Premier Gordon Campbell’s Address to BC Liberals Convention 2006
Premier Gordon Campbell gave a tremendously well received keynote address this past weekend at BC Liberals Convention 2006 held in Penticton. Almost 1,100 convention attendees cheered on the Premier's vision for B.C.'s future, as he challenged attendees to continue Reaching Higher for British Columbia over the days, months, and years ahead.
Highlights of the Premier's Address included:
- Investing $1,000 in the name of each newborn child here in British Columbia starting in 2007 to help them meet their post-secondary skills development needs and learning in the future.
- Acting now to phase out smoking in all indoor public spaces by 2008.
- Acting now to ban smoking on all school property in every school across B.C., both public and private by September 2007.
- Removing junk food out of vending machines in all provincially owned public buildings-including hospitals.
- Working with institutions to convert at least 2,500 of our planned 25,000 new post-secondary seats into post-graduate spaces in Masters and Doctorate degrees to address the skills shortage.
- Adding 7,000 new apprenticeship spaces between today and 2010, and substantially increasing the number of industry training organizations in partnership with the private sector and the industry training authority.
- Beef up the tools under our direct control to expedite immigration and integration into our workforce of foreign workers in skill shortage areas.
- Providing even greater tax relief within this mandate for B.C.’s families.
Also announced at BC Liberals Convention 2006 was the fact that Premier Campbell's leadership has received a 96-per-cent approval vote from rank-and-file members, up from 91-per-cent at the last convention in 2004.
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Complete Transcription of Premier Campbell's Address to BC Liberals Convention 2006
November 4, 2006
Penticton, B.C.
Check against Delivery
Thank you all very much. It is great to be here today, it’s great to be here in the traditional lands of the Penticton Indian Band, it’s great to be back in Penticton with our friends, it’s great to be in the Okanagan, and is it ever great to be a British Columbian.
It really is good to feel the energy in this room, and why shouldn’t we be excited about our province? Why shouldn’t we be enthusiastic about British Columbia, energetic about our future? We’ve got the lowest level of unemployment we’ve had in 30-years in this province. And we have the lowest level of youth unemployment in 30-years in British Columbia.
Every region of this province is feeling positive, is feeling excited about what they can be. They’re imagining their futures and they’re going to work to put them into effect. We’re investing record amounts into health care and education, in health promotion, in literacy, in autism, in early childhood development, in housing, in transportation, and in regional development. That’s a record that BC Liberals should be proud of. Is that something that you’re proud of? Absolutely you are!
Carole Taylor has led the most successful labour negotiations in our province’s history, has helped us get a AAA credit rating – are you proud of that record? Absolutely you’re proud of it!
Rich Coleman brought home a softwood lumber agreement – are you proud of that record? Absolutely!
Every member of our caucus and our cabinet has done the province proud. Mike de Jong has brought home the first final agreement of a treaty commission process that has lasted 13 years. We’ve got an initial with the Lheidli T'enneh Band, are you proud of that? Absolutely!
And Kevin Falcon, Kevin Falcon is building new roads and bridges across British Columbia, it’s easily the largest expansion of transportation that we’ve had to our transportation network in decades. You can see Kevin zipping back and forth from ports to airports, from roads to railways, from bridges to borders, he’s able to leap tall buildings. I know this, he’s faster than Phil Gaglardi, he’s more powerful than Alex Fraser, he’s our man of steel, pavement, and unexpected announcements, Kevin Falcon. Are you proud of his record? Absolutely!
And look, we’ve got other action heroes in our cabinet as well. There’s Colin Hansen who’s led the way in Canada with the new B.C. trade agreement with Alberta. Eighty thousand more jobs in the province, the second largest economic union in Canada and all of that was accomplished without costing us one single cent. Richard Neufeld has led the development of a year round energy industry that has made our energy industry B.C.’s number one revenue generator. Bill Bennett has quadrupled the investment in mineral exploration and has overseen the most significant expansion in the province in 50-years. And Pat Bell has created a new Spirit Bear conservancy that will be magnificent for everyone. Now that’s a fantastic four if I ever saw it.
Murray Coell’s leading the most expansive expansion of post secondary education that we’ve had in forty years in British Columbia. And Shirley Bond, the Deputy Premier, she’s done something that many say was almost super human. She’s got a five-year agreement for the first time in history with the BCTF. And what about our own incredible shrinking man- Rick Thorpe, 63-pounds in a year, and a reduction and elimination of 157,000 unnecessary regulations that’s made B.C.’s small family businesses the most optimistic in Canada. Are you proud of that record? Absolutely!
And here’s one thing that every member of our caucus and cabinet, every member of our team would tell you. They couldn’t have done it without two essential ingredients, the professional public service of British Columbia and the BC Liberal Party.
You truly have a record of accomplishment in five years that every single person in this room, and the thousands and thousands of people across the province who have supported us should be proud of. Are you proud of your record? Absolutely!
No wonder British Columbians are in such high spirits. No wonder people are so confident about their future. So here’s the question - why oh why oh why, are New Democrats so pessimistic? I think it must be part of their genetic code, something woven deeply into their DNA. The better things go for B.C., the more depressed they get. They know that we’re on the right track. Surely even they can feel the excitement and the optimism that’s taking place in community, after community, after community. They hear what you hear, the positive hum in the streets and the activity of families being reunited. Maybe it’s actually this simple. Maybe they sense what you sense. On May the 12th 2009, we’re going to re-elect a BC Liberal government.
And that is after all why we’re all here today. It’s why you give so much of yourselves to your party and to your province. Because in your heart you know, that you made the difference. It’s the power of your ideas, the force of your leadership that has fueled BC’s successes for the last five years. When we stand together, the pessimists don’t stand a chance in British Columbia. When we stand together, optimism rules, confidence triumphs, the result is a province that’s driven by dreams and powered by promise. That is what BC Liberals are, BC Liberals set great goals and we reach for them and we strive for them and we drive for them and we achieve them in the BC Liberal Party.
And you know and I know that we can achieve great things when we believe in ourselves, and when we work together, when we believe in each other. When we look ahead there is one thing that is really critical, it’s certainly become clear to British Columbians over the last five years. We can’t look to the NDP for direction. As one Saanich councillor said after listening to the opposition leader’s speech at the UBCM, quote “it sounded like a bit of a complaint, more than a vision.” What would have happened if Martin Luther King would have come out and said “I have a complaint”. Mercifully, they’ve always got Corky.
And at least Corky’s got a dream. I’m sure you’ve heard about Corky’s dream. He dreams about bringing the NDP and the Green Party together. His leader didn’t like that idea, which is odd because it means that she agreed with me on that particular idea. But even Corky’s dream is tarnished with a complaint, and again, it happens to be one I agree with. This is what he said about his own party, quote “Our party has no idea…”. I want to be fair, he goes on to say “Our party has no idea how to deal with climate change and it’s implications on our socialist principles. A coalition with those guys might give us some ideas that we’ve been unable or unwilling to entertain.” Corky, Corky, Corky. If you’re looking for vision, if you’re looking for ideas, if you’re looking for ideas and unity of purpose, the answer is obvious. Put aside your poison pen, put aside your discredited ideology, put on your green thinking cap and join the BC Liberal Party!
This is the party of ideas and energy; this is the party of youth and the future. It is our time to embrace our future as Canada’s pacific gateway. It’s our time to embrace our future as Canada’s pacific province and lead our country forward in the next century with confidence and with pride.
And we should know this; we have no time to waste. We simply cannot wait, time is not our ally, and we’ve got to move boldly into the pacific century, not just for our province but also for our country. And we’re going to act to build on a pacific leadership agenda that will drive our government, our province, and Canada forward in the years ahead.
That pacific leadership agenda includes building new relationships with First Nations, working to conclude treaties, and closing gaps in health, housing, education, and economic opportunities. It includes improving health for our citizens and renewing our public health care system. It includes vibrant connected communities that are socially responsive and are environmentally sustainable. It includes capitalizing on our potential as Canada’s pacific gateway to North America, and improving our competitiveness and productivity through education, skills training and immigration.
As a critical step to realizing our future, it’s imperative that we build a new relationship with First Nations and close the gaps for Canada’s first citizens. In one-year, the one-year since we’ve signed the landmark transformative change accord, we’ve created new opportunities in education, in housing, in health, in economic development. We have now finally initialed the first final agreement under the treaty commissions.
There are two more, that with hard work and with persistence, we believe we will be able to initial within the next few weeks for British Columbia. Three first nations, Tsawwassen, Malmuth, and the Lheidli T'enneh will lead way as we develop the kind of commitment and positive reaction that we need for first nations across this province. Thanks to the leadership of Mike de Jong.
No one in our caucus underestimates the challenges that will lie on the road ahead. As Grand Chief Stewart Phillip told us yesterday, we’re making progress. Our commitment to that Grand Chief and to First Nations people across the province is this. We know we’re making progress, we know there’s a long journey, and we will not stop until we reach our destination of opportunity for all people that live in British Columbia.
Last week, I spoke in some detail to the UBCM about our plan to create connected, vibrant communities. I outlined the green cities project to create cleaner, healthier communities that are built for people. We’re going to invest in a new LocalMotion Fund, aimed at creating bike paths, walkways and wheelchair accessibility. We’re going to invest in strategies to get people out of their cars and on to their feet. We’re going to work with municipalities to create new facilities and better support for persons with mental illness, addictions, and to bring focus, action and results on the problem of homelessness in our communities across British Columbia.
We’re already providing additional rental assistance to 15,000 families in British Columbia and that makes their housing more affordable. And for the first time since 1994, we’re going to raise the shelter allowance for people on income assistance, and that’s going to come in the next budget in our province of British Columbia.
Later today, we’ll talk about another priority, health. We know that good health starts with our kids. That’s why we’re taking junk food out of our schools. I can tell you today that we’re going to extend that initiative to take junk food out of vending machines in all provincially owned public buildings-including hospitals. We’ll act next spring to ensure all vending machine contracts for those facilities are full of healthy food, not junk food.
We know this, that for our kids to be healthy in future, they have to be active today. That’s why the Legislative Committee on health is developing an action plan to help reduce childhood obesity, and help combat related chronic illnesses like diabetes. That’s why we launched our Action Schools program and are extending it to all schools in British Columbia, but we’re going to do more. By supporting a new neighbourhood program that will get our kids out from behind their computer screens and playing again. We will select communities all over B.C. to pilot Silken’s Active Kids programs, where Silken Laumann, a driving force behind getting kids back to play again, will provide opportunities, will provide encouragement, will provide inspiration to get our kids into our parks where they’re playing, they’re health, and they’ve got the future they all deserve.
I’m the first to admit that we have a lot of work to do still. I’m the first to admit that there are challenges ahead of us in health delivery, but you know, it’s the Conference Board of Canada, not me, who says British Columbia now has the top health care system in Canada. George Abbott really does have the mojo.
But can we do better? Of course we can do better. Better prevention and health promotion is a key to good health outcomes. So we’re going to do more to fight tobacco use and reduce the damage of second hand smoke in society. We’re going to act now to ban smoking on all school property in every school across B.C., both public and private. We will take all necessary steps to put that in place in time for school opening in September of next year.
We want to find a cure for cancer, but we need to take steps to prevent it in all parts of the province. That means we have to do more to reduce tobacco use and secondhand smoke in relation. So today I can tell you, that we are going to act now to phase out smoking in all indoor public spaces by 2008.
Now I recognize that this isn’t something that will be universally accepted. We’re going to provide time for transition for those that have invested in new systems to mitigate the concerns we’ve had in the past. But I want to be clear to everyone. We’re not talking about what people can do in their homes, or what they can do in their hotel rooms, but the time has come to put an end to smoking in indoor public places in British Columbia.
Seven provinces and two territories are already ahead of us on this issue, with similar legislation in place. The fact is we must make changes to improve our health and reduce the pressures on the health care system. This is one of them, and it’s one we’re going to do.
Health care costs are growing at two to three times the rate of our ability to pay. Two to three times. Our population is rapidly aging. The older we get, the longer we live, the higher our health care goes, even with healthy lives.
I’m 58 years old. Hard to believe isn’t it? I’m 58 years old. The average cost of health care for people in their 50s is $2,100 a year. Now just everyone think about this. When I was 25 years old, I don’t think I even thought of going to a doctor. When I was 35 years old, I thought I should probably start going for a regular check-up. I had two sons, I had a family, and I had to think of them. That was fine, I went, the doctor said me, ‘you look fine Gord, see you in a while”. I’m now in my 50s and when I go for my annual check-up the doctor says ‘well you’re looking healthy to me, but we better do some tests’. There’s one particular test I don’t look forward to at all. We go through the tests, he says everything is fine, and we’ll see you next year. We still do the tests.
I don’t know how many of you know this, but I’m a pretty competitive guy. WAC Bennett was Premier for 20 years. By the way, that means I’ve got 15 more years, not six more years to go. 15 more years. But if I’m going to get there I’m going to be in my seventies. Do you know what the average health care cost is for people in their seventies? $5,700 a year.
Here’s something else you probably didn’t know. I have two great-grandfathers. They lived to be 95 and 96. You know I’m kind of a competitive guy. I’m looking to be a little bit older than them. Surely we can get a little further. The average cost of health care for people in their 90s, $22,000 a year.
Here’s what’s important. Those costs go up even as we are healthy. Think about that. This is not about my mom, or our parents, this is about us. This is about the weight that we will put on the system. So we have to think about our health system and how we can protect it, how we can improve it, and how we can be sure it is there for the next generation of British Columbians who deserve it.
That’s why I want to encourage all of you to be part of the Conversation on Health. You know, unlike the opposition, we’re a party that believes we can actually learn from British Columbians. We can learn the things that we should do by listening and trying to understand the challenges that we face. We can learn from other health care systems around the world that are facing the same challenges. And we should be open to learn, we should be open to understanding, we should be open to new routes forward, because we know this. You do not need to be a Rhodes Scholar to understand this, if we are not open, we will not be able to protect our health care system for the next generation, and it’s our obligation to do just that.
It is also important for us to recognize that one of the best preventative health care programs that we’ve invented so far is education, and education is going to be critical in our pacific leadership agenda. Education is the lynch pin for British Columbians to have the opportunity to become healthy, active, and complete citizens. Nowhere is it more important than our investments in education and our willingness to examine new landscapes of learning.
Education is the key to future aspirations. We are determined give our children the tools they need to have happy and healthy lives, where they can make their choices freely, and they pursue their passions. We’re going to give every student who graduates from high school the skills and knowledge that’s required in today’s world. That’s our education guarantee.
Let me tell you what that means. It means we don’t give up on any student in British Columbia, we give them the tools they need to live the life they want. It means graduates that haven’t been able to capture or develop the skills that they need can have free access to any courses or programs in the K to 12 system we’ve got through Learn Now BC. Anytime, anywhere in B.C., they can learn and they can build the future they want. That’s the education guarantee that we want for citizens of British Columbia. The new virtual school that Shirley Bond has just opened now provides learning opportunities wherever you are, as long as you have access to the Internet.
We’ll work with school boards to open our schools to the community, for libraries, for senior centres, for early learning centres. And for the first time ever, we intend to establish strong start centres and early childhood learning in schools that have space available. Select school boards will provide pilot programs for families, caregivers, and preschool children at no cost to the families.
Today, I can tell you that there will be 16 Strong Start pilot sites that will be established across British Columbia. And we also plan to invest in playgrounds and places that celebrate the arts and physical activities. We want the best public education system possible in British Columbia and we’re going to give that to the young people of British Columbia.
You know the world as we knew it has passed us by. It’s gone. We’re striving to create a new student and community centre education network that will give us the tools we need to capture the pacific advantage. The new pacific century is being powered by new growth in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and India. Nowhere is that more obvious than in China. For over 500 years, China locked the world out and kept the world away. Now it’s opening its doors, it’s reaching out to sell us its products, master our technologies, and import our resources.
China today is Canada’s second largest trading partner. Imagine, over the last decade the Chinese economy has doubled in size. It’s accounted for 30% of the GDP growth in the world in the last ten years. At this rate of China’s GDP growth, it will have a larger economy than Japan within the next ten years. These are seismic shifts in our global economic power.
They are great news for British Columbia and for Canada. Why is that? Three words. Location, location, and location. Simply put, we are closer to Asia than anywhere else in North America. Prince Rupert is four shipping days closer to the ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other Asian ports than Long Beach, California. With CN’s new Chicago Express rail service from Prince George to Chicago, there is a two days saving. That’s six days between those Asian ports and the centre of the largest marketplace in North America. That’s our pacific advantage.
There’s no place else in our country, there’s no place else on the continent that has this advantage. And it’s ours to harvest. But make no mistake, these opportunities are not going to be given to us. We’re going to have to work for them; we’re going to have to earn them. And when you combine the geographic advantage we have, with our cultural connections to the Asia-Pacific, we have another ace card. Add that to our wealth of natural resources, our copper, our lumber, our energy, our coal, we have a massive opportunity for British Columbia. We have a massive opportunity for Canada.
The opportunities are staggering. Just think of this. In 25 years, China will have the largest economy in the world. I know you say 25 years and people think, 25 years, who knows what’s going to happen in 25 years? Let me put this in context for you. How many people in the room remember 1981? That was 25 years ago. I remember 1981 just like that, and that’s how fast the next 25 years will take place. In fact, we’re going to watch these changes take place faster.
The fastest growing economy in the world is China; fastest growing middle-class in the world is India, with 350,000 graduates in engineering in India alone every single year. We are at the front of one of the most exciting changes that has taken place in the last century and a half. British Columbia is in the centre of that. British Columbia can take advantage of that. In China, they’re expecting 400 million more people to move to cities over the next 15 years. But all of our advantages will be lost if we allow our competitors to beat us to the punch. The world is not going to wait for us. We can’t wait for others to pick-up this opportunity. It’s time for British Columbia to lead, to lead Canada, and lead us forward.
So we are going to lead. We’re going to open Canada’s pacific gateway and become the fastest route to market to Asia and North America alike. This will take enormous investment, this will take long-term commitment, but you know we can do it. I noticed in the news the other day that the little country of Panama is investing $5.8-billion over the next eight years to provide access to Asian markets. We can do better than Panama, we can lead the way, and we can create opportunities in this province and this country again.
We’re going to do for British Columbia what the St. Lawrence Seaway did for Ontario and Europe fifty years ago. And we’re going to do it by bringing Canadians together and British Columbians together, with our private sector and taking advantage of these great opportunities.
When you think of the Prince Rupert Port and the new container facility we’re doing there, a 600,000 TEU container facility, I want you to think differently. Think 3-million, think 4-million, think of the Northwest, think of Terrace, think of Kitimat, think of what we can give to Canada.
When you think of Prince George, imagine Prince George as a major international crossroads for goods movement for the logistic transfer of goods that are coming by air into a new airport, by road, by rail, and make sure that as you think of that we recognize we’re going to be establishing a world leading inland port right there in the gateway to the north of British Columbia.
When you think of the Port of Vancouver and Delta Port think about the future of British Columbia and think of how important those ports are to all of Canada. Think about how important they are to all of our resources, and to all of our economy. Let’s tell Canada we’re going to invest in those ports so your goods move freely, and we create more opportunity for people in the Prairies and people in the east of this country as we connect with the Asian opportunity for all of us in Canada.
For those of you who haven’t had the chance yet, go to the Kicking Horse Canyon and you’ll see what we’ve begun. Let me tell you this, we are going to continue and we are going to finish opening British Columbia’s gateway to Canada, Canada’s national transportation gateway to British Columbia, and we are going to make sure that this public-private partnership works to provide safe, secure public transportation for thousands and thousands of trucks that will move through British Columbia and to our ports to the Asia-Pacific market. That’s our commitment to the people of the Kootenays.
We’re going to launch a new pacific coast collaborative with Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. We’re going to invest in north-south routes like the Cariboo Connector, even as we’re finishing the expansion and improvements to the Trans-Canada highway. Highway 97 is a major national highway. It goes from our partners and our trading partners to the south of us all the way to the resource rich communities of the north. It comes right through the Okanagan, we’ll continue improving that, we will complete the Bill Bennett Bridge, we will make sure that you have safe secure transportation north-south, as well as east-west in British Columbia, and that’s part of our Asia-Pacific strategy.
All of this though requires people. People are the critical ingredient of the modern economy. They are our most important natural resource. So we’re going to have to train, attract, and retain workers in this province. Not only are we all getting older, our economy is growing. Get used to that, our economy is growing. There are only 650,000 young people in our public school system today. Over the next 12-years, we’re expecting to create 1-million new job openings in B.C. Now just think of that, that’s a shortfall of 350,000 workers. And if we can’t fill those spaces it will cost us almost $50-billion in GDP between now and 2018.
One way to help meet those needs is to draw more people into the workforce. As I’ve said before, the fastest growing youth segment of our province is aboriginal British Columbians. So we’re going to close the gaps in education and economic opportunity to help them fully participate. We’re also going to put new measures in place to increase the participation in our workforce for persons with disabilities in British Columbia.
And another way to reduce pressures, to find new workers, is to keep people in the workforce who are not ready for retirement. Personally, I see no reason whatsoever why we should force any able-bodied, able-minded person in B.C. to stop working against their will. The fact is, we need their help and we should be removing the barriers to getting it. The new world we live in demands more flexibility, not less.
These measures are going to help, but you know, they won’t be enough to fill all the new job openings in the years ahead. More than two-thirds of those million new jobs will require some form of post-secondary training. So I can tell you today, that beginning in 2007, $1,000 will be invested in the name of each new child born here in British Columbia to help them meet their post-secondary skills development needs and learning in the future.
That $1,000 will grow through their young lives, and will contribute to their choice in learning after graduation. It will say to them, your learning is important to us. The B.C. Children’s Education Credit will help B.C. families and it will help B.C. children. It will help us build the kind of future we want for British Columbia.
We’re going to do more. You know that we’ve been adding 25,000 new spaces in colleges and universities, the largest post-secondary expansion in 40-years in British Columbia. It turns out that many of those 25,000 new seats may be under subscribed, in part because the economy is so hot. That’s compounding the challenge we have in developing specialized skills in the workforce that we need for the future. We need more trades training, and more highly educated workers. So today I can tell you that we’re going to work with our post secondary institutions to convert at least 2,500 of those 25,000 spaces into post-graduate spaces in Masters and Doctorate degrees in British Columbia.
Moreover, we intend to provide a new level of assistance to graduate students. I want them staying in British Columbia, and putting their hard earned knowledge to work for all of us. The government will establish a new Pacific Leader’s Fellowship for graduate studies. It will help foster excellence in our universities. The Fellowship will be available for graduate students in British Columbia institutions and the province’s public service. Recipients will have the opportunity to become part of B.C.’s professional public service and to provide new intellectual energy and enthusiasm as we continue to build the best public service in Canada, right here in British Columbia.
As well, we’re going to add 7,000 new apprenticeship spaces between today and 2010 in our province. We’re going to substantially increase the number of industry training organizations in partnership with the private sector and the industry training authority.
As we’re doing more to train new workers, we’re also going to have to attract skilled workers from other provinces and other countries. We have a significant competitive advantage here in British Columbia. Sometimes we forget it. We try not to. We live in the best province on earth.
Our rich cultural diversity and ties to the Pacific and China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and India are also huge advantages for us in attracting skilled workers. We have to take advantage of that diversity. We’re going to do that. In a word, we’re going to make sure that immigration is working for British Columbia and for Canada again.
Now I understand that the BC Fed isn’t too keen on us reaching out to China and India to recruit new skilled workers. And to be candid, there’s a disturbing undertone in their attacks on foreign workers that should have no place in our country, and no place in our province.
I want everyone to understand in British Columbia that this Premier, this government, and this party, recognizes the importance of the contribution that immigrants have made to our province and to our country for our entire history. We’re proud of that contribution.
The fact is we need immigrants to help us build B.C.’s future. We’ll beef up the tools under our direct control to expedite immigration and integration into our workforce of foreign workers in skill shortage areas. That will involve a dramatic expansion of the provincial nominee program. It will mean new efforts to help foreign trained professionals meet our standards in areas where we are in desperate need of skilled workers.
As we do that we have to recognize that we have to maintain and enhance our competitiveness. We have to reach higher, we have to reach for our full potential. Six years ago, I can remember saying to British Columbians that we were going to make our income taxes the most attractive for people of lower and middle incomes. Remember that? Anybody remember these? This is the world famous BC Liberal fridge magnet. It says, “BC Liberals lowest base personal income tax in Canada”. Remember that? Remember what the opposition thought about that? Well you know what we did, we promised the lowest income tax rates for lower-middle income British Columbians, and we delivered them.
We reached higher for British Columbians and we now have the lowest personal income taxes in Canada for all lower and middle-income earners. The NDP said, ‘don’t do that. The last thing you want to do is give anyone tax relief. Don’t do that. Don’t give working families tax relief,’ they said. ‘Think of what might happen’. We did think of what might happen. We might get an economy moving, we might get jobs back, and we might put young people back to work. We thought of that, we did it, and we were right and they were wrong.
When we brought in legislation to reduce income taxes by 28% for the lowest income British Columbians, the NDP voted against it. They voted against tax relief for B.C.’s lowest income earners. They voted against eliminating provincial income taxes for anyone that earned up to $15,000 in B.C. They voted against a cut in provincial income taxes of 37% for people that were earning under $30,000 a year. They voted against a cut in income taxes of 63% for people earning $20,000 a year or less. Only the NDP would say someone earning $20,000 a year is a member of ‘the rich’. We proposed it, they opposed it, and they were wrong.
You know, today I’m pleased that seniors earning less than $30,000 a year pay $1,000 less in tax than they did under the NDP. We proposed it, they opposed it, and they were wrong. I’m proud that we now have the lowest provincial income taxes in Canada for everyone on their first $80,000 of income. We proposed it, they opposed it, and they were wrong.
And mark my words; our job is not done yet. Within this mandate we will provide even greater tax relief for B.C.’s families in British Columbia. Just you watch, we’ll propose, they’ll oppose it, and they’ll be wrong!
You know the fact is that tax cuts work. We’ve proven that. They increase take home pay, that’s good for families. They increase confidence, that’s good for families. They increase investment and job creation, that’s good for families. And here’s what’s important. They keep people working and they bring our children home to British Columbia and that’s good for families.
Our record is clear. More people working, paying lower taxes, with higher disposable incomes, building a stronger economy, building prosperity in British Columbia. It’s that simple. It’s why last year we accounted for 30% of all job growth in Canada. That’s a story we can tell across the country. It’s a real advantage, it attracts people, and it keeps them here as we look to build the future.
So you’re going to see us launch a concerted campaign across Canada to share our B.C. success story with other Canadians. And we’ll invite other Canadians. We’ll invite them in the United States, we’ll invite them around the world to come and be part of building B.C.’s future with all of us.
We’re going to aggressively market British Columbia in Canada and Asia as Canada’s pacific gateway. And you know we have an incredible province to showcase. Just think about how you feel about British Columbia, and see if we can take those feelings and give them to the world. And we have an exceptional opportunity, it’s coming for us to show the world what we are, what Canada’s pacific is, and what we can be. It’s called the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Games.
You know we all came together in the province and people across B.C. are benefiting from Olympic Live Sites, new training sites, and new opportunities. Kids are excited about the future of maybe being there, maybe getting on a podium, and maybe winning a gold medal. You can already feel it starting to quicken for people. Well, for most people.
This is the truth, the Olympics are coming and we’ve got two choices. We can have the best Olympics ever, where every person, every child in British Columbia is touched by that flame and touched by that excitement that it represents, where it drives their imagination. Where they can pursue their passion their goals and their objectives knowing that we’re going to try and lift them up to reach those objectives as well. Or we can have an Olympics that lasts 16-days and it’s over.
Well I can tell you this. I want this to be the best Olympics and Paralympics Games ever and I want British Columbians to say, “Boy, I’m glad I was there when we hosted the 2010 Games in British Columbia”.
All of this is our pacific leadership agenda. A New Relationship with First Nations, a better more sustainable public health care system, vibrant connected communities, a new future for Canada’s pacific gateway, a more competitive and productive British Columbia.
It’s a vision for British Columbians that asserts a new role for us in our country, and that calls on us to reach higher. This is an agenda for action. This is an agenda for the next generation of British Columbians. This is a party of ideas, a party of leadership. This is a party of optimism and confidence. We’re dreaming and we’re doing. This is a party that can reach higher for British Columbia and as we do that, it will reach higher for our country as well.
So imagine, imagine your province. Imagine your country twenty years from now. Imagine what it will look like, and let’s set goals and tasks for ourselves that speak to the dreams of young British Columbians and young Canadians. Let’s lead our province and our country into a new pacific world with confidence and vision, and belief in ourselves.
Think about what we’ve done, and imagine what we can do when we work together and capture the excitement of British Columbians about their communities, their region, their province, and their country. Think about what we’ve done, and imagine what we can do.
The pacific advantage is ours. We simply need to reach out and to grasp it. Let’s celebrate the strength of our regions; let’s liberate the power of the people who call themselves British Columbians.
It’s our time. It’s our time to lead British Columbia forward. It’s our time to lead Canada forward. It’s our time to shape our future so that we can be proud of it, so Canadians can be proud of it. It is our time to lead, join me and we will move forward together as we reach higher for a better province and a better country.
