Pacific Economic Summit

May 31, 2007

Premier Gordon Campbell
Check Against Delivery

I want to welcome Governor Schwarzenegger and his team to the traditional territories of the Coast Salish First Nation.

I just want to say how pleased I am to have Governor Schwarzenegger and all of you here from California, and to have the Business Council of B.C. building this incredible opportunity, the Pacific Economic Summit. You know, Governor, when we get our business organizations together, the really exciting part is how much we can learn from one another.

This is a clean energy conference. We’re thinking about the future here. One of the most important things we can do is embrace the changes ahead and the world we live in. As we embrace change, as Governor Schwarzenegger has reminded us, it’s not just about talking; it’s about taking action. It’s about changing what we do. It’s about changing how we think.

We are talking about changing the political cultures that have tended to fragment us. Governor Schwarzenegger has been a true national leader, indeed an international leader, in looking at how we can erase those boundaries and do what’s right for the entire planet. That’s the kind of leadership and vision we can all embrace, and I want to congratulate the Governor for the work he is doing on behalf of us all.

I met with a number of the California delegates. When we think of our jurisdictions, our province and your state, it’s incredible how much we have in common. In British Columbia, we have a thriving and growing economy based on clean industry. We’re recognized across our country. About 75 per cent of all research and development into hydrogen fuel cells is taking place in British Columbia – Ballard Power, Westport.

We have 18,000 people involved in creating the kind of new industry that’s so important to our future. It’s a new industry that says we’re ready to lead the world in terms of carbon sequestration – that is, capturing carbon before it has a negative impact on the environment.

It’s a new industry transforming one of British Columbia’s traditional industries, forestry. As we look at the potential for biomass development, fuel development and energy development, we see a new way of looking at the world, where we talk about our impact and what we can do to reduce it.
A hundred years ago today, Canada’s first gas station opened here in Vancouver. At that time, someone said, "What are you guys thinking about? We’ve got this whole industry built up around buggies, horses and wagon wheels. There is some mess on the roads, but we can clean it up. These automobiles are much too expensive.”

Someone else said we should see the world, and take advantage of the opportunities therein. I believe we are now at a time in our lives and in history where we need to see what the world is offering us, and say, “How do we make the world a better place?”

As we embrace the challenges we confront, we must ask ourselves this: are we willing to be selfless instead of selfish? Are we willing to make decisions today that we may not even feel the impacts of 10 years or 20 years from now? We will certainly feel those impacts 30 and 40 and 50 years from now, and so will our grandchildren.

One of the critical components – as we build the Pacific collaborative, as we work together on the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, as we join with California and with the Climate Registry – is to take leadership and to act. When I first called the Governor last December, I talked to him about what we were trying to do in British Columbia. He said: "We can’t wait. We’re going to act. We are acting in California." He welcomed the actions we were taking in British Columbia.

I joined him in March in California, and I can’t tell you how generous Governor Schwarzenegger and the people of California have been: the academics, the businesses, government agencies, in working with British Columbia so, together, we can maximize the benefits of the opportunities in front of us, and do what is right.

Our province has embraced the California tailpipe emission standards. They will be in place in 2009, and fully in place by 2016. We have embraced their fuel standards, which will see a dramatic reduction in the impacts of the carbon intensity of our fuels.

We will work together. British Columbia itself has over 4.2 million people. Together, British Columbia and California have over 40 million people. British Columbia, California, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona…. We now have the province of Manitoba saying it would like to be part of this. That’s over 60 million people.

The Governor and I both understand that the private sector will drive our future, bringing enormous resources to bear on the challenges and opportunities in front of us.

Governor Schwarzenegger was elected less than three years ago. In that time, he’s seen significant improvements in state revenues. He’s been able to pay down the state’s debt. He’s afforded record investment in schools, in roads and in health care for children. Certainly, British Columbians can see the parallels. I’m tired of my physical attributes being compared to yours, Governor, but we see a lot of similar, public attributes both California and British Columbia bring to the table.

Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are joined by a true leader, who has taken the gift of celebrity to make the world a better place for us all, for our children and for our grandchildren. He’s taken the gift of public office and said he is willing to lead – lead other states forward, lead his country forward and set an example others can follow. He’s taken the gift of leadership and said, “I will be first. I will step out. I will act.”

You are leaders. You have those gifts. Join us, and we will succeed.