The full text of the throne speech is available on the Legislative Assembly website at
http://www.leg.bc.ca/38th2nd/4-8-38-2.htm.

THRONE SPEECH LAUNCHES B.C. SPRING LEGISLATURE SESSION

VICTORIA – The second session of the 38th parliament was launched today with a speech from the throne that calls for major initiatives to transform health, education and other services so they are sustainable and available for future generations.

“In just over four short years, British Columbia has been transformed from a province that lagged behind the rest of Canada to a province that leads Canada,” said Premier Gordon Campbell. “But in times of rapid global change, we must continue to lead in health, education and economic activity. Our goal is to ensure that British Columbia is recognized as a global powerhouse of innovation, inspiration and wealth creation.”

Premier Campbell said that British Columbia will initiate a provincewide discussion on how to sustain and update the Canada Health Act.

“After four decades of public health care, supported by more than $1.5 trillion dollars of public money, the principles of the Canada Health Act – that the health system be universal, accessible, comprehensive, portable and publicly administered – remain largely undefined,” said Campbell. “We need to update the Canada Health Act to make it stronger and consistent with its original vision and intent to preserve public health care for all Canadians.”

The throne speech includes key initiatives to address the long-term sustainability of the public health-care system, including:

• Define and enshrine the five principles of the Canada Health Act, plus a sixth – the principle of sustainability – in provincial law before the end of this government’s mandate.
• Launch a provincewide conversation on health reform to improve and protect the public health-care system for the long term.
• Create a new Foundation for Health Care Innovation and Renewal to examine successful health models now working around the world.

Other highlights of today’s throne speech include:

• A commitment by the Premier and Minister of Education to visit every school district in B.C. and meet with educators, parents and students to seek ideas for positive change in education.
• Establish a new provincial “virtual” school to provide a learning option accessible from schools and home, and to provide free online tutoring to help secondary school students complete their studies.
• Establish the BC Hub technology strategy to integrate research, commercialization, and capital expansion in the province’s resource industries, agriculture industry and manufacturing economy.
• Launch a new B.C. Foundation for Natural Resources and Engineering Research to support advanced training, research and development, technology transfer, and commercialization in natural resources, engineering and applied sciences.
• Create a new digital media centre at Great Northern Way through a partnership with UBC, SFU, BCIT, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and the private sector that will build on the global recognition of B.C.’s new media enterprises and expertise.
• Continue pushing the federal government for tough new minimum sentences under the Criminal Code for drug traffickers, as well as for immediate extradition of foreign traffickers.
• Implement a new housing strategy aimed at helping those most in need more quickly and effectively and giving individuals greater choice and new flexibility.
• Launch a federal-provincial action plan to provide for increased training and skills development through a national collaboration.
• Continue to develop B.C. as Canada’s Pacific gateway for trade, education, health and cultural development.
• Make the B.C. Spirit Bear our official provincial animal.
• “We must transform our education system to harness the power of new knowledge and creativity and ensure that our students are ready for a rapidly changing world,” said Campbell. “We must also build on the transformational force of Canada’s Pacific gateway by maximizing the opportunity that we have been handed by being at the crossroads between North America and the Asia-Pacific.”

2006 THRONE SPEECH HIGHLIGHTS
SPEECH FROM THE THRONE, SECOND SESSION, 38th PARLIAMENT

"British Columbia's great transformation has just begun. The strength of our province has always been the strength of its people - as leaders, builders, innovators, risk-takers, and pioneers of opportunity. These are exciting times of monumental potential. Let us reach for the great promise of British Columbia and fashion our golden decade together."
- Speech from the Throne, Feb. 14, 2006

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL FORCE OF OUR AGING POPULATION

• Define and enshrine the five principles of the Canada Health Act, plus a sixth - the principle of sustainability - in provincial law, within the current government's mandate.
• Launch an extensive provincewide dialogue asking: "What are the fundamental changes we must make to improve our health and to protect our precious public health-care system for the long term?"
• Create a Foundation for Health Care Innovation and Renewal to examine successful health models around the world.
• Premier and Health Minister will travel to Sweden, Norway, France and the United Kingdom to learn firsthand how those jurisdictions are acting to transform their health-care systems.
• Continue building, expanding and upgrading hospitals across the province, including the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre; the new Academic Ambulatory Care Centre in Vancouver; and the expansion and modernization of Surrey Memorial Hospital.
• Launch a major new campaign to train, attract and retain nurses.
• Expand the BC Nurseline, which is now offering round-the-clock access to health services in 130 languages.
• Implement the $60.5-million strategy to reduce the backlog in hip and knee replacements.
• Make new investments to provide an additional 1,000 children with surgical procedures.
• Work with the Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation to strive to establish a national research collaborative that will help find a cure for dementia.
• Launch a Strong Start BC initiative to provide early diagnosis for hearing, sight and dental problems, and open early learning centres in underutilized schools.
• Help communities build bicycle paths as part of the Gateway Program's $50-million bicycle network.
• Encourage proposals from B.C. farmers through a new agriculture plan to put more of their produce and products in B.C. schools.
• Expand Action Schools BC to extend its physical fitness benefits to even more students.
• Set new standards to ensure all students have a minimum level of physical activity in every school.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF NEW KNOWLEDGE AND CREATIVITY

• Every school district in B.C. will be visited by the Premier or the Education Minister, who will meet with educators, parents and students to seek their ideas for positive change.
• Hold the first-ever Teachers' Congress later this year, and continue to listen and learn to community voices at the Learning Roundtable.
• Introduce legislative changes to ensure all school districts live within the current class size limits established in law.
• Hold a discussion on the issue of class composition and ask what more can be done to help all students in every classroom, and to better help those with special needs.
• Ask British Columbians what more we can do to ensure greater accountability to taxpayers, and ensure there is an appropriate mix of local autonomy and flexibility in education decision-making.
• Seek ideas for modernizing the curriculum to ensure it offers relevant instruction for the modern world, while also giving our students a better understanding of B.C.'s history and a fuller appreciation of our Aboriginal heritage.
• Seek ideas for fostering a culture of excellence in teaching and learning.
• Establish a new provincial "virtual" school, or cyber-school, to provide a new learning option accessible from schools and home.
• Through the virtual school, offer free, online tutoring to help secondary school students successfully complete their studies.
• Expand high-speed Internet access to 366 communities previously without access, and work with the federal government to extend that access to First Nations communities.
• Launch a provincewide Parents' Education Network to provide parents with up-to-date information on programs and research that can help their children excel in school.
• Establish a teacher employment registry, administered by the College of Teachers, to publicly report the names of teachers disciplined for misconduct involving emotional, physical or sexual abuse.
• Allow new transferability of credits for students attending accredited private post-secondary institutes.
• Work with other provinces and the federal government on a national action plan for skills development.
• Further expand the provincial nominee program, and expedite the flow and credentialing of foreign-trained workers who are needed now to meet domestic demands.
• Expand programs in trades training and apprenticeships through the Industry Training Authority.
• Launch new initiatives to encourage employers to renew their efforts and investments in skills training.
• Establish the BC Hub strategy to transform our approach to technology research, commercialization and capital expansion with new efforts to integrate science, technology and knowledge into our resource, agriculture and manufacturing industries.
• Invest in major new research with Genome BC and the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation.
• Work with the Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon Division, to establish a research chair in cancer prevention.
• Launch a new B.C. Foundation for Natural Resources and Engineering Research to support advanced training, research and development, technology transfer, and commercialization in natural resources, engineering, and applied sciences.
• Help make British Columbia electricity self-sufficient within the decade ahead, through new conservation targets.
• Create a leading edge new digital media centre at Great Northern Way, through a collaborative partnership between UBC, SFU, BCIT and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and the private sector.

BUILDING ON THE TRANSFORMATIONAL FORCE OF CANADA'S PACIFIC GATEWAY

• Continue the work of opening up the Port of Prince Rupert, and making new investments in regional development and transportation infrastructure to open up the north and transform the future for northern British Columbia.
• Begin implementing the new Gateway Program to build the Pitt River Bridge, twin the Port Mann, and build a new South Fraser Perimeter Road.
• Work with the federal government, the Vancouver Airport Authority and international airlines to open more direct flights to India, China, and other Pacific nations.
• Establish trade missions and new on-site presence in key strategic locations to open up new Asian markets in forestry, energy, mining, tourism, education and manufacturing.
• Launch new Dream Home China projects in Beijing and Guangzhou to build on the successful effort in Shanghai already opening new markets for B.C. forest products.
• Work with B.C.'s tourism associations to help British Columbia become the destination of choice for Asian tourists.
• Develop and offer new Pacific Studies Programs at key universities, colleges and institutes across B.C.
• Provide new Internet access to government services and programs in multiple languages.
• Expand training in Mandarin, Japanese, Punjabi, and Korean, and develop incentives for students to take these courses and carry them to successful completion.
• Introduce the One World Scholarship to help post-secondary students pursue their studies in other Pacific nations.
• Develop a Pacific Horizons for Youth program to support student travel exchanges with families across the Pacific.
• Initiate the establishment of a new Asia Pacific Museum of Trade and Culture, a new national Centre of Northwest Aboriginal Art and Culture, and a World Women's History Museum.
• Make the B.C. Spirit Bear our official provincial animal.

TRANSFORMING BRITISH COLUMBIANS' QUALITY OF LIFE

• Continue the effort to regionalize Aboriginal child and family service delivery.
• Work closely with First Nations' leaders and other governments across Canada to follow-up on the Kelowna Accord and close the gaps that have disadvantaged Aboriginal children and families in the past.
• Create new incentives to help Aboriginal students who have dropped out of school complete their studies.
• Recruit qualified Aboriginal individuals to fill openings in the public sector.
• Establish a new Aboriginal internship program to provide learning opportunities in the provincial and municipal public services.
• Launch a major new public awareness campaign about the scourge of crystal meth, and provide new funding to support crystal meth prevention and treatment programs at the community level.
• Continue pushing the federal government for tough new minimum sentences for drug traffickers, as well as for immediate extradition of foreign traffickers.
• Use new technology to give police new tools in law enforcement and integrated policing strategies.
• Amend legislation to strengthen and expand requirements for criminal record checks to better protect children.
• Strengthen the Coroner's Office to help prevent avoidable deaths.
• Take more steps to prevent violence against women.
• Establish community courts and Aboriginal courts to take pressure off our traditional court system through innovative approaches that have worked well in other jurisdictions.
• Examine, along with Aboriginal leaders, the potential for correctional facilities that better meet Aboriginal cultural needs while enhancing protection to all communities.
• Change employment programs to help people on income assistance overcome their challenges in finding employment.
• Implement a new housing strategy aimed at helping those most in need more quickly and effectively, and giving individuals greater choice and new flexibility.

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