January 27, 2005 - Hilton Metrotown
Thank you very much. Let me just say how much I appreciate all of you being here tonight. It makes a huge difference to all of us and I want to say thank you to Patty for that great introduction and to Harry and to Richard and to John for the earlier introduction. And I want to say to each of you how important it is that you’re here tonight because you know, in spite of the fact that society gets to call me the Premier and say those nice things about me, the Premier doesn’t do anything by himself. We would not be where we are today in British Columbia without the best caucus that’s ever been elected by the people of this province in 2001. A plan is not worth the paper it’s written on without the people that say we’re committed to that plan. We’re going to make the choices that are right for the province of British Columbia. And you know here in Burnaby you have been very fortunate with four MLA’s who have worked tirelessly on behalf of each of you in your community.
You know when you think of Harry Bloy – Harry, where are you? Look at Harry back there. Now I don’t know how many of you remember what Harry looked like last year at this time, but he’s looking awfully good this year, don’t you think? He’s looking trim, he’s looking suave. You know how many people would say to Harry, “Harry, what you are doing?” and Harry would say, “You know what I’m doing, I’m trying to find a cure for cancer.” And he showed leadership, Harry did. He had to go through growing his hair, he had to go through all the taunts and all the teases and all the fun we made of Harry, but you know what he did this year? He raised $5,000 dollars because he had his hair cut, which went to cancer research and finding a cure. Harry’s been out around his constituency, going to kindergartens and talking with young people and you know what he does? He sends every one of those young kids a book because he knows how important literacy is to the long-term future of anybody in this province. And I just want to say to Harry that on May 17th, 2005, the people of Burquitlam are going to return you as their MLA. And that’s the right thing for all of them to do.
We heard from John Nuraney earlier tonight. Now John…he’s been one of those people that came to Canada, built a business, employed hundreds of people and then he said, “You know I’d like to give something back to my community.” And we can remember this as we think of people that are running for office. These are people and their families who have put their private life on hold while they take care of building a stronger public life for British Columbia. John has been a tireless asset for seniors across the province and here particularly in his constituency in Burnaby-Willingdon. He’s worked, he’s at senior forums, he talks with seniors and he says, “What are you worried about? What are your challenges?” And you know they said, “Well now John, we’re not feeling as safe as we used to feel.” We need to have a sense of comfort and confidence in our community and John’s been a tireless advocate for improving the quality of life for seniors in this community. And John went to Burnaby City Council and he said a hundred per cent of all traffic fine revenues that the Province is now given to the community to go to policing and crime prevention. He has been a true advocate and I can tell you this, on May 17th, 2005, the people of Burnaby-Willingdon are going to return John Nuraney as their MLA. And that’s the right thing to do.
And Richard Lee from Burnaby-North just came back from a business trip to China. And you know one of the things I’m going to talk a little about tonight is how important China and India are to our economic future. Listen to this: In Canada, not just British Columbia, but Canada, when we think of this, there is only one Pacific province in Canada and it’s called British Columbia. One Pacific province and as you will hear and as you will know, if we look across the world, around the world, the fastest growing economies in the world are on the Asia Pacific and you know what? One of the fastest growing economies in Canada is on the Pacific and it’s called British Columbia. Richard Lee has just gone to China, and he was there at the Green Home China Project with Mike de Jong and Patrick Wong and they were opening up a major project that’s going to expand our opportunities for forestry. Richard has done a great job – he visited China last year with me and I want to say, thank you Richard. And let me tell you this ladies and gentlemen: on May 17th, 2005, the people of Burnaby-North are going to re-elect Richard Lee. And that’s the right thing to do.
And then how can we forget that firebrand who introduced me, the best of all, Patty Sahota. Patty has also been one of those people who goes about her business of listening to what people say and says, how can I make things better for the community I’m serving? I can remember when Patty came and talked to me about the 2009 Police and Fire Games that is going to be hosted right here in Burnaby. And she and her colleagues said, “You know this is something we have to get behind.” We talk about the Olympics. We talk about the other activities, the World Cup of Hockey. You know what? The 2009 Police and Fire Games right here in Burnaby are going to bring thousands and thousands of athletes, competitors, and their families right here to British Columbia. And I have confidence in this: on May 17th, 2005, the people of Burnaby-Edmonds are going to re-elect Patty Sahota. And that’s the right thing to do.
As I know Patty, Richard, Harry and John would all tell you, we have had a great caucus as we have gone through the last three and a half years; a caucus that’s been committed to their plan and committed to those of you who have supported them throughout the last three years and the years before that as they led up to the election. And I know that they would say to you that we’re fortunate to have some of the leadership that you see in this province. So we’ve had a sense of family. We’ve had some tough times, some good times, some bad times but people stick together, and tonight is just an example of that.
I’d like to introduce to you the MLA from North Vancouver-Lonsdale, Katherine Whittred, who has joined us tonight. Katherine.
And also your caucus member, who would tell you as I would tell you that there has always got to be someone who’s a “go to” guy. There’s always got to be someone on your team that you know when the times are really difficult in the corner, they’ll be there with you. They’ll be behind you. They’ll make sure we’re doing the right stuff. And when we were elected I said that it was time for British Columbia to start to take a real interest in policing. Not leave it over here on the side but bring it front and center and recognize that in terms of building a quality of life for all of us. Where there are great parks; where there are great schools and great universities; where there are great communities, people have got to feel safe. They have to feel confident that they can enjoy all of those amenities that we try to create. And I needed to go to someone who I knew would work with the RCMP, who would work with the independent police forces, who would actually focus his attention on integrating our services and doing what’s best for the whole province. And tonight I can tell you there are a few people in British Columbia that have done more to advance the quality of life and community safety in this Province than our Solicitor General and Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Rich Coleman joins us tonight as well.
I’ve just got three more I want to comment on. One is a gentleman who came, and when we were elected in 2001, I said to him, “You know it’s important that we focus everyone’s attention on the issue of mental illness.” It touches us all. It’s one of those things that a lot of people like to put over in the corner and not pay too much attention to if we can take care of it, it’s all right. But we really wanted to put it front and center in British Columbia so we’re the first province in the country, for example, with a strategy for mental illness for young people. We actually have brought over a quarter billion dollars trying to improve the quality of life for those with mental illnesses in their families in communities all over the province. And someone who’s joined us tonight is someone who has decided to go on and seek another opportunity to serve in the government of Canada but he has joined us tonight, former MLA Bill Reid is with us tonight as well. And Bill, I don’t want you take this the wrong way - it’s great to have some formers here, but it’s even better to have some futures here.
We have two candidates with us here tonight who exemplify, I think, the revitalization of the Party, the new blood that is coming into the Party and the new ideas that are coming into the Party. First, from Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, someone who has served on Port Coquitlam City Council but who is going to serve in the legislature of the Province of British Columbia. On May the 17th, 2005, the people of Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain are going to elect Greg Moore as MLA because that’s the right thing to do. Thanks Greg for being here.
And you may have heard in December our former Finance Minister, Gary Collins, decided he was going to go on and pursue other private endeavors. We wanted to be sure we had someone with exceptional talent who was willing to step into his shoes, which were very large. And we’re really fortunate. You know people say to me all the time, “You’ve got to get new people and people with real experience.” I can tell you this: We have nominated in Vancouver-Fairview Virginia Greene. Virginia, are you here tonight? Virginia? Did she have to go? Oh, she had to step out. Let me just say that Virginia is human too. But, she has experience in public service. She was one of the leading lights that brought us Expo 86 and all of the incredible activities that took place there. She has been an Assistant Deputy Minister of Tourism. She opened her own company and it was thriving. It was bought out by J. Walter Thompson. She was the head of J. Walter Thompson Connect. She has been the leading force behind the B.C. Cancer Agency. She has helped increase awareness across this entire province and she’s going to help all of us when on May the 17th, 2005, the people of Vancouver-Fairview elect Virginia Greene because that’s the right thing to do.
I took the time to do that because I know all of you. You may not know this but I’ve been actually been running for office for almost 20 years now. My first election actually was almost 20 years ago now. I was first elected on the City Council in Vancouver in 1984 but in spite of that, people come up to me and say, “Why can’t you ever get anybody good to run for office?” I want you to know that we’ve got great people running for office and they need your help, and they need your support, and British Columbia needs to elect them on May the 17th, 2005.
I’m sitting here in Burnaby, I think we can pretty much tell why. You know when you think about Burnaby, you think of it as being a crossroad. And the crossroad for the Lower Mainland is a crossroad for British Columbia. And when you think about this particular part of our province you have to think about all of the things that have been taking place in Burnaby over the last little while.
Our forest industry has taken off in British Columbia. In the last year, just think of this, we have seen 10,000 more people be hired back to work in the coastal forest industry. And many of the benefits and the changes were made by forest companies right here in Burnaby. Look at what’s taken place at Tiger Forest Products. It’s been ranked as one of the top ten fastest growing companies in BC. Since 2001, their work force has risen from 300 to almost 500 people. From 300 to 500 people and that’s being reflected across the Province, in industry after industry.
And that’s important because as I talk to you about job statistics remember this: Every job is someone’s tool to build the future they want. Every job is someone’s tool to build a better future for their family, is someone’s tool to be more confident and more secure about what they can do. So when you talk about 200 new jobs at Tiger Forest, think of this: there is no province in Canada that has created more jobs than the province of British Columbia between December of 2001 and December of 2004. One hundred and ninety-eight thousand new jobs right here in British Columbia. I can tell you when we were elected there were a lot of people that said this, they asked this, “Is there a future for forestry in British Columbia?” The answer today not only is there a future, but it is incredibly bright. There are 33,000 new jobs that are going to be created and hoping to be created between now and 2010 in forestry. When people today graduate from university and they have a Forest Products degree they get five job offers. Five. The industry has had a substantial increase in investments across the Province; over half a billion dollars in the last three years. When we can remember in our province as we grow, as we build new capacities and technology, as we build new opportunities in tourism, our number one industry in terms of jobs in BC is forestry, and it is part of our future and it’s got a great future in British Columbia with the BC Liberal Government.
I’m sure you know this, but Burnaby is actually the center of an awful lot of our technology industries in British Columbia. And it is thriving. Prior to 2001, I can recall going to the Electronic Art Building in British Columbia. Beautiful building right here in Burnaby. There was a huge vacant lot next door. Well, it wasn’t vacant. There was a soccer field next door. And I can remember the people from Electronic Art saying to me, “We have a plan for that soccer field. We would like to put a new building there. We would like to hire people to work in that building there.” And there was only one thing that they were thinking about. What was going to happen in the election? Well, what happened in the election was the BC Liberal Government was elected. What happened was, on day one there was a dramatic income tax cut for every single British Columbian. What happened was, instead of opening new offices south of the border, they closed those offices, and they opened new offices here in British Columbia. There is a one hundred and seventy-thousand square foot new building that’s going up at Electronic Arts right here in Burnaby, to hire people and support families.
And it’s not just Electronic Arts. There are many, many technology companies that are growing this year. Extreme PCTV finished third in the Deloitte ranking for Canada’s fastest growing technology company. Now here’s a nice statistic we all like to have in our businesses. Its revenue growth was nearly five thousand percent in the last five years. Not bad, hey? Northbad International landed a $1.5 million contract to outfit the US military with portable satellite terminals. And look at what’s taking place with Via Pharmaceutical. They just signed a $200 million deal with Novartis to develop a new treatment for obesity. It’s the largest Canadian pre-clinical biotech deal ever. And they’re all here in Burnaby. And they’re all building a future. And they’re all about where we can go as British Columbians if people make the right choice on May 17, 2005 and re-elect a BC Liberal Government.
So I need you all to think about this. This is, after all, your province. This is your decision. And this will be your future. Now I can tell you some of the best stories that I have heard over the last little while are stories of people whose kids are coming home to British Columbia because this is where they want to build their future. And having said this, this is now a province where people can build their dreams. This is a province that is actually showing people that if we set our goals high enough, if we think big enough, there is really nothing that we can’t accomplish. And, of course, we know that’s true. And what’s the key to that accomplishment? The key to the accomplishment is to have a private sector economy that’s liberating people. Create a flow, you know, create a flow. They’re making sure that innovation is encouraged. They’re making sure that people know they can take risks and if they do well, they’ll get ahead. And they’ll build more wealth and they’ll build more opportunity across the Province in community after community.
It’s about being able to say to small businesses, we need you. We have a strategy that’s different than the NDP small business strategy. Now some people didn’t notice this, but you know the NDP were elected in British Columbia in 1991 and they had the largest, best economy in the country right here. So they said they would put in place a small business strategy and everyone thought, “Oh, that’s where we’ve got to be careful when we listen to what the NDP have to say. Really careful. Really, really careful.” So they said that they had a small business strategy and everyone said, “Oh, that’s pretty good, small business.” We all listened to Carole James’ message and “I’ve got a small business strategy.” Now we said to her, “What is it?” And she said that she was just talented and that she had a small business strategy. Well the NDP’s small business strategy really hasn’t changed much. In 1991, this was their small business strategy: Let’s take a whole bunch of big businesses in British Columbia and watch them become really small. We have a different small business strategy in British Columbia. We want our small businesses to become large businesses. We want to hear stories about the fact that you went from 20 employees to 66 employees. We want to hear like I heard from one of our construction companies the other day that in 2001 before we were elected they had 13, this is what he said, 13 employees left. Today they have 120 and they can’t keep up with the demand for their business. That’s what our small business strategy is.
And we know this: for small businesses to reach their full potential we have to provide them with the training and the education that young people need so they can pursue their goals. You know we can’t pick what people love. We can’t pick what people feel passionate about, but we can provide them with opportunities. In 2001 we were elected and parents would say to us, and kids would say to us, I’m going to school. I’m graduating with an 80 percent average and I can’t get into university.” We have people, young people going to university and saying, “You know, I used to be told there was a four-year program to get your bachelor’s degree. And now it’s taking me five or five and half years to get that degree because courses aren’t available to me.” And they want to admit to me that they went up and up in terms of the percentage of it. There were some programs you needed to have a 92 per cent average in school to get into university. Now take a look at me here. I got to go to university. I graduated from high school. Does anyone think I look like a 92 per cent average? The least we can do is allow kids to get into university the same way we got into university. Well, not me. It’s got to be higher than that. But you know we got into university so we said, “You know what we have to do, let’s make sure that any young person that goes to high school that graduates with a 75 percent average, a B or better can get into university.” And that’s exactly the program we started: The largest expansion and post-secondary institution in the last 40 years: 25,000 new seats across the province of British Columbia. And the only reason we can do that is we started to build an economy that can support it.
You know the power of a strong economy is it creates opportunity. The power of a strong economy is it allows us to see the kinds of opportunities opening up in Burnaby like we see right now. There is going to be 1100 new spaces at BCIT, new spaces for students. New spaces for training people who want to pursue their goals right here in British Columbia. There is going to be 1100 new spaces at the Burnaby campus at SFU. We are investing 23 million dollars to expand SFU’s Technology and Science complex. Seven million dollars for the Research complex that they’ve got there. 7.5 million dollars in the new Senior Graduate School of Business. 1.8 million in the Advanced Health research and High Tech development right here at SFU. We can’t do that without the power of the strong economy and that’s why we need to re-elect a BC Liberal Government on May 17th, 2005.
Make no mistake. This is a great province. This is a great province, and we have everything we need to move forward. There is truly a golden decade in front of us in the province of British Columbia. It’s a decade where we can say to our young people, we are working to make your life better, to create more choices for you. But it won’t happen unless each of us commit ourselves to it. And let’s each of us say we have to do something more. I’m not asking all of you to run for office like Patty and John and Harry and Richard. I’m saying to you we need you to do more between now and May 17th because the other side is working like crazy. The other side is bringing in people from all over the country to try and defeat us. But I’ll tell you this: We’re not going to stand idly by. We are going to stand up for British Columbia. We are going to stand up for the future and we are going to build the kind of future this country needs British Columbia to build.
We have a lot of people telling me, “You know we have to do more,” and we will do more. We’ve got work to do. We’ve just begun. We just started turning this province around. It took till ten years to take it down to its knees. We’ve got it up now and look at what I love. I love the fact it doesn’t matter where I am in this province. People are feeling good. They are feeling optimistic. They know that whatever they want to do they can do. They know it’s theirs. It’s in their hands and they can do and all they ask us for us to keep out of their way. And think of what we can do when we have an economy that’s starting to run on all cylinders. We’ve got an oil and gas industry that’s taken off in British Columbia. We’ve got a forest industry that’s moving forward. We have a mining industry that’s coming back. When we were elected in 2001, 29 million dollars a year was spent on exploration for mining. And make no mistake, every town in this province is a resource town. Vancouver, Burnaby, Victoria - we depend on our resources. Mining exploration is up over four and half times in just three and half years. That is the power of a strong economy, and that helps us pay for health care. It helps us pay for our education system. That’s what is so critical as we look ahead. And I want us all to look ahead now if we can. I want you to look ahead to May 17th, 2005. But remember the reason we’re asking you to do that. The reason we’re asking for your support is we have a vision for where we can be 10 years from now. We have a golden decade in front of us. We have an opportunity to lead our country. And make no mistake, Canada depends on British Columbia. We have competitive advantage but we have to turn that competitive advantage into a competitive edge.
We are Canada’s Pacific province. Now think of this: The fastest growing economies in the world are China and India. We have an exceptional asset to move forward and take advantage of this. Two of our largest trading partners are Korea and Japan. We have the resources and the talent to take advantage of those. And we should be reaching out with the people that have decided to make British Columbia their home. To build stronger bridges, stronger cultural bridges, stronger bridges of trade, stronger bridges of economic opportunity for both sides of that vast Indian-Pacific Ocean. That is the ocean of the 21st century and we are right on the edge. And so I can tell you over the next little while we are going to be talking to you about expanding our transportation infrastructure; about opening our ports up.
The Prime Minister was just in Beijing and he said to them, “This is good.” What he said was good. I think this is the first Prime Minister that said something that was this good. He said to the people in China, “The gateway to opportunity in Canada goes through down to the port of Vancouver and the port of Prince Rupert.” Those opportunities take our goods to the Asian Pacific market and they take their goods to Canada. Just think of this: We have huge cultural ties and personal ties with both of those economies but when he goes to China he’s talking directly to people that he knows and he understands their culture and he understands what we have to do to build strong lasting long-term relationships. And make no mistake, when we go to India, as John and I did about a year and a bit ago, we know what we can do to build our relationships with India. Don’t we want to be part of a new global economy that opens up opportunity for every single one of our kids? Don’t we want to be leading the country in terms of economic growth? Think of this: While the Prime Minister was in China, Canada got approved destination status in China. Listen to this number: By 2020, fifteen years away, they expect to have 100 million tourists leaving China for the rest of the world. There is no better place in the world to visit, to play, to have a good time, to eat the best food, to feel at home than British Columbia, Canada and we want them here.
So over the next few months, I want you to pay careful attention to your heart. Think about what you feel and think about what you want for yourself, for your business, but more importantly for your family; for your kids and for your future in this province. I’m not quite sure what the opposition offers yet. Now I should tell you tell you this to be fair. I don’t think Carole James is quite sure what she is offering yet. In fact, I think Jim Sinclair is having trouble with his pen to give her his platform. She was against tax cuts and then about a week and half ago she was for tax cuts for the film industry and now she’s against tax cuts. She’s not quite sure whether she’s for a balanced budget or not really a balanced budget. Well, it could be a balanced budget. She’s actually not in favour of mining but she might be in favour of mining. She’s not too sure about salmon aquaculture but now maybe she doesn’t dislike it as much she thought she did and she’ll let us all know in a couple of weeks. So, the first time she said “a couple of weeks” was about 14 months ago. So I’m sure she’s going to let us know eventually.
But I know where we stand. We stand for a strong free enterprise private sector economy that creates jobs and builds families’ futures right here in the province of British Columbia. We stand for a government that provides assistance to people who need help as we did with people with disabilities, wherein last fall we provided them with the largest single increase and support that they’ve had since they started getting it. We stand side by side with the parents who want to make sure that their kids are getting the best education possible. We stand with our doctors and our nurses who want to make sure that our patients are getting the care they need and that we are moving forward to improving and reforming our health care infrastructure.
We stand with the people of British Columbia who say to us, “No, we work very hard for our pay cheques and we expect you as a government to value those dollars that you take and to make sure that you invest them prudently and wisely and to the maximum benefit for each of us.” We stand with small businesses and we know how hard it is to make a dollar, to actually create the wealth that we need to hire people. We stand with the people in our retail industry in this province who try and provide services to people in community after community with the best value and best service possible. We stand with the people who are looking to try and acquire a home so they can build a future in strong and healthy and safe neighborhoods. We stand with our police officers across this province who are saying to people, “if we integrate our services, if we work together we can create safer communities”. We stand for the future of British Columbia. We stand for building a golden decade for every single one of us and every single one of our children. We stand for the future, we ask you to join us, and I want to thank you all very much for being here tonight. Thank you very much.
