiating with multinational oil companies to stand up and get 10 percent equity of that north oil field and to get a stream of revenue for the government of Newfoundland that is substantially more than this government managed to negotiate with their friends in Malaysia, Petronas. I don’t think the people of Newfoundland need to take any lectures on negotiating or on running their economy from the member for Comox Valley.

Listening to the member for Penticton, it is striking that he spoke of the usual homilies and “Aw, shucks” kind of rhetoric that we expect from people on the opposite side about a huge credit card debt.

Interjection.

B. Ralston: The member from Prince George can intervene in the debate any time she chooses, if her House Leader will permit her. I doubt he will.

Anyway, in any event, what’s happened when the other side speaks about debt….

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members.

B. Ralston: When the other side speaks about debt, they seem to forget that their Premier in the last four years has added $18.7 billion to the debt, and her current fiscal plan will add $6.6 billion more. By the end of the plan, the Premier, the present Premier, will have increased B.C. debt by $25.3 billion, or 56 percent, the biggest increase in British Columbia history. So much for paying down the credit card. So much for staying out of debt.

In addition, the other unspoken and unheralded part of the B.C. fiscal situation now is contractual obligations — which, although they technically do not qualify as debt, are long-term financial obligations that stretch out, in some cases, 40 years into the future, where the government is obliged by contract to pay, to an independent private party, money for services or for power or for private infrastructure projects.

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If one looks at the fiscal implications of that, if one chooses at some point in the future to manage the budget in a different way — that is, reduce expenditure to meet other obligations — one will be prevented from doing that because these are legally binding contracts. That is something that the government does not talk about. The growth of contractual obligations under this government has been incredibly immense and poses a real challenge to the fiscal framework of this province long into the future.

Now, the federal Department of Finance, in a study, their fiscal reference tables, compared the fiscal record of provincial governments of an NDP stripe, of Conservatives and of Liberals across the country. Although the federal election is on, half of them on that side, or maybe two-thirds, are Conservatives, and one-third are Liberals. I’m not sure how they divide it up, but
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probably that’s why we’re here, so they won’t be out campaigning against each other.

The NDP came out as the best fiscal manager, with a 44.8 percent record of balancing the budget. Conservatives came in second, with 41.8 percent, with the Liberals lowest as fiscal managers, with a record of only 23.4 percent. Choose whichever you prefer on the other side, Conservative or Liberal. You can duke it out in the caucus room there. But that’s the record. That’s the federal Department of Finance. It’s a matter of public record.

This is the fiscal record of New Democrat provincial governments across the country, so naturally, we agree with the proposition put forward by the member for Penticton.

With that, I conclude my remarks.

L. Reimer: On behalf of my constituents of Anmore, Belcarra, Port Moody and Coquitlam, I’m pleased to welcome all the members back to the fall session of the Legislature. I’m also very pleased to start things off right by supporting the motion before us.

Most anyone who has responsibility for the family’s finances or someone who runs a business or anyone who works in the not-for-profit sector knows that the proper use of credit either makes or breaks an operation. Spending beyond your limit with little regard for the day that comes when you inevitably have to pay back borrowed money is a recipe for disaster.

We are currently seeing it in the world today with governments that eventually run out of money and can’t even keep up with interest payments. But it doesn’t matter if you’re a national government, a company or just a family trying to make ends meet. You can’t allow runaway spending to take over your life.

Fiscal discipline is more than a virtue. It is the only way we can manage public finances in a way that is fair to our taxpayers. It’s also a pathway to prosperity. Because B.C. has balanced the budget three years in a row, our economy is showing greater strength than in other parts of the country. As a matter of fact, the Conference Board of Canada predicts that B.C. will lead the country in economic growth at 3 percent. That’s a growth rate that’s envied by many other provinces in Canada.

It also means that we as a province have the freedom to chart our own future. By balancing the budget, the government frees up surplus revenue that can now be spent on new initiatives. The hallmark of this government is making families our first priority. This includes helping families most in need, especially single-parent families. Of course, that’s why we started the single-parent employment initiative.

There are currently 16,000 single-parent families, with 26,000 children, that are on income and disability assistance in British Columbia. People with children who want to pursue employment opportunities, even part-time work, will be able to do so now without losing benefits. Our government is making the transition to employment easier for families with children who receive income assistance by doubling their monthly income exemption from $200 to $400 a month. For families who have a child with a disability, we are increasing it from $300 to $500 a month because of the extra expenses those families experience.

Earnings exemptions will allow eligible income assistance and disability assistance clients to earn income, up to a monthly limit, in addition to shelter and support assistance. By increasing earning exemptions, parents on income assistance are encouraged to pursue employment, even part-time work, which will help them move towards independence and fully participate in B.C.’s diverse economy.

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Parents will also appreciate another initiative — the B.C. training and education savings grant. It represents a partnership with credit unions to offer a new $1,200 training and education grant for children born in 2007 or later. Parents and families now have the opportunity to better prepare for their children’s education by simply opening up a registered education savings plan. Best of all, there is no matching or additional contributions required, and that completely eliminates any barriers for low-income families who want their children to have access to a brighter future.

By balancing the budget, we are in a much better position to help families build a brighter future for themselves. It also means that we’re not passing along a financial burden to our future generations of British Columbians. That is why I’m pleased to support a balanced budget.

M. Elmore: I’m very pleased to be here in the House and speaking on behalf of my constituents in Vancouver-Kensington to the motion today: “Be it resolved that this House recognize the benefit of maintaining a balanced budget in B.C.”

We’ve heard from the other side phrases such as “fiscal discipline” and “fiscal prudence” in terms of the record of the Liberal government with respect to fiscal management. I don’t think those are terms that would come to mind in terms of looking at the records.

When we look over the past 14 years, in terms of balanced budgets, we see, actually, the reality that, despite legislation to make deficits illegal in B.C., the B.C. Liberals have been in deficit seven years out of the 12, up to 2012. In terms of not only running deficits — it’s been noted by previous colleagues, the member for Surrey-Whalley, that we also face ballooning debts.

We heard comments that there’s the concern not to pass along the debt and the financial burden to future generations. We are seeing the record of the Liberal government now, not only racking up record debt and pass-
[ Page 9171 ]
ing that on to future generations that we haven’t seen certainly within the last number of years….

We’ve seen ballooning debt. Total government debt has risen by nearly $30 billion under the Liberals as of 2014. In three years as Premier, to 2014, we’ve seen an addition of $15.5 billion to the debt. And another $8.2 billion. By the end of the plan, the Premier will have increased the B.C. debt by nearly $24 billion or 53 percent — the biggest increase in B.C. history.

So we see not only a record debt in terms of our budget here in B.C. but also looking at off-book debt, which we’ve also heard outlined from the member for Surrey-Whalley, in terms of our future contractual obligations…. Indeed, this is outpacing the accumulation in future years and is also burdening British Columbians and taxpayers well into the future. That has also exceeded and really racked up in over $100 billion of these future contractual obligations.

We see the record of the Liberal government running nearly half the years, not meeting balanced budgets. We’ve seen record debt and record off-book debt.

I’d also like to reference…. What’s the impact on British Columbians? We see that this is not an example of fiscal prudence or fiscal discipline. But when we look at who benefits and who pays the price, it’s very clearly laid out with respect to the last budget, where we see the clear choice of the Liberal government to, on the one hand, grant a tax break for $230 million to the top 2 percent income earners in British Columbia.

But on the other hand, we see British Columbian families, who are struggling to get by, having to pay higher fees in medical services premiums, in hydro rates going up, ICBC rates that continue to increase every year, tuition fees. These are hidden taxes that are having a disproportionate impact on British Columbian middle-class families.

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We can clearly see the pattern of the decisions that this Liberal government makes with respect to what I would characterize as fiscal mismanagement — really having an impact on British Columbians and benefiting the top 2 percent, as characterized by this recent $230 million tax break that we saw in the last budget.

We haven’t even gotten into the fiscal mismanagement with respect to the cost overruns of many public projects. We’re continuing to see that today, as marked by the hundreds of millions of dollars in overspending through the mismanagement of information technology systems coming in — really a waste of our tax dollars. This cannot be construed as fiscal responsibility. British Columbians expect better.

D. Bing: It’s a pleasure to be back at the Legislature to conduct the important work of making a stronger economy for British Columbia. Families in this province are depending on us, as legislators, to steer the economy in the right direction and to make B.C. a better place to live.

Families want us to support the private sector because it provides the vast majority of jobs in British Columbia. However, before government can properly support business in our province, government must get its own house in order first, and that is precisely what the Minister of Finance, the hon. member for Abbotsford West, has done for three years in a row. It is for that reason that I am pleased, on behalf of my constituents of Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows, to take part in this morning’s debate on the benefits of a balanced budget.

Certainly, the biggest benefit of a balanced budget is the opportunity to choose our own future. Governments that tax and spend without any regard for the future quickly find themselves at the mercy of their creditors. Look around the world and we can see plenty of examples. The people of Greece are learning the hard way that irresponsible government robs them of their future, it steals away the value of their savings, it denies them the security of public pensions, and it renders social security impossible.

It is an unacceptable state of affairs when elected officials ignore the well-being of their people through reckless spending. That is why I think we all owe the Minister of Finance our gratitude for steering British Columbia through the turmoil that we see across the globe. He has done what many jurisdictions can only dream of. He balanced the budget and kept personal income taxes low at the same time. That is no easy feat, especially when you consider all the unpredictable factors that can throw a budget off balance.

This year, British Columbia experienced one of the most expensive wildfire seasons in many years. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those firefighters who saved many lives and homes from destruction. Wildfires are unpredictable. Sometimes we experience lighter-than-usual seasons, and sometimes we pay a heavy price. The difference is that a balanced budget provides us with a degree of certainty when dealing with so many unknown factors.

Another benefit is our ability to earn a triple-A credit rating. Balancing public finances assures creditors that a government such as ours is responsible with the tax dollars that we bring in. It means we can afford to build much-needed infrastructure — roads, bridges, schools, hospitals — all at the lowest possible interest rate. This represents an enormous savings for the public purse. It means we don’t saddle future generations with crippling interest rates, which countries like Greece are currently facing.

This also means that we’re able to provide funding for services that are important to my constituents in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. For example, this government is providing approximately $550,000 in funding to RainCity Housing and Support Society to operate a new 40-bed shelter in Maple Ridge. This temporary shelter
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will provide the necessary support service to those in need in the community. We have been working together with the city of Maple Ridge to identify immediate housing solutions for those living in the homeless camp on Cliff Avenue in Maple Ridge. We are able to provide funding for services like this because our government is committed to balancing the budget.

In conclusion, a triple-A credit rating is just one of many benefits that British Columbians enjoy as a result of balanced budgets. I look forward to hearing all the other benefits of a balanced budget from my fellow members.

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G. Heyman: You will get no argument from me or anyone on this side of the House about the importance of balanced budgets. I rise to speak to the motion, although I will decline to join in the praise for the Minister of Finance, who, I believe, has made the classic mistake of focusing solely on the goal of a balanced budget instead of the very important questions to British Columbia about how we achieve that.

We’ve achieved that in a number of ways that have hurt British Columbians and hurt British Columbia. We have seen fees for Medical Services Plan premiums rise significantly for families across B.C. This affects very clearly what those families are able to do with their own money, what they’re able to do to support their own children in their own growth. We’ve seen, year after year, this government balancing the budget by taking dividends from a Crown corporation, B.C. Hydro, while piling debt into deferral accounts. The end result of that is devastating for households and businesses both. We are seeing, over the next five years, a 28 percent increase in hydro rates. That’s on top of a 50 percent rise in the 12 years since 2001.

Ferries. We’ve heard much from the Minister of Transportation, session after session, about how important it is to get B.C. Ferries’s house in order. Since ’03, we’ve seen a 45 percent increase in fares on the major routes, 85 percent on the minor routes. That’s had a devastating effect to local economies, whether it’s on Vancouver Island, whether it’s on the Gulf Islands, but it is a real and negative impact on economic growth in British Columbia, particularly in small communities, and it’s not acceptable.

What else has happened in this budget year? We have seen a $230 million tax cut for the richest 2 percent of British Columbians, money that could’ve and should’ve been spent in the context of a balanced budget on any number of services that not only benefit British Columbians; they benefit the economy. Even as we speak, and for the last couple of weeks, the Finance Committee has heard from group after group and individual after individual across this province speaking about the need for more money in the K-to-12 education system if we want the children of today to have an equal opportunity for a bright economic future.

We’ve heard the same thing about post-secondary education. When students graduate with over $30,000 in debt, if indeed they can afford to make the choice to continue in their studies, it puts them deep, deep into a hole. It makes them make bad decisions for their future, because they have no choice when faced with the option of: “Do I go to work now, or do I continue to amass debt?” That’s why we have a lower completion rate than we should have in post-secondary.

Whether it’s seniors care; housing; child care; cuts to adult basic education, which is so important to helping people who didn’t complete high school or immigrants taking their place in this economy; whether it’s stable funding for literacy…. Literacy has a direct impact on the future expenditures of any government in British Columbia on social services and a negative impact on productivity and the economy, as well as ending up with many people losing their jobs because they don’t have the basic skills that come with literacy. Literacy groups in British Columbia have sought, year after year, stable funding, and they have not got it.

Let me simply close by pointing out what every British Columbian has observed over the last months and years: the continuing crisis in the Ministry of Children and Family Development. There are not the resources that people in the ministry need in order to keep track of what’s happening to children in British Columbia. Someone with no less background in finance than the former Finance Minister for the Liberal Party, Colin Hansen, stated just this morning on radio that he believed the Ministry of Children and Family Development was underfunded and needed more money.

Yes, we’ll balance the budget, but we’ll make better choices about how we do it, choices that this government should have been making over the last years.

[1145]

E. Foster: It gives me great pleasure to rise this morning and talk about the balanced budget, and it’s a great pleasure to be back in the building with all my colleagues. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

The financial situation in British Columbia probably is the envy of Canada, certainly, and most of the western world simply because we have balanced the budget — to my colleague who spoke a few minutes ago. A lot of the credit goes to the Minister of Finance. To the previous speaker, who talked about the choices that were made to balance this budget, I think he’s missed the mark somewhat. I think he’s missed the mark by quite a bit, actually.

At any rate, the big pluses to a balanced budget. Credit ratings — huge. If we had the credit ratings some of the other provinces have, namely Quebec and Ontario, we wouldn’t have money to do a lot of the programs that we’ve initiated over the last few years. We have triple-A credit ratings. We’re paying down our operational debt, which is huge. The interest off that money next year
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would have prevented us from some of the programs that were announced by the Premier the other day.

I know that several of my colleagues have talked about the single-parent employment initiative. I want to put a bit of a personal twist on that. I had the opportunity, with the hon. Minister of Children and Families when she visited my riding in Vernon a couple of weeks ago, to attend an intake session with some folks who were applying to take part in the program — single parents — and the interesting conversations that we had with several of them.

One of the ladies, who’s a single parent of two young children, became a single parent through no fault of her own. Things were good in her life until there was a huge change. She’s been on assistance for a few years and is signing up to take the insurance course so that she can work in an insurance office and so on. It’s a year-long program to initiate. With the opportunity that the single-parent employment initiative gives her, she will be able to go to the program. She has child care. She has transportation. Her health care premiums will be paid not only for the year that she’s in school but the year that follows, which is really important to her.

One of the comments she made was: “I want my children to grow up in the home that I grew up in, where it was normal for their mom to go to work.” That’s what she wants. She wants her children to see their mom going to work. That’s normal. That’s what a family should do.

The moneys that go into programs like this are available to these folks because we have a balanced budget, because we have a surplus. We’re able to make these programs available. Another lady — and this was a quote that I don’t think I’ll ever hear again from anyone, because I certainly never heard it in the past…. She said that the big part for her…. She’s signing up for a program at the college so that she and her daughter won’t be on assistance, so that they will be productive members of the community, and in the long term — and even in the medium term — she’ll be contributing back into the system.

She’s looking forward to paying taxes. Now, I’ve never heard anyone say that in my whole life, ever. She wants to be part of the system. She wants to pay taxes. She wants to be contributing to the community so that someone else that might not have the opportunities will get those opportunities.

Like I say, I bring these up as just a couple of personal things that happened in my riding. This is because we have extra money. This is because we had a surplus. This is because we have a balanced budget. This is because we’re paying down our operating debt. This is because we’re able to make investments in infrastructure.

Another, again, out of my riding — affordable housing. We had a situation here not long ago in our riding where there was a motel where less fortunate people were living. There were all kinds of problems. The hotel owner evicted everybody. It was just a bad situation. So we had a whole lot of people who were going to end up on the street.

[1150]

Through the Minister for Housing and the local group on affordable housing, we were able to invest $2.5 million to buy another housing unit for these folks to live in.

R. Austin: It’s a privilege to get up and join this debate on the motion brought forward by the member for Penticton: “Be it resolved that this House recognize the benefit of maintaining a balanced budget in British Columbia.”

What I would say is a few things. It’s interesting that the member for Penticton, who is relatively new to this House, chose to make his remarks about the last three years of balanced budgets on the government side without looking back into the very recent history of this B.C. Liberal government, which actually, since I’ve been here, most years has had deficits, including some of the largest deficits in the history of British Columbia.

Really, what one can say is that it is certainly of benefit to have a balanced budget, except in times when it’s not of benefit to have a balanced budget. I’m in no way trying to be facetious to members in the House or to the hon. member who brought this forward. But the reality of government is that it is much more complicated than just a slogan on a bus — being debt-free or having a balanced budget. Little things — for example, the ministers having a 10 percent pay cut in years when they were running deficits.

The reality of government is it’s very complicated. People rely on services that are critical — health care, education, policing, safety, food. There are all kinds of services that people rely on, and there are circumstances that occur beyond the capacity of small jurisdictions like British Columbia to be able to overcome those.

Let’s take a look at 2008 and the financial crisis that happened around the world that reverberated from very stinky dealings in the banking sector down in the United States. What was the reaction of the government of British Columbia? They didn’t stand up and say: “Well, we’ve got to have a balanced budget at all costs.” No. They went heavily into deficit, realizing that the only way to maintain these critical services to British Columbians was to go into deficit.

To the hon. members across the aisle here who are now telling us that we should always have balanced budgets: no. They also recognize that there are times when you can’t have balanced budgets.

I’m speaking about a circumstance that was beyond their control. But let’s speak about a circumstance that was within the control of this government only recently. They like to take credit for last year’s balanced budget. But doing that balanced budget, they made choices. They gave a tax break of $230 million to the wealthiest people in British Columbia.

I wonder how many of those people in British Columbia who pick up the papers and see some of the needs in this province, the tragedies that have been hap-
[ Page 9174 ]
pening with the most vulnerable children who are in care…. I think everybody in this province would agree that if you are a child who has to be taken into care of the state, that is not a good thing. It speaks to the disastrous circumstances of that child, and no one would wish that upon anybody. It’s incumbent upon us as a society to have the resources there to take care of those children whose start in life has proved to be so difficult.

What do we see? We see a tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent and not enough resources going in to even get enough foster parents up and running and trained, so there aren’t placements in this province for children in care. What happens? They end up living in motels by themselves, vulnerable, with psychological problems, emotional problems. And look what we have seen. It is an absolute tragedy.

That’s just one instance where this balanced budget has harmed people. Think of the government’s initiative to try and bring in personalized learning in the school system, okay? Here’s the notion: that teachers should have the opportunity not just to live by a strict curriculum but to say to kids, “Hey, what interests you,” and figure out how that child can show some interest and some passion in something they have and link it to the learning outcomes that are in the curriculum.

Isn’t that wonderful? The idea that we can actually have the time to go to every child and say: “Hey. What do you like? Whales? Okay. Let’s figure out how we can take your passion for whales and put it into biology.” But the problem is this. There aren’t enough teachers in the classroom. There are too many kids, so you don’t get personalized learning. These are the kinds of choices that make it so difficult for people to better their lives in British Columbia.

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To stand here and say that we must always have balanced budgets is a fine thing. It’s a wonderful thing, because yes, down the road 20 or 30 years, you have more ability to provide programs if you are not hugely in debt.

The member spoke about Greece, which, of course, is an exceptional circumstance. Certainly, we are not Greece, and we’re far from it. But at the same time, you want to be able to run your province in a way that is fair to all the citizens.

J. Martin: It is great to be back in the Legislature, conducting the important work of growing this diverse, strong economy for all British Columbians.

Just before we continue with the debate, I’d like to remind the member for Vancouver–Point Grey that I am still waiting for that apology he owes my friend and colleague from Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows. Recall that on July 8, the member put out a press release containing some misleading information about the fine work the member for Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows has been doing to find a solution for the homeless camp on Cliff Avenue. I very much look forward to hearing that apology from the hon. member.

Hon. Speaker, please allow me to speak about the benefits of maintaining a balanced budget in B.C. Keeping our balanced budget is the first step toward a stronger economy and a debt-free future in this wonderful province.

As my fellow members have mentioned, we have balanced the budget three times, three times, three times, and we’re on track for a balanced budget for the next three years as well. This is despite lower commodity prices, economic volatility and the high cost of the fire season. Additionally, the direct operating debt is on track to be eliminated by 2019. This will be the first time B.C. will have no direct operating debt in over 40 years — back to 1975.

We should all be giving a big thanks to the Minister of Finance, the hon. member for Abbotsford West, for all he has done to balance the budget. Having our finances in order means we can focus on the things that matter to British Columbians.

One reason why B.C. continues to do so well is because we have diversified our economy. We don’t rely on a single industry here in B.C. By diversifying our economy, British Columbians can continue to look forward to stronger labour demands and better job opportunities. We have record employment in B.C., with over 2.3 million people working. Our technology and film sectors are booming. Tourism numbers are up — way up. We continue to export our goods worldwide.

We have increased support for small businesses in our province. In fact, we have had among the highest small business confidence numbers in Canada for over a year, and we have reduced red tape by 43 percent since 2001, receiving CFIB’s A grade four years in a row. We are the only province to ever receive this grade.

Now, I know not everyone in this House is happy to see three consecutive balanced budgets. Many members would like to see British Columbia return to an era of deficit financing. However, the people of this province do not want to visit the doom-and-gloom dark days of the 1990s.

Back then, the current opposition held the reins of government and embraced deficit financing with a passion. They passed eight deficit budgets in a row — eight of them. Consequently, we had six consecutive credit downgrades, making it more and more expensive to finance public works. B.C. became a have-not province. We went, cap in hand, begging to the other provinces that were so fortunate that they didn’t have an NDP government looking after their finances. We were last in job growth for five straight years. Droves of people left the province to seek a better life elsewhere in this wonderful country.

It’s quite a contrast today. Today everyone is coming to B.C. They want to live and work in British Columbia, and for good reason. They’re coming to this province to take advantage of our strong economy, and this strong
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economy is thanks to the government continuing to balance the budget.

Thank you so much, hon. Speaker. It’s so great to be back here.

J. Martin moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. N. Letnick moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Madame Speaker: This House, at its rising, stands adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon.

The House adjourned at 11:59 a.m.

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