G. Coons: It’s an honour to rise in response to the Speech from the Throne. I want to begin by acknowledging that tomorrow will be one of the biggest events in B.C. history, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, or those cool sporting events that take place in B.C. between 2009 and 2011. I want to offer my best to all of the international athletes, the media and the guest spectators, and give some advice to those visiting athletes that they better keep close to the red and white because they aren’t going to be getting any closer.
I want to acknowledge all the help, the support, the enthusiasm, the energy and the support of all the volunteers that are participating. Throughout the chamber we’ve heard the excitement and the thrill of the relay torch going through communities.
It was in Prince Rupert on February 1, with three local torchbearers: Bob Thompson, a respected city employee that was just retiring; a good friend of mine, Justin Barton, who is a dancer with Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Dancers; and a longtime volunteer, Charlotte Rowse, who lit the flame. It was quite an exciting event.
Again, it comes down to…. When I hear people in this room talk about the torch and the torch relay and the excitement in people’s communities, I understand that. I want to jump on the bandwagon. But it’s pretty awkward when you aren’t even invited to the big show. In my riding VANOC indicated that no invitation was given to the local federal representative or the local provincial representative. VANOC basically said: “We kindly asked our government partners to assist us with the selection of one federal and one provincial representative to speak on stage at each celebration.”
I was pleased to see Richard Neufeld, the ex-MLA from here and an ex-cabinet minister, and the member for Westside-Kelowna there on the stage representing the province in my riding of Prince Rupert.
I’m sure that many of us on this side of the House would have loved the opportunity to participate, along with other members in the House, with the torch relay. But again, a supposedly apolitical event in some situations wasn’t.
On that, if we look back at the throne speech, it’s very disappointing — a lot of lip service, a rehashing of old ideas, nothing tangible for British Columbians who really needed direction, really needed opportunities as far as economic and social disparities throughout the province.
One section of the throne speech that caught my attention was: “This session will feature additional measures to restore our economy and to create jobs in every sector.”
Many members on the other side have gone through the riding of North Coast. I just want to give a few statistics about Prince Rupert and the regional district. The regional district that I represent had the highest percentage, 32.5 percent, of lone-parent families in the province with children at home when last measured.
Our regional district was the worst region in the province for percentage of population ages 19 to 64 who are employable receiving income assistance — five times higher than the provincial average. The regional district has 2½ times as many EI beneficiaries per capita as the provincial average.
The regional district’s rate of spousal abuse is 5.6 percent — two times the provincial rate. Teen pregnancy, 2.5 times higher than the provincial rate. One of the regional districts that I represent, besides the Central Coast regional district, has the worst region in the province for the percentage of children receiving income assistance for more than a year, as far as 2006.
The child abuse rate is 30.5 percent, which is 3½ times higher than the provincial rate of 8.7 percent. Three out of every ten children in that regional district are victims of reported abuse.
When we look at statistics and we look at the needs and at what needs to happen throughout the province, this was a very disappointing throne speech. We’re looking forward to the budget. Hopefully, when we look at the inequities and the concerns and disparities throughout the province, that will be alleviated when the budget comes down.
You know, recently the NDI, the Northern Development Initiative Trust, did a presentation for the rural caucus of the opposition and for, I believe, the northern caucus of the government. One of the key facts that they put out…. They looked at the region, the north coast region. The north coast region represents from Haida Gwaii right out to Nechako. So it’s not a real sense of the reality that’s happening in the northwest and, specifically, my riding of North Coast.
They looked at and reiterated that the population decline on the north coast, and that’s out to Nechako…. For ten years in a row there’s a population decline.
Building permits. The largest decline of any development region in B.C. No major project construction has existed in the last seven or eight years.
The unemployment rate in 2008 was the highest in B.C. at 7.7 percent, versus the provincial rate of 4.4 percent, and in October 2009 it was up to 10 percent. In the northwest region, increases in unemployment, in jobs, from 2008-2009 is in the 50 percent range.
The NDI had some specific recommendations that, as I mentioned before, we hope to see in the forthcoming budget. But when we look at the throne speech that we just had, there is no mention of rural B.C. There’s no mention of the Asia-Pacific gateway authority that the government announced last August it was pursuing with the federal government. The stated purpose of the authority was to redouble its efforts to open up the critical northern corridor. I guess that the government can attest to, “Yes, we have redoubled it,” because, you know, when you redouble nothing, you still get nothing.
What the NDI, the Northern Development Initiative Trust, presented to northern MLAs for both government and opposition…. They were echoing that the northwest is suffering the worst economic decline of any region in B.C., although it is a wealth of underdeveloped forest, mineral and coastal resources.
They put forward quite a few suggestions for the MLAs to look at and consider and hopefully put forward with their caucuses. I picked out five key initiatives that were presented by the NDI for the north coast. They were looking at regional investment attraction, that across the northwest we need to attract value-added manufacturing to the region, with focus on sectors that will diversify the economy, whether it’s forestry, bioenergy, mining.
A key one that’s left off and left out of the throne speech is fisheries — not even mentioned. Again, when we look at the investment that we need in this province, we have to, and as a province we must, consider the value and the importance of fisheries.
In Prince Rupert there’s the Sustainable Marine Fisheries and Communities Alliance that has been going on for the last four or five months. It’s a collection of about 15 first nations governments, their fishery committees, hereditary chiefs, chief councillors, mayors and councillors from the regional districts and other municipalities, and two representatives from North Coast–Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society, the Northern Native Fishing Corporation, the Native Brotherhood and the UFAWU putting together a vision and some initiatives to bring the communities together on this central and north coast to ensure a sustainable marine commercial fishery. This is what we need to do.
This government, again, time after time after time, ignores the importance of the fisheries in this province. The alliance is going to put some of the responsibilities for the fisheries on to the first nations and the commercial fishermen, and work with fishermen inland and the sports fisheries.
The direction laid out by the alliance, and the vision they have, is this sustainable integrated fishery. But nothing about the fisheries. When we look at the last couple years with the Sustainable Aquaculture Committee, some of the recommendations, closed containment…. This is a prime opportunity to look at regional investment attraction into closed-containment systems. Aquaculture is here. It’s here to stay. It has to be done in a different manner, and closed containment is the only way to go.
The alliance is also looking at community hatcheries, based on the ocean ranching in Alaska, which brings in billions of dollars — a co-op model that will benefit the fishermen, benefit communities and work towards a sustainable fishery.
Some of the other initiatives brought forward by the mayors that presented this…. The reason that I’m bringing this up is that there were four mayors there — the mayor of Prince Rupert and the mayor of Terrace, the mayor of Kitimat and the mayor of Port Clements — who presented their initiatives and concerns about what’s going on in the northwest.
The Haida Gwaii community forest. We know that through the land use plan there’s got to be some allotment for the people that need the wood resources on Haida Gwaii. There has to be strategic land use agreement implementation, and there needs to be some finances to make resources and funding available over the two years to support revitalization and development of the forest sector in Haida Gwaii.
The mayors talked about the Prince Rupert Tsimshian access project, the phase 1 of connecting Prince Rupert to Metlakatla with a connecting road to Port Simpson, and the importance of that. That connection would be critical infrastructure for the area.
Back to green energy initiatives, and a push for the north to develop those. Again, in the northwest is what we’re talking about.
We look at the throne speech, and there is no mention of the Premier’s EI reform plans that he had been peddling around with the Premiers on behalf of the Harper government. I find it interesting that we did have the Prime Minister here today.
In Prince Rupert I attended a rally about proroguing the government, and I spoke at that about the concerns of what was left on the table. One of the concerns, and one of the issues left on the table, was the EI reform that is so desperately needed. I’m sure that the Prime Minister and the Premier, when they’re out and about, will hear the concerns from British Columbia about the HST. You know, 90 percent of British Columbians disagree with the implementation of this regressive tax.
Now, what isn’t in this throne speech? Not a word about open government. Nothing about transparency, despite the vow of the Premier to be the most open and transparent government there ever was. What have we seen over the years? Well, the B.C. Rail scandal, the Olympic secrecy, B.C. Ferries lack of accountability and the comptroller general’s scathing report about that. FOI requests — well, you can request, but it’s going to cost you thousands of dollars.
No mention of the Premier’s literacy initiatives or even the word “literacy.” Nothing about homelessness or his own task force on homelessness. No mention about accountability or transparency, except for B.C. Ferries. In the throne speech it said: “New accountability and transparency will be brought to B.C. Ferries as it continues improving services with new ferries, terminals and amenities.” Well, you know, it’s a follow-up. I’m sure the minister is working on that as we speak. The comptroller general found that the corporation has lost accountability, that costs have increased and that executive pay has skyrocketed.
To recap some of the findings in the comptroller general’s report, you have this B.C. Ferries hierarchy with an overpaid CEO, a bloated remunerated board, and lots of generous bonuses that are easily earned. You have the B.C. Ferry Authority, with one shareholder acting on behalf of British Columbians, whose boards only seem to have one role, and that’s where they vote themselves outrageous raises.
The ferries commissioner does a good job for what he’s legislated to do. He looks after the financial security at B.C. Ferries but ignores the public interest. That was pointed out in the comptroller general’s report.
You have the Coastal Ferry Act, which along with the commissioner has been structured with no mandate to protect the public interest nor the people who depend on the ferry system.
There’s insufficient transparency in accounting. There are unverified figures supplied to B.C. Ferries, says the comptroller general. Then there’s the outlandish alternate service provider component of the Coastal Ferry Act, where B.C. Ferries is supposed to go out and find alternate service providers. It’s costing millions of dollars, and that’s got to come out of the legislation.
There’s nothing in there to protect the public service mandate of the ferry system.
Freedom of information has been a concern for many in British Columbia. We’ve called on it for five years: give B.C. Ferries proper accounting. Hopefully that will be some of the legislation coming through.
But the most glaring remark about the setup of the Coastal Ferry Act and the Ferry Commission is that it doesn’t take into account B.C. Ferries’ function as a public service. The only reason it seems to exist is to make money.
Again, that brings me into a real concern that’s happening in Prince Rupert right now. B.C. Ferries is trying to implement route 10A, which is a Tsawwassen–Prince Rupert trip. So it will be Tsawwassen, Port Hardy, Prince Rupert, every second week, meaning 20 fewer sailings in and out of Prince Rupert during the summer — a huge impact on tourism from Haida Gwaii all the way out to Prince George and the city of Prince Rupert. The tourism associations are concerned.
My biggest concern is that B.C. Ferries wants to do the crewing out of Tsawwassen, which will mean a loss of about 140 jobs in Prince Rupert. We can’t afford to lose one job, as most people in this House realize.
Agriculture. There’s nothing about agriculture in there. You know, the minister talks about the need for a Buy B.C. He says, “Oh, we’re doing it” — but no. We need a true Buy B.C. campaign going, as we had years ago.
Now, as far as children and families, the quote that basically flew out at me was “strengthening families is at the centre of our social and economic agenda.” Well, if we look at the social agenda of this government, it’s been attacking the most vulnerable in the province — the highest poverty rate in Canada for the sixth year in a row, homelessness at one of the highest levels we’ve ever seen, seniors that are barely making it day to day.
There’s no mention of a poverty reduction plan. We see what’s happening under this Premier — six years, number one in child poverty. I can’t even comprehend how this government can suggest that strengthening families is at the centre of their agenda.
If we look at this Premier’s legacy, his legacy is number one for world-class poverty. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The province, our province, is one of the most prosperous regions, but many people are left behind. It’s just not one neighbourhood in British Columbia. It’s the whole province.
One in five B.C. children live in poverty. There are over 10,000 homeless people in communities all around our province, even in small communities. More than 2,000 of them live in greater Vancouver, and Pivot Legal Society says it’s going to likely triple by the year 2010.
Poverty isn’t new. But this government, under this Premier’s priorities, has made it worse for the most vulnerable in our province. Until 2001 poverty in this province was dropping faster and farther than the national rate. But what changed? Well, what changed was that the B.C. Liberals got in power.
Between 2002 and 2005 this Premier cut spending on social programs by nearly one-third, and that included annual funding for new social housing. He made social assistance harder to get. It forced people to jump through a maze of bureaucratic hoops, forced people who could no longer pay rent or buy food to wait three weeks before even letting them apply again. The number of people on welfare kept getting higher, and the number of homeless people doubled.
The average income for poor families in British Columbia is over $11,000 below the poverty line. The B.C. poverty rate for aboriginal children is more than 40 percent. The B.C. poverty rate for children in single-parent families is 50 percent. The average annual income for the richest 1/10 of 1 percent in B.C. is almost $2.5 million. These are statistics that we shouldn’t be proud of.
What do we have here? We have a gold medal for poverty hanging around the Premier’s neck — the highest child poverty in Canada for six years in a row.
We look at tourism, culture and the arts. What’s missing? Well, there’s no mention about how the government will help the tourism industry survive the horrendous blow from the HST, no mention of how the government will address funding for tourism destination marketing organizations, no mention of reinstating the funding that was cut from arts and culture, and no mention of a serious plan to avoid the 7 percent drop in tourism that has been forecast by Central 1 Credit Union.
What was noticeable in the throne speech were the platitudes around education: “New forms of schooling will be developed to provide greater choice and diversity” and “parental involvement.” There’s nothing in this throne speech that indicates that this government understands the true implications of the downloading and lack of funding for schools throughout the province and the crisis that they’re in.
Parents, students and teachers wanted to hear a commitment from the government with a substantial vision about how resources would be invested in the education system. Instead, it came out as vague schemes, lofty language and ignoring what’s happening in school districts throughout the province.
Recently the B.C. Association of School Business Officials, which are the secretary-treasurers, said that the K-to-12 system needs an extra $300 million to maintain current levels and that if it doesn’t get an immediate injection of new funding, it’s going to mean cuts to children with special needs, layoffs of teachers, layoffs of support staff. Here the government can find half a billion dollars for a new roof on B.C. Place, but they refuse to protect public education from devastating and severe cuts.
The cost pressures, the downloading onto school districts — we’re seeing it throughout the province, in Kamloops, Prince George, Victoria — negotiated salary increases, negotiated pension adjustments, administrative salary increases, administrative pensions, support staff increases, carbon offsets, gas tax, smart-tool software, MSP increases, hydro rate increases, BCeSIS costs, DPAC and PAC cuts, B.C. School Sports cuts, full-day kindergarten, building maintenance costs, TOC criteria for wages as far as the Ready award, StrongStart costs.
Then there are the other revenue pressures: the annual facilities grant, the funding protection, the one-time reserves that they’re holding, growth in special ed and general inflation for supplies. There are dozens of cost pressures that are being downloaded onto school districts throughout the province.
I think the most amazing thing that came out of the throne speech was the phrase: “Nothing is more important…than the harmonized sales tax.” This government just doesn’t get it — 90 percent of British Columbians realize that we have to go in a different direction. This is not the time to implement a regressive downloading of $1.9 billion onto them.
In the Haida Gwaii Observer, they did an editorial where they said that the HST is a tax grab at a time when a recession has already taken its toll on the provincial economy.
- “It will only worsen job losses and economic difficulty for most residents of British Columbia. Those hardest hit will be low-income earners who will see more of their limited incomes go to the cost of everyday items not now taxed with the PST.
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“For starters, it means that almost everything on Haida Gwaii will be more expensive. That’s because B.C. Ferries will have to charge the new tax on its fares, freight companies, 7 percent for heating fuel, hydro, non-prescription medicines, other businesses including restaurants, animal feed, fishing charters, school supplies, home building and maintenance. In a recession when many communities are hurting, this is only going to further harm local economies.”
- “On these islands where tourism is important, the impact of increased costs to visitors could be very negative. It’s up to the province to decide whether or not to implement the tax. It’s the duty of our elected officials to lobby against the tax since polls suggest that 85 percent of all British Columbians are against it. It’s time for us and our local politicians to stand up and say no to the HST.”
That’s what we’re going to be doing on this side of the House. We’re going to join the 85 to 90 percent of British Columbians that are going to say no to the HST.
The Council of Tourism Associations have indicated that it’s going to cost 10,000 tourism jobs and up to $545 million in lost revenue, and it’s going to have a disproportionate impact on rural tourism development opportunities. They say that this government told British Columbians during the election campaign they were not going to bring in the HST. No studies were done on the impact and the effect on the tourism industry. They’ve got a real concern about this.
Manitoba recently confirmed that the HST will hurt their consumers. Their report, Sales Tax Harmonization in Manitoba: What it Would Mean, says that an HST in Manitoba would mean consumers would pay over $400 million more in provincial sales tax. But that would be quite a bit higher in our province because our population is nearly four times as much.
Manitoba looked carefully at the implementation and decided not to adopt it. With this government, they said during the election they wouldn’t do it. As soon as it was…. They said they would do it without consultation and without analysis.
Now, we have a long road to ensure opportunities for British Columbians. Many are struggling right now. Many in my riding and rural ridings throughout the province are struggling to make ends meet so they can support their families. We have to ensure that there are more opportunities. We have to ensure that business people, young entrepreneurs get the support they need.
DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
(HANSARD)
HOUSE BLUES
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010
Afternoon Sitting