VICTORIA – The
fourth session of the 38th parliament was launched today with a speech from the
throne that lays out new measures to create safe, secure communities, build
excellence in education, further strengthen the New Relationship with First
Nations, and give British Columbians options to become personally involved in
combating climate change.
“Many members of this legislature
will not be alive in 2050, but most have or will have children and
grandchildren who will be. It is for them that today’s decision makers must
take action,” said Premier Gordon Campbell. “By living smarter, we can save
energy, water, fuel consumption, time and money. We can reduce waste and get
better value from our land, our limited natural resources and our tax dollars.”
A healthy environment and educated
populace are essential to healthy human development and a globally competitive
economy. A safe, humane society is the object and outcome of an enlightened,
prosperous and caring community. The bedrock of each goal is a strong
economy.
Government outlines new LiveSmart BC strategy:
- LiveSmart BC will reward smart choices that will save energy,
water, fuel, time and money.
- The new LiveSmart BC initiative will help
to contain urban sprawl and reward development that creates more
affordable housing, new green spaces and more people-friendly
neighbourhoods.
- Consumers will be given new tools to help
conserve energy and save money on their power bills, such as Power Smart
meters that will be installed in every home in British Columbia by 2012.
That will give families new information and control over their power
consumption.
- New “inclining block” rate structures will
also allow families to choose and save by making Power Smart choices.
- These changes and the BC Energy Plan will
be supported by a new legislated direction for the BC Utilities
Commission.
- Green developments waiting for provincial
environmental approvals will be fast-tracked and given priority.
- The new Green Building Code will be
finalized and implemented to save energy and water.
- All new provincial public buildings will be
constructed to LEED Gold or equivalent standards. Existing buildings will
be retrofitted to make them more energy efficient, climate friendly and
healthier for public servants.
- Higher densities will be encouraged around new transit routes to
help make them more affordable and create affordable housing.
- Legislation will require local governments
to incorporate greenhouse gas reduction targets and supporting strategies
in their Official Community Plans and Regional Growth Strategies.
- Legislation will be introduced this session
to facilitate British Columbia’s participation in a regional “cap and
trade” system that is being developed under the Western Climate
Initiative. The framework for that system is scheduled for completion this
year.
- A new Citizens’ Conservation Council will
support B.C.’s mitigation efforts with public education campaigns that
will give citizens the tools and information they need to make informed
choices.
- A new Youth Climate Leadership Alliance
will be formed that will comprise students and other young people from
across B.C. It will undertake paid government-sponsored field research,
mitigation work, afforestation projects and adaptation efforts.
- A new Youth LiveSmart outreach campaign
will encourage young British Columbians to make carbon-smart lifestyle
choices that are good for the environment, their health, their pocketbooks
and our planet.
- The Scrap-It program will be expanded to
get older vehicles with higher emissions off the road.
- Other LiveSmart BC education and outreach
initiatives will be launched by the government and the Pacific Institute
for Climate Solutions.
Other initiatives to safeguard the environment and tackle climate
change include:
- The Province will pursue a goal of zero net
deforestation, and work with First Nations, industry and communities to
put that goal into law by 2010 and establish a viable strategy for
realizing that vision by 2015.
- A new Trees for Tomorrow program will
launch a large, urban afforestation initiative. Millions of trees will be
planted in backyards, schoolyards, hospital grounds, civic parks,
campuses, parking lots and other public spaces across B.C.
- Major investments in tree nurseries will be
made to assist this initiative.
- All forest land currently identified as not
sufficiently restocked will be replanted and no “NSR” backlogs will be
allowed to develop in ensuing years.
- The Forests for Tomorrow program will plant
an additional 60 million seedlings over the next four years.
- The discharge of landfill gas will be
regulated to foster the capture and conversion of emissions into clean
energy.
- A new “Brownfields to Greenfields”
redevelopment strategy will target existing “dirty” sites for the creation
of well-treed, green, liveable communities.
- Standards for low-carbon fuel content will be adopted to reduce the
carbon intensity of motor vehicle fuels by 10 per cent by 2020, and new
incentives will be created to encourage the purchase of fuel efficient
vehicles.
- The new BC Bioenergy Strategy will create new opportunities in
clean technology for rural communities, for independent power producers,
and for our forest and agriculture industries.
- New investments will be made in plug-in
hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered buses, clean retrofits of dirty
diesel trucks and the electrification of truck stops.
- The Innovative Clean Energy Fund will help
create 100,000 solar roofs in British Columbia and build on B.C.’s
expertise in solar technology.
- A new Pacific Carbon Trust will foster
economic growth from new opportunities in carbon credit trading and carbon
offsets. The Trust will invest in made-in-B.C. offset projects that
produce emissions reductions that are permanent, measurable, verifiable,
and additional, and that are regulated by government. Projects in
energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration –
including incremental tree planting – will all be eligible.
- The Trust will manage the revenues
generated from government’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2010. It will
be open to offset purchases from private citizens, companies and other
governments alike.
- The Province will expand British Columbia’s
hydrometric and other climate-related networks to improve our ability to
monitor, predict and adapt to these conditions.
- The legislature will be asked to adopt new California-equivalent
vehicle tailpipe emission standards, in tandem with California and a
number of other states and provinces.
- Amendments to the Wildlife Act will build on the Mountain Caribou Recovery
Plan, the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Project and the Kitasoo Spirit
Bear Conservancy.
- Tough new penalties will prevent and punish
poaching and killing endangered species.
- Comprehensive air and water stewardship
strategies will be released this spring, as new steps are taken to combat
global warming.
- This session, all members will be asked to build on the record of
environmental stewardship with new conservancies and parks envisioned in
approved land use plans.
- A climate action plan will be released shortly after the budget. It
will be annually updated and founded on personal responsibility, sound
science and economic reality.
Live smart means safe, supportive communities. Initiatives to create
safe, secure communities include:
- A comprehensive review of sentencing
practices will address why sentences in B.C. tend to be shorter than in
other provinces for crimes such as theft, homicide, property crimes,
fraud, impaired driving and drug possession. It will also assess how the
federal government’s anti-crime measures might affect demands on our
police, Crown prosecutors, courts and correctional system.
- That information will contribute to a
Community Safety Strategy that will be released this fall. That strategy
will include enhanced policing, new community courts and expanded
correctional capacity.
- Amendments to the Police Act will aim to
implement Josiah Wood’s recommendations to improve transparency,
accountability and public confidence in the police complaints process.
- An updated 10-year mental health plan will
be completed.
- Patients with severe mental illnesses who
require intensive, sustained and complex medical treatment will be
provided care in new and existing facilities at Willingdon in Burnaby,
which will be retrofitted and opened this year, and at Riverview in
Coquitlam.
- A new multi-year investment will be made to
revitalize Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Anchored by the new Woodward’s
project, new public initiatives will be undertaken in partnership with the
city and the neighbourhoods to enhance the 40-block area that includes
Gastown, Chinatown, Strathcona and Japantown.
- Communities will be required to include
provision for mental health and addiction service facilities in their
community plans.
- Expanded outreach programs will help lift
people out of the street and offer them personalized support.
- A “211” service, in partnership with the
United Way, will be launched to give citizens new telephone access to
information about the full range of social services offered in their
communities.
- The Province will work with local
governments to explore the potential to further integrate policing and to
examine the possibilities for amalgamating police forces.
- More will also be done, as government implements the Hughes
recommendations on child protection, improves programs to prevent violence
against women, and increases support to people with developmental
disabilities, children with special needs and their families.
New initiatives to strengthen the New Relationship with B.C.’s First
Nations include:
- Support for fast-tracked treaty
negotiations at common tables, as suggested by the BC Treaty Commission
and First Nations.
- Pursuing “incremental treaty agreements” to
help First Nations benefit earlier in the treaty-making process.
- Aboriginal rights to harvest wood for
domestic purposes on Crown land will be given new statutory recognition.
- New investments in carbon offset projects
that benefit First Nations will be an integral part of government’s
climate action plan.
- The Province will work with First Nations
and the federal government to put Jordan’s Principle into action, and to
strengthen services for Aboriginal children and families. That principle
says the interests of Aboriginal children must always be paramount, and
that no child, on- or off-reserve, should be put at risk due to
jurisdictional disputes.
- New legislation will enable Aboriginal
authorities to assume legal responsibility for the delivery of most child
and family services in their communities.
- The Province will contribute to the
establishment of the Stehiyaq Healing and Wellness Village in the Fraser
Valley.
- New mechanisms will facilitate effective engagement of all parties
in meaningful consultation and help First Nations participate as equity
partners in major economic development projects.
New initiatives to build educational excellence include:
- A new program leading to a certificate in
leadership will be introduced for teachers.
- New powers will be given to the College of
Teachers to remove the teaching certificate of any member who is found to
be incompetent.
- New steps will be taken to expand B.C.’s public university system,
provide new clarity of purpose in our post-secondary institutions and
create new opportunities for higher learning. Funding will be targeted
where it is needed most, to meet skills demands with added training
capacity for skilled workers.
- The Provincial Nominee Program and the
successful Skills Connect for Immigrants program will be expanded to help
meet the demand for skilled workers.
- Post-secondary students will be given new
consumer protection as institutional accountability is strengthened under
the new Education Quality Assurance program.
- A major new arts endowment will provide lasting
benefits to all British Columbians.
- Steps will be taken to enhance the
Vancouver Art Gallery’s international reputation as a showcase of B.C. art
of all genres, cultures and regions.
- The Province will support the establishment
of a National Maritime Centre for the Pacific and the Arctic in North
Vancouver.
New initiatives for B.C. children include:
- Another 316 StrongStart BC centres will be
added in the next two years, for a total of 400 in B.C. by 2010. StrongStart BC is a free, drop-in early
learning program for preschool‑aged
children accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
- A new Early Childhood Learning Agency will
be established. It will assess the feasibility and costs of full school
day kindergarten for five-year-olds.
It will also undertake a feasibility study of providing parents
with the choice of day-long kindergarten for four-year-olds by 2010, and
for three-year-olds by 2012. That report will be completed and released
within the year.
- A new Centre for Autism Education and
Research will be developed that will provide a residential environment for
children with autism and create a national hub for research and a centre
for parental supports.
- Creating new “Walking School Bus” and
“Bicycle Train” programs to encourage children to walk or bicycle to
school with adult supervision.
- Enacting new legislation to ban smoking in
vehicles when children are present.
- Expanded pediatric oncology research will offer new hope for cancer
prevention and treatment specifically focused on children.
- Committing to the upgrading and expansion
of BC Children’s Hospital.
Next week’s budget will build on other initiatives to support B.C.’s
continued economic prosperity that include:
- Pursuing creation of a new northern energy
corridor from Prince Rupert to Prince George.
- Pursue the
next phase of the Port of Prince Rupert development, in co-operation with
First Nations and the federal government.
- Working with the federal government, a new
integrated Pacific Ports Strategy will also be developed to make the most
of Canada’s Pacific Gateway.
- Amendments to the Employment Standards
Act will improve
protection for farm workers and prohibit agricultural producers from using
unlicensed farm labour contractors.
- The new Working Roundtable on Forestry will recommend new possibilities
for forestry, including new tenures; and a 90-day regulatory and process
review will cut unnecessary administrative and process costs.
- New pension bridging opportunities will be developed for older
workers nearing retirement. New training opportunities will also be
offered to help forest workers who have been temporarily laid off to
upgrade skills and earning potential.
- The new BC Bioenergy Strategy will create new opportunities in
cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel and other clean, renewable fuels.
- The consultation now underway will continue to advance the
potential for Site C, which could be a major economic catalyst for rural
British Columbia in years to come.
- A new British Columbia Agriculture Plan will ensure farming
continues to have a bright future in B.C.
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