The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
One-thirty o’clock p.m.
Prayers by Margaret Rose George, Elder of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, North Vancouver.
This being the first day of the third meeting of the Fortieth Parliament of the Province of British Columbia for the dispatch of business, pursuant to a Proclamation of the Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of the Province, dated the 19th day of September, 2014, the Members took their seats.
The Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of the Province, having entered the House, took her seat on the Throne and was pleased to deliver the following gracious speech:
Madame Speaker, Honourable Members of the Legislature:
Fellow British Columbians.
I want to welcome back your Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Third Session of the Fortieth Parliament.
Before we turn towards the business of this House, we should take a moment to remember some of the British Columbians whose loss we have mourned since I last addressed you.
Former Members of this House Bill Ritchie, Alex Macdonald, and Hugh Curtis.
Leaders of First Nations communities, such as Frank Frederick Sr., Harold Mitchell, Delbert Guerin, and Dr. Alfred Joseph.
Community leaders from across the province, including Joy Leach, Jim Ogilvie, Jim Quaife, Earle Darling, Bev Parnham, and Ted Lewis.
And British Columbians whose outstanding contributions helped to make our province a better, brighter, more diverse place, including Erich Vogt, Ted Northe, Paul St. Pierre, Paul Horn, Jim Deva, and Dr. Jagat Singh Uppal, known to everyone as Jack.
Finally, we pause to remember Michael Lunn and Fred McEachern, tragically taken from their families in the Western Forest Products shooting in Nanaimo.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War — a conflict in which thousands of brave Canadians lost their lives. It was a turning point in the history of Canada and the world.
The lessons of 1914 remain relevant today.
Short-sighted decisions led to a ruinous war. After the war, more short-sighted decisions led to economic policies that led to European decline, and the eventual emergence of North America.
We can’t take our position in the world for granted.
We have to recognize what made the 20th century the North American century: boldness. Risktaking. Innovation. Creativity. Sticking to our guns.
These traits define us as British Columbians and Canadians.
They have created an identity that unites us: a free enterprise economy that rewards innovation and entrepreneurism.
An economy that allows us to realize our goal of building a strong network of publicly funded services.
For several generations, this combination has been the envy of the world.
But given a persistently slow global economy, and an ageing population that requires more services, how do we maintain these programs?
This is our turning point.
We must choose whether to grow or to decline.
If we choose to do nothing, to maintain the status quo, we will have chosen decline.
We would be choosing to tell our children they should expect nothing from us but a bill to pay.
It is one thing to say we choose growth. It is another to find new ways to grow.
By choosing to make tough choices today — balancing the budget and controlling public spending — we have chosen growth.
By choosing to foster new trade and investment ties with the emerging economies of Asia, we have chosen growth.
By choosing to develop the world’s cleanest-burning non-renewable resource, and ship it to the world’s fastest-growing economies, we have chosen growth.
In the last session, this government took the first step, introducing the tax framework for B.C.’s growing LNG industry.
This fall session will be devoted to taking the next logical step. We will move forward with a comprehensive legislative framework.
This framework will be fair for the owners of this resource — the people of British Columbia.
This framework will create certainty for business and investment.
This framework will define how we will develop this resource responsibly, in a way that protects our environment, and continues to lead the global fight against climate change.
For an industry with a proud history, these are bold steps forward.
B.C.’s natural gas industry has upheld admirable environmental and safety records for 62 years.
While our standards — among the highest in the world — have not changed, the world market is changing quickly.
20 years ago, power generation in China was almost exclusively from coal.
The expansion of the middle class in China is one of the greatest economic transformations in human history, lifting millions out of poverty.
Make no mistake — this is another global turning point. And it requires increasing amounts of energy.
This has created an enormous environmental challenge — for China, and for all of us.
As a solution, China is increasingly turning to natural gas.
In the first half of 2014, Chinese LNG consumption rose by a fifth. In June alone, China imported 1.35 million tonnes of LNG.
This demand is much too great to be met by a single supplier.
B.C.’s 150-year supply of natural gas is an opportunity to change the world.
An opportunity to dramatically reduce air pollution in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
LNG is not just a plan for the future. It’s a solution for today. Consider the example of our founding industry — forestry.
For millennia, First Nations depended on trees to create everything from canoes, to housing, to works of art that still inspire wonder today.
Wood attracted the first European settlers, and was the foundation of their prosperity.
That tradition continues to this day. It continues in McLeod Lake, with Duz Cho Logging.
It continues in Haida Gwaii, with Haico.
It continues in the Toba Inlet, with Klahoose Forestry.
These companies use the forest for their communities, as they have for millennia.
Forestry is the livelihood for over 58,000 B.C. families.
For most of our history, our softwood lumber exports depended on the United States.
When that market slowed, people had to look elsewhere to work, pay the bills, and raise their families.
The provincial government looked elsewhere. Across the Pacific, to the growing economies of the Pacific Rim.
Like trees, growing new markets takes time and patience. But we can already see this strategy has paid dividends, with increasing exports to China, Japan, and South Korea.
We should never forget the real impact this had on British Columbians.
With the market restored, the forestry industry and the families who depend on it are in a good position.
Like forestry, B.C.’s natural gas industry has relied on exports to the United States.
But the American shale gas revolution has meant the export market south has dried up — and is never coming back.
Right now, there are 1,700 men and women around Fort Nelson alone, whose families depend on the natural gas industry.
For them, like all British Columbians, the choice is not between growth and the status quo.
The choice is between expanding our markets in Asia to maintain and create more jobs here at home, or face decline.
For the natural gas industry, for those families in Fort Nelson, the choice is between more jobs — or far fewer than they have today.
This government is working every day to ensure British Columbia is ready for the coming opportunity.
The Skills for Jobs Blueprint aims not just to re-engineer our education and training system to meet the needs of tomorrow’s economy, but to ensure today’s students enjoy the best opportunities and career possibilities.
The BC Jobs Plan aims to create the opportunities and career paths for those same students to capitalize on.
The BC Jobs Plan is this government’s strategy to grow the economy and enable job creation. It focuses on eight key sectors: Agrifoods, Forestry, Mining and Energy, Natural Gas, International Education, Technology and Green Economy, Tourism, and Transportation.
In three short years, we have seen real progress. 50,000 jobs have been created, with some 2.3 million people now working in British Columbia.
Last week, this government released the three-year update of the BC Jobs Plan.
It places a renewed emphasis on four cross-sector priorities: small business, manufacturing, Aboriginal Peoples and First Nations, and international trade and small business.
This government is focused on helping to open new markets for small business, because there is no more effective way to create jobs and opportunities for British Columbians to build their careers and raise their families here at home.
Members of the legislative assembly — to choose growth, to move forward and create a legacy for our children — will take leadership.
Leadership from each and every one of you.
For thousands of years in British Columbia, through countless other changes, one thing has remained constant: the land sustains us.
If we continue to cherish it, if we continue to invest wisely, it will sustain our children. And their children.
Leadership means being consistent on economic development.
Not saying what is politically convenient.
Leadership means developing a real partnership with First Nations, and giving them the opportunity to participate meaningfully in a thriving economy.
The Supreme Court ruling on Aboriginal land title presents a new opportunity.
It is an opportunity to finally resolve disputes and make decisions together that reflect our common interests and shared vision of a better future.
It is an opportunity to move forward towards a more meaningful, inclusive and fair partnership.
Leadership means having the patience, courage, and vision to work together towards implementation.
Leadership means being accountable for every tax dollar that passes through these doors in one form or another.
That starts with a firm commitment to control spending, find savings, and balance the budget.
That means expecting the same of Crown corporations and municipal governments, and just as importantly — giving them the tools to do so.
Leadership means accepting the responsibility to govern, even when the going gets tough.
Some would advocate handing over responsibility to third parties — to abdicate the trust given to us by the citizens of British Columbia.
Leadership means accepting their trust, respecting that unique privilege, and shouldering the burden.
Leadership means working to build prosperity and jobs while preventing tragedies like the tailings pond breach in Mount Polley, and recognizing there is no contradiction there.
This government will continue to investigate what happened.
It will continue to work towards preventing it from ever happening again.
And it will do so while continuing to support one of the most important industries in our province.
And recognizing the communities and public servants who have worked tirelessly to ensure public safety — and continue to do so.
Mining employs more than 30,000 British Columbians. And just like the people of Likely, they need to know they will not be abandoned.
To the people of Likely, and the families across the province who depend on mining: we stand with you.
We can always do better. But we will get there together.
In trying times, it can be tempting to surrender leadership. To follow. To change position with changing public opinion polls.
British Columbia has always been a leader in Confederation. British Columbia has always been a leader in the world.
We will continue to lead.
Leading means standing up for our values.
It means enduring short-term challenges for long-term success.
It means being determined and unwavering in the pursuit of opportunity.
The people of British Columbia deserve nothing less.
I want to speak directly to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to educating our children: B.C.’s teachers.
And to the parents and students who were affected by labour disruption this year.
With patience, hard work, and determination, British Columbia got a negotiated sixyear agreement.
This government has worked closely with public-sector unions to achieve fair and affordable agreements.
Now including our teachers, we have agreements with two-thirds of B.C.’s public sector, representing almost 200,000 hardworking men and women.
British Columbia can look forward to five years of labour peace.
This is unprecedented. We cannot let this opportunity pass.
Teachers, parents, and administrators can all agree: students are the first priority.
In many ways, students have been showing the way, with world-leading results.
Today, we have an opportunity to build an education system worthy of them.
We have the chance to give them more opportunities to achieve in a changing world.
Now with this common purpose — we have to move on.
Together.
This dispute sometimes brought out the worst.
It’s time we showed the next generation our best.
My fellow British Columbians.
The way forward is clear.
For over a generation, the funding commitments of Western governments have exceeded their means.
In LNG, British Columbia has an opportunity to increase revenue and maintain the same worldclass services we rely on.
We have an opportunity to leave our children and their children an inheritance worthy of them.
This is a chance — not a windfall. It will not be simply given to us, but achieved after a lot of hard work.
Thomas Edison once said: “we often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.”
Members of the legislative assembly, this is our opportunity.
And make no mistake: there will be a lot of hard work ahead.
But British Columbians have never looked down on hard work.
The core services this government provides need to be protected. And the inescapable truth is that they can only be protected if we can afford them.
The opportunity afforded by LNG is more than a chance to make a smart investment.
It’s the expanded patient care tower in Victoria, and the one planned in Vernon.
It’s the new law school at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
It’s Kordyban Lodge in Prince George, which gives Northern cancer patients a place to recover closer to their families.
It’s more than 5,800 housing units for the homeless in Vancouver alone.
These services and institutions are our children’s birthright as Canadians and British Columbians.
To keep that promise, we need leadership from all of you.
Our children deserve no less.
Thank you.
Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor was then pleased to retire.
Madame Speaker reported that, in order to prevent mistakes, she had obtained a copy of Her Honour’s Speech.
On the motion of the Hon. S. Anton (Minister of Justice), Bill (No. 1) intituled An Act to Ensure the Supremacy of Parliament was introduced, read a first time, and Ordered to be placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading at the next sitting after today.
On the motion of the Hon. M. de Jong, seconded by Mr. Farnworth, it was Ordered —
That Douglas Horne, Member for Coquitlam-Burke Mountain Electoral District, be appointed Deputy Speaker for this Session of the Legislative Assembly.
On the motion of Mr. Farnworth, seconded by the Hon. M. de Jong, it was Ordered —
That Raj Chouhan, Member for Burnaby-Edmonds Electoral District, be appointed Assistant Deputy Speaker for this Session of the Legislative Assembly.
On the motion of the Hon. M. de Jong, seconded by Mr. Farnworth, it was Ordered —
That Marc Dalton, Member for Maple Ridge-Mission Electoral District, be appointed Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Whole for this Session of the Legislative Assembly.
On the motion of the Hon. S. Anton (Minister of Justice), it was Ordered —
That the Votes and Proceedings of this House be printed, being first perused by the Speaker, and that she do appoint the printing thereof, and that no person but such as she shall appoint do presume to print the same.
The Hon. C. Clark (Premier) moved that the Select Standing Committees of this House for the present Session, be appointed for the following purposes:
1. Aboriginal Affairs;
2. Education;
3. Finance and Government Services;
4. Health;
5. Public Accounts;
6. Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills;
7. Crown Corporations;
8. Children and Youth;
which said Committees shall severally be empowered to examine and inquire into all such matters and things as shall be referred to them by this House, and to report from time to time their observations and opinions thereon, with power to send for persons, papers, and records, and that a Special Committee be appointed to prepare and report with all convenient speed lists of members to compose the above Select Standing Committees of this House under Standing Order 68 (1), the Committee to be composed of the Hon. M. de Jong (Convener), Eric Foster, Scott Hamilton, Linda Reimer, Jackie Tegart, Mike Farnworth, Michelle Mungall, Maurine Karagianis, and Shane Simpson.
Motion agreed to.
By leave, the Hon. M. de Jong moved —
That the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services be empowered:
1. To examine, inquire into and make recommendations with respect to the budget consultation paper prepared by the Minister of Finance in accordance with section 2 of the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act, S.B.C. 2000, c. 23, and, in particular, to:
a) Conduct public consultations across British Columbia on proposals and recommendations regarding the provincial budget and fiscal policy for the coming fiscal year by any means the committee considers appropriate;
b) Prepare a report no later than November 15, 2014, on the results of those consultations; and
2. a) To consider and make recommendations on the annual reports, rolling three-year service plans and budgets of the following statutory officers:
(i) Auditor General
(ii) Chief Electoral Officer
(iii) Conflict of Interest Commissioner
(iv) Information and Privacy Commissioner
(v) Merit Commissioner
(vi) Ombudsperson
(vii) Police Complaint Commissioner
(viii) Representative for Children and Youth; and
b) To examine, inquire into and make recommendations with respect to other matters brought to the Committee’s attention by any of the Officers listed in 2 (a) above.
3. The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services shall be the committee referred to in sections 19, 20, 21 and 23 of the Auditor General Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 2, and that the performance report in section 22 of the Auditor General Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 2, be referred to the committee.
In addition to the powers previously conferred upon the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, the committee shall be empowered:
a) to appoint of their number one or more subcommittees and to refer to such subcommittees any of the matters referred to the Committee;
b) to sit during a period in which the House is adjourned, during the recess after prorogation until the next following Session and during any sitting of the House;
c) to adjourn from place to place as may be convenient; and
d) to retain personnel as required to assist the Committee;
and shall report to the House as soon as possible, or following any adjournment, or at the next following Session, as the case may be; to deposit the original of its reports with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly during a period of adjournment and upon resumption of the sittings of the House, the Chair shall present all reports to the Legislative Assembly.
The said Select Standing Committee is to be composed of Dan Ashton, (Convener), Eric Foster, Simon Gibson, Wm. Scott Hamilton, Mike Morris, John Yap, Carole James, George Heyman, Gary Holman, and Jane Jae Kyung Shin.
Motion agreed to.
And then the House adjourned at 2.05 p.m.
HON. LINDA REID, Speaker
Wednesday, October 8
Ms. Huntington to introduce a Bill intituled Election Finance Amendment Act, 2014.
Ms. Huntington to introduce a Bill intituled Fall Fixed Election Amendment Act, 2014.
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