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, November 2, 2015

Afternoon Sitting

Volume 30, Number 9

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

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015

The House met at 1:33 p.m.

[Madame Speaker in the chair.]

Routine Business

Introductions by Members

J. Tegart: I’m very pleased to have a visitor in the precinct today. Greg Blain is the Chief of the Ashcroft Indian Band. He’s a retired RCMP member, and he served six months in Afghanistan. Would the House please make him welcome.

L. Krog: Visiting us here today from Nanaimo is a very active and successful campaign worker in the campaign for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, for the federal NDP, who helped elect our new Member of Parliament, Sheila Malcolmson — our old friend Avery Valerio.

Hon. C. Oakes: It truly is my pleasure today to introduce four guests into the House. Here from the constituency of Cariboo North, we have David and Donna Campbell, considerable community volunteers who have done so much — successful business owners in our community as well. Joining them, from Abbotsford, are John and Laura Reemeyer. Would the House please help them be welcome.

R. Lee: In the Parliament Buildings today, we have three visitors from BCIT’s electrical foundation program.

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They are the instructor, Clarence Burlock, and students Paul Atienza and Mitch de Souza. They are here to demonstrate their projects to the kickoff of Apprenticeship Recognition Week. Would the House please make them very welcome.

Ministerial Statements

APPRENTICESHIP

Hon. S. Bond: Hon. Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, I rise today to make a statement about apprenticeship, in fact. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Apprenticeship Act in British Columbia. In recognition of the value of apprentices and their employer sponsors across the province, we are very pleased to announce that this week has been proclaimed Apprenticeship Recognition Week in British Columbia.

As many of you know, and as I shared at lunchtime, B.C. has reached a tipping point, with fewer younger people entering the workforce than older people leaving it. Because of these retirements, as well as economic growth, B.C. is expected to have many job openings in the next decade. B.C. also has many major projects on the horizon, and apprentices are engaged across our diverse and growing economy in many areas. We saw some of them today, including construction, automotive, restaurant industries.

Apprentices are needed as ironworkers, electricians and pipefitters. That, of course, does not, at this point…. As we move forward, we have to factor in additional projects in the LNG industry and, obviously, Site C.

We want British Columbians to be first in line for these job openings and to make sure that they are on the right path and have the skills and training they need to succeed. The apprentices who are undergoing their training and the employer sponsors who hire, train and support them make an invaluable contribution to our province’s economy. They help us meet the current labour market demand. They build our capital projects, and they keep infrastructure, as well as services, running every day. Once these apprentices complete their training, they will become the future workforce and help shape our economic future.

Today we had a celebration in the reception hall. It was inspiring to hear from two former apprentices, Candace Whitney and Liam Kinders, who finished their apprenticeships and are now working full-time as a master electrician and a carpenter. I know that many members of the House were able to join us and meet the apprentices as well.

We want to encourage all members of the House to visit a local business that employs apprentices and thank them for supporting our growing workforce. They are a valuable part of training in British Columbia — training for the jobs of the future.

Madame Speaker: Responding to the ministerial statement, Vancouver-Hastings.

S. Simpson: I’m pleased to be able to stand and join with the minister and celebrate Apprenticeship Recognition Week. I think it is important. I think it is critically important that we recognize the role of apprentices and the critical role around skills training, as we move forward.

We know that the apprenticeship model in British Columbia has been on a bit of a rocky road over a period of time. There has been quite a bit of focus to try to correct that in the last couple of years. I think one of the big steps — and I want to acknowledge this — was the decision of the government to re-engage all the parties in the process. I believe that people who looked at the apprenticeship process in British Columbia would have seen that there were roles to play for educational institutions and for labour unions that had not been fulfilled in the last while. There has been effort to try to correct that, and I want to acknowledge that.
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I think the challenge we have going forward now, the most significant challenge, is to encourage employers to play a bigger role in fulfilling those apprenticeships. The classroom, the foundational piece of the apprenticeship process, is the least substantive in some ways. It is that time on the job which is probably 70 percent or 80 percent of the time that an apprentice plays a role. We know that there has been an effort to try to improve that and engage more employers in that process, but we need to do more to do that.

I want to acknowledge that the government took some steps. I believe that there’s more to be done to talk about the role that publicly funded projects play.

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I think we need to play a bigger role in our own public service in encouraging more and more apprenticeships directly in the government public service, whether it be local governments or the provincial government. There are challenges in front of us, but when all of that is said and done, this is a very important area of training and education.

It is an area that creates great opportunities for people who pursue those apprenticeships to be able to come out with a great skill set, hopefully with a Red Seal, and to be able to move forward and know and be confident that they will have the kinds of skills that can provide real, family-supporting jobs moving forward and that can meet the needs of our province as we move forward in a whole variety of areas and sectors where our workforce is aging, where demands are growing and where we need to make sure that we have a new generation of people coming up to fill those roles. And the apprenticeship program is fundamental to that.

I’m pleased to join with the minister in recognition of Apprenticeship Recognition Week. It is an important thing, and we should be celebrating it.

Statements
(Standing Order 25B)

50th ANNIVERSARY OF
B.C. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

R. Lee: The British Columbia Institute of Technology, one of the largest post-secondary institutions in our province, has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Over the past 12 months, BCIT has created many legacies to mark this milestone. It has opened a new Motive Power campus in Delta to provide more opportunities for training in heavy equipment operation and marine mechanics. BCIT has launched the Centre of Excellence in Analytics, which develops such interesting projects as Goverlytics, which applies cognitive computing to analyze political information. BCIT has also established a centre for large-format imaging to be home for such a unique program in Canada as graphic communications technology management.

Just last month I had the opportunity to attend its Fab 50 celebration and one of the graduation ceremonies. It was impressive to see so many inaugural graduates coming back to the campus, not to mention the large reception and fireworks on one of those evenings.

Last Thursday the year-long celebration was closed with a gala dinner to support students in financial need and recognize the achievements of students, staff, faculty and alumni. Congratulations to Outstanding Student and Leadership Award recipient Lauren Lee, who has started her career in airport operations at YVR. Congratulations, also, to the Faculty and Staff Association Award recipient, Ralph Hargreaves, and Distinguished Alumni Award recipients Marty Edwards and Randy Smallwood.

The evening was highlighted with the recognition of two honorary doctorates, Dominic Barton and the COO of the Montreal Science Centre, astronaut Julie Payette, who delivered an inspiring speech. BCIT is well prepared to launch its next mission.

ADOPTION

J. Rice: Foster care has an expiry date. Whether it is 18, 19, 21 or 24, depending on province or state, at some point a young person who is in permanent foster care receives a letter from the government letting them know that they’re officially on their own.

An adoptive mother of a teenager, Aviva Zuckerman Schure, says:

“Yes, it is true that there are some wonderful foster families who stay in touch and support the young people who have lived with them throughout their lives. But this is the exception, not the rule. We should not depend on the luck one might have to be in a foster family where this may occur to ensure that someone has a lifetime connection to a family.

“When people say things like, ‘Why would you adopt someone nearly 18 years old? What do they need a family for?’ they are forgetting that families are for more than growing up in. They are for growing old with. They are a place to come home to during winter break at university. They are a place to go for Thanksgiving. They are someone to call when you are feeling sick. And they are someone to celebrate with when you get your first job.”

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November is Adoption Awareness Month, a time to celebrate adoptive families and raise awareness about adoption in British Columbia. It’s an opportunity to celebrate, promote, advocate for and have a conversation about adoption. It gives us the chance to raise awareness for the 1,000 kids in government care in British Columbia who are still waiting to be adopted.

Adopting a child may not necessarily mean adopting a child you don’t know. There are many forms of adoption, including families adopting family members, adoption by a step-parent or adopting a child in foster care.

It used to be that only married, heterosexual couples could adopt. In 1996, British Columbia adopted a new
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Adoption Act, which enabled same-sex couples to apply to adopt as couples, rather than separately, for the first time in Canada.

There is much work to do to achieve higher adoption rates in the province, but I would like to applaud the Minister of Children and Family Development for the lift that she provided in 2014 to improve adoption rates in British Columbia.

D. Plecas: As we’ve just heard, November is Adoption Awareness Month in British Columbia. It’s an opportunity for us to recognize the value of adoption and the continuing need for more adoptive homes for waiting children and youth.

Currently there are approximately 1,000 children in care who are waiting to find their forever family. These children are as diverse as the families hoping to adopt them. The awareness campaign this year will be encouraging future adoptive parents to consider adopting a children in their teens.

Many prospective families may not know where to start when considering adoption. A key part of raising awareness this month is to demystify the adoption process. Making the decision to adopt and committing to it is really the most difficult step. Once that decision has been made, there are a number of resources and supports available to help future adoptive parents answer questions. The Adoptive Families Association of B.C. offers both support before and after adoptions and help with recruitment.

More than 270 children were adopted this year. This is up 21 percent from the year before, but there are so many more great kids that need families. I encourage all members to learn more about adoption in our province.

FALLS PREVENTION FOR SENIORS

S. Robinson: One in three Canadians over the age of 65 falls at least once a year. A fall can be devastating for an older person. Falls can easily cause an injury that can compromise a senior’s mobility and, subsequently, their independence. It is estimated that seniors’ falls and injuries cost Canadians upward of $3 billion a year.

We know that in dealing with falls, prevention is the best medicine. In recognition of Seniors Fall Prevention Week, the first week of November, I’d like to remind all members of this House what steps to take to prevent falls in their own lives and in the lives of their families and of their constituents. Even if you’re not yet a senior, it’s important that we consider a few things to do to keep our homes safe for the seniors in our lives and to prepare for our own future.

Firstly, exercise. We know that if we are active in our younger years, it is easier to stay active in our later years. We know that exercise keeps us stronger, improves our balance and coordination, which ultimately lowers our risk of falling.

Our vision. We should get our vision checked at least once a year. The wrong prescription lenses or development of glaucoma can impair our vision, putting us at risk for a slight misstep that can lead to a fall.

Our medications. Do we have a care provider that is reviewing our medications regularly, ensuring that they’re not making us sleepy or dizzy or ensuring that, as we age, these medicines are adjusted accordingly?

A home assessment. About half of the falls in Canada happen at home, and there are a few things we could do to make our home safer. We should make sure that our walking areas are cleared of shoes and papers and all that stuff that we could trip on. We should also make sure that any throw rugs are securely fastened to the floor. We should also minimize having to use a stepstool — even me — that often, and make sure that the stuff that we need is easily in reach. We should install grab bars in our bathrooms by the toilet and the tub or shower. And seniors should wear shoes, both indoors and outdoors, to avoid going barefoot or wearing slippers, which could lead to a greater risk of falling.

No one likes to slip and fall. These are a few things we can do to make sure we are all safer.

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MOVEMBER FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
PARTICIPATION BY MLAs

S. Hamilton: Madame Speaker, if you noticed a distinct lack of facial hair on this side of the House today, you’d be correct in assuming that we are now in the month of Movember. Twenty-three government MLAs have deliberately exposed parts of their visage that have not been seeing the light of day for quite some time. As a matter of fact, our Premier took considerable pleasure in personally mowing down the facial hair of a number of furry-faced MLAs in support of raising awareness for men’s health issues.

Originally intended to draw public awareness and raise money to fight prostate cancer, Movember has grown in scope and participation to a worldwide movement that has now raised over $174 million in the past 11 years.

This year the hon. member for Shuswap is doing his part by issuing a very special follic challenge to his fellow members of the government caucus to support the Movember campaign in Canada. The public response to this team challenge has been nothing less than hair-raising.

As of today, a total of 70 people have joined the MLAs in this challenge, and the team now ranks sixth — in sixth place — on the national team-leader board in Canada. This team is well over halfway to its fundraising goal of $10,000 in just the first few days of the campaign. No longer is it balanced on a razor’s edge.

As the member for Delta North, I am proud to join this team challenge, as you can see, to raise money in support
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of Movember. I’m confident that our team effort will do more than pay lip service to the cause. It won’t be a close shave. We intend to mow down and brush off the competition and win by more than a hair’s-breadth.

If anyone in the House has any doubts of our success, they can shave them for another day after the Movember campaign finally draws to a close.

ATTENTION DEFICIT
HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

S. Hammell: Well done.

Last month was ADHD Awareness Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness and supporting people living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. ADHD is a condition characterized by symptoms such as inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Both children and adults can have ADHD. However, the symptoms always start in childhood, and then 60 percent of those children carry the illness into adulthood. ADHD affects our children’s education achievements. As a former teacher, I know the toll it can take on a child and their family. Yet it takes 18 months to get a diagnosis, and half of the ADHD kids never do receive treatment.

Unfortunately, there are virtually no supports for adults with ADHD. Yet, like other mental disorders, ADHD increases costs to our criminal justice system, and it has a huge impact on our health budget, especially when it goes untreated. Adults with ADHD may have trouble managing time, being organized, setting goals and holding down a job. Many fall into substance abuse and self-medicate for their condition. They have lower occupational status and less job stability.

However, like most of us here, they are smart, intense, hard-working, creative and funny. After having the issue highlighted last month, let’s work together to help and support those people who live with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Oral Questions

GOVERNMENT RECORD-KEEPING AND
POLICIES ON TRANSITORY INFORMATION

D. Routley: Last week the Premier and the Minister of Citizens’ Services tried to explain the inexplicable with respect to this government’s culture of deceive and delete. This government’s view of the world is that the decision they stick on a press release is the only official record of government. Everything else is transitory and is deleted.

[1355]

Unfortunately for the minister, repeated rulings by the Information and Privacy Commissioner disagree with him. In her 2014 report, she said: “Given the importance of the work by senior-ranking officials within the Office of the Premier, it is difficult for the average citizen to understand how any such individual could not have a number of e-mails over a two-day span that were of importance and needed to be kept for future work.”

My question is for the minister. If John Dyble, the head of the public service, kept no records on an issue as important as the Health firings as far back as 2012, what kind of example does that set for the people who work under him?

Hon. A. Virk: Let me speak broadly, first of all. Government is absolutely committed to openness and to transparency. I’ve made it absolutely abundantly clear. The expectations of what documents need to be retained and what documents need to be submitted are also abundantly clear. All are expected to meet legislative requirements.

I’ve also made it abundantly clear that a former privacy commissioner, a well-respected individual, is going to be engaged by government. Those terms of reference are going to be released. We’re going to seek guidance. We’re going to seek advice on how best to enact those recommendations and to report on that publicly.

Madame Speaker: The member for Nanaimo–North Cowichan on a supplemental.

D. Routley: Mr. Loukidelis, being one of a succession of commissioners to this House who have reminded the government of its duty to keep documents, will only point further to the fact that this government has failed to do so.

A 2013 FOI package on how staff plan international trade missions for the Premier paints a clear picture about what senior civil servants have learned from Mr. Dyble with respect to recordkeeping.

In an October 2012 e-mail to staff, Christine Little, the former executive of strategic policy and performance, outlined exactly how you keep records in a B.C. Liberal government. She said: “Hi, everyone. Just wanted to let you know that Dave spoke to John Dyble about the India submission yesterday, and John passed along his thanks for the quick turnaround and great work that was done.”

It sounds like a group of dedicated public servants working hard. But she goes further, “In the meantime, please delete all drafts…

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members.

D. Routley: …of the materials. E-mail correspondence should be treated as transitory.”

My question for the minister: why are senior public servants, working on projects under the direction of Mr. Dyble, deleting important public records?
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Hon. A. Virk: The Privacy Commissioner has come out with a number of recommendations that are asking for examination, that are asking for legislative changes, that are asking for technical, operational changes and recommendations.

As such, Mr. Loukidelis has been engaged. His terms of reference have been made public, and I will clarify those as we speak. We’ve also committed that his recommendations are going to be public for all to see how we can strengthen FOI in the province of British Columbia.

J. Shin: In her latest report, the commissioner said: “What this investigation makes clear is that it is a record’s content and context that determines whether a record is transitory or not.” In other words, e-mails are a critical part of the government’s records because they tell us how government makes decisions.

Today we are presenting yet another example of a senior public servant, working under the direction of John Dyble, deleting documents and e-mails by labeling them transitory. There’s a culture of delete in this government, and it starts right at the top.

To the minister, why is he allowing senior public servants to delete important government records?

[1400]

Hon. A. Virk: The member is simply incorrect and reading off her script. The transitory record schedule approved by….

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members. Members, the Chair will hear the answer. We will wait.

Columbia River–Revelstoke.

Hon. A. Virk: It’s clear the members don’t want it hear the response.

The transitory schedule, as approved by…. An all-member committee of the Legislative Assembly approves those record retention schedules. Transitory records are those, if I may read right from the act, that are “convenience copies,” “unnecessary duplicates” and “working materials and drafts.” Those items that are government records I fully expect to be retained, and I expect those to be available. But the members are attempting to confuse the issue — that e-mails are records of government work, and they’re not.

Madame Speaker: The member for Burnaby-Lougheed on a supplemental.

J. Shin: It’s not my script. I’m looking at the staff’s e-mail. It says: “In the meantime, please delete all drafts of the materials, and e-mail correspondence should be treated as transitory.” That is what we are reading right here. It appears that at the command of Mr. Dyble, senior officials in government have taken to labelling records as “transitory” for the express purpose of being able to delete them.

Ms. Little’s November 2012 correspondence shows that staff are following Mr. Dyble’s example. The e-mail starts with the words “transitory notes below.” Guess what. Not surprisingly, the note below is deleted.

The Minister of Citizens’ Services is responsible for how the act is enforced, so again to the minister, why is he having staff delete important public records?

Hon. A. Virk: I draw the member’s attention to B.C. government’s transitory records and the schedule 102901. It clearly differentiates transitory records and where they are. Transitory records — once again, and it’s verbatim — are “convenience copies….”

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Just wait, Minister.

Please continue.

Hon. A. Virk: I will read verbatim. Transitory records are “convenience copies,” “unnecessary duplicates” and “working materials and drafts.”

B. Ralston: In another e-mail, Ms. Little once again reveals how this government uses the term “transitory” to delete public records. In a second November 2012 e-mail, Ms. Little writes: “Transitory for cabinet. Vera advises that Treasury Board has agreed to these changes. We already did the high-level strategy as part of the last TB submission. Just need to review and tweak.”

Her only reason for calling the attached documents transitory is so she can delete them. As a result, the record of how the marketing strategy for the Premier’s trade mission to India was developed — how it evolved, what issues were considered and rejected — was destroyed. All we are left with is the version that was stuck on the press release.

My question is for the minister. Why is he allowing staff to delete important public records?

Hon. A. Virk: I think the member reads the response in the words he uses. “Drafts,” “convenience copies,” “unnecessary duplicates,” “working materials” — that is contained within the words that the member uses. If those documents are indeed drafts or working materials, convenience copies or duplicates, the transitory record schedule, approved by an all-member committee of this House, has determined those to be transitory.

[1405]

If these members across don’t have faith in the fact that their members were engaged, have them say so.
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Madame Speaker: The member for Surrey-Whalley on a supplemental.

B. Ralston: Perhaps the most telling misuse of the label “transitory” is revealed in an April 2012 e-mail from Ms. Little. In a note to a colleague, she writes: “Hi. When you’re done the budget, can you send me a copy, please? Transitory information only.”

My question is to the minister. When did the budgets for taxpayer-funded programs become transitory documents instead of important public records?

Hon. A. Virk: When an individual does an FOI request for government records, the appropriate act is applied. There are exemptions, of course — 13 different areas of exemptions under the act. Information is returned to the requesters.

Once again, if there are key government documents, those key government documents are restored within ministries, and those are available within FOI requests. The flawed assumption, which continues to be perpetrated, that every e-mail becomes a government record is wrong.

MISSING WOMEN INQUIRY
RECOMMENDATIONS AND
GOVERNMENT RECORD-KEEPING

M. Karagianis: Here is something that’s not flawed.

Today West Coast LEAF released its annual report card on this government’s compliance with the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Once again, it has found that the B.C. Liberal government is failing women, especially aboriginal women and girls.

The government’s grade on missing and murdered aboriginal women actually dropped from last year’s low of D to, this year, an all-time low of F because of their lack of accountability. Not only has the government been deleting e-mails, but they have decided that they no longer need to even report out on their failure to fully implement recommendations from the Missing Women Inquiry.

My question is to the Justice Minister. Can she please tell us what steps she is taking to rectify this utter lack of accountability?

Hon. S. Anton: Violence against women and children, violence against aboriginal women, is completely unacceptable. The 67 women who went missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside…. That is a tragedy that continues to resonate in Vancouver and British Columbia.

We had a commission. The commission issued 63 recommendations. Under the leadership of this government, we have substantially completed or work is substantially underway on all of the themes in that report. We have reported out on those, and any time the member wishes to ask, we will report further.

We have given a compensation fund for all of the children of the missing women. We have got significant improvements to policing, which I’ve mentioned in this House on a number of occasions. We have significant supports for vulnerable women — a long list of them. We have new legislation. We’ve got missing-persons legislation. We have missing-persons units in police departments. We are increasing safety along all of our northern highways.

Those recommendations in that report were taken extremely seriously. We’ve been working with partners, stakeholders and different branches of government to make the lives of women safer in British Columbia and to ensure that we deal with all of the recommendations in that report. As I’ve said, we have taken every theme of that report and are working on them or have completed them.

Madame Speaker: Esquimalt–Royal Roads on a supplemental.

M. Karagianis: The minister knows that, in fact, the government has not completed all of the recommendations and is no longer reporting out on them. It’s no wonder that the B.C. Liberal government doesn’t want to report out, because they’re doing such a terrible job on this.

I’d like to quote from the report. In response to the urgent recommendations to implement a public transportation system along Highway 16, the province “has created an informational website” — which, of course, fails to meaningfully improve safety for indigenous women. It goes on to discuss how the government has intentionally deleted e-mail records related to the issue of violence along Highway 16 to avoid disclosing them.

Again, to the Minister of Justice. Why is this government hiding from accountability on this issue?

[1410]

Hon. S. Anton: We have reported out, and we will continue to report out on the work that we have been doing. There was a discussion even this week around the missing-persons legislation, on the importance of following up with that legislation, of the regulations that come from that legislation. The discussion was an illustration of how we are continuing to work on this file, continuing to publicly work on it and to involve stakeholders.

That incident in British Columbia when 67 women went missing from the Downtown Eastside, as I said earlier, was a terrible tragedy. It continues to resonate in British Columbia. We are determined to take that report seriously. We have taken that report seriously.

We are working on every single facet of it, including, yes indeed, the recommendation that transportation on all northern highways be safer. Indeed, there are many, many things that have been done, including cell phone
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coverage, better policing and public transportation, because this government is determined that vulnerable women be safe in British Columbia.

MRI WAITING TIMES

J. Darcy: Last week the official opposition revealed that patients in Fraser Health are waiting as long as a year and a quarter for medically necessary MRIs. But the reality is that thousands of other patients are also waiting unacceptably long times to get absolutely necessary medical procedures.

The government’s own clinical benchmark says that no patient should have to wait more than two months for an MRI, but Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care’s figures reveal that they are only meeting this standard in 13 percent of the cases.

Our health care system has the capacity to do something about this and shorten the wait-list. Why does the minister feel it’s acceptable that patients across the Lower Mainland have to wait as long as a year or more to get a medically necessary MRI?

Hon. T. Lake: First of all, I don’t think it’s acceptable. We have to do better. We have long wait-lists for MRIs, even though we are doing three times as many as we did in 2001. The reality is that we do need to do better. I will say, however, that if a physician feels there is an urgent need for an MRI, it will be prioritized and that patient will be seen. But the fact is that we need to do better on MRIs.

One of the things we need to do better, working with physicians in the province of British Columbia, is put an appropriate lens on this procedure. Many imaging procedures are done when it’s questionable whether or not it should be done in that order. So we are going to ensure that we have a provincial MRI strategy, that we put an appropriate lens on it, because as the member says, our wait times are unacceptable, and we will do better.

Madame Speaker: The member for New Westminster on a supplemental.

J. Darcy: Well, once again the minister blames everybody else instead of taking responsibility himself. The minister claims that urgent or emergent cases do get the attention they need, and the minister knows that that’s not the case. Vancouver Coastal and Providence Health Care’s own figures show that patients who are classified as so urgent that they need an MRI within seven days are waiting an average of 40 days, and some are waiting 117 days for an urgent MRI.

According to the B.C. society of radiologists, we’re talking about patients with tumours that could be benign or malignant, or patients who will require treatment for prostate cancer, among others. That is simply not acceptable. Surely we can do better than that in the province of British Columbia.

[1415]

This minister wasted tens of millions of dollars on a Health IT boondoggle with IBM, money that was taken directly out of patient care. Why didn’t he instead invest in reducing wait times for patients that urgently need MRIs?

Hon. T. Lake: I vehemently agree with the member opposite. We can do better. We have to do better.

Even though we have tripled the number of MRIs done since 2001, the reality is, with an aging population, a growing population and the technology that changes, we need to do better. I’ve asked our ministry to work with all of the health authorities on a provincial MRI strategy, ensuring that we work with radiologists and expert clinicians to understand the appropriateness, to make sure that this technology is being used appropriately and that we’re not seeing redundancies in imaging, whether it’s x-rays, whether it’s CT scans and then MRI.

We need to do better, and we’re committed to doing better.

VANCOUVER VIADUCTS PROJECT AND
ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION MINISTER

G. Heyman: It didn’t take the Transportation Minister more than a day to create confusion by pouring cold water on the city of Vancouver’s decision to remove the Georgia and Dunsmuir Street viaducts.

He said: “Nothing is a done deal here with the viaducts…. I’ve checked with my officials. It’s been a couple of years since there were any serious attempts on the part of the city of Vancouver to reach out to PavCo, which owns and operates B.C. Place.”

Clearly, the minister has not done his homework. In fact, there have been extensive meetings and discussions between the city of Vancouver and PavCo. Between April 2014 and late September 2015, there have been eight — count them, eight — meetings between the city and PavCo on this issue.

My question to the minister is this: is he just making this whole story up? Or did he and his staff triple-delete the e-mails and briefing notes from these meetings?

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members, the Chair will hear the answer.

Hon. T. Stone: Look, no one is pouring cold water on this particular project from the city of Vancouver. Rather, we believe on this side of the House that it’s very important that there be appropriate discussions, meaningful discussions, discussions that include getting right down into the technical aspects of what is being proposed here.
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PavCo has, we think, some very valid concerns with respect to access to and from B.C. Place. We want to make sure that those concerns are heard and that they’re factored into the plans. There are concerns with respect to soil remediation. There are concerns with respect to access to the new St. Paul’s Hospital. There are concerns with respect to TransLink’s major road network and just overall traffic flow in and out of the city of Vancouver that, at the present time, is facilitated in part with these viaducts.

We’re committed to sitting down and working with the city of Vancouver to work through a myriad of concerns, which we think are going to be critical to the success of this plan.

Madame Speaker: The member for Vancouver-Fairview on a supplemental.

G. Heyman: I thought the minister was just falling into his old habit of saying no to whatever suggestion was put forward by the city of Vancouver to relieve congestion or actually make it a better place for the citizens. The minister also said the other day there have been no meaningful technical discussions about access to B.C. Place, and he repeated it again in this House. The minister is deliberately trying to change the channel on his e-mail scandal by creating confusion on the viaduct issue. There have, in fact….

[1420]

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Just wait.

Members, the Chair will hear the question.

Minister. The Chair will hear the question.

Please continue.

G. Heyman: Perhaps the Minister of Transportation should actually read his e-mails before he triple-deletes them.

The city of Vancouver has produced many comprehensive technical studies on all aspects of the issue regarding viaduct removal, including an 88-page report called Event Management Strategies, which is specific to the very question of access to B.C. Place and Rogers Arena.

Why is the minister inventing an issue where none exists? Is it just a sad attempt to deflect attention and avoid accountability for his and his staff’s repeated and reckless destruction of public documents?

Hon. T. Stone: We certainly do not need to be lectured on this side of the floor as to the meaning of no. We hear about it every single day of the week from the members opposite. No to the Port Mann project, no to the Sea to Sky Highway, no to the SFPR, no to Trans-Canada improvements, no to this, no to that, no to everything.

I will repeat…

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members.

Hon. T. Stone: …what I said last week and what I said a moment ago. There have been no meaningful discussions between PavCo and the city of Vancouver — meaningful technical discussions that are going to be required to make sure that this project is done right.

Unlike the members opposite, we do not take our orders from the city of Vancouver. Our obligation is to ensure that the interests of all British Columbians are looked after with any project of this magnitude.

D. Eby: Eight meetings, four technical reports, including an 88-page technical report on accessing these venues. The minister continues to make incorrect statements about the state of negotiations between PavCo and the city of Vancouver.

At the time he was telling the media these incorrect statements, he was under fire for heading a ministry where a senior staffer was under RCMP investigation for his role in the triple-delete scandal. Not only that, the minister was out telling the media how proud he was that he triple-deletes his own e-mail records.

Now, the evidence shows that the minister has simply made up a controversy involving PavCo and the city of Vancouver. Clearly, he is doing so to conceal — change the channel on — his own involvement in the triple-delete scandal and the scandal of his ministry being under RCMP investigation.

Will he apologize to the hard-working bureaucrats at the city of Vancouver…?

Interjections.

Madame Speaker: Members. Members.

Please continue.

D. Eby: There were many people involved in these meetings. Many thoughtful people prepared these technical reports. They did so carefully, to protect the interests of people across the Lower Mainland.

Will the minister apologize to those people who worked so hard for trying to change the channel at their expense?

Hon. T. Stone: Look, as I said earlier, we don’t control the timing of council decisions that are taken by the city of Vancouver. The city of Vancouver actually received a letter from PavCo several days before council took their final decision, outlining a number of concerns that PavCo believed, to that point, had not been adequately considered by the city of Vancouver.

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I quote from the letter dated October 19, from PavCo to the mayor and council in Vancouver. “Among the
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key issues impacting PavCo are maintaining acceptable operating and event access for B.C. Place and the new Vancouver urban resort, residential development on area 10C, soil remediation, design of the relocated Georgia Viaduct ramp and construction of parking beneath, First Nations consultation, Pacific Boulevard and other street designs and traffic planning.” In addition to that, there are some other issues that we want to make sure are also part of the consideration for moving forward.

I have said it several times, and I will say again that we are committed to sitting down with the city of Vancouver and having these technical discussions so that we get this project right.

[End of question period.]

Orders of the Day

Hon. M. de Jong: I call continued second reading debate on Bill 42.

Second Reading of Bills

BILL 42 — ELECTORAL DISTRICTS ACT

(continued)

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

B. Routley: Just to recap where I was at when I last spoke, we were talking about the history and the impact in the Cowichan Valley on First Nations people.

Cowichan Tribes currently has about 4,600-plus members. They are the largest single First Nations band in British Columbia. About half of their members live on reserve. The Cowichan First Nation has a relatively young population, with a large percentage of the population under the age of 35. They have seven traditional villages that together make up Cowichan Tribes. They are also a group of the Coast Salish people, historically connected to the Cowichan Valley region.

Now, just a little bit more about how the Cowichan Valley communities are interconnected not only by the history of the railroad but by the forest industry and agriculture. Many of the issues that are still going on today are certainly impacted by our history, not the least of which is the coal baron, Robert Dunsmuir. He was not only the Nanaimo coal baron, as he was remembered. He also was an MLA, and he was a member of the B.C. provincial Legislature. He was also interested in owning a railway project and in the province’s coal reserves.

The fact that Dunsmuir was a member of the provincial government that was making the railway deal aroused some suspicion and concerns about corruption. So dare I say it? Jiggery-pokery was alive and well back in the 1800s.

Dunsmuir did have three partners, who incorporated the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, with Dunsmuir as their president. He was the owner of one-half of the shares. The company estimated that it would cost $1.5 million to construct the railway.

Well, when I was reading that history, I could hardly believe that number. When you consider the capital costs of something like Site C being $9 billion, to think that they were going to build a railway for $1.5 million is an amazing feat.

In 1883, the British Columbia government signed a contract with Robert Dunsmuir and his son, James, to build the railway between Esquimalt and Nanaimo, in exchange for the grant of land that amounted to 800,000 acres, or 323,749 hectares, of land — a lot of it right from here up to Nanaimo and, certainly, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

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A huge area in exchange for…. Plus, they also got a cash grant of $750,000 from the federal government, which was involved in that deal.

The railway was also given a massive amount of old-growth forest, and the grant amounted to almost 10 percent of Vancouver Island. That’s just for the E&N land grant. It also included — I found, interestingly — all known coal deposits. Taken together, all the land grants to the E&N railroad from 1884 to 1925 amounted to 20 percent of Vancouver Island.

Again, as I’ve said, a lot of that land is now in private hands between two major forest companies. TimberWest and Island Timberlands own the majority of that private land. Many Island communities and First Nations in the region have been impacted by this historical deal. That’s why I mentioned it.

Now I want to give you an overview of why the community of interest makes sense in the Cowichan Valley. If you’re driving north and you head over the Cowichan Valley, starting at the first sighting of Saanich Inlet, when you’re driving up the Malahat, that starts my constituency and includes the fire hall and, of course, the trailer park and the community that surrounds the top of the Malahat area.

Then, coming down the Malahat, you pass Bamberton on your way to Mill Bay. Nearby Mill Bay…. By the way, I’ll get to that in a minute. Mill Bay was, in fact, a mill community. It was started by a mill that is no longer there and burned down many times. Originally, Mill Bay was a milling community.

Shawnigan Lake was on the rail line, on the way heading up to Nanaimo at the time. Shawnigan Lake became one of the stopovers. Cobble Hill — same thing. That became an area where there was a telegraph line. Cowichan Bay village is on Cowichan Bay, of course. That village is loved by…. Everyone in our community likes to spend time, particularly in the summer, to go down to Cowichan Bay, which is known as an eclectic community all of their own.

Duncan is seen as a central hub of all of the communities in the Cowichan Valley. To the west of Duncan is
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Lake Cowichan. Then there’s Mesachie Lake, which is on the south shore of beautiful Lake Cowichan, about a 28-mile-long lake. Also on the south shore is Honeymoon Bay. Then you drive on up over the hill to Caycuse, which is fondly remembered as Camp 6, one of the longest-standing logging camps, more than 60 years in the history of British Columbia.

Then, when you go further around the lake on the north shore, you come to Youbou, which used to be an old mill town — in fact, where I worked in the Youbou sawmill years ago. However, east of Duncan are Maple Bay and Genoa Bay. I also want to talk a little bit more about them.

Mill Bay — I’ll give a little more information about that — was established in the 1860s, 20 years after Victoria was founded. Many of the settlers in the Mill Bay area arrived in 1862, when the HMS Hecate came to the Cowichan Bay area from England. According to the written records and the history, the standard payment for settlement of land in the area was two blankets.

Mill Bay was the location of a power generating station for Henry Shepherd’s sawmill. He was an American industrialist who came up and started a mill in Mill Bay. It was the hub of the industry in the area at that time. Logs had to be dragged by oxen, in the process called skidding, to get to the mill at that time.

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Shawnigan Lake currently has a population of about 8,000 people living in the village. It’s a popular rural home and recreation destination. Its population typically doubles during the summer, as the lake and village are summer vacation spots for many residents of Victoria.

The history is that in 1883, construction of the railway line between Esquimalt and Nanaimo began. Prior to that, Shawnigan Lake was largely a wilderness area, and only supplies were delivered by a weekly steamship to Cowichan Bay. Back in 1886, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald travelled to Shawnigan to personally hammer in the last spike at Cliffside.

With the new influx of supplies and visitors, Shawnigan Lake quickly grew. A mill was started — here’s another forest industry connection — in 1890 by a former E&N Railway employee. By 1900, the other main industry was tourism, with two hotels being built on the shores of Shawnigan for visitors who would take the train up from Victoria.

Shawnigan Lake’s forest industry closed in the mid-20th century due to both the loss of the mill…. It was destroyed by fire — for the third time, I might add. Portions of the mill can still be seen in Shawnigan’s Old Mill Park area, which is right on the banks of the lake.

Next I want to turn to Cobble Hill. There’s some debate about why the place was named Cobble Hill, but the Cobble Hill settlement was identified in 1879, as the telegraph was installed on the way from Nanaimo to Victoria. Then the telegraph lines were moved to the railway, and a telegraph office was built in Cobble Hill. By 1913, a telephone was installed in a hotel. A bank and a barbershop were built, along with the community hall.

Cobble Hill has the oldest agricultural fair on Vancouver Island. The Cobble Hill Fair is now celebrating 115 years in 2015. Events include pancake breakfasts, home baking, livestock shows, equestrian events, handicrafts and refreshments. Again, ever since becoming an MLA, I’ve been there every year, and I’ve seen the Minister of Agriculture there. Again, thank you for being part of that. It’s always a good place to go and feel that you’re part of the community.

Cowichan Bay village is a picture-perfect community located on the oceanfront on the west side of Cowichan Bay, with stunning views and sunsets. It has got many cottages, shops and restaurants that are built on stilts over the water’s edge and spectacular scenery. Birdwatchers come to explore Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre, where the great blue herons nest in trees and over 220 species of birds can be found.

This is a maritime centre, with historic artifacts, a boat festival, a regatta during the summer. You must come and try the local bread and cheese. Now we have the prawn festival, which is another new and improved event. It is a wonderful time to be had by all there in Cowichan Bay. So if you get a chance and you hear about the prawn festival, please join us.

The population in Duncan is 4,932. It’s actually a very small city. When you consider that it’s the smallest city…. It’s only 0.8 square miles. It’s the smallest city, in fact, in the nation.

I’m very proud of our little town of Duncan. Whenever I want to feel nostalgic, I go downtown and look at the old city hall, which is a brick building, and all of the other brick buildings and the walk downtown that looks so familiar. I remember going to old Parnell’s meat market, when I was just a little boy, for a pot roast. I’m sure I’d have to save up for one of those now.

The community is named after William Chalmers Duncan, who had a farm named Alderlea just outside of Duncan. In August 1886 — here’s the railway again — the Esquimalt to Nanaimo railway opened, and no stop had been scheduled at Alderlea for the inaugural train bearing Sir John A. Macdonald and Robert Dunsmuir.

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However, at Duncan’s crossing, the levellest crossing near the Alderlea farm, a crowd of 2,000 people had assembled around a decorated arch. The train came to an unplanned halt, quite literally putting the Duncan area on the map.

Duncan’s tourism slogan is the City of Totems. The city has 80 totem poles around the entire town, which were erected back in the 1980s. I still see tourists today walking around our beautiful community and following the printed footsteps on the cement to see all the totems. Really, we are very proud of our First Nations people. Duncan
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does have the largest First Nations community. We’re honoured that Cowichan Tribes are the traditional First Nations band and part of the Coastal First Nations people.

In all of my meetings with their elders, I’m always reminded how amazing our history really is and how incredibly engaging our First Nations people are in terms of being friendly with us — even after all of the history, when you think about it. They never saw land the same way that we did when we came from, mostly, European countries. We didn’t think about ownership the same way at all.

Duncan is home also to the B.C. Forest Discovery Centre. Before the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute, Duncan and the whole Cowichan Valley were a thriving lumber centre in British Columbia. Again, a lot of that has changed. A lot of the businesses…. I think about all of the mill closures, like what happened with Youbou, the old mill just up the road. It was called the Nanoose Forest Products mill, but it was actually…. A lot of people from the Cowichan Valley worked at both Crofton and up Chemainus way. Those mills are gone, and the logging firms are gone.

Anyway, Duncan is the unofficial capital of the Cowichan Valley, with a fertile crescent of rich farmland, lush vineyards, our heritage Cowichan River and scenic back roads to the southeastern corner of Vancouver Island.

Now I want to go up to Lake Cowichan. The population is 2,974. It’s a town located on the east end of Lake Cowichan by Highway 18. It is well known for things like swimming, kayaking, boating, as well as, of course, the tubing that is partaken in by visitors from all over the Island and other parts of the world who come to Vancouver Island to tour on that river.

S. Fraser: I’m happy to take my place in the debate for Bill 42, this second reading of Bill 42. It’s wonderful. Second readings are great in many ways because it allows all of us in this House, from both sides, to speak quite broadly on the subjects within the bill. What better subjects to speak so broadly on than our own constituencies and how they might be affected through the implementation of Bill 42?

I must say, just for the record, that I haven’t heard anyone in this House speak against Bill 42. I would suspect that we’re going to see this one pass in a resounding way as true consensus is achieved on a piece of legislation in this place. It does happen, and it will happen, I think, on Bill 42. People should realize it does happen more often than not, and that’s heartening too.

Just as an explanation, I will read from the explanatory note at the beginning of the bill to put it in context for those who might have just tuned in. Bill 42: the bill “gives effect to the resolution of the Legislative Assembly approving the report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission entitled British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission Final Report — September 24, 2015.”

[1445]

Now, as we’re referring to the Boundaries Commission’s report, just again a bit of background on that. The Boundaries Commission is empowered…. It’s not the same commissioners. They are chosen. They’re appointed every, I believe, eight years. They do a reassessment of the boundaries within the provincial jurisdictions in British Columbia.

We have 85 seats in this House right now. Before 2009, there were 79 seats. That was the last time the Boundaries Commission did their job, and that was an increase of six seats. This time around, the Boundaries Commission have determined that there will be a requirement of two seats added to the 85 seats we now have here.

It may cause some challenges within this chamber itself. I’m not sure where the other two seats will go. I mentioned this in the motion where we had a chance to speak on this earlier. For those watching, the aisleway here used to be straight, and based on my understanding of old parliamentary history, the rationale for the distance between these two different sides in the chamber here were that they have to be two sword-lengths apart.

I’m not sure how that works with this reconfiguration, but someone very clever is going to have to figure out where we will put two more seats in this place. And then, as future boundaries commissions come forward, I think we’re going to have to be looking at something a lot more creative to try to see how we can be able to fit more MLAs here as populations grow or shrink. That is the main qualification for changing boundaries within the mandate of the Boundaries Commission.

I am very honoured to be the MLA representing Alberni–Pacific Rim. Previously, it was known as Alberni-Qualicum — 2005, before the previous Boundaries Commission’s changes came into place. Now with Bill 42, Alberni–Pacific Rim would be known as Mid Island–Pacific Rim.

So I will have to get used to that — changes like that. That’s business cards. That’s signs on constituency offices. It’s stationary. All those things are required, of course, when you change the boundaries.

My understanding is that these boundaries do not change until after the next election. So if I am fortunate enough to be the MLA in the new riding with the implementation of Bill 42, it would mean a substantial change for myself, if I am the MLA, or whoever else might be the MLA if I’m not.

I should reflect on this. On Vancouver Island, this is the largest change being anticipated of any constituency on Vancouver Island, and it’s one of the largest changes in British Columbia — a significant change for Alberni–Pacific Rim becoming Mid Island–Pacific Rim.

I’m going to describe the layout of my constituency in some detail, but first, I’m going to just give a bit of a broad overview.

The constituency itself, Alberni–Pacific Rim, incorporates the west coast of Vancouver Island through Clayoquot Sound and Barkley Sound to the south — a
[ Page 9966 ]
magnificent stretch of coastline. It includes lots of Nuu-chah-nulth communities — rich fishing histories in those communities, all of them — and then the municipalities of Tofino, Ucluelet and Bamfield just south of Barkley Sound. Vibrant communities, coastal communities that come together. I will discuss that a little bit in the near future too, but suffice to say that these are places that are near and dear to me.

There are challenges for an MLA. There are challenges to get around in these areas in communities like Hesquiaht communities in the north part of Clayoquot Sound, Ahousat further south — a big community. These are communities that are not available by road transportation. They’re only available by water — water taxi, private boats and floatplanes, of course.

So we’ve got those communities coming down in the Tla-o-qui-aht territory, another Nuu-chah-nulth nation. That actually is right where the district of Tofino sits. And then, further south of that, past Esowista, which is another Tla-o-qui-aht community by Long Beach, we get into the district of Ucluelet and the First Nations communities there, Nuu-chah-nulth communities: Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ First Nation and the Toquaht First Nation.

And then there’s the Broken Islands Group and the Alberni Inlet that comes into the city of Port Alberni. Across the Broken Islands Group, moving south, we get to the town of Bamfield — the Huu-ay-aht First Nation — and just below that, Pacheedaht.

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So it’s a vibrant part of the world. It’s a part of the world that attracts people from all over. And that, my constituency…. I will go back to those communities to some extent. But that community — if we go further east from there, there’s a large section of land that is not really inhabited by anyone. They are still traditional territories. They overlap to some extent, and those are being addressed. But if you’re taking Highway 4, you’re basically along the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations territory.

Then, as you come in over Sutton Pass, which is the high point on that section of highway, you come into the Alberni Valley at Sproat Lake. That’s sort of the centre of the current riding as it stands — that’s Alberni–Pacific Rim.

My office, as the MLA, is in Port Alberni, which is the most geographically accessible to all portions of the riding. It’s not perfect; that’s for sure. But you need an anchor location to actually justify a constituency office. Certainly, a small city, the city of Port Alberni, fits into that category.

It’s a great city. It has a rich logging history. Forestry has been the makeup of that great town. It was two cities, actually. It was Alberni and Port Alberni, and they just had their centenary celebration just recently, just a year ago. We got to learn more about the history of the Alberni Valley.

The forest industry has been in decline. Changes that have come about with government policies and such have meant that a lot of the timber is leaving the valley. It’s by ship and by road. It’s interesting to note that Port Alberni used to have the highest per-capita incomes of anywhere in British Columbia. I’ve heard that corrected to anywhere in Canada. It is not that many decades ago that that was the case. We’ve seen a lot of job loss in the region.

We’ve seen a city that’s so vibrant — the town that pulls together so well. Port Alberni, in the Alberni Valley, is reinventing itself. It’s looking at a diversified economy. It has incredible trail systems.

I’ll touch on some of the changes that have come about recently in Port Alberni. But, again, looking at the broad view of what the current situation is in Alberni–Pacific Rim before Bill 42 changes come in, the riding then goes, they call it, over the hump on Highway 4 — again moving eastward on Vancouver Island. You go through Cathedral Grove, which most people know is after.

There’s Cameron Lake that follows that — beautiful scenic lake. I would just give everyone a warning there. If you are going by on a warm day in the summertime and jumping in Cameron Lake, just be wary. This lake never seems to warm up. There’s a thermocline at about four inches, and it’s teeth-cracking cold always — beautiful, deep, deep lake.

Sproat Lake, on the other side of Port Alberni, warms up very quickly. It’s not nearly as deep, and it’s a magnificent place to swim. The water temperature is perfect. I have gone in Cameron Lake, and I will do it again. But, oh, boy, is it ever…. It wakes you right up.

If we move past the Alberni Valley, moving further east, we have Whisky Creek and the Errington-Coombs area. This is a really eclectic area of my constituency of Alberni–Pacific Rim. Agriculture is a big part of the economic makeup here. There are farms and ranches and hobby farms. As in the Alberni Valley, which has very fertile land also, agriculture is one of the mainstays.

Tourism is a mainstay too — the areas like Coombs. Most people who know the areas on Vancouver Island recognize Coombs. It’s sort of a free territory for business, open markets, goats on the roof. People love that area, as do I. It’s a wonderful place to go and have breakfast. There are some great restaurants. There are lots of great markets there. If anyone’s watching — it’s a bit of travel boost here — go there. It’s worth it.

Then further east, on the east side of the Island, Alberni–Pacific Rim no longer has Qualicum Beach, which used to be part of the riding that I represented before the Boundaries Commission the last time around did their changes.

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I do pick up the east side of the Island. I go north of Qualicum Beach, so that starts at Dashwood, lighthouse country, Bowser and Deep Bay — the coastline along the east side of the Island as well as that whole west coast of the Island.

I am so fortunate as an MLA to be able to represent such a great mix of communities, of geographical features and of the people there. One thing about the people
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— the issues are different in different areas of my riding, but Alberni–Pacific Rim, the strength of the communities there, is inspiring in many ways.

Now, Bill 42 would change this substantially. The substantive change is on the east side of Vancouver Island. Alberni–Pacific Rim currently, as I represent it, ends just north of Rosewall Creek, which is just past Deep Bay. Actually, it’s pretty much the border where the Comox regional district begins. The proposal in Bill 42 is that the riding, the constituency, would continue north past that point into the Comox regional district, which it currently does not. That makes up towns like Fanny Bay and Buckley Bay and Union Bay and Royston. In between that, there is a ferry system that goes to Hornby and Denman islands. Those would all be incorporated into the constituency.

Our very adept ferries spokesperson has reminded me that this is a key issue on the island — the access to the ferry. It’s a ferry-dependent community. There have been substantial changes made, and there seems to be some controversy around those changes, too, as far as the cable ferry that’s being implemented there.

Whoever will be representing that constituency following the next election will no doubt be dealing with some of those issues. They need to be up on them, and they need to be aware that these are not luxuries. The ferry system in British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, on the coast — not just Hornby and Denman islands — is a critical piece of infrastructure. They are critical for social reasons, for cultural reasons and for economic reasons in this province.

Moving north past Denman and Hornby islands and north of Royston, the proposed boundaries would then move along to incorporate the town of Cumberland. This is a larger community. Of all of the communities that would be incorporated into the new riding, Cumberland is the largest.

I would submit that whoever is fortunate enough to represent the new riding, which is Mid Island–Pacific Rim and which then would incorporate all of these new communities that are currently in the Comox-Courtenay constituency provincially, whoever is the MLA after this next election, I would recommend that the MLA ensure that another constituency office be located there. It would form an anchor with a population base that would justify that, and it would ensure that there would be a proximal office representation for the people of that region.

I would just like to touch on the rationale that the Boundaries Commission has given for proposing these changes to greatly increase the size of the riding that I currently represent into the new riding, from Alberni–Pacific Rim to Mid Island–Pacific Rim. This is on page 117, for those who are watching that do have a copy of the Boundaries Commission’s recommendations.

This is their final report, and that’s what has informed this bill that we’re discussing now, that I’m in the middle of discussing. So Comox Valley and mid-Vancouver Island.

“In recent years, the Comox Valley electoral district has shared the same boundaries as the Comox Valley regional district. However, the population of the Comox Valley has now outgrown a single electoral district. At 22 percent over the provincial average, Comox Valley is just within the plus or minus 25 percent population range” — which is one of the mandates for the commission — “but is projected to exceed it by 2017.”

So an area that’s growing.

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“Therefore, we determined that we must address this issue now and propose boundaries that provide more effective representation by reducing the population within the district. The current Alberni–Pacific Rim electoral district is by far the smallest electoral district on Vancouver Island by population. It is 18 percent under the provincial average and is projected to grow more slowly than the provincial average in the near future.

This is the key part that I think is important for why the Boundaries Commission has made these quite radical changes to the boundaries of Alberni–Pacific Rim, soon to be Mid Island–Pacific Rim.

“To provide more effective representation for both communities the boundaries between the two districts are altered to assign some of the population of Comox Valley to the other mid-Island electoral district. While the majority of the public input from the Comox Valley requested we not make any changes to the current electoral district, it was also emphasized that if we were to make changes, the communities of Courtenay and Comox would be best served in the same electoral district.

“Our preliminary report proposal to include Cumberland in Mid Island–Pacific Rim was not well received by a number of those who provided input. However, we continue to believe that the inclusion of Cumberland in Mid Island–Pacific Rim will provide more effective representation for both communities. With its sizeable population, Cumberland will act as an anchor community for the eastern portion of the district, similar to the role that Port Alberni plays for the central portion and Tofino and Ucluelet play in the west.”

Now, again, just for those watching, that is the rationale for the Boundaries Commission’s proposals in their Electoral Boundaries Commission report that has informed this Bill 42 that we are discussing in second reading now.

I am mindful of the concerns raised by those in Cumberland and region about the difficulties there. It is with that in mind that I will be meeting with the mayor of Cumberland later this month and also the regional district chair — meetings that they have requested and that I welcome. Certainly, it will become part of our discussions as we move towards the 2017 election.

Just a couple of things about the people of this region. My understanding is that in second reading we have a little bit of latitude here, so I’m going to use that to take a bit of bragging rights. I feel that I’m the most fortunate MLA in this place. I know others feel the same way. Bill 42 is changing a riding, a constituency, in a way that I, as MLA, find certainly challenging, but I also find it exciting. I just want to touch on a few — just do a few jumps around the riding as it stands.

I’m going to go right to the centre of it right now, Port Alberni. We have an organization there known as Literacy
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Alberni. This goes to what the people are like in these different communities. Literacy Alberni has just won a prestigious recognition. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., puts awards out each year to recognize outstanding achievement in literacy practices and programming. We have challenges in mid-Island around literacy issues, and it’s so important for people to be able to overcome those challenges. Literacy Alberni does that for the whole central Island.

This recognition…. There was a shortlist on the Literary Best Practices, 2015, Library of Congress award list. The executive director of Literacy Alberni — that’s Charmead Schella, a wonderful individual — was brought over to Washington D.C. for four days to celebrate with contemporaries from around the literacy world — literally around the world. She just got back a couple of days ago.

There were 17 organizations around the world recognized from 17 different places, and Literacy Alberni was the only Canadian organization to receive recognition this year from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Literacy Alberni was written up in a high gloss Library of Congress Literacy 2015 publication with 16 other best-practices organizations around the world.

For the awards, Charmead presented a five-minute presentation on best practices, and those best practices are being recognized and applauded by the rest of the world. I congratulate Charmead Schella and all of those involved with Literacy Alberni.

[1505]

That’s the kind of organization that has developed to deal with the challenges of the region. Challenges of the region — I have to touch on this. Many of these communities are marine communities. We live on an island, and the expansion, with Bill 42, will increase that. Of course, Hornby and Denman Island are very much…. It’s all about the Salish Sea and the Strait of Georgia. These are marine communities that live by the sea, live with the sea on the west coast. This is a wild, powerful place — all the communities along Clayoquot Sound and Barkley Sound. It’s a huge attractant to so many people and has been for decades.

Last Sunday we had a tragic event. The largest whale-watching vessel on the coast tragically was flipped over by a rogue wave, and 27 people went in the ocean. Five died. One is still missing, presumed dead.

I’ve spoken about the tragedy already. The communities that are represented now in Alberni–Pacific Rim and will be, following the changes with Bill 42, also as part of the new riding of Mid Island–Pacific Rim…. Tofino is where the vessel was from — Jamie’s Whaling Station. The communities in Ahousat and Opitsat and, of course, the people of Tofino — everybody in the region came together in the epitome of community, breaking down all barriers and doing heroic deeds to try to help those in the most desperate of situations, being in some of the coldest water they’ve probably ever experienced and where the survival time is very short.

I want to acknowledge and applaud everyone in those communities for doing what they do and for what they did. I would submit that the Ahousaht First Nation, who…. The first response came from them. There were fishermen, luckily, in the area. But, whoa, there should be a school opened there for first responders and marine rescue. This is the heart of the coast, where Nuu-chah-nulth and First Nations communities can make all the difference in marine safety.

Marine safety has to be part of any MLA’s job in addressing representation on Vancouver Island — certainly anywhere along the coast and the north coast too. Hartley Bay First Nation there was the first, again, to respond and took great risks to themselves to deal with trying to help people that were in peril. So I put a plug in for…. This would be probably as much to the federal government. Boy, oh boy, if there was going to be a good thing to do to help the safety on the coast, it would be to involve First Nations, who are often the first on the scene anyway. We must learn from this tragedy.

Touching on a few other parts of the riding, on the west coast. This will be the same before and after Bill 42. Tofino has the hospital. It’s a 1956 vintage — another plug, again. It needs to be replaced. The Health Minister probably could make note of that. The people that work there are second to none, and they showed that in the tragedy that recently unfolded with the capsizing of that whale-watching vessel.

Tofino got the hospital. Ucluelet got the high school. The hospital is actually the hospital for Tofino, Ucluelet and five different First Nations communities, Nuu-chah-nulth communities, on the west coast.

The high school in Ucluelet takes up both the district of Tofino and the district of Ucluelet population and provides the high school education for everyone in the region — unless you go farther north into the community of Ahousaht, which I’ve just been discussing. There is a great high school there also. The current elected chief for Ahousaht, Greg Louie, was the former principal of that high school in Ahousaht — a magnificent new building. It’s very impressive.

We’ve got families moving into the area. There has been, really, a baby boom in the area too. It’s a growing community and a strong community, as I’ve always mentioned. All those communities work well together.

[1510]

Over in the Alberni Valley — I talked about the necessary diversification of the economy there with the downfall of the forest industry, where value-added doesn’t seem to be happening anymore to our trees. But Mayor Mike Ruttan and the council are very aware and are now working on diversifying that economy.

We have a university that is unique in the world, which was just established several years ago in Port Alberni. This House, in another unanimous vote of support, brought in a bill that recognized that university and accredited that
[ Page 9969 ]
university. It’s Pacific Coast University for Workplace Health Sciences. Its curriculum and its programs are being adopted all over the world. I think 17 or 18 nations in the world have adapted their plans for disability management and for back-to-work strategies to get people who have been hurt in the workplace — to make sure that they can still be a big part of society. The United Nations has also adopted everything they’re doing, too.

I want to applaud Wolfgang Zimmermann, the president of that university. He was actually the moving force to help make that a reality. The rest of the world, again, is looking at this area — central Island. Mid Island–Pacific Rim is getting the attention of the world.

As the boundary changes come in following the next election and we see the communities of Buckley Bay and Union Bay and Fanny Bay and Royston, and Hornby and Denman islands and Cumberland all coming together as part of the new Mid Island–Pacific Rim riding — constituency — I think we’re going to see an exciting mix. This addition, while being challenging, will be a wonderful opportunity for communities to learn more about themselves and each other and to be stronger for it.

This bill, Bill 42 — as I’ve indicated already, and I believe that it applies to all of us in this House — I will be supporting. I have been speaking in support of it.

I thank the Boundaries Commission, the three commissioners, for doing their work. It’s not easy. There’s pressure. Sometimes there’s pressure from MLAs to try to change things in the boundaries. Sometimes that’s a good idea, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it could be construed as being something that might be of political benefit in an election, based on where support bases are.

The Boundaries Commission, when they came up with their report that informs this Bill 42, had to wrestle with all of those competing interests. I think they did a great job. There will be challenges, sure, but one of the things that we learned in this place is how to overcome challenges and how to develop as MLAs to do representation. This time it’s representation by population.

Thank you to the Boundaries Commission, and thanks to everyone who’s listening.

Hon. S. Thomson: It is a real pleasure and an honour for me to be able to take my place and speak to Bill 42, the Electoral Districts Act. I want to again, as many members have expressed here, thank the commissioners for their work and their report and their recommendations. I know, as many have spoken, that it was a difficult job, ensuring that they find the balance so that we know that British Columbia is effectively represented in both urban and rural areas. I think they’ve done an excellent job, and I think that’s reflected in the fact that all members of the House are supporting the bill and that we are adopting the recommendations as they have been provided to us.

As I’ve been listening to some of the comments and discussion on the bill, I’ve enjoyed quite a bit of it. A lot of people talked about some of the history of the province in their comments. That’s actually been quite interesting and a learning experience, in some cases, to learn some of the history. I really appreciated that.

[1515]

I appreciate the comments from the member for Alberni–Pacific Rim, who just spoke. While he and I may disagree on some things, I can tell him that I wholeheartedly agree with him about Cameron Lake and the temperature of Cameron Lake. I share a cabin on Cameron Lake. I’ve plunged into that lake many, many times and gone through the thermocline and into those cold, cold temperatures. I can tell that you that he is exactly right in his comments on Cameron Lake. It’s a beautiful lake and a beautiful part of the province.

It’s quite easy, I think, for us in the Kelowna ridings, the three Kelowna ridings, to get up and support this because, essentially, our ridings have stayed the same. There’s no change to the boundaries in our ridings, in the three ridings in Kelowna. The ridings that people currently know and understand will be those that are maintained in the adoption of the bill and the adoption of the report.

We are dealing with one minor change. It’s a name change for the riding of Westside-Kelowna, which will be now known as Kelowna West. I think that people understand the rationale for that. One little side benefit to all of that is when we’re looking at spreadsheets and analyzing numbers and everything like that, which we always do, now all three Kelowna ridings will be listed together. We will have Kelowna-Mission, Kelowna–Lake Country and Kelowna West all together on the sheets. Now we won’t have to go look at the two up here and then go all the way down to the bottom of the list to the w’s to find our partner riding to look at and compare those numbers. Just a little side benefit that will make things a little easier.

Essentially, as I said, the ridings are as we know them, and I know that our constituents support that. The way we treat our ridings in Kelowna with the three ridings, the boundaries are somewhat…. We don’t operate and conduct our activities in terms of representing the area and the region, in particular, in relation to the boundaries. We operate very much as a team approach to the three ridings in Kelowna. We meet regularly as the three MLAs representing the riding with the interests and the issues that span the boundaries and cross the boundaries in the riding. We do that on a regular basis. We share issues.

In some respects, we deal with individual constituents, but, in many cases, our offices will sometimes deal with a constituent who’s not necessarily in our riding. They may have taken the time to come into our office. They don’t know. My office is downtown in Kelowna. West Kelowna — Kelowna West, which it will be known as — is across the lake and across the bridge. Sometimes that’s a bit of an effort for some constituents to go across there to do that, so we don’t stand on the boundaries or the representation.
[ Page 9970 ]
We look at trying to do the best service that we can for the constituents and citizens, and we will deal with their concerns and share information across the boundaries and across the ridings. It’s very much a team approach, and essentially that’s for the region with our three ridings.

Really, it’s how we manage the Okanagan as well, with our Okanagan caucus. We deal with the regional issues collectively on behalf of all of the regions from the border in South Okanagan all the way up through into the North Okanagan. Boundaries are important to ensure that people know they have a representative and who it is, but we take a very collective approach in trying to ensure that we do the best job that we can for our constituents and for the riding. My riding, Kelowna-Mission — 582 square kilometres — is a great riding to represent.

[1520]

At the risk of alienating my fellow MLAs who share the boundaries in the ridings, I will say that it…. You know, Mission — the south Rutland, the benchlands up above Kelowna, east and south Kelowna — is a great part of Kelowna. But I think, probably, collectively the best thing to say is that Kelowna is a great part of the province, a great area, and we’re really proud to represent it. And the Okanagan region is one of the nicest areas of the province, and we get to represent both our ridings, the community and the region. I’m very humbled and remain honoured every day to be able to do that.

If you look back at some of the history in the riding — if you go all the way back — the riding, before 1903, used to be called Yale-East. It was a huge riding. It covered all the Okanagan, across to Yale and parts of that area. In 1903, the riding was changed, and it was brought in to be called the Okanagan riding. For the 11th, 12th and 13th elections in British Columbia, that was done under what was called the Okanagan riding.

There is a person that is well known in British Columbia history that represented that big riding. His name was Price Ellison. He won those elections, starting in 1903 all the way through to 1912, four elections, and the largest valid voter turnout in that time frame was 2,400 votes. Things have certainly changed. People will also remember Price Ellison, I think, as being the minister at the time in government who went with the surveyors who laid out and established Strathcona Provincial Park, the first provincial park in British Columbia. So lots of history there.

In 1916, it was split into two ridings, North and South Okanagan, for representation there. We all know of the great history of that area — Kelowna and that riding there being the home of Premier W.A.C. Bennett and then followed by Premier Bill Bennett, representing the ridings. We all know the great legacy that Premier W.A.C. Bennett has left for British Columbia — B.C. Ferries, B.C. Hydro, the hydroelectric power dams in British Columbia — a huge contribution to the growth and the development of British Columbia — bringing in Okanagan Lake Bridge across Okanagan Lake.

I can remember that very well, when that bridge went in. I can remember, as a very young child, going across Okanagan Lake on the ferry at the time, delivering hay across to the Paynter farm in West Kelowna. One of the great treats of doing that trip across on the ferry was the fact that we got to stop at the Westbank store and have a five-cent ice cream cone as part of the reward for travelling across and riding in the front seat of the truck delivering hay.

I can remember when delivering the hay, still to the same Paynter farm in Westbank or West Kelowna, when I first got my driver’s licence and was able to take a load of hay out across on my own. Across the bridge, going up Bridge Hill, I lost the whole back load of hay onto the highway. It stopped traffic, and I had to clean up all the load of hay and everything and get it back on the truck.

Luckily, in those days, transportation wasn’t nearly as heavy on the bridge as it is currently, and it didn’t create a major problem. But that was a little bit of trying to having to go and explain to my dad that the first time I’d been allowed to deliver a load of hay on my own, just after getting my licence, I’d lost the load on the road going up Bridge Hill.

The legacy and the approach that we get to continue to represent in the Okanagan — the history and the home of free enterprise in British Columbia, the spirit and ethic of hard work, taking risks, making significant contributions to the economic development of the province — continue to be the ethic of the citizens of Kelowna and the region. We’re proud to continue to represent that.

[1525]

My riding, is a compact riding in some sense. I know there have been discussions in the House here around the work that MLAs in more rural and remote ridings have to do to continue to represent all of the interests across their riding. I’ve had the chance, with the responsibilities that I’ve had in government, both in Agriculture and in Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, to be able to travel around the province and visit many, many of these communities across the province, with colleagues and as part of my role.

I just have to say that I really respect the work that they do. That’s why it’s so important that in the adoption of these recommendations in this legislation, we continue to ensure that rural ridings have the representation — and effective representation. I know that all MLA s who represent those ridings do a great job under challenging circumstances, in terms of being able to get out and about and around their ridings.

In my riding, I could drive across the riding in half an hour, walk across the riding from corner to corner in probably a few hours and on a bicycle in probably a couple of hours, if I did that. It is one of the pluses, I guess, in having a riding as we do, to be able to engage and get out and around the riding. It’s certainly less challenging than many of my colleagues on both sides of the House, in terms of representing their interests.
[ Page 9971 ]

It was interesting. I just had a recent chance to practise walking across the riding and everything like that, getting ready for the next couple of years ahead. I had the chance to…. I walked across a country. It was more than a riding. I walked coast-to-coast across the country, in England. That was lots of….

Interjection.

Hon. S. Thomson: Yeah. It wasn’t Canada; it was across the U.K. To walk right across the country — that was good practice, trying to get in shape for the next round, and it gave me lots of practice for walking significant distances across my riding now.

Doing that experience, I may have to have a visit to our health system. My knee, with old rugby injuries, got pretty stressed when we were going up and down over stone stiles and up and down over the crags across the middle of England. But a great experience and a good challenge in looking ahead to getting out on the doorsteps and across the riding.

As I said, the boundaries…. We operate very much as a team approach in the ridings. Previous to this, a couple of adjustments ago, the boundaries were slightly shifted. So it’s good to see the ridings boundaries stay as they are. People know them and understand them, currently.

The last revision took me living out of my riding. I live just outside my riding. It took me about 100 yards out of my riding. I’m in the member for Westside-Kelowna’s riding. She’s my MLA.

The member for Kelowna–Lake Country lives in my riding, and I get to be his MLA. So he’s the one problem constituent that I have on a regular basis. But it’s a very, very collective, collaborative approach in terms of working on behalf of all of the community.

[1530]

While we treat them as regional assets in our approach, my riding is home to Kelowna General Hospital, the new cardiac centre, the UBC medical centre that’s part of that, the cancer centre. Okanagan College is in my riding, the great college that’s providing so much support and work on the trades, the second-largest trade institution in British Columbia.

I also have about ten out of the 30 wineries in the Okanagan that are in my riding. A significant portion of the tree fruit industry is up on the benches. The history of the tree fruit industry that built the Okanagan is a significant part of the riding I represent. We work very closely with the tree fruit sector and the agriculture sector in British Columbia in making sure that we continue to have a strong future for the agriculture sector in British Columbia.

We have a burgeoning technology sector in Kelowna. Parts of that are in my riding, but a significant portion of it in the downtown, around the new innovation centre that we have invested in — again, lots of positive activity and positive growth in the riding. When you look at the population projections for the area, for our three ridings, they kept it balanced. We continue to see population growth going forward, so we’re looking forward to continuing to represent the area.

A creek called Mission Creek runs through the middle of my riding. One thing that I’m very, very proud of…. Our family came to Kelowna in 1892, settled in Kelowna. We’re the fourth generation on the same farm that we settled on with the creek that runs through. I can remember as a young child having the creek spill over into our farm, flooding the farms a lot. The creek was diked to prevent that.

On the dike now is what we call the Mission Creek Greenway, which is 26 kilometres of linear park that runs right from the lake all the way up through the riding, up into Gallagher’s Canyon. My mother was the driving force behind establishing the linear park as president of the Friends of Mission Creek. That will be a great legacy for her, to have led the initiative and led all the fundraising to ensure that we have this recreational corridor that runs right through, all the way through the riding.

It is heavily, heavily used by bikers, by walkers, by joggers, by horses — a multi-use linear pathway. It is such a great asset to our community. I just want, on behalf of all of the constituents of the region, to thank my mother publicly here for that vision and being able to ensure that we continue to have that as an asset in the community. It’s going to be a great legacy for her.

I’m very pleased to join with others in the House here to support the bill. Again, I want to thank the members of the commission for all their hard work. Their report has flagged ongoing challenges and ongoing concerns that we will need to deal with in the future as the next commission does its work.

We have our boundaries set for the next — for 2017 and 2021. I’m very pleased that it appears that it will be unanimously supported and that there’s recognition that they did very good work, trying to ensure that they have the balance and to ensure that there is effective representation across the province, balancing off those rural issues and population demands.

I think we, as all members of this House…. Our role is to ensure that we try to provide the most effective representation we can for our constituents and for our communities and for our regions. We do that within the context of the recommendations that they have made around who we get to represent and who our constituents are.

[1535]

I know that we all want to ensure that we work with our constituents, listen to their concerns, bring forward their concerns and focus on those opportunities in our regions and our communities that will help build a lasting and secure future for all of our citizens and all of our constituents. It’s a great riding to represent. I look for-
[ Page 9972 ]
ward to continuing to work on their behalf and look forward to the passage of this bill, Bill 42, which will bring in those recommendations, adopted as the commission has recommended to us.

With those comments, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I very much appreciated the opportunity.

J. Darcy: I am pleased to take my place in the debate on the bill to implement the recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Commission review. I’m very honoured to represent the constituency of New Westminster and to be able to speak a little bit about that today and about what the changes mean for New Westminster.

In the case of many other constituencies, MLAs have spoken eloquently and passionately about the present and the history of their constituencies. In the case of New Westminster, there are some very significant changes. I will say right up front that some of those changes, while completely understandable, are also sad ones, heartbreaking ones for my community and for myself as their MLA.

We all know that the Electoral Boundaries Commission had a very, very difficult task. What they’re doing is trying to ensure the most effective and the most balanced representation across the province, reflecting urban communities and rural communities, the size of the constituencies and making sure that not very many constituencies deviate very much from the averages that have been established. Most of the other changes are fairly minor ones. In most cases, they’re quite minor. In the case of New Westminster, not so much.

I have to say that there is a real honour and a beauty to be able to represent an entire city — one city, one community, one city council, one school district, social agencies, community agencies that all work very closely together, faith organizations of all sorts that engage people in the community, businesses, the local chamber of commerce, the various business improvement associations, the trade unions.

It is very much New Westminster — one integrated city, one integrated whole. That makes it…. People come together. They work together so closely on every issue facing our community. It means that it is a real joy and honour to represent New Westminster as an entirety.

I mentioned that the changes that are happening to the constituency of New Westminster are significant, and indeed they are. I fully appreciate — a tough job for the commission. You know, numbers are numbers, and they had to do something about numbers. But I just want to reflect for a moment and ask my colleagues to reflect for a moment on how these numbers actually play out in our case.

The commission said — and, historically, I gather this has been the case — that the population of any constituency should not deviate from the average by more than about 25 percent, except in the cases of constituencies designated as rural constituencies. That average is 53,119 people. The commission decided: “You shouldn’t deviate from that by more than 25 percent.”

Well, 25 percent more than 53,119 people brings you up to 66,399 people, and the population of New Westminster is just over 67,000. So we’re just over by a whisker, over by a few hundred people, and that meant that part of the constituency needed to be moved to another riding and to create a couple of new ridings in the Lower Mainland south of the Fraser. Understandable, but very sad nonetheless — heartbreaking, in fact, I would say.

[1540]

There has always been — I won’t say from the beginning of time, but since there were constituencies in the province of British Columbia — a constituency of New Westminster. In fact, in earlier days, the constituency of New Westminster included all of the Fraser Valley.

Now, we don’t have such expansionist goals any longer. We have grown. We were a small city. We’ve grown up. We don’t have the ability to grow out, obviously, but for the very first time, Queensborough, which has been an integral part of our city and our constituency from the very beginning, will no longer be part of the electoral district of New Westminster.

You’ve heard me say before, as have my colleagues, that New Westminster is, in fact, western Canada’s oldest city, incorporated in 1860. It was the first capital of British Columbia. There are some people in my community who wish that those days had never changed when the capital of the province — the newly merged colonies — went across the pond.

It is a city that is both steeped in tradition as well as moving very boldly into the future — lots of change happening — and I want to come back on that. We have, I believe, a long and honourable history of representation in this Legislature from the time that the constituency and, in fact, the province were first created.

In addition to being the last, the most current, in a long list of Members of the Legislative Assembly, we have also had three Premiers who have come from the constituency of New Westminster. John Robson, the founder of the British Columbian newspaper, which published from 1861 till 1983, was from New Westminster, was a Premier, and Richard McBride as well as Byron Johnson.

The city has been known for many things through its history, including the national success of its lacrosse team. Now, I know that the member for Juan de Fuca took great delight in showing the Mann trophy and having the Mann trophy being presented in this place to the Victoria Shamrocks, but I do want to say that the national Lacrosse Hall of Fame resides in the city of New Westminster, and we have certainly held that trophy over many, many years.

I’ve mentioned that New Westminster is the oldest city in Canada, established in 1860. New Westminster, as many of you know, also gained the moniker “the Royal
[ Page 9973 ]
City,” dubbed as such by Queen Victoria. The fortunes of the city have ebbed and flowed over many years, but today New Westminster continues to be a vital hub in the Lower Mainland, with parklands, waterfront views and historic charm. Many buildings were destroyed in previous great fires, but there has been incredible development and redevelopment, and it is a very, very important centre in so many ways in the Lower Mainland.

Royal Columbian Hospital is the largest hospital in the Lower Mainland, serving residents from Burnaby to Hope — a regional trauma centre, in addition to serving the community of New Westminster, and a major referral center, specializing both in trauma, obstetrical care, cardiovascular and critical care.

Douglas College is one of the largest colleges in the Lower Mainland, with over 10,000 students in credit programs, also providing non-credit community response to over 24,000 adults who participate in part-time vocational or personal enrichment programs, and with a very strong orientation towards social services, health sciences, business and university transfer students.

Our small businesses are indeed the backbone of our economy. I made a statement about this just a couple of weeks ago. We have literally thousands of small businesses in New Westminster if you count the ones that have a visible public presence, a footprint, as well as those home-based businesses. I have taken the opportunity of Small Business Month also to go around and visit many of them and present awards — congratulating them for awards that they’ve won in the Royal City Record’s Readers Choice Awards.

We have a strong local economy and a community that’s built upon a rich heritage.

Interjection.

[1545]

J. Darcy: And we have an Army and Navy. How could I forget the Army and Navy on Columbia Street?

When I spoke many months ago — one of my first times speaking in this House — on the issue of the Pattullo Bridge and the need for a regional transportation plan, the Minister of Transportation pointed out to me in the corridor that, in fact, he spent his formative years in New Westminster, and he had fond memories of purchasing flip-flops at the Army and Navy store, which still sits proudly on Columbia Street in downtown New Westminster.

I did venture at the time, when the minister mentioned to me that he bought flip-flops, that that perhaps explains some of the flipping and flopping in policy that we’ve heard from the Transportation Minister. But today we are discussing the Electoral Boundaries Commission report. Therefore, I dare not revisit that earlier conversation.

In addition to the Army and Navy are many excellent restaurants. Our city council, a progressive and forward-looking city council, has created a new park, the Westminster Pier Park, that one day will extend all the way to Coquitlam, no doubt, and hook up with parks in those communities.

Wait For Me, Daddy is an iconic photo by a Vancouver Sun reporter that filmed a young boy, a five-year-old boy, reaching out for the hand of his father as the troops marched down 8th Street in New Westminster on the way off to fight fascism in World War II. That photo made its way around the world at the time. That iconic photo has now…. There was an historic opening last year of a statue in downtown New Westminster symbolizing that.

We have the annual Hyack Parade, the May Day festival and the Justice Institute, a very significant employer and institute in our community.

The New Westminster Farmers Market. I have photos up on the wall in my constituency office of the farmers market, going through the ages where there have been farmers markets; also of some of the historic canneries — some of them Japanese-Canadian canneries, some of them aboriginal fisheries and canneries.

We have RiverFest. We celebrate everything there is to celebrate about New Westminster. There’s barely a weekend that goes by without a community festival of one sort or another. It’s also a community that’s really rich in the arts. I think it rates the sixth-highest per capita in the country, about the number of artists in our community.

All in all, New Westminster is a really wonderful community with very distinct neighbourhoods, of course. Also, it’s very much united and very much coming together as one, especially for people in our community in their time of need, such as when we had a couple of fires — one about a year ago and one a couple of years ago. Everybody comes together to support one another.

Communities like Sapperton, like Massey Victory Heights, like Victoria Hill — where I live — uptown, downtown, Queens Park, Glenbrook, Moody Park, West End, Connaught Heights, the Quay, the Brow of the Hill. No doubt in my quick scribbling down of neighbourhoods, I may well have missed some.

Then it brings me to Queensborough, which is the part of the community that very sadly will no longer be part of New Westminster.

Queensborough, as I’ve mentioned earlier, has been part of our city and part of our constituency since the constituency was created. It was originally called Lulu Island in the 1890s. There’s still a Lulu Island. Queensborough is located at the east end of Lulu Island, with some very famous dikes that were built by Alexander Ewen and Donald McGillivray that united the community after two major floods.

Queensborough continues to be a very tight-knit community to this day. Lots of shopping in Queensborough, diverse flavours of the local cuisine. You can unleash a kite and play to your heart’s delight in one of the parks or green spaces, catch some air at the BMX and skateboard
[ Page 9974 ]
parks, rent a bike, ride the shoreline, and also head to the Starlight Casino, if you’re so inclined. Dine in style, grab a drink, play the slots and see a show. I’m not a gambler myself, but it is certainly a pastime enjoyed by many people in the community.

[1550]

Queensborough was the name originally chosen by the Royal Engineers that founded New Westminster. Originally, in fact, Queen Victoria designated Queensborough as the name of the capital of British Columbia. It never really took place — it switched to New Westminster — but it says something about how central New Westminster is, indeed, to the community.

It is, historically, home to lumber mills, home to canneries, as I mentioned. Also, it’s a place where new immigrants to our community could find more cheaper lots and establish family homes. Many of those early groups built their own cultural halls, their own churches and different mutual aid societies. The first ratepayers association in Canada, in fact, was created Queensborough back in 1911 — a group that continues to operate to this day — the Queensborough Ratepayers Association.

Those successive waves of immigrants included Japanese Canadians, Chinese Canadians, Sikhs, Italians, Greeks, Slovakians, Ukrainians and Finnish people. Today the descendants of many of those earlier waves of immigrants continue to live there and are joined, as well, by newer and younger families who have moved from elsewhere in the Lower Mainland or from other places around the world.

A thriving arts community. A group called Artists in the Boro do exceptional work, and I want to do a shout-out to them. I recall about a year and a half ago attending their exhibition. I came home and had a whole lot of new pieces of artwork to put on the wall of my constituency office, where I like to feature the local artists. They really produce some of the best artwork.

Today Queensborough is home to many groups from many countries around the world, some of whom have been there for generations, with the Punjabi community being the most populous amongst them and the Sikh gurdwara being a gathering place for people of the Sikh faith. Also, the gurdwara plays a remarkable role in the community, engaged in so many different charitable works, both in New Westminster and also across the Lower Mainland.

They are joined today by people from the Philippines, from China, from Korea, Fiji and many other places. And the issues in Queensborough, of course, are the same as for the whole entire city of New Westminster. They want a new high school built. They want a New Westminster Secondary School. It’s over 65 years old. It is falling apart. Everyone, including families who live in Queensborough, want that new school built.

They’re concerned about wait-lists at Royal Columbian Hospital. They’re concerned about inadequate home support for seniors, about affordability of housing — we have a high percentage of renters in our community — and about the cost of child care. They’re concerned about protecting the Fraser River and the salmon. They’re concerned about good jobs.

They’re concerned about what we call the three Ts: traffic, transportation and transit. Let me repeat that: transit, transportation and traffic. They absolutely want and need a new regional transportation plan.

My office, which does, I believe, really exceptional casework…. I want to do a shout-out to my constituency assistants, Nadine Nakagawa and Michael Cheevers. They serve the needs of people throughout the city of New Westminster — 67,000 people in six square miles, very densely populated, unlike many of the constituencies other people have spoken of. But we work very, very hard to advocate on behalf of everyone who works in my community.

I want to share with you, in the few minutes that I have left, the thoughts expressed by several of my constituents about this change. Some accept that’s inevitable, that if it didn’t happen this time, it would happen next time because we are a growing city. We grow up. Our population does continue to grow. We grow up because we’re already densely populated. But it is a very sad moment, a turning point and a significant one.

Charan Singh Pooni writes:

“I moved to Queensborough in 1998 when I purchased my home. I’ve watched my grandchildren go to school in this community. I’m a resident of New Westminster and also was the president of the seniors society for 14 years. I’m currently a member of the 50-plus society.” So are many of us, I dare say. “I attend the temple, which is the core of my community. I do not want the boundaries to change as I moved to New Westminster to live in New Westminster and not any other city.”

[1555]

Kamachi Shigeaki writes:

“I was born in Steveston and lived in east Richmond. I’ve lived in Queensborough since 1950 after moving to the Interior during the war,” relocated with so many Japanese Canadians. “Up until the ’60s, even living in East Richmond, there was a stronger link with New Westminster. Kids went to school in Queensborough rather than in Richmond. I believe that Queensborough should remain part of the New Westminster boundary. Because the closest area in Richmond is underdeveloped, it would make more sense for the boundary to include more of Richmond, up to the railroad tracks.” Very, very specific views. “Even right now,” it says, “the people in East Richmond come to the Queensborough Community Centre and feel very much a part of this community.”

Amrik Sangha writes:

“My name is Amrik Singh Sangha. I moved from India to Queensborough, New Westminster, in 2002. My son and family moved here in 1996, and I have joined them. My families and friends have all lived in Queensborough since we all arrived from India. I am part of the 50-plus club…”

I guess some of the fellows at the 50-plus club got together to express their points of view.

“…at my local seniors centre, the Queensborough Community Centre. I attend the temple in Queensborough, proud to live in New Westminster. I don’t want to be linked with Richmond or any other boundary.”
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Avtar Disanjh lives in Queensborough and says:

“I arrived in Queensborough from India in 1961. This is my home and my community. I attend the temple and community centre here.”

There’s a common theme here.

“My family has lived here since as far back as 1906. I vote in New Westminster, and I hope it stays that way. I don’t agree that the boundaries should be changed. A political…”

I’ll leave out the partisan part of that. He expressed some partisan points of view, but I will leave those out in the interests of a non-partisan debate.

Mr. Shagur Dhaliwal, a very, very dear friend said:

“I live in New Westminster, lived in Queensborough since 1967. I am a director of the 50-plus club at the Queensborough Community Centre and use the temple. We want to stay as part of the community because we live here. I raised my children here. I don’t think it’s good for the community to change the boundary.”

Ronny Nicolasora writes:

“I’m writing in support of maintaining the current boundaries of the New Westminster constituency. I’m a proud resident of New Westminster, living in Queensborough, and feel strongly that our community is represented well within the New Westminster constituency.”

Thank you, Ronny Nicolasora, for those kind words.

“Queensborough residents attend religious services in New Westminster, send their children to New Westminster Secondary, conduct their shopping in the city, look forward to taking part in community celebrations and festivals within New Westminster. We identify New West as our community, and many of us rarely even enter the city of Richmond.

“When the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission considered removing Queensborough from the rest of New Westminster in their review, the community uproar caused them to amend the proposed changes and keep the city together.”

I think these folks were hoping that would happen again.

“New Westminster residents are proud to have a common provincial constituency and to have our elected provincial representative represent the community with one voice. I hope the provincial review will recognize the unique importance of keeping our community together in the electoral boundary review process.”

The points of view that I’ve just shared with you, while they were the overwhelming majority, were not the only points of view. It was not unanimous. Alan McNulty writes:

“The commission’s solution of uniting Queensborough with Lulu Island is the best option of all options available to the commission. I’ve lived in east Richmond, Queensborough and now New West for the past 16 years. Queensborough and East Richmond are contiguous, evolving their own identity closer to Richmond” — in urging the commission to stay the course.”

Martin Eady writes:

“While my preference is to keep all of New Westminster riding together, we must recognize the democratic reality that the population of the riding now exceeds the permitted maximum level.” It is indeed the case. “In my view, the most reasonable way to divide the riding is at the Fraser River — the majority of the city on the north shore of the river and Queensborough on the south shore.”

Finally, Alysia MacGrotty writes:

“I would prefer that the electoral boundary be kept the way it is, though I understand that it must follow a formula based on maximum number of residents. If you must tamper with New Westminster’s boundaries, I suggest the cleanest division would be the Fraser River.”

[1600]

I think the sentiments from my community are clear. Having said that, I certainly do understand that the commission had an extremely, extremely difficult job to do, dealing with competing interests, conflicting interests — urban-rural, population size. In this case, it means that it would appear that Queensborough will no longer form part of the New Westminster constituency.

I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to express profound regret and sadness that the wonderful people of Queensborough will no longer be part of the constituency of New Westminster. It has been an incredible honour to serve them, together with the rest of my community, which extends…. Well, there’s a popular blog in town called Tenth to the Fraser, which is meant to extend across the island to the other arm of the Fraser River. Now the constituency will indeed be Tenth to the Fraser.

I want to assure the people of Queensborough — who will still form part of the city of New Westminster, whose children are still served by the New Westminster school district 40, who are still served by the hospitals and the residential care facilities, Douglas College and so many of the fine institutions and businesses that make up their community — that I will continue as the MLA for New Westminster, for most of New Westminster, and continue to advocate on their behalf on all of those critical issues on which they share a community of interest with the remainder of the people in the city of New Westminster.

Thank you. I’ve certainly enjoyed the opportunity, even though with some sadness, to take my place in this debate.

[R. Lee in the chair.]

S. Robinson: I am pleased to take my place in the debate on second reading of Bill 42, looking at the electoral boundaries. I listened with real big ears to some of what my colleagues had to say about their communities. As the minister had said when she introduced this bill, this is really an opportunity for us to talk about our communities, to talk about our constituencies, to talk about the neighbourhoods and the businesses and the people that make up British Columbia.

While sometimes here in this House, debate — around policy issues, particularly — can drone on a little bit, there is something very vibrant and very exciting to hear in everyone’s voice as they talk about their communities. I believe that everybody in this House really does love their community. They’re committed to it and understanding every little corner of it. It really comes alive as part of this debate. I’ve quite enjoyed listening to many of my colleagues here in this House.

I’m pleased to take my place here today to talk about Coquitlam-Maillardville and talk a little bit about the history of this community and about the nature of the neighbourhoods and the nature of the people who live there, looking at how it has evolved over time and maybe
[ Page 9976 ]
even to take a look at what the future might look like for Coquitlam-Maillardville.

To just set the stage, Coquitlam is a funny-shaped sort of community. I listened to the member for New Westminster talk about…. She has a whole city and has represented that, and there’s loss for her. Coquitlam is quite a large city and hasn’t been whole for a very long time in terms of the electoral boundaries. Coquitlam is shaped like a funny sort of hourglass, with the north side sitting above Port Coquitlam and the south side sitting between Burnaby and Port Coquitlam — one on the west side and one on the east side — and then New West down below.

Coquitlam-Maillardville is the south part of this funny-shaped hourglass. It is what I call old Coquitlam. It is the historical heart of the city. It’s about 30 square kilometres. I’ve certainly heard some of the members here in this House talk about how difficult it is to travel around some of their rural regions. They have to take planes, or they have to drive for hours in order to visit some of their constituents. I can easily ride my bike around Coquitlam-Maillardville, and having run a couple marathons, I can even say I can run around Coquitlam-Maillardville. It’s just 30 square kilometres — certainly far less of a distance than a marathon.

[1605]

It’s contained and quite suburban in nature. That provides some familiarity and some comfort, in a certain way of being, as a city.

Now, what’s really interesting is that Maillardville itself was the historical heart of Coquitlam. It is certainly contained in Coquitlam-Maillardville, but there are other neighbourhoods that are part of the constituency. We have Austin Heights, which is where my office is located. When you come up from Maillardville, which is right on the Fraser River, and just move up the hill, you get to the top or the plateau of this hill where you have this fabulous community called Austin Heights.

It’s a pretty old community. It really developed in the ’50s and ’60s — housing that looks like the ’50s and ’60s. It’s really struggling with some challenges. They were built on large pieces of land. Land was pretty cheap in the ’50s and ’60s. As we know, the housing prices in the Lower Mainland are certainly challenging, so those areas are being redeveloped. You’re getting either much larger houses that are selling for millions of dollars or getting subdivisions on some of these lands. That’s creating a bit of tension in the community.

Another neighbourhood that I think is worthy of mention is the neighbourhood that I live in: Ranch Park. That’s a very interesting neighbourhood. It’s on the east slope of this mountain. It looks down into Port Coquitlam, and you can see Burke Mountain off in the distance. The view from there, I think, is actually the best view in the Lower Mainland, although I think some of my colleagues from any of the Vancouver or Richmond ridings might want to dispute that, and I will take them up on this. The view from Ranch Park is of the Golden Ears Mountain, which is far more spectacular than the North Shore Mountains. It’s an underrated view. Most people don’t know that it exists, but it is a fabulous view from the east side of this mountain.

Ranch Park, interestingly, was built up mostly in the ’70s. It was intended — most people do not know this — to be much like the British Properties in West Vancouver. The vision of the developer was to build these acreage homes that would have sprawling gardens and long driveways. They actually named it Ranch Park, and all the names are ranch names — Lazy A and Saddle and all these very interesting sorts of names — to sit with the ranch theme.

The developer ran out of money and became really challenged to create the vision that they had. As a result, they had to parcel off some of the properties and make them smaller. So what you have in Ranch Park is a community of middle-class homes built in the ’70s where suburbia once thrived. It’s still thriving. Certainly, again, we’re challenged with increasing housing costs. So that neighbourhood, I suspect, will be a neighbourhood under transition.

I want to mention another community which is right next to Ranch Park. It’s called Riverview Heights. It has an interesting history. In 1984, the provincial government sold 57 hectares, or 141 acres, from the Riverview lands. Molnar developments bought it, and they developed an entire community called Riverview Heights.

They share the same view as Ranch Park. Of course, development at the time looked very different. When Ranch Park was developed, it was sold off one lot or two lots at a time, and developers were able to protect some of those second- and third-growth trees. So we have lots of fabulous big trees in one community.

Then, right next door, in this newer community that was built in the ’80s, what they did was they took down all the trees. They built the houses afterwards and then planted other trees. As a result, when you’re looking across at this mountain, you can see easily where Ranch Park is because you have these fabulous old trees, and you can see where Riverview Heights is because you really don’t see any trees. It’s quite a stark contrast.

[1610]

Riverview Heights initially had about 250 single-family homes. Those homes were larger than other homes. As a result, we have this really new community to Coquitlam-Maillardville. It is the newest part that was built up of Coquitlam-Maillardville.

Next to it, in my constituency, of course, is Riverview itself. It’s a fabulous 244-acre site. It is the home of the mental health facility that was built in the early 1900s, and, at its peak, had thousands and thousands of residents and thousands and thousands of staff who worked there. The shut-down process happened in the ’90s —
[ Page 9977 ]
pretty much shuttered about 15 years ago. Now it sits and it waits for what its next iteration is going to look like.

I know that there have been community consultations that have been undertaken over the last two years. What’s really interesting about this property is that the community of Coquitlam-Maillardville and the other parts of the Tri-Cities are really committed to making sure that this site remains a site dedicated for mental health for the province. There’s certainly a lot of anxiety, because it has become a focal point for the community.

You see, the lands there — all those 244 acres — are pretty pastoral. If members of this House haven’t been there, I would certainly invite them to come and take a look. It’s a very unique piece of property falling within Coquitlam-Maillardville, and it has some real potential to be a home for those living with mental illness or addiction, perhaps those living with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. There’s certainly lots of opportunity there, and the community is waiting to see what happens in terms of its next iteration.

I will say that in 2005, the city of Coquitlam task force committed to a process engaging the community, and they rejected the idea of any further housing on these lands. I look forward to seeing, sort of, how things play out over the coming years as determinations are made, what to do with this property.

What’s across from Riverview is Colony Farm. Colony Farm is another sort of interesting…. Well, it’s certainly an asset for Coquitlam-Maillardville. The First Nation lives just off of Colony Farm, the Kwikwetlem First Nation. They are a small group of people, part of the originators for Coquitlam-Maillardville. I guess they were the original inhabitants, part of the Coast Salish people. There are about 60 residents who live down there, who are part of my constituency. They have done an amazing job in terms of making sure that their community has its needs met.

They just built, I believe, four units of seniors housing. They have just put in some meeting and gathering space. They have worked really, really hard with the cities of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, as well as B.C. Hydro and Metro Vancouver, to really take a look at the river that provides sustenance for them and is a boundary for my constituency. They are working really hard to make sure that salmon can get back up that river that has been so challenged for over a hundred years. They are an important part of our constituency.

What I remember about the Kwikwetlem First Nation…. A number of years ago — I want to say 2005 or ’06, somewhere around there — there was some real concern about a big freshet runoff, and there was concern that the Coquitlam River was going to flood. Anyone who is familiar with the geography down along rivers is…. Anyone who lives down by the river is at risk for flooding. Of course, the Kwikwetlem First Nation — their housing is right there. They are in the flood plain.

What was impressive was that the call went out to the community that there was concern the Kwikwetlem First Nation was at risk for flooding. What I remember was that hundreds of people came down.

[1615]

We had an assembly line of people shovelling sand into bags and then moving the bags along to the river bank to make sure that our First Nation — their assets, their homes — were protected. That was my introduction to the leadership of the Kwikwetlem First Nation and to the kind of community that I live in and that I represent, and their commitment to supporting the Kwikwetlem First Nation.

As you follow the river around and along to the Fraser River, if you go from the Coquitlam River down to the Fraser River, you come to Pacific Reach. This is a neighbourhood of businesses. I think it’s important to recognize that we call them neighbourhoods.

I remember that when I was on city council there were certainly issues that came up around Pacific Reach, concerns around transportation, concerns around flooding, concerns around crime, that they were a target for crime — break and enter, theft. I remember meeting with a number of these businesses, talking with them and reminding them that they, too, are a neighbourhood.

In fact, if you think about it, people who work down there probably spend more time down there than they do in their homes. So we need to recognize that Pacific Reach, in and of itself, is a neighbourhood. This industrial area of Pacific Reach actually follows along and bumps back into the Fraser Mills area of the Fraser River, which was the heart of Coquitlam.

I think it’s really important to recognize that in Pacific Reach, in that part, we have some of the largest employers for Coquitlam. We have the Hard Rock Casino, which is located there. They have well over 600 employees. We also have Coca-Cola, Sony and the marine propulsion division of Rolls-Royce that are located down there. That’s one part. In the other part, we have lots of furniture stores, lots of retail stores. But most of the members who come down from the Interior, who come down from further away, will also know Coquitlam-Maillardville for our Ikea store. It is the biggest Ikea store out here, and people will see it right along the highway. That’s down in that part of my constituency.

When I think about Coquitlam-Maillardville, I think it’s important to recognize its history. I think in the history we get to really appreciate a constituency, what it’s all about and what it stands for. I don’t think we remember very well or very often that Coquitlam exists because it was part of the forest industry. Often, when we think about the forest industry, we think now of our current forests. We don’t think of our suburbs as ever having been a forest. Well, Coquitlam exists because of the forest industry.

In the early 1900s, the Fraser River Lumber Company, which eventually became the Canadian Western Lumber
[ Page 9978 ]
Company, recruited French-Canadian workers. They were recruited because they were forestry workers. They were known for their expertise in bringing down lumber, moving it into the mills and using the machinery there. The decision to hire workers from Quebec and parts of francophone Ontario was actually their strategy to replace Chinese, Japanese and South Asian workers, because they were considered temporary foreign workers. What they really wanted were people who were going to make this part of the world their home.

When they brought in the first 110 workers, they actually came with their families. We know that when workers come with their families, they can’t live in camps. It just doesn’t work for them. They need to live in homes. When they’re living in homes, you need to have schools. When you bring in workers of a particular faith, they need to have places to worship.

[1620]

What’s very interesting is that when these 110 workers and their families arrived in Fraser Mills on the 27th of September, 1909, they brought with them this need for all these other services and all these other programs. So Coquitlam started to evolve as a community in and of itself.

Now, the workers worked about ten hours a day, six days a week. In spite of all that, they managed to build houses, they built a French-language school, and of course, they built a Catholic church, just north of Fraser Mills. The church, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, was built just in time for the 1910 Christmas mass to be celebrated.

By 1913, this little francophone village had a population of more than 500 people. Now, I’ve seen photographs, and it’s quite fascinating. There, of course, were wood sidewalks, and there were horses and buggies.

When you take a look at Maillardville today, you can see just a handful of some of those old houses. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a very good heritage program that was in place through most of Coquitlam’s growth, which is really unfortunate, because the history is fascinating. Certainly, those photographs are quite fascinating.

What’s really interesting is that the village was really Fraser Mills village. It didn’t really have the name Maillardville until it was named after Father Maillard, who was an oblate who came from France to minister to this Catholic community. Father Maillard took care of the community, made sure that their needs were met. It became Maillardville because of who he was and his leadership.

Now, what’s interesting is that the residents at the time wanted it to be called Maillardville. They wanted it to be a city in its own right, but it never happened. It never became an independent municipality and always remained part of the district and then, of course, part of the city of Coquitlam, but it certainly has its own unique character.

This little French quarter became a central part of this young municipality and really the heart of it. The city hall was located there. It was like the seed, and the community just grew around it and around it. That’s where the bulk of the growth was.

French Canadians kept coming, and then others started to come. The others came because it’s a great place to raise a family. There were certainly lots of jobs at Fraser Mills. It was successful, and it was growing. The French population, though, became really challenged. It became challenged because so many other things were happening. Waves of immigrants were coming in. Today, when you walk around Coquitlam-Maillardville, you can actually see the change that’s happened over time.

We also had lots of intermarriages, where you would have French-speaking people who were marrying English-speaking people. Eventually, the commitment to the French language started to dissipate, and the French-language heritage and cultural institutions started to really, really struggle.

As a result, the descendants of those first francophones started to water down the French-language culture. And of course — something that we always struggle with — affordability became a problem. Families started to move out. They would go further east.

As a result, Maillardville itself is not the vibrant, French-speaking community that it once was. However, it is the historic French centre for Coquitlam and for British Columbia. It is the community that reminds us that we’re part of a French-speaking Canada.

There was certainly a reduction of employment available at Fraser Mills. Over time, it just became much more difficult to keep the mill open, and in 2001, they closed their doors. But there are many other employment opportunities, as I mentioned earlier, with all of these businesses down at Pacific Reach.

[1625]

There’s one in particular that I just want to mention. I’ve been in Coquitlam for over 20 years. This business had been operating for 17 years, and I didn’t know. It’s a sheet metal company. I was just so impressed with their commitment to staying local, with their commitment to hiring local residents and making sure that they are paying a living wage, making sure that they are training people, making sure that they remain a part of the community. It said, for me, just how our businesses value the contribution that our residents make.

It reminds me of some of the small businesses that are in my community. I want to take a moment to talk a little bit about the Austin Heights Business Improvement Association, because this is an organization that is so committed to these retail shops along Austin. These are mom-and-pop shops. These are franchisees that are working really hard to make their businesses work, and they are really an integral part of Coquitlam-Maillardville.

What I want to say about the Austin Heights Business Improvement Association is that they work really hard to make sure that the needs of residents are met, that their
[ Page 9979 ]
voice is heard when community plans are being changed, when Coquitlam council is doing its work. They make sure that the businesses have their needs met around crime reduction, around beautification, around just making sure that they can thrive.

We all know that when people pull together and businesses pull together, they can all thrive when they are all moving in the same direction. The Austin Heights Business Improvement Association works really hard in my constituency to make sure that those businesses are thriving businesses.

There’s one other neighbourhood that I want to mention that’s in my constituency, and that’s the Wildwood neighbourhood. This is a neighbourhood of about 250-some-odd manufactured homes. It is located right at the cusp between Maillardville and Pacific Reach. It’s sort of right at the edge of the community.

I had the pleasure of visiting there this last weekend. It is a community that is really committed to taking care of each other. I just want to share with the House…. I suspect that everybody has one of these in their communities, or many of these in their communities, where people really watch out for each other, where they come together not because someone is paid to bring them together but because they want to come together.

In this community, there are about 500 people. On the first Sunday of every month, they do a pancake breakfast. They gather in their little community hall. There are a few, mostly gentlemen, who cook up the eggs, make the bacon or sausage, flip the pancakes, and for $4, you come in as a community. You get a fabulous cup of coffee, I have to say. Hon. Speaker, I’m sure that you have been to some of these community groups, and the coffee sometimes isn’t great. But they actually had amazing coffee, which blew me away.

You sit with your neighbours, and you talk about what’s going on in the community. You can talk about what your challenges are. You can talk about your celebrations and really just get to know your neighbours.

Just this last weekend, they had a Halloween party. If I had known that they were having a Halloween party, I might have gone because there was a competition for the best costume. Some members of the House know that I’m pretty competitive. I would love to have dressed up and perhaps have had a shot at the best costume.

They also, once a month, get together for a Friday night chicken dinner. They really support the coming together of community. They also play crib once a week, and bingo. I didn’t know this. I don’t know if I hadn’t been paying attention or what the case is. But I was just so impressed by their willingness to come together and to take care of each other. In talking with some of these residents, they actually said that it’s really helped them to integrate, really helped them by getting to know their neighbours and really feel like they belong somewhere.

[1630]

What’s really interesting is that when people know their neighbours, when people know what’s going on, they’re more likely to keep an eye out for them, take care of them and protect them.

There are a couple of other highlights in my community that I’d like to mention. I have some fabulous parks in my constituency. I have Mundy Park, which is one of the largest urban parks in greater Vancouver. It is, I think, the crown jewel of my constituency. It is a place for peace. It’s a place for running. It’s a place for taking your dogs off leash. It’s a place for baseball. It’s a place for Frisbee. It’s a place for swimming. It is a place for just communing with nature. I know that all the members in this House are very jealous of this fabulous park that I have in Coquitlam-Maillardville.

One last mention I want to make is that Dave Barrett, who was a Premier here, hails from my constituency. I think that’s something that all Coquitlam residents are very proud of, that we have a Premier who came from our constituency.

You can see, hon. Speaker, like the rest of the members here, I am incredibly proud to represent Coquitlam-Maillardville. There are some changing boundaries in my constituency. I understand that. That we have the opportunity to represent 58,351 people in Coquitlam-Maillardville is an honour for me. I look forward to supporting this bill as it moves forward in this House.

J. Martin: It’s good to be back as we continue the discussion on the changes to electoral boundaries. I’m sure no stone will be unturned by the time we’re all done with this piece of legislation.

First off, one more time, I would like to thank the members of the Electoral Boundaries Commission for their exemplary work in crafting their fine, fine report. It is a thorough report. It is thoughtful. It is sensitive to the realities of a very large province with densely populated urban areas and vast rural regions where communities are often many, many kilometres apart and sparsely populated in between.

As we all know by now, there will be boundary changes to 48 ridings, including substantial changes in the Fraser Valley, the Hope-Princeton area and the Comox Valley and mid–Vancouver Island region.

The riding I represent will largely follow the current boundaries with a few changes. Specifically, I’m losing a piece of my riding. It is being shifted to the neighbouring Chilliwack-Hope riding. I’m losing a residential area known as Sardis Park. I’m sad to see it go. It’s a beautiful community. I’ve got some good friends there. It’s a pleasant place to visit. That’s the site of one of the farmers markets in the area. That’s unfortunate, but we accept that these boundaries are going to shift from time to time, and we’ll all make the necessary adjustments. Basically, my riding is going to be, for the most part, the same as it was before. There’ll be a minor shift.
[ Page 9980 ]

This act recommends an increase in the number of electoral districts in B.C. by two. We’re going to 87 from 85. There are two new ridings, in Surrey and the Richmond–New Westminster area. That should be interesting. It should be even more interesting when we find the means to add two more desks into this chamber. I’m glad I’m not part of the committee tasked with finding out how we go about doing that.

Beautiful British Columbia is thriving, and our population is growing. It’s no surprise that people from other parts of Canada want to live here. They would like to come and take advantage of job opportunities, set down roots in our beautiful province. Others are coming here to retire, because they know that the standard of living is second to none across the country.

People from across Canada want to come to a province that has a stable, disciplined government that sees the value in balancing its budget year after year and all the benefits and all the possibilities that come with that.

Our government has introduced legislation to adopt all of the Electoral Boundaries Commission’s recommendations. This will ensure that British Columbians are effectively represented in both urban and rural areas of the province.

[1635]

We live in a province with dense and growing urban areas and more remote northern and rural regions, and it’s incumbent on all of us to ensure that British Columbians are represented appropriately. We plan to retain districts in the north, the Cariboo-Thompson and Columbia-Kootenay regions, to ensure that British Columbians in these jurisdictions that are less densely populated — yet they’re large, sprawling districts — can still be effectively represented by their MLAs.

I’m reminded that it wasn’t that long ago that some members of this House were against a bill that protected the number of northern and rural ridings. Now, we discussed amendments to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act that required that no reductions in electoral districts can occur in B.C.’s north, the Cariboo-Thompson and Columbia-Kootenay regions, but many members of this House did speak out against that.

Members representing the large, mostly rural ridings of Columbia River–Revelstoke, Kootenay West, Nelson-Creston, Stikine and Skeena were not supportive of the bill. That suggests to me that they were putting the interests of their urban colleagues ahead of the needs of their very own constituents. This despite the fact that, for instance, Skeena is one of the ridings that was being protected even though it has a relatively small population.

We saw opposition MLAs from northern and rural regions who should have been standing with us in making it clear that it’s critical that we protect those ridings and give residents of small, rural and remote communities proper access to their MLAs and all the services that come out of the MLA constituency offices. We all know, each and every one of us, how essential those services are in such a democracy as the one we’re so privileged to live in.

Politics was not even a consideration for government in preparing this legislation, despite the member for Columbia River–Revelstoke saying in this House last February that we were interfering in the work of the Electoral Boundaries Commission. No, we were not. The member for Nelson-Creston accused the government of gerrymandering the electoral boundaries for political gain. No, we were not. This side, the government, wants to ensure that British Columbians living in the rural areas of British Columbia have effective representation. That is common sense. There is nothing mysterious or nefarious about it.

In a province as large and geographically diverse as ours, occasionally there will be some departures from equal representation by population because it’s necessary. I think the commission has done an exceptional job, under difficult and trying and challenging circumstances, of balancing the population while also taking the community interests into account. We gave the independent commission the ability to adjust the boundaries of all electoral districts while preserving, at the same time, the existing number of districts in northern and rural regions. This was not an easy task — to balance democratic representation with geography. It was challenging.

The independent commission has weighed every factor and ensured every British Columbian will have effective representation in the next election and beyond. And the time will come when we will have to revisit the boundaries once again. British Columbia’s population is going to continue to grow because more and more people are going to come to British Columbia. They understand that this is the very best place to be. We want to welcome those people, and we want to see that each and every one of them is fairly represented. Whether they want to live in an urban setting or whether they want to be in the great outdoors in a rural setting, they’re going to be coming to British Columbia. That has been underway for a while.

If I just may, in conclusion, note that that is very, very different than the 1990s, when there were lineups to rent U-Hauls because everyone was leaving British Columbia to get away. The population was shrinking. Well, the exact opposite is underway today. I’m very happy to support this legislation. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak to it once again, hon. Speaker.

L. Popham: It’s always a treat to follow the member from Chilliwack when he jabs us with little barbs at the end of his speech. So acknowledged. Thank you very much, but I don’t think that it’s true. I’d like to point out that U-Hauls are probably more in use these days than they were in the 1990s, unless you mean U-Hauls bringing people into B.C.

I’d like to start out my speech with a love poem for Saanich South.
[ Page 9981 ]

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.

[1640]

I absolutely love my constituency of Saanich South. As the Agriculture critic, I travel the rest of the province, and I do see other constituencies which I immediately fall in love with. But while I’m away from home, I often think back to my own constituency and the 50,000 or so people that I represent and always feel a huge sense of responsibility.

When I was elected, I hadn’t envisioned myself in the role of MLA or in the role of representing people at the provincial level. When it happened, I found it was an enormous weight that I was carrying — so much pride and such a sense of responsibility. The role that I have been given by my constituents is one that I’ll always be grateful for. It’s been an amazing experience.

Saanich South is an interesting constituency, because it doesn’t necessarily have what is traditionally thought of as a downtown core or an industrial area. It’s half rural and half urban. It’s connected by smaller roadways and highways. It’s an amazing place that also incorporates alternative transportation routes like bikeways. There’s a lot of history regarding how Saanich got to the way that it was.

I have an amazing municipality, the municipality of Saanich. I’m only half of Saanich. I represent half of the municipality of Saanich in my provincial role. We have a municipality that takes its heritage very, very seriously and has an archives that you can pull a lot of information out of. Even within our own rural community plan, there’s an interesting section on how Saanich became Saanich and the things that led to it as far as planning goes.

I’m going to just read a little bit of the history. It’s a history that may have been repeated around the province but in a unique way in Saanich. The gold rush. We are far from the gold rush, in some ways, but affected by it as well.

Even before that, our history was very rich with First Nations history. For thousands of years, the Coast Salish people inhabited the Saanich Peninsula. The Songhees and the Saanich First Nations used the area for hunting, fishing and gathering plants. In the 1850s, James Douglas, as chief factor of Fort Victoria and governor of the colony of Vancouver Island, purchased land around Victoria, Saanich and Sooke from the aboriginal people.

In 1858, gold discoveries along the Fraser River changed Fort Victoria from an itinerant fur-trading post to a colonial settlement. The colony of Vancouver Island granted settlers 100 acres for single men and 200 acres for married couples. By 1863, the stagecoach to Saanich became a daily service, leaving the city in the morning by way of the west road to North Saanich and returning in the evening by the east road. More frequent service encouraged farming, logging and land speculation. Saanich forests supported several sawmills back then — at Royal Oak, Prospect Lake, Cordova Bay and Durrance Lake. All of those areas now are within Saanich South, the riding that I represent. That’s what we call rural Saanich.

Beginning in 1896, the construction of three railroads through Saanich generated significant changes in land use. The Victoria and Sidney, B.C. Electric interurban and the Canadian Northern Pacific railroads were built in response to a pre–World War I land boom, but 40 years of competition and improved road connections on the peninsula hastened their demise. We have a biking trail right now that’s called the Interurban Trail. I use it frequently. It’s interesting when you’re riding along and you know that you’re riding on a railroad base from years gone by.

As early as 1862, land in the Beaver and Elk lakes area was surveyed with a view to implement a water supply system for the whole city of Victoria. The Water Works Act of 1873 confirmed Elk Lake as the city’s main domestic water source, and the project was completed in 1879.

[1645]

Over the next 30 years, the city bought 408 acres around the lake for water reservoir use. After Elk Lake was discontinued as a water reservoir in favour of Sooke Lake, which we use today, the remaining lands were established as a regional park in 1967.

Residents of the South Saanich electoral district successfully petitioned for incorporation in 1906. Seven wards were established by the province of B.C. to ensure representation by geographic areas and to allow farming in rural areas to have a voice in local government.

Following the abolition of the ward system in 1949, the most northerly and rural ward was granted succession and became the district of Central Saanich. Saanich South ends right at the border of Central Saanich and Saanich, and my own driveway is the very last driveway in Saanich.

By 1995, the district of Saanich had expanded its western boundary to include all of Heal’s Rifle Range, which I’ll be talking about later, and the Hartland Landfill areas that were previously part of the Langford electoral areas.

Now, the Hartland Landfill, of course, is the place where we deal with our recycling and our garbage right now for our whole region. It’s a big responsibility that Saanich has and leads to many conversations about how we should deal with our garbage, how we should deal with our compost system.

It’s a very well-run operation out at Hartland, and one of the most interesting things about it is the way that you can tour it and not even realize that you’re in a landfill, it’s taken such good care of. You can actually go on a tour just for enjoyment. I don’t know how many people can say that about their dump, but we like to tour it and use it as an attraction because we’re so proud of it.

Now, the geographic areas of Saanich South are very diverse. We are on the Strait of Georgia where we would go along Cordova Bay, along a beach area. We would head into the Mount Doug Park area, which is very treed
[ Page 9982 ]
and protected, cutting over along McKenzie Avenue, which is the main road that goes to the University of Victoria.

I represent Saanich South on one side of McKenzie. On the other side, across the four lanes of traffic, my colleague who represents Swan Lake…. We often share events, because we are only separated by a roadway, so that makes it very convenient. We just went to an event together called the Braefoot Association fundraiser, which is a recreational facility that has attendance from people in both of our constituencies — a very successful recreational facility in our areas.

I go all the way over to an area called Willis Point. Now, Willis Point is on the other side of my constituency. People say that they might only see me over there every four years, but it’s not by choice. It’s actually what they like. It’s a very private community, and if you door-knock in that area during an election, you’re going to get a workout.

It is the hilliest area that you’ll find in Saanich South, and you definitely need to wear hiking boots if you’re going to go up and down those driveways. But it’s a beautiful area. They have a volunteer fire department there, an active community association and very engaged residents. They’re engaged, but they like to be private.

If you’ve really got a lot of energy and you want to go out and have a visit, you could take your bike. The road to Willis Point from West Saanich Road is a road that many people who are training for triathlons use because the hills are so enormous and there are lakes along the way that you can actually take a swim in if you get too hot. It’s a beautiful area.

Saanich South also represents a very interesting ecological situation as far as fresh water goes. We have many lakes — Beaver Lake and Elk Lake, of course. Now, Beaver Lake and Elk Lake are the most well-known lakes in that area.

Elk Lake is the home to our Olympic men’s rowing team, and we’re very proud of it. It’s a jewel in our constituency. Many events happen there, and I’m very proud of the gold medals that have come from that lake. Because it’s such a unique area that lends itself to athletics, we also have many triathlons in that area annually, and it’s always great to be involved.

[1650]

I don’t compete in triathlons myself, but I’ll be at the end of the line and congratulate every person that comes across that finish line — put a medal over their head, for one of them. I can tell you that I might not run in that marathon or compete, but I’m covered in sweat by the end of that event, but it’s not my own.

Elk Lake is a very important lake to us, but the water quality of that lake has been affected in different ways over the years. In fact, just last week, last Thursday, there was a meeting that was hosted by the UVic Environmental Law Centre and the Victoria Golden Rods and Reels Society regarding the water quality and the concerns that people have.

It’s acknowledged that the water quality is declining, and the reason is because we have excess phosphorus, which is causing blooms of potentially toxic blue-green algae. If you’re taking a walk around the lake, you’ll see signs that were put out because the algae that is in there is an electric blue colour and is actually quite toxic to pets, so we’re required to keep our dogs out of the lake. We all know that dogs like to swim, so that’s not always possible. It is a serious situation having the toxic blue-green algae. We used to be able to have a polar bear swim there, but the water quality is questionable, so we haven’t been able to have that for the last two years.

When the group got together on Thursday, one of the things that they wanted to talk about was why the lake is becoming toxic and what’s happening with the water. Of course, we always have suspected and known that septic fields, which are around that lake…. It’s a rural area, so many people are on septic fields and well water.

We have septic fields, fertilizers, some agricultural activity upstream and stormwater runoff. The lake is right on the Pat Bay Highway, so you will get pollution from the highway as well. The accumulation of all of those things is changing the acidity of the lake and changing the chemistry of the lake. It’s an important thing to address.

We have a remote-controlled sailboat club that operates out of there, and these remote-controlled boats have rudders on the bottom. Because of the algae bloom and the milfoil that are in the lake, it actually stops the competition from happening. We might lose that club at the lake because of the change in the acidity.

Of course, it doesn’t take finger-pointing to solve a problem like that. In Saanich South, we are known to work together, to be collaborative. At the meeting on Thursday, we had rowers, swimmers, fishing enthusiasts, conservation groups, scientists, law students, government officials and residents all meeting to kick off a campaign to restore Elk Lake.

One of the things that people considered was to use mechanical aeration of the lake water to release some of the phosphorus that is changing the water, to stir up a little bit of the bottom sediment. That would inhibit algae growth. That’s one of the ideas.

Weed harvesting you would see in other lakes in other regions. They have mechanical weed harvesters. Some people are harvesting it and then using it agriculturally, so it’s a win-win in some cases. In Seattle’s Green Lake, they chose to add alum to the lake to inactivate the phosphorus. I don’t know the environmental effects of doing that, but apparently, Seattle has taken that on.

Then, of course, the other thing that we have considered is to enhance and improve and increase all of the wetlands that surround the lake. We have different waterways coming into that lake. Of course, we all know that
[ Page 9983 ]
if you can slow it down and put it through some sort of environmental system, a natural system, it’s a really great way to clean the water, so that’s one of the things that they were talking about as well.

With all of these groups together, hopefully, there will be an action plan. I know that there’s a campaign to increase awareness, and it’s very important. There are people that have tremendous history and are very committed to the environmental health of this region. One of the things that’s really amazing about representing the 50,000 people in Saanich South is that there’s an enormous diversity of views. One of the strongest views is around the health of our environment.

[1655]

Walking through my door in Saanich South into my MLA office, it may be a little bit different than other areas that have different things they are grappling with. Of course, we do get things coming through the door that are common to all MLAs. We help people with housing problems, with navigating the provincial government. We have a lot of that.

Very often we’ll have people that walk through the door that want to be inspired and want some assistance. “How do we bring issues that our community is passionate about and raise the awareness in a way that isn’t necessarily negative but has a little bit of tone of activist associated with it?” This is what happened a year and a half ago with an amazing group that were dedicated to protecting a lake called Maltby Lake.

Now, Maltby Lake is this incredible lake. If you know Saanich at all, where the Interurban campus of Camosun College…. If you go up in that general direction, it’s this beautiful lake that is behind Prospect Lake. This lake is only 12 kilometres away from the Legislature, but when you’re there, you feel like you’re in the middle of a different world.

Maltby Lake has been protected forever, luckily, because of the residents that have been there and made conscious choices to dedicate their lives to protecting this lake. Environmental stewards Woody and Carmel Thomson received an award just last year because of the protection that they’ve given this lake.

The lake is filled with fresh, clean water. It’s continually recharged by three separate underground springs, so the water in this lake really is pristine. It’s the headwaters of the Todd Creek watershed, which is the major watercourse in Saanich and vital to 21 kilometres of watercourse, 29 wetlands and five other lakes, including Prospect Lake, which has also had pollution problems. As we deal with septic tank issues and other runoff issues in that area, the health of that lake is recovering — slowly, but it is.

Critical to Maltby Lake’s health is 172 acres of almost completely undisturbed forest that surrounds it. The forest is mature, and it’s wild. It has Pacific yews, dogwoods and large Garry oaks. There’s even a 600-year-old Douglas fir tree that lives in there. It’s the largest of its kind in Saanich, and people actually hike in to have their photo taken with it.

This precious ecosystem is home to thousands of species, including one that, when I learned about it, took my breath away. It’s the first time I had ever heard about it, even though it was in my backyard. That’s the freshwater jellyfish. The freshwater jellyfish has been living in this lake for thousands of years. It cannot live in a lake where there’s any pollution. It has to be pristine. Freshwater jellyfish — very, very interesting.

Of course, it’s also home to horned owls, red-tailed hawks and purple martins. It’s long been protected by the private owners that surround it. The Land Conservancy, which controlled roughly about a third of the area, agreed to sell their investment to the environmental stewards that I mentioned, Woody and Carmel, just this year. This is a relief to many residents of Saanich because the threat of development, which could have happened, would have absolutely ruined this lake. It is so sensitive that it cannot have any development around it.

One of the boundaries of Saanich South is the Saanich Inlet. If anybody has gone out on the water in Saanich Inlet, you’ll know that this is a beautiful, beautiful inlet. It used to be one of the best fishing areas in this area. Some of the oldtimers will come into my office and tell me about the days when they could just put a line in and get a fish every five minutes. You have to try a little bit harder these days, but there are still fish in that inlet. It’s a wonderful place to hang out.

The Butchart Gardens, we all know, is one of our world-class attractions on the peninsula. That’s outside of my constituency. You have to go past Butchart Gardens to get into the heart of the Saanich Inlet. We get a lot of traffic up that inlet when it’s fireworks season in the summer, at Butchart Gardens. It gets a lot of use, and it’s very important to keep that protected as well.

[1700]

The geography of that peninsula and the topography that connects the water are of great interest. It’s a glacially carved fjord, and it stretches between the peninsula and the Malahat. It’s a very interesting piece of topography. I believe it’s a natural resource, and it needs to be protected. The marine diversity in that area is quite unique.

As we see potential industrial development being proposed in that area, it has to be weighed out with the environmental values. I think that we see that discussion happening, whether it is a cement plant — Bamberton, years ago — or whether we’re talking about LNG. The environmental sensitivity of this peninsula and this inlet is very, very important.

If you don’t have a conversation about that when you’re talking about industrial development, then you’re really not staying true to the people that live in that area. They do believe that the environmental worth of the inlet and the peninsula is worth more than a short-term gain.
[ Page 9984 ]

There are some very interesting things in my constituency as well. One of them is the Heal’s Rifle Range. I live out on Old West Saanich Road. It’s quite a quaint area. It’s very rural. We call it the Sunday driving road because people go out there for a Sunday drive. There are no lines in the middle of the road. It’s just a one-laner in many places.

You could be having dinner on a quiet summer evening on a Saturday night, and all of a sudden, it sounds like you’re in the middle of a war zone. The rifle range starts up at night, and you hear machine guns going off. So that’s quite unusual.

Heal’s Rifle Range is operated by the Department of National Defence and owned by the Crown. Heal’s Rifle Range was once a seasonal lake and marsh, and it was used by the First Nations. The land was taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company and eventually sold in 1860 to a couple named Fred and Charlie Heal — hence, Heal’s Rifle Range. They farmed the land out there, and they leased it.

The Sisters of St. Ann, who we are familiar with in Victoria, also purchased some of the Heal property and grew vegetables there for St. Joseph’s Hospital. During World War II, it became a military range, and it was used for grenade training. Today it remains in active use for training. I don’t think I hear grenades there, but I definitely hear the machine guns.

Another part of Saanich South that is unique is that we house the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre. As my colleagues will well know, prisoners in Canada do not lose their right to vote. For the purpose of determining their constituency, Elections B.C. considers their current residency to be where they lived before they went to jail. In other words, the residents of a correctional facility do not vote for the MLA in whose jurisdiction the facility is located unless they lived in that constituency before they were incarcerated.

There’s a significant regional correctional centre in Saanich South. The name is the Wilkinson Road jail. You’re probably familiar with that. The unique fact about the Wilkinson Road jail is that it’s the oldest jail in B.C., opened in 1913.

During the First World War, the jail housed prisoners of war and offenders against the Naval Discipline Act. After World War I, it was converted into a psychiatric hospital. Inmates had livestock and grew their own vegetables. There was a prison farm there.

In the early 1980s, the complex was expanded. Today it’s a maximum security institution. On average, it’s supposed to hold about 300 prisoners. As a provincial facility, it can’t hold people for more than two years.

Having it be the oldest jail, from 1913, and looking back to that time where the land that surrounded the prison was used to provide food for the prison.… It’s an interesting reflection of what people are talking about now as far as institutional procurement and providing food for institutions. That we as a province pay for the food is interesting.

[1705]

I know that there have been some therapeutic studies around that prison — prisoners working on farmland and growing food and what that does to them as far as their mental health. There are very positive studies in that regard that are worth looking at.

Now, we also have some interesting…. One of the things that I worked on very hard…. Although it’s federal, we have the Herzberg observatory and telescope in Saanich South. I’ve often stood in this chamber and talked about how Saanich South is the centre of the universe. Well, I believe it is the centre of the universe, but we also have an observatory that has been operating for over a hundred years in Saanich South.

A few years ago there were some cuts, federally, to public access to education at the observatory, and it was a sad day for us in Saanich South. That observatory…. Most of our kids who have grown up in the region have visited that facility as part of their science education — many stories of kids going up for the day and being able to look at this amazing Plaskett telescope. It is over 100 years old, yet still the technology is one of the best.

There have been some upgrades, of course, but to think that we brought that telescope lens up the mountain, Little Saanich Mountain, by horse…. It is quite amazing that we still can use that today after a hundred years. It’s a beautiful, beautiful building. It’s a beautiful site up there.

When the funding was cut — it’s a huge reflection of the types of constituents that are in Saanich South and our region — people didn’t want to see it close. There was a lot of disappointment, and there was some anger that the federal government couldn’t see the value of science and education for the public.

Instead of just giving up, we were able to organize, through many groups coming together, a major friendly protest, so to speak. Basically, the last day that the observatory was open to the public we had a petition at the bottom of Little Saanich Mountain. Even though people knew that they wouldn’t have access to the mountain, because the capacity would have been too full, we had cars lined up forever along West Saanich Road — so much so that it created its own roadblock. People waited for hours to sign the petition and to say: “We want access to this observatory. We don’t want it to close. It’s important to us.”

Unfortunately, the public part of it closed. But from this gathering of people and the petition that was signed, we had enough awareness that was formed that groups got together, and volunteers now have opened the public access, in partnership with some federal government funding for security. It’s not what it was, but it’s certainly a start.

Now that there has been a change in federal government, maybe there will be some rethought, a rethink, to closing down public access to science. I know there have
[ Page 9985 ]
been election promises made, and it would make people of this region very happy to be able to bring our students in the public school system and the private school system up to this federal facility in order for our kids to engage in science.

Kids love science, I think. I think in any unit in the younger grades, kids are intrigued by it, because a lot of it can be hands on. It’s my view — a very, very strong view — that if we don’t include hands-on access to science, like the observatory, we won’t be able to inspire kids to carry on and be scientists as they grow up and choose that as a career. It’s incredibly important.

That’s one of the things. I always think of the things that inspire my constituents, and it’s always very positive — solutions, problem-solving.

S. Hammell: As always, it’s a pleasure to stand in this House and join the debate, in particular around this bill, Bill 42, the Electoral Districts Act.

This bill is the culmination of a significant amount of work, both in this House and in the community. It began when the initial terms of reference were established by government and then debated in this House.

[1710]

The terms were controversial then. I think it has been mentioned in the House during the debates that we’ve had. A significant portion of the province — almost half, I think — was off-limits to the commission in the sense that when it considered new boundaries, this part of the province was frozen, and any new boundaries had to be only in the urban centres. Some sections of the province — in fact, almost half — could not be touched, and therefore, all changes had to be more towards the southern end of the province.

The terms of reference were debated and passed, and the task of reconfiguring the boundaries was left in the good hands and capable hands of the commission.

It is, every once in a while, worth noting what the commission was about and what the context of this whole process is. After every second provincial general election, a new Boundaries Commission is appointed to overlook the boundaries and to see what kind of change has taken place in the province during those ten years. There is a fundamental principle that we operate on — one person, one vote. We also know that in the province, there is a difference in the way growth takes place. Some places grow significantly more. Other places, there’s actually a loss of population. That needs to be looked over every ten years.

The Electoral Boundaries Commission Act, the act on which all these decisions are founded, requires that every ten years a British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission be created and that commission be comprised of a retired judge of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, who is nominated by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council — in other words, the cabinet. Then a person who is not a member of the Legislature or an employee of the government is nominated by the Speaker of the Legislature after consultation with the Premier and consultation with the Leader of the Official Opposition. I think that was a little weak in parts of it, as we moved towards this commission. The third person is the Chief Electoral Officer.

That, of course, is Keith Archer, who is currently the Chief Electoral Officer. On May 29, the other two people were appointed. One of them was Mr. Justice Thomas Melnick, justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who was nominated as the chair; and Beverley Busson, OBC, the former Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Those three people made up the commission, and their decisions were to be made based on the direction given by the Legislature, which was the bill that we previously debated.

Part of their mandate was to look at whether we needed to add more seats to the Legislature, but they were limited to only adding two seats. They also were told they could not reduce the number of seats from 85 to, maybe, 60. That wasn’t an option.

The Electoral Boundaries Commission was struck. Those three people were put in place, and their work began.

[1715]

I do think we all can send a great big thanks to the work that was done by these three people. It was a job well done. Given the mandate and given the restrictions in terms of their mandate and being limited to only a particular part of the province, the work they did was well done.

I don’t think we can overemphasize the importance of the work they did and how important the independent nature of the process they took on was. This is so critical to the integrity of our democracy and our democratic system. We have experienced, in the past, some less sort of embracing of independence of the commission. I just think that this process…. Despite the fact that there was a frozen section of the province, the process around which the commission acted was independent, and it was very well done.

This House — we’ve not only debated the motion; we are now debating the bill — has been…. There has been a lot of discussion around past processes that did go very, very wrong and, in fact, that went so wrong they made, often, a mockery out of the whole process of democracy.

When you have a motive where your first and primary responsibility is not to the citizen of the province but, in fact, to you or to serve first the incumbents…. When you’re moving into a redistribution process, to serve the people who are currently elected or the people who are in power and want to stay in power…. If that is the primary motive of the operation of the redistribution, then I think it can go very, very wrong.

We have — people have mentioned it in the House before — a process to the south of us where out of the
[ Page 9986 ]
possible redistribution processes, there are only seven that are independent. As a consequence, the creating of boundaries can get quite wild and wonderful from a kind of jigsaw puzzle point of view.

The politicians, when the process is not independent, are usually deeply involved in the process, and they have a very strong interest in the results. When you think about the fact that…. If we’re talking about the States, that means there are only seven that are really independent. That means there are 43 or 44 commissions that are actually manipulated by the politicians. The consequence of that, over time, has been seeing very little change in terms of the number of people who move in and out of the electoral process. It tends to stalemate and stop the refreshing of the people that are in power.

For us, the whole process of having an independent commission is reasonably new. There have been some pretty wild and wonderful examples of processes that were not independent.

I think the member for Vancouver-Kingsway quoted from James Morton’s biography of John Oliver, one of the former provincial Premiers. That quote he made is worth repeating. The process that we read him engaging in is quite interesting and probably not too dissimilar to what happened with our independent commission, minus the technology of all the computers that speed up the process now.

I’ll just take one moment to repeat this rather engaging description of how boundaries were redrawn in the past. To make this quote significant, you have to really understand it’s the Premier that’s actually doing this.

[1720]

To quote from James Morton:

“Oliver set to work with voters lists, maps and brushes and paint. The latter were John’s own selected tools. He took a big map of the province, divested himself of coat and waistcoat and went at it. He spread the maps on the floor and remodelled them to his heart’s desire. With one colour he marked the boundaries of the districts that should stand as they were. With another, he depicted those that should be enlarged, and with another, those that should be reduced according to the fluctuations in the numbers of votes, as carefully worked out from the lists. By the time he got through, his map looked like a jagged Joseph’s coat, but it suited his purpose, and he was proud of his handiwork.”

Well, the only sort of real striking problem with this process is that you have the Premier of the province actually redrawing the maps, and I’m sure it was in no large or small way precisely to his benefit. I think that whenever we see politicians up to their arms in the redistribution process, it does signal that there is a problem with the integrity of our democracy. We have, besides the frozen part of this map, had three independent commissioners who have done work, I think, that we can all look at and support.

Our three commissioners are not politicians, but I’m sure that they struggled with the map and the boundaries and where each piece should be, just as John Oliver did with his paintbrush. We know that drawing boundaries and moving maps around and trying to figure out what’s in the best interest of the province is a difficult task.

I do think it’s worth noting the kind of work they did do. I’m sure it’s been said in the House here before, but in phase 1 of the work, they had 29 community hearings. All of us in this House have been, I’m sure, in public hearings. I remember in particular being on one about recall and initiative, which went around the province talking about whether the province should initiate recall and initiatives. They are quite long, and people have a right and want to express their opinion.

When it comes to the boundaries around their area, they…. There were 128 presenters in those 29 communities. Obviously, in some areas there was a great deal of interest and maybe not so much in others. But they also, in that very initial phase, received 295 written submissions. What the commission did was go out into the community and hear the concerns from around the community that people were bringing to bear on this task.

Probably, that process was a little bit more complicated than the one John Oliver did. He probably didn’t really ask a lot of people about where he should draw his coloured lines.

But in the long run, after the first set of discussions and testing the waters out in the community, the commission published a report. The report was published, and then there was the reaction to the report. Every time I’ve witnessed — and I have witnessed a number — electoral commissions, the reaction is far more visceral than it is in the initial discussion in preparing the report. Like now people know that this is serious, that the game is on, that there’s now an actual report and a set of maps where there are lines drawn.

[1725]

Particularly, the politicians react because now they know how this process is going to personally impact them. I’ve witnessed…. I believe that the politicians have much more interest in where those little lines drop on the map than anybody else does. Therefore, as politicians, we are in a huge conflict of interest, because what we are talking about and what we are pontificating on is, in fact, very, very clearly in our interest to go one way or the other, based on what the process has been and what the results have been in terms of the map.

We now have phase 2, and the commissioners have gone through the map. They’ve heard from the people. They’ve read the written submissions, and I’m sure they’ve played around with the map. I can just see all of that process taking place. They finally commit to drawing the lines on the map, and they publish that report.

Now they go into phase 2, and they go into 15 community hearings. They get 144 presentations. So they’re up, in terms of presentations, from the first time. Instead of 295 written presentations, they get 426 written presentations. The commission has caught the attention of…. I submit that they largely caught the attention of the pol-
[ Page 9987 ]
iticians. They then absorb and take back into consideration these issues, as presented to them, and prepare a final report. Then it has come to us as this motion.

It is quite a process. The process remains completely positive and full of integrity, as long as these three commissioners are independent. I remember going back to them when they met and had hearings from us in Victoria and saying to them that in all of my years in…. I’ve been in a number of processes where the boundaries around me have changed, as a politician, and not one of them has been easy. I think, in fact, this one is about the easiest.

I sometimes lose half of my constituency in a move somewhere else. All the time, my boundaries have shrunk. You become, as a person, very attached to your constituency as it stands. So when somebody is messing with it, you tend to react — and sometimes overreact.

They took a look at all of the material that came back to them, and they more or less held firm on their boundaries. They tweaked it, as a good set of commissioners would here. But on the whole, they had made decisions that were sound and stood, to their point of view, the test of time, the test of the second examination.

They’ve now come back to us. Obviously, this is Bill 42, and it’s creating the boundaries that, in fact, will be used in the next election. Quite a process, if you think about it, and one that I think we can have confidence in, especially given that we have confidence in the commissioners and in the independence of the process. Quite a change from a number of processes in the past.

I think the one that has, over time, been the one that has been most reflected on is the episode with… I think it was Eckardt. I’m not sure. But there was a commission that created Gracie’s finger, this infamous, long tract of land that ran along some of the wealthiest communities in Vancouver, attaching itself to Little Mountain, if I recall.

[1730]

[R. Chouhan in the chair.]

That ensured that the member in Little Mountain at that time would be re-elected. It was always the example brought forward when anyone was talking about gerrymandering. It became legendary, in terms of its example, of what shouldn’t be done in terms of the commission.

I do want to just move to a second principle. I think the first principle of having a map that people can feel comfortable and confident with is one that has been drawn by an independent commission and commissioners. If all of us are secure and comfortable with the commissioners, then we will, in the end, be comfortable with the map. But there is another principle that operates in terms of drawing our maps.

I think it is interesting to note that, again, in the States, you do have what is significant interference with the electoral redistribution process in many, many of the states. They operate, however, on a different principle, around one person, one vote. I think there was someone from the States — and I don’t recall the person’s name; I think it was a justice — who made quite a strong statement around one person, one vote and became quite a champion of that principle and often gave the example of the fact that trees don’t vote and farmhouses don’t vote but people vote and that the principle of one person, one vote is embedded in the equity of the whole process of elections.

Our country has deviated from that principle to a significant, I think, proportion. What we have seen federally…. The Supreme Court of Canada has dictated that the electoral process not deviate much more than 25 percent plus or minus. So my vote can’t be much more than 25 percent less than somebody else’s or more than somebody else’s. Embedded in the rules for our commission was this whole notion around one person, one vote. The commission, in previous times, pretty much, had rested on the 25 percent up-and-down principle except under very special circumstances.

But this time, the commission was directed by the Electoral Boundaries Commission acts. It instructed them that the principle of representation by population be achieved, recognizing the imperatives imposed by geography, demographic realities, the legacy of our history and the need to balance the community interests of the people of British Columbia. To achieve that principle, the commission would be permitted to deviate from the provincial electoral quotient by no more than plus or minus 25 percent, and we may propose districts with population deviations exceeding plus or minus 25 percent where we consider very special circumstances exist.

The act then described three regions where those principles existed. They were the Cariboo-Thompson region, the Columbia-Kootenay region and the North region. This electoral map takes the deviations or the special interests to quite a larger and bigger place than ever has been done before. We have, in fact, more electoral districts that violate the 25-plus-or-minus rule than we have had before.

[1735]

I just think that if you reflect on the electoral map federally, you will see the plus-or-minus-25-percent rule closely adhered to. What has happened over time is that we have largely, federally, an urban presence in our House of Commons, and I think that it is inevitable that that march will continue and will eventually be part of the process here.

I think that it is much easier to face that prospect now than it ever has been, because we have in our hands a much wider range of options to communicate with people. Years ago, if your constituency was huge, you had a lot of difficulty in representing people. But now we have a much more sophisticated phone system. We have the Internet. We have e-mail. We have Facebook. We have FaceTime. We have all kinds of ways we can communicate with people that we have never had before.
[ Page 9988 ]

As an urban MLA, I always recognized that all of my constituents could walk to my office if they so chose to, and they’re not queued up. They use all kinds of methods of getting a hold of me, and probably the last one is that they come to my office.

So I think that this notion that we need to give up this principle of 25 percent plus or minus will, in the long run, dissipate as we become more and more urbanized in terms of our communities and that the rural communities can be serviced and kept in touch with by all these new methods of communicating and probably many more that we haven’t even begun to think about.

When I look at the changes, I do see that we do have quite radical difference, but in fact, if you look at the map and you look at the numbers in the commission’s report, the urbans — particularly the urbans — sit around 50,000-60,000 people, and they are pretty consistent.

I think the commission has done a fairly good job, and they have taken advantage of the option of having the two extra seats, one of them being in Surrey. So Surrey has bounced up one seat. It’s amazing. Even though one seat has been added into the city of Surrey, my constituency has probably seen less change than it has in the past.

My constituency of Surrey–Green Timbers is one of the more urban of the seats in Surrey, but it certainly is one that has been impacted by change over time. The one thing that is notable about it is its namesake. The Green Timbers Urban Forest — this section of land that has been dedicated forever as being an urban forest — has always managed to stay attached to the electoral district, regardless of the fact of changes.

I think we’ve had a process that worked, and we have a map that, despite the fact half of it is frozen, will work for all of us. I, therefore, am pleased to take my seat.

J. Tegart: On behalf of the constituents of Fraser-Nicola, I am proud to support this bill.

[1740]

First, I would like to thank the members of the Electoral Boundaries Commission for their difficult work in completing their report. I know how many diverse opinions they heard and how difficult it is to filter through all of that information and to arrive at recommendations that work for all. I’m in a riding, a very rural riding, that is significantly affected by the recommendations of the commission.

I’m going to take a few minutes to talk to you about my riding. I’m a new MLA, and I’m very proud to represent Fraser-Nicola. Fraser-Nicola starts at the U.S. border, goes up to the community of Princeton, then to Merritt, to Spences Bridge, to Lytton, over to Lillooet, Gold Bridge and Bralorne and over to 70 Mile House, south Green Lake and around Kamloops Lake. It doesn’t take in Savona but goes over to Knutsford, in Kamloops, back down past Merritt and to the U.S. border. We have approximately 33,000 square kilometres and 22,000 people. I can tell you, as their representative, that I am proud to represent them.

The previous speaker talked about the new technology and the ability to reach out to people. I have many people in my riding who don’t have the technology available, so it’s really important to them to have an MLA who can travel to meet with them face to face.

In rural British Columbia, sometimes that can be a challenge. For me to head out from my home community of Ashcroft to Gold Bridge and Bralorne, it’s a 4½- to five-hour drive. To go out for a day, that’s a long way to go. But you know what? When you go out there, people appreciate that you take the time to go out.

That’s one of the challenges that this commission would have heard as they heard from people in British Columbia about representation. What is your vision of representation? When I talk to my colleagues in urban areas who can ride their bike around their riding in 15 minutes, that’s a totally different world than the one that I live in and that I represent.

I have eight municipalities in my riding. I have 25 First Nations bands. I have numerous unincorporated areas which see themselves as communities. I try very hard to represent all of them. As you can well imagine, the views are different and diverse. The good thing about rural B.C. is that I find in most communities, people are very concerned about what their neighbours are doing and what impact decisions have on the region as a whole.

We have many different resources in our communities. We are very much an agricultural area — we have ranches and farming — and very much dependent on forestry. That depends on forestry throughout the riding keeping our mills going. We also are fortunate enough to have mining — we are home to Highland Valley Copper and Copper Mountain mines — and, of course, small businesses. Anyone who represents small communities knows the challenges of small businesses in our small communities.

We also have a lot of arts and culture. We have a lot of tourism. We have a lot of people very proud of where they live. They feel very strongly a connection with their MLA.

We have a riding that has changed numerous times over the last 25 years. It seems that often, when there are boundary changes, Fraser-Nicola is one of those ridings that has significant change. Certainly, throughout the process of the commission’s work, they heard from many people in my riding in regards to what they think the boundaries should be.

Their recommendation suggests that Princeton should be leaving my riding. The community of Princeton made strong representation in regards to their ties to Fraser-Nicola, their ties through mining, through forestry. They felt very strongly that they were getting good representation in the riding that they were currently in, but the recommendation is that Princeton be put in a different riding.

[1745]

The recommendation also looks at adding to my riding, down the Fraser Canyon and including the community of Hope. My colleague who represents the community of Hope talked about how strongly the community felt that they were tied to the Chilliwack area, that that was their trading area and was very much a part of their tradition, and the commission chose to add Hope into Fraser-Nicola.

That’s not a new thing. At one time, we were Yale-Lillooet. At one time, Hope was very much a part of the riding. Certainly, there are lots of examples of tourism associations, different organizations that go up and down the canyon and, I always say, start at Hope, and we live above Hope.

Although people in the communities made strong representation to the commission, the commission’s recommendations indicate that the Fraser Canyon should come into Fraser-Nicola at this time, and I will work very hard with my colleague to ensure a smooth transition when this bill passes and comes into law.

I think that’s something that’s really important for MLAs to do — to take into consideration how strongly people feel about where they are in the place of election boundaries and what they have grown to be used to. It is our job as MLAs to help them have a smooth transition into the next election time and the new boundaries when this bill passes.

My communities are rural. They’re small — Merritt is our largest centre — but we have many examples of where we all work together. We have many examples of people coming together and realizing we can’t survive without each other. And although the boundaries may change, I would suggest that there are many organizations that will cross over those boundaries. It is our job as MLAs to ensure that those boundaries are as transparent as they possibly can be.

I would like to thank all the constituents and all the people across British Columbia who took the time to care about where they are represented and who they’re represented by and actually took the time to present publicly or in writing to the commission and to the important work that was being done by the commission. As a rural representative, I certainly understand one vote, one person. But I can tell you that representation is about more than just people.

For those of us who live in rural British Columbia, our people need to be represented also. There’s an assumption that it is as easy to represent people in rural B.C., perhaps, as in urban areas, which are very concentrated. Sometimes that’s a challenge, and I think that the commission has found a good balance.

I appreciate that government gave guidelines to the commission to ensure that rural British Columbia has a good voice in this House. Certainly in our area, we’ve seen a number of challenges. One of the challenges, as I think about the Fraser Canyon, was the challenge when the Coquihalla Highway opened. I don’t know that the Fraser Canyon has ever recovered from the opening of the Coquihalla.

I certainly think that with the new boundaries proposed, there’s opportunity. There’s opportunity for leadership and opportunity for growth in the Fraser Canyon that as one riding, perhaps, might be a bit stronger than being split. I’m looking forward to looking at those opportunities with the constituents.

Fraser Canyon also provides one of the best tourism drives through British Columbia that you will ever find. I’m always amazed at how many people say to me: “Oh well, I haven’t driven the Fraser Canyon since the Coquihalla opened.” Of course, I had a personal aversion to the Coquihalla, because I like to see more than cement abutment.

[1750]

Fraser Canyon is absolutely spectacular. Having driven down the Oregon coast and coming back up and going home, I drove through the Fraser Canyon and thought: “No one can beat this.”

We live in a beautiful, beautiful place in the world. Certainly, as every MLA in this House probably feels, I represent one of the most gorgeous areas in British Columbia. With the changes that are being proposed, I see all kinds of opportunity. But I also respect that transition is tough for some people and that it’s our job as MLAs to help them through that transition.

I want to thank the Electoral Boundaries Commission for their work and for their recommendations. I want to assure the constituents that I will respect their feelings and look at how we can transition as smoothly as possible. I’m very proud to stand up in this House and talk about this bill and how I support this bill. I think it has found the balance for representation in British Columbia.

On behalf of the people of Fraser-Nicola, I want to thank you for the opportunity to talk about how important place is, in the province of British Columbia, to each individual constituent. I want to assure them that everyone in the House wants to represent well and that we will all work to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible.

J. Rice: I appreciate this opportunity to speak to Bill 42 in regards to the Electoral Boundaries Act and wanted to say how much I enjoyed just sitting in the House here for the last few minutes and learning about the other constituencies.

I appreciate the comments the member for Fraser-Nicola has made in regards to representing a rural constituency, as I, too, have some similarities which I wasn’t aware of, particularly around the technology and the accessibility. I have communities in my constituency that just recently got off — I can’t even think of what you call it — dial-up Internet, which is reality for many of those communities. I can’t even remember how to say dial-up because I’ve obviously benefited from much superior technology.
[ Page 9990 ]

I’m standing here in support of the bill. Like the member for Fraser-Nicola, I would like to thank the Electoral Boundaries Commission for that hard task. It is a lot of interests and a lot of people’s feedback to take into consideration and reflect the diverse needs of our province. I understand that 48 of the 85 electoral districts will have some changes, plus the adding of two new seats should this bill be accepted, which we do support on this side of the House.

Another note before I dive into the written aspects of my speech. I’d like to just reflect the member for Fraser-Nicola’s comments the rep by population. Having the understanding that as MLAs, it’s more than representing people — that it is about our connection to place. I could really relate to the comments and to those words. It is my connection to place that has made me want to come here and be here and represent the constituents of North Coast. I’m not sure if I could represent any other constituency of the 85 because my attachment to place in North Coast is so strong. I appreciated those words and reflecting on that.

North Coast is a pretty big constituency — the second largest. I’ve got the Skeena electoral district in the northeast. I have the Cariboo North electoral district and the Cariboo-Chilcotin electoral district in the east and north Island electoral district in the south.

[1755]

The North Coast constituency consists of the communities of Prince Rupert; Old Masset; Skidegate; Port Edward; Queen Charlotte City; Masset — not Old Masset, but Masset and Old Masset; Sandspit; Hagensborg; Tlell; Denny Island; Bella Bella; Klemtu; Kitkatla, or Gitxaala; Port Clements; Oona River; Humpback Bay; Rivers Inlet; Oweekeno; Ocean Falls; Hartley Bay; and Bella Coola. There are a few other communities in between there that I’ve missed, and I apologize for that.

The district was created by 1990 legislation and came into effect for the B.C. election in 1991. I often get introduced as the MLA for Prince Rupert, but in fact, I am the MLA for North Coast — Prince Rupert being the largest municipality in the electoral district of North Coast. Prince Rupert was in fact a provincial electoral district at one point in time. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the election of 1916, and its last in the 1986 election.

Thomas Dufferin “Duff” Pattullo was the 22nd Premier of British Columbia, from 1933 to 1941. We know the Pattullo Bridge is named in his honour, as well as Prince Rupert’s Pattullo Park, Mount Pattullo, the range in north Tweedsmuir Park and the glaciers as well.

The constituency now consists of almost 144,000 square kilometres in area, with a population of less than 23,000 people. In the 2013 election, there were 15,500 registered voters, with a voter turnout rate of 52.85 percent, or 8,191 voters.

[Madame Speaker in the chair.]

The 2001 census data tells us that 12 percent of the riding population are seniors, compared to the B.C. average of 15.8 percent, and 48 percent of the population are families with kids 24 years old or younger, which is on par with the provincial average of 47.7 percent. The percentage of residents with a non-English mother tongue is 11 percent, compared to the provincial average of 26.4 percent. The dominant languages other than English in North Coast and Prince Rupert would be Punjabi, all variations of Chinese and Vietnamese.

North Coast has the highest number of aboriginal residents of any electoral district in B.C., as well as the highest number of status Indians, which does not include the Métis or Inuit. North Coast has two regional districts, the Skeena–Queen Charlotte regional district and the Central Coast regional district.

The Central Coast regional district is very unique in that it’s the only regional district in the province of British Columbia that does not have a municipality within its boundaries. They have no municipal tax base yet have to provide all the same services that other regional districts would have to provide, like sewer and water, roads and recycling. So the Central Coast regional district has some unique challenges that I hope to better put forth in the House so that we can better assist the regional district of Central Coast.

I’ll start with area B, which is the native reserves of the Central Coast regional district. It’s about 28 square kilometres in area. Electoral area A, which is represented by Cathi McCullagh, is commonly referred to as the outer coast. Area A includes Ocean Falls, Denny Island, Oweekeno and all points in between. The boundary commences west of the Bella Coola townsite and follows the regional district boundaries north almost to the First Nations community of Klemtu and south past Rivers Inlet and Oweekeno, home of the Wuikinuxv First Nation. That’s about 20,000 square kilometres in area.

Electoral area B is represented by Reg Moody-Humchitt, who is the chair. This area consists of seven square kilometres, located on Campbell Island, also known as Bella Bella. The Heiltsuk community is primarily comprised of First Nations residents.

[1800]

Electoral area C is represented by Alison Sayers, who’s the vice-chair. Area C is located in the eastern portion of the regional district. This area is situated at the upper end of the Bella Coola Valley and borders the Cariboo regional district. That area is about 4,000 square kilometres.

Electoral area D is represented by Richard Hall. Commencing in Hagensborg, this area runs from the Augsburg Church west to Tatsquan Creek. Electoral area E is represented by the Sam Schooner, the Bella Coola townsite. It consists of a small residential population and contains the majority of the commercial activity in the valley.
[ Page 9991 ]

The other regional district within the North Coast electoral area is the Skeena–Queen Charlotte regional district. It has four electoral areas and five municipalities that provide local government services to about 19,000 residents living on the north coast of B.C. and Haida Gwaii within the traditional territories of the Tsimshian and Haida First Nations.

The regional board of directors is comprised of two types of representatives: the electoral area directors and the municipal directors. Electoral area directors are elected to a three-year term to serve specific unincorporated rural areas. Municipal directors are first elected to a municipal council for a four-year term and then appointed by their council to the regional board for a one-year term.

The Skeena–Queen Charlotte regional district — or the SQCRD, as it is known in my neck of the woods — board of directors include four electoral areas representing rural residents and six municipal directors representing the residents of municipalities. The board meets once per month, every third Friday. Elected members of the board are the policy- and decision-makers for the SQCRD, and staff are responsible for implementing the policies established by the board.

Formed in 1967, the SQCRD, or the Skeena–Queen Charlotte regional district, is one of 28 regional districts in the province, which was created to provide a forum for direct representation of those areas that previously had no political voice. It provides for greater local control over services and issues of local importance to urban and rural areas, and it provides a mechanism for advancing the issues of the region as a whole.

The Skeena–Queen Charlotte regional district administers services ranging from solid waste management and recycling to land use planning, water supply and public safety.

The municipalities and electoral areas in the SQCRD are the city of Prince Rupert; the district of Port Edward; the village of Queen Charlotte; the village of Port Clements; the village of Masset; electoral area A, which is Dodge Cove on Digby Island — I spoke recently in the House about that fascinating and intriguing community; electoral area C, which is Oona River, which is another fascinating community that is probably due for a two-minute statement itself; and electoral area D, which is the rural Graham Island on Haida Gwaii — Miller Creek, Lawnhill, Tlell, Nadu and Tow Hill.

Electoral area E is Sandspit, on Moresby Island, on the south island of Haida Gwaii. Barry Pages is the chair and director from the village of Masset. Des Nobels is the vice chair and director. He’s from electoral area A on Digby Island. Greg Martin is a director, and he is from the village of Queen Charlotte. Ian Gould is a director from the village of Port Clements.

Dan Franzen is a director. He’s from the district of Port Edward. Nelson Kinney is a director, and he’s from the city of Prince Rupert. I had the pleasure of serving on city council with Nelson in previous years, before being an MLA.

Lee Brain is a director. He’s the new young mayor of Prince Rupert. Karl Bergman is a director. He’s from electoral area C on Oona River. And Mike Racz is a director from electoral area D.

[1805]

Bill Beldessi — I couldn’t forget about Bill. He’s a director from electoral area E from the Sandspit region of the south island of Haida Gwaii.

North Coast’s largest community is, indeed, Prince Rupert. It’s a coastal city of about 12,000 people. I’d like to speak a little bit today about Prince Rupert, which is my home. Set against a spectacular backdrop of mountains and sea, Prince Rupert is a great place to golf, fish, hike and enjoy water sports. Prince Rupert has daily direct flights to Vancouver. By car, we’re about eight to nine hours west of Prince George. We do have the occasional VIA Rail transport, as well, in and out of Prince Rupert, as well as limited Greyhound Bus service.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the north coast of B.C. has been inhabited by First Nations for over 10,000 years. Prince Rupert is located in the traditional territory of the Tsimshian nation. By the mid-1800s, salmon canneries dotted the coastlines. Trading posts had been established in Port Essington, Port Simpson and Metlakatla, with steamships and paddle-wheelers serving the area.

Plans to build a railway to the north coast sparked the commencement of surveys in the area in 1903. Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and officials toured across Canada and up the Pacific coast, arriving Tuck Inlet on September 3, 1904. The decision to locate the Grand Trunk Pacific western terminus on Kaien Island was made on this trip.

The magnificent 14-mile harbour is one of the deepest natural ice-free harbours in the world. Located 550 miles north of Vancouver, a port at Kaien Island would provide the shortest shipping route to the Orient. In March 1905, the Grand Trunk Pacific acquired a Crown grant of 10,000 acres and another 14,000 acres in March 1909. In October, the Grand Trunk Pacific sponsored a nationwide contest and named Prince Rupert after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was selected in 1906.

A Grand Trunk Pacific survey party set up camp on Kaien Island in May 1906 under Joel Pillsbury, assistant harbour and townsite engineer. Clearing of the townsite commenced. A pile driver rented from George Cunningham, of Port Essington, was used for the construction of a wharf that was to be completed by July 1. Next, a building was erected for harbour engineer, James H. Bacon. A 12-foot-wide plank road, Centre Street, was laid from the wharf. Parallel to the waterfront was Rupert Road in the settlement known as Knoxville, named after prospector John Knox, in 1907.
[ Page 9992 ]

Permission had to be granted from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway to establish a business at Prince Rupert. When denied, Knox filed a mineral claim was filed under the name of Grand Turk Fraction on Indian reserve land that the Grant Trunk Pacific was negotiating to buy. John Houston, the founder of the first newspaper, the Empire, also filed a mineral claim, to the disappointment of the harbour engineer.

Clearing of the 2,000-acre townsite and construction took place throughout 1907 and in January 1908. Landscape architects of the Boston firm Brett and Hall arrived in Prince Rupert to plan the new city. Once completed, a public auction of 2,400 Prince Rupert lots took place in Vancouver from May 25 to May 29, 1909, and in Victoria, the following week. This auction generated worldwide interest.

After the land sale, the population tripled and the following year on March 10, 1910, Prince Rupert was finally incorporated. The first municipal election took place on May 19, 1910, with Alfred Stork elected as mayor.

Prince Rupert has been known as the halibut capital of the world.

Interjection.

[1810]

J. Rice: Oh, other members on Vancouver Island here might want to contest that. There is a question mark there. You might have to make a ruling over here, Madame Speaker.

The Canadian fish and cold storage plant opened in 1912 and was the reason Prince Rupert enjoyed being known as the halibut capital of the world. A dry dock and shipyard was completed in 1915 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and was eventually taken over by Canadian National Railway. It operated until 1954.

On April 9, 1914, the first through train arrived from Winnipeg, fulfilling the vision of Charles Hays, who perished in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. Today a statue of Charles Hays stands next to city hall, and the mountain overlooking the city and a local high school have the distinction of being named after him.

During World War II, the strategic geographical position of Prince Rupert resulted in the arrival of thousands of American and Canadian troops. Supplies and materials passed through the U.S. Army’s Prince Rupert sub-port of embarkation. The population escalated to estimates of 21,000, and new buildings, homes and facilities were erected.

Construction of a highway east of Prince Rupert for national defence purposes was approved on March 16, 1942, and resulted in the official opening of the Skeena highway on September 4, 1944.

Postwar decline was eased when a pulp mill was developed on nearby Watson Island, officially opening in 1951. The mill operated for almost 50 years, contributing significantly to the economy of Prince Rupert.

Access to Prince Rupert was augmented in the 1960s by the opening of an airport and the Alaska and B.C. Ferries terminals. With transportation links secured to the city, the city began focusing on port development.

In 1977, when I was three, Prince Rupert’s first deep-sea facility — Fairview Terminal — opened, followed in the early 1980s by the coal and grain terminals on Ridley Island. A new cruise ship dock was ready to welcome cruise ship passengers in May of 2004, and in early 2006, construction of a container port got underway at Fairview Terminal.

I could speak forever on Prince Rupert. There’s so much more, particularly with the history. But I wanted to speak about two significant politicians with the remaining time that I have left.

When the NDP returned to office in 1996, Dan Miller became the 18th Minister of Municipal Affairs. Later that year, the government and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities signed the protocol of recognition, which recognized local government as an independent, responsible and accountable order of government. The province, however, continued to struggle, as you know, with budget deficits and began reducing local government grants.

Dan Miller was a Prince Rupert city councillor before entering the Legislative Assembly as the NDP MLA for North Coast. He was elected in 1986, 1991 and 1996. Dan Miller led several ministries, including Forests; Skills, Training and Labour; Municipal Affairs and Housing; Employment and Investment; and Energy and Mines. He was also the Minister Responsible for Northern Development. Dan Miller was Deputy Premier from 1996 to 1999 and Premier from August 1999 to February 2000.

Dan’s wife has recently passed. I wanted to take the opportunity to just wish him all the best from the members on this side of the House, and I think I can speak for the members on that side of the House, as his wife, Gayle, has recently passed.

I wanted to speak about another prominent politician, who actually didn’t represent the constituency of North Coast but represented the constituency of Burnaby-Willingdon. She is now my constituent, and I wanted to just speak a little bit about Joan Sawicki.

Joan Sawicki was elected in 1991 and in 1996. She served as the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks from July 1999 to November 2000. Joan was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in March 1992 and served in that capacity for two years.

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She then served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Municipal Affairs from 1994 to May 1996 and to the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks from June 1996 to January 1998. First elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1991 to represent the constituency of Burnaby-Willingdon, she was re-elected in 1996.

Joan holds a bachelor’s degree of education in
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Canadian history and geography from the University of Victoria. For 12 years, before being elected to the Legislature, she was a partner in a land use consulting firm dealing with natural resource management issues. She also worked with the British Columbia Agricultural Land Commission for six years. I must take this moment to commend the hard work that she has done on our ALC.

She served on Burnaby council from 1987 to 1990 and chaired the environment and waste management committee. She was also a member of the greater Vancouver regional district waste and environment committee and has served for several years as the director of the International Center for Sustainable Cities.

I have the honour to have Joan Sawicki now living in my constituency, in North Coast. She lives in Tweedsmuir Park, in a community called Firvale. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Joan, even though she served her time when I was quite young and probably completely oblivious to her existence. Her contribution has been significant. I would like to thank her for that and thank her for the opportunity for that learning.

I will wrap up, noting the time, very shortly. I wanted to just go back to the member for Fraser-Nicola. She talked about, as MLAs, that it’s more than representation by population. It’s not just individual people. Representing a constituency is about place as much as it is about individual people.

I feel very privileged to be the MLA for North Coast, and I thank the constituents for placing me in this position. I take great honour for serving this community. I must admit that I complain often about the travel difficulties, particularly when my colleagues from the urban areas talk about walking the perimeter of their constituency in less than an hour or being able to cycle to their constituency meetings.

I have a constituency that’s made up of a lot of small communities spread out over a huge, vast area. While I do complain about the travel, I do love the travel as much. I get to see the most beautiful parts of the province. I have some of the greatest experiences. I must say that it has got to be one of the most adventurous constituencies of the 85 electoral districts that we have, in North Coast.

With that, I would like to conclude that I’m very happy that there will be no changes to the North Coast constituency. Certainly, it would be tremendously challenging if it was to grow in size. But it has a population of 23,000 people, whereas the member for New Westminster represents 67,000 people.

I appreciate the fact that the plus or minus 25 percent does not come into effect for North Coast. Again, it’s about the place as much as it is about the people that I’m representing. With that, I will conclude and show my support for Bill 42.

C. Trevena: I’m very pleased to stand here to speak about Bill 42, the Electoral Districts Act — and speaking immediately after my neighbour to the north, the MLA for the North Coast.

Our constituencies abut. Hers is much larger than mine. Mine is only 45,000 square kilometres. It goes from, basically, Strathcona Park in the south, on the Island, up to Tweedsmuir Park on the central coast. It is a vast and, as my colleague from North Coast described, a sometimes difficult area to represent. There are travel challenges. There’s no question.

I hear what my urban colleagues and suburban colleagues talk about — about their access and their ease of commuting, their ease of covering their constituencies. I have to say that I don’t envy them. I’m extraordinarily proud and honoured to have been the representative for the North Island for three terms now.

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I am also very pleased that the Electoral Boundaries Commission decided to leave North Island as it is — that the boundaries don’t change, because it is challenging. There’s no question.

It starts at the Oyster River, which is, effectively, if you look at a map of Vancouver Island, halfway up the Island. People sometimes don’t go any further north than Nanaimo. Sometimes they may make it all the way up to Courtenay. There is the music fest there, but then that’s it. However, North Island starts just south of Campbell River and goes to the top end of the Island. As I say, since the last boundary review, it now takes in part of the mainland, some of the inlets, up to Kingcome Inlet.

I was interested, listening to the member for Fraser-Nicola — again, learning other people’s constituencies. Hers is slightly smaller than mine and has a much smaller population. The North Island constituency is around the average. It’s about 53,000 people: two regional districts, nine municipalities, a number of unincorporated areas and 20 First Nations.

The core of the constituency — the anchor, I’d say, rather than the core — is Campbell River. It is the largest community in the constituency. It is the centre for shopping, for medical treatment, for many things. But it isn’t the only centre. There are other areas up in the north Island. We have Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Port Alice that often vie for it, but I’d say between Port Hardy and Port McNeill are the centres. We have, in North Island, three distinct school districts as well. It depends where you are as to where you look to for that anchor.

For the west coast, many people do come to Campbell River, oftentimes for school. People who are living in Kyuquot or Ehattesaht or Ocluje will send their children to live with family and go to school in Campbell River, so there’s always a cross-fertilization.

Before I proceed too much, I’d like just to answer a question I’ve had from a number of people. They say: “You’re speaking about the Boundaries Commission. Haven’t you done that already?” We are speaking in favour of it.
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Back in spring, the idea of the map was presented to this Legislature, and this side of the House was very concerned about that — about the fact that there could’ve been a prescription by the government on the Electoral Boundaries Commission way of working. There was a discussion back in the spring — the head of the Electoral Boundaries Commission going off and doing their consultations.

Last week we had the discussion about the motion which was to adopt the report which brings in the 87 constituencies, two new ones, and rejigs some of the other ones — moves the boundaries slightly for a number of them, quite significantly for others. Now we have the Electoral Districts Act, which names all 87 districts and will be the legislation which will create the new map. That is what we’re discussing now, which is why we have to go through those three stages. We had to have the big debate in the first place, then look at the report from the Electoral Boundaries Commission and talk about how that worked, and now we are actually discussing this piece of legislation.

As I say, I am pleased that North Island is staying as is. In North Island, it is a rural constituency. There are definitely remote parts of it. There are places which are only boat access. There are places which are very well-paved roads, and there are places where there are many kilometres of very bad logging road.

I would be remiss if I didn’t once again put the pitch in to the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Forests about the Zeballos Forest Service Road, which doesn’t just go to Zeballos but does go beyond to three other communities — out to Ehattesaht, Ocluje and Fair Harbour. Then it goes to…. That’s the access to Kyuquot. Also, there is the road to Holberg, once a very large community, now a very small community mainly for logging. That also is a logging road, which would be very good to see more work on, and the road out to Tahsis.

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I put these pitches in because these are communities that are vibrant and do need those connections because they contribute to B.C. and have a right to be served, which is why we are here. We are serving the people in our constituencies wherever they live, whoever they might be and however hard it is for them to get in touch with us.

My colleague from North Coast mentioned the issues of communication, as did the member for Fraser-Nicola. This is still a concern for my constituency. There are big problems with Internet coverage. There are big problems with cell coverage. It, again, makes it very difficult for people to get in touch with their elected representative and often very difficult to do business.

Again, it’s very important to have that sense of place, the sense of identity, and knowing who their representative is, who will be able to represent them.

Madame Speaker, noting the time, I will move adjournment of debate.

C. Trevena moved adjournment of debate.

Motion approved.

Hon. T. Lake moved adjournment of the House.

Motion approved.

Madame Speaker: This House, at its rising, stands adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

The House adjourned at 6:26 p.m.

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