Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Colombie-Britannique 30e 3e Discours du Trône 13 septembre 1973 Walter Stewart Owen Lieutenant-Gouverneur New Democratic Party of British Columbia Mr. Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly, although I officiated at the closing of the Spring Session of the Legislative Assembly, this is the first time that I have had occasion as Lieutenant-Governor to address you on opening day. I express the earnest hope that the wise counsel of my Ministers, and the support of the Legislature, will result in continued progress and development for our Province during my term of office. I desire to express at this time, on your behalf and on that of all British Columbia, our gratitude to my predecessor, Colonel the Hon. John R. Nicholson, for his unselfish and devoted service to the people of our province. Last May I was pleased to administer the paths, of office to the Hon. Graham Richard Lea, Minister of Highways; the Hon. Gary Vernon Lauk, Minister of Industrial Development, Trade, and Commerce; the Hon. Jack Radford, Minister of Recreation and Conservation; the Hon. Lorne Nicolson, Member of the Executive Council Without Portfolio; and to the Hon. Phyllis Florence Young, Member of the Executive Council Without Portfolio. During the past year our province welcomed a number of distinguished visitors. I note that in April the Right Hon. E.G Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia, was in Vancouver, and was welcomed to the province by the Hon. the Premier. On June 23 and June 24, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, visited Vancouver and Victoria and was a guest at our Government House. In August the Right Hon. Lord Mais, the Lord Mayor of London, and the Lady Mais, spent several days in the province as guests of the provincial government and they were most impressed with our scenery and with the warmth of the welcome extended to them by all with whom they came into contact. We were also honoured on August 13 with a visit to Victoria by the Right Hon. Norman E. Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Mrs. Kirk. It is my pleasure to welcome, among others, to the assembly this afternoon two distinguished citizens of British Columbia, Chief and Mrs. William Matthews of the Haida nation of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In August, British Columbia hosted, in New Westminster and Burnaby, the second Canada Summer Games. Thousands of athletes from all the provinces and the Territories competed and the games were an outstanding success. I am pleased to observe that our own province did remarkably well in the games and were declared the winners. The death occurred on July 25, 1973, of the Right Hon. Louis Stephen St. Laurent. Mr. St. Laurent served as Prime Minister of Canada from November 15, 1948, until June 21, 1957. We all remember, the distinguished service that he rendered to Canada and we mourn his passing. William James Asselstine, who was a former Minister of Mines, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Labour, died on August 21, 1973. Mr Asselstine was elected from the Atlin Electoral District and served the province well. Last June the Hon. William Andrew Cecil Bennett resigned as Member for the South Okanagan Electoral District in the legislative assembly. Mr. Bennett served the province for many years as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and for 20 years as Premier of the province. At this time, I would like to pay a special tribute to Mr. Bennett for the great contributions he made to this province, and to wish him well. At the by election held last week, William Richards Bennett was elected to represent the South Okanagan Electoral District. I extend best wishes to the newly elected Member who will take his place shortly in the House. The past few months since I prorogued the House on April 18 last have been eventful, but no single action of my government will have more importance than its participation in the Western Opportunities Conference in Calgary last July. This meeting of the First Ministers of Canada and the Western Provinces was significant, not only for the precedent that was set, but for the clear and unmistakable start to a new role in the Confederation for the West. Canada, the West, and our province in particular, should feel proud of the role my Ministers played in that Conference and we are confident that this new stance, this new togetherness, augurs well for our nation. Supporting this new thrust I am pleased to praise formally a number of British Columbians who have made significant donations of land to the Crown. These actions from these pioneer families speak highly of their love for the province, and as we see this return of the land to the people, my government is hopeful that this will become a practice and that other British Columbians will emulate this selfless action and increase our natural heritage through our growing parks system. I am therefore pleased to express our gratitude to John and Caroline Bergenham, Mrs. R.W. Staratt,Truman Dagnus Locheed, Clifford A. and Dorothy A. Gorby, Henry Gordon Ruckle, Mrs. Margaret Jane Pearse, and an anonymous donor who gave several acres of land near Hope. Recently, my government has seen fit to raise the Mincome level of the Province, to make provision for a programme of free prescription drugs for the elderly, and to extend the benefits of an income guarantee to many of our citizens between 60 and 65. We trust that these unprecedented moves will be recognized by our sister provinces and Canada and that our social security and health programmes will be fully supported. In Ottawa last May, my Premier, addressing his first Federal-Provincial Conference, forecast my government's concern and interest by directing all Canadians attention to these social security and health problems. Whatever may have been the inadequacies of the past, my government desires to bring a new direction for British Columbia inside the Canadian Confederation and looks forward to open lines of communication with the federal government and provincial governments to ensure the co-operation and understanding which is necessary to meet the challenges of the day. In many cases these can best be met without undue regard to hard and fast jurisdictional lines so as to develop and execute national and provincial goals and policies designed to build a better Canada and provide a more meaningful life for all Canadians. Two of these national programmes which require a joint commitment by both levels of government and a high degree of federal-provincial co-operation are the social security system in Canada and health care. Since the close of the second session many of the standing committees of the House have been very active and the results of their labours will be before you shortly. I am confident that their work and advice, based on a real dialogue with our citizens, will provide an excellent base for legislative action. In this session you will be asked to direct your attention firstly to the urgent problems of agriculture and labour. My government has undertaken considerable study and evaluation of this province's agriculture industry. The very real problems of world food shortages and rising food costs, coupled with high investment costs and low farm income, are most apparent, and positive measures must be taken to strengthen and expand this vital food industry. The significance of the British Columbia agriculture and food industry to the ever-changing economy of this province cannot be overlooked, and action must be prompt to ease the problems involved. Therefore, you will be asked to consider legislation designed to rationalize credit systems of primary agriculture, and to encourage secondary agriculture industries. The government intends to join with producers to minimize the effect of price fluctuation at the market place, and to provide means of achieving some stabilization of farm income. New measures will be introduced which will provide for debt protection for the family farm under certain distress circumstances, due to natural calamities such as adverse weather. More control over the possible introduction and spread of infectious and contagious animal diseases will be considered. These measures and others are to be presented for your consideration for the specific intent of providing incentive and encouragement to the agriculture industry of this province. You will be asked to consider a new labour code for British Columbia which will establish an improved framework of collective bargaining and dispute settlement. Industrial relations is essentially a term descriptive of human relations in the work environment. Healthy co-operative human relationships cannot be built on punitive concepts, distrust, or an unyielding bureaucracy, and remain compatible with a free society. The legislation, combining many statutes, will offer a variety of positive aids to collective bargaining which will be conciliatory in nature. Similarly, more effective machinery will be established to ensure that settlement of disputes will occur in a just and expeditious manner, free from disruption to the economy. Completely new concepts are to be put forward in an effort to improve the industrial relations climate in the province. The legislation will also recognize the sanctity of individual religious beliefs. A spirit of co-operation will be required by all those dedicated to free collective bargaining to match this new thrust and the legislation will contain a real and positive challenge to all sectors of our community to see these objectives attained. As my predecessor said on the occasion of the opening of the second session of the 30th parliament in January, we are mindful of the high level of expectations that our citizens have from governments across the nation. To meet these expectations various announcements of government plans have been made since that time. Accordingly, in two important fields, namely consumer affairs and housing, yon will be asked to consider departmental Acts and power during these next few weeks. In addition, there will be an extensive legislative programme from the Department of Mines, and further amendments to both the Public Schools Act and the Municipal Act. Pension legislation will again be offered for amendment to provide improved benefits for widows of superannuates. The public service labour relations bill introduced in the last session will be brought forward again for your consideration. These bills, together with others that will be forthcoming, reflect the growing complexities and burdens of government in these challenging times. Your advice will be required more frequently, as predicted last January. Your work, together with the important work of the standing committees of the House, must produce the solutions to ease the pressures and problems that our citizens have and, as well, must ensure that the voices of all our citizens are heard loud and clear through their legislators. The keen awareness and desire of all our people to protect our province when and wherever environmental damage may occur is a continuing and pressing force on all our endeavours. The public's growing understanding of the importance of ecological matters demands that the fullest investigation and dialogue take place well before any proposed event. Accordingly, the government has made plans to commence a full dialogue on energy sources. At the end of this year a seminar will start this dialogue and my government has ensured that in this first event all points of view on nuclear power are represented. The government has invited Professor Hannes Alfven, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Plasma Physics, Stockholm, Sweden; J.L. Gray, president, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ottawa; and Dr. John Gofman, cardiodynamics, Vida Medical Systems, Dublin, California, to attend this seminar on nuclear power--its advantages, dangers, costs, and alternate sources of energy. All citizens will have access to these meetings. It is my government's hope that this process will be the beginning of a new method of ensuring and facilitating citizen participation. Mr. Speaker and Hon. Members, I leave you now. I pray that divine guidance will attend your labours.