February 16, 2006, Penticton
Check Against Delivery
It’s really great to be here, and it’s great to have such a fine introduction.
You know, when you hear those things, it makes you a little bit nervous. But I want to tell you: The reason that I am as confident as I am about tourism in British Columbia, about what this province can do and where this province can go, is I see what British Columbians have done in the last five years.
Just think back five years and think of how much better you feel, how much stronger you feel, how much more optimistic you are about this province. British Columbia is leading the country in job growth. We were looked to for leadership, and we are going to provide that leadership in B.C. and in Canada.
I want to thank my cousin Mike. Every time I see Mike Campbell is going to introduce me, I think: Oh, I thought he said he wasn’t going to mix his career with my career.
But I do want to say that Mike has been a great player, and that is because of your leadership. It’s because of people who are willing to talk directly to us, tell us where they’ve got challenges, and also come to the table with lots of solutions, ways that we can continue to build the industry and the foundation of tourism in British Columbia.
Mike Campbell has been a great leader for you, and I want to say thank you to Mike for all that time and hard work. Thank you for giving it to British Columbia.
I’m pleased that this year I am joined by a true leader and true advocate for tourism in British Columbia -- the Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, Olga Ilich, is with us today.
Here we are in Penticton, a place an awful lot of us have visited and enjoyed.
The Speaker of the House has got to be back in the House because someone has got to keep that place in order: You know that. So Bill Barisoff is not with us today, but I know that he would want me to say how great it is to be in Penticton.
I am also speaking for my colleague, the Minister of Revenue and Small Business, Rick Thorpe, who’s also been a strong advocate of tourism in Penticton. Rick is proud of Penticton. He was one of the people that would participate in the Elvis event every year. You can see from his haircut that he’s decided to put that part of his life behind him.
You know, one of the things about Penticton that’s so exceptional is the way you continue to build your tourism industry. You’ve recognized your strengths, and you’ve stopped to ask, “How do we attract more and more people to our part of the world, to this part of the Okanagan, the southern Okanagan?” Whether it’s the IronMan, the Wine Festival, which is declared one of the hundred most exceptional tourist activities in 2006, right here in British Columbia, it’s a real tribute to the people here, to the wine industry and to Penticton, for the leadership you have shown. And I want to congratulate you for that work. It’s great work for on behalf of all British Columbians.
Today, I want to talk to you about where we are. Sometimes we set goals for ourselves, and we think to ourselves: That seems pretty far-reaching and maybe we can’t attain that goal. But I want to tell you this: I believe that this industry, that this province, with what we have before us, is about to have another major break through. Tourism in this province is about to take off in every single region of British Columbia.
If you just look at the video that we were presented by the Thompson Okanagan Association, you just start to see a small bit of what British Columbia has to offer tourists, people that come and visit us in this province.
Now, a lot of our natural endowments, the exceptional natural environment that we live in is really something that we can build on, and we have been building on in B.C. more and more.
I’ve had the experience now of being in three political campaigns. Two I remember particularly well. In those two, my sons were with me as we went through those campaigns. You know, seeing this province through a young person’s eyes who has not been able to experience all that this province has to offer, starts to give us an understanding of what the world sees when they come to British Columbia.
We’re a province that’s larger than England, France, and Germany combined. We’re a province with enormous diversity. We’re a province with huge opportunities, and today we have a chance to ask ourselves, “What is tourism?” It’s sharing those opportunities with the world. It’s saying to the world: You’re welcome to come; you’re welcome to experience the best that we have to offer in British Columbia.
You know what? Go anywhere else in the world; you won’t find anything better than what we have to offer right here in our province, in your region, in British Columbia, Canada.
Think of the places that you haven’t been to in B.C. yet. How many of you have been to New Aiyansh? How many? Three. How many of you have actually gone to the world’s largest deciduous forests in the Peace? How many people understand that we have world-class resorts, not one, not two, but half a dozen of them in the Kootenays?
How many people in B.C. today really understand that you don’t have to go down to the Napa Valley to have a wine experience that’s second to none? You can go to the Okanagan Valley and you will see things that are the top of the line. Go to the Mission Hill vineyard; look at that; it’s spectacular.
I don’t know how many of you can imagine what it would have been like on the west coast of Vancouver Island at Chesterman’s Beach just a week or ten days ago when those storms were happening I mean, you can look at picture books of those storms and those spectacular beaches, but you know what? For a little bit of time, we get to own those storms. We get to say, “Why don’t you come and sit in one of our hotels and look out and watch those storms? I don’t advise you to go out in a sea kayak, but watch it from your hotel room, walk along the beach, see what it’s like, feel what it’s like. That’s British Columbia.” Put the picture books down and get here.
Just a few days ago we announced the Central and North Coast plans for our province. That’s going to protect areas three times the size of Prince Edward Island.
You know, I flew up there a few days beforehand to a little village an hour’s north of Bella Bella by helicopter. You arrive, and you see some houses. Then, you go into what they call their Big House, and I’ll tell you it is spectacular.
How many of you have been to the U’mista Cultural Centre at Alert Bay? It’s spectacular. People from around the world want to go there and we have to share it with them. We have to tell them it’s there, we have to invite them in, and we have to be sure that we take full advantage of this.
How many people in this room like to play golf? How many of you play it well?
British Columbia has some of the best golf courses in the world. We have them, right here, in this province.
We’re about to invite the world in a way that, even today, even with 2010 just four years away, it’s hard for us to understand what that will mean to our tourism industry, to our province, to our young people, and to our communities. But what we have to do is remember that 2010 is just a springboard. The interesting part of that springboard is it’s starting to raise us up already. You know, we got right out to the end of that diving board in 2003, and we pushed it down. On July 1, 2003 it started to come back up, and it’s going to keep on coming back up, through 2010 and after 2010.
Our tourism industry is going to keep building and building and building, so that in just ten years we are going to double the tourism industry in British Columbia.
In 2008 the North American Indigenous Games are coming to the Cowichan Valley. They’re going to generate millions and millions of dollars of economic opportunities for us.
The 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 21st episode, right here in British Columbia, Canada. We are inviting the world. Think of what that can do. We have to get prepared, we have to get ready, and being ready means recognizing that tourism is really about people; it's really about relationships; it's really about understanding what people want when they come and they visit us. It's not just mountains and Mounties, although I understand from British Columbia-Canada House in Torino that Mounties are still pretty darned popular. Give me a uniform; I'm ready to go.
We have to do more than that. We have to build on mountains and mounties. And so what we've announced as a province is we intend to establish a new national centre for northwest aboriginal rights and cultures. We're going to establish a new Asia-Pacific Museum of Trade and Culture. We're going to establish a new women's history museum.
Now, sometimes we don't recognize how well-regarded we are around the world. Today in Washington D.C., in the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, there is a featured exhibit on the native art of the Pacific Northwest. Just listen to this. There are artistic and cultural facilities there from all around; they could pick wherever they wanted. There are two aboriginal communities from Washington State, there is one community from Alaska, but there are ten from British Columbia, Canada. Ten B.C. First Nations communities on display to the world. It is a huge gift from Haida Gwaii to Hazelton, from Prince George to Princeton. We have First Nations with cultural artefacts, with a cultural idea that they can share with the world, and we can build on that.
As we think of the future, we have to think about what tourists want, what visitors want. It's not unusual, I have to be honest, for us in government to think what we would like for people to want. But what we have to do is to ask what they want.
As we build British Columbia, we're coming up to 2008. In 2008 British Columbia will celebrate its 150th anniversary as a province. We're going to celebrate that. We’re going to celebrate our history. We're going to celebrate our past. We're going to celebrate, and we're going to think about where we want to go in the future, and we're going to work with you to make sure British Columbians know what we have to offer, what British Columbians have built over the last 150 years. It's a great opportunity for us as we think of where we want to be and as we build the platform to double the amount of tourism activity in this province in just ten years.
So over the next few weeks you're going to hear from us. We're going to ask for those who are interested in joining us in putting together a provincewide program. Remember this: As we think of the world, it starts with home. About 49 percent of British Columbia's tourism is British Columbians touring British Columbia, but still there are not enough British Columbians taking full advantage of all the opportunities that British Columbia's tourism industry offers. So we want to make sure that we use this as a way of encouraging British Columbians to come and visit their own province. What we have to do is remember that we have to expand our horizons, and we can expand them a great way and still stay at home.
There are big advantages to that. I can tell you, the golf courses in the Kootenays, the golf courses in the Okanagan, the golf courses in the Cariboo, the golf courses on Vancouver Island are just as good as any golf courses in Arizona or California. In fact, they're better. For those of you who are learning how to play golf or trying to play golf, I can tell you: It's a really simple game when it's hot and warm and sunny and dry. Try and learn it in the cold rain and you’re automatically a better player. We have great golf courses here, and we can make them work, and we will make them work.
We're going to move towards 2008 together. As we move towards that 150th celebration, we're going to work with you. We're going to work with communities so every community in British Columbia has the spirit of 2008 and are recognized for what they've contributed to the province.
And we're also going to make sure that as we do that, we build towards 2010. We're going to learn about the things that really work in these communities to be part of 2010. Here in Penticton they are looking forward to expanding their convention centre. There's an opportunity through the economic development initiatives we've put in place for them to be able to do that. Right now it's the third-busiest convention centre in the province. We want to continue to build that. When we bring conventions to the Lower Mainland, 60 percent of the people that come to the Lower Mainland, to the convention centre there, take trips out to the rest of the province. We want to make sure that we expand on that.
This year we want to enhance tourism experiences in British Columbia, so we're going to be working with your industry. We're going to have a summer tourism program; we're going to have a winter tourism program. We're going to remind British Columbians of something that's really important
