Black Moves Private Member's Motion on Post-Secondary Education for a Green Economy
Monday, May 3, 2010
Today New Westminster MLA Dawn Black introduced Private Member's Motion 9: Post-Secondary Education for a Green Economy. Below is her motivating statement in the BC Legislature. Find the whole transcript here.
D. Black: I'm pleased to have the opportunity today to debate "the importance of post-secondary education and skills training to ensure that British Columbians have the skills and abilities to excel in tomorrow's green economy."
We're faced with a changing economy. B.C.'s economy has been going through major transitions. We can no longer rely on our resources to be the driver of our economy and provide the family-supporting jobs that British Columbians have relied upon in the past. In the past nine years 71 mills have shut down in B.C. With the loss of those mills have gone thousands of jobs — jobs that not only supported families but that supported communities and small businesses throughout our province.
Only in B.C. has there been a decline in average earnings over the past few years. The latest census data show that between 2000 and 2005 full-time median incomes have declined by 3.4 percent. B.C. is falling behind both over time and compared to other Canadian provinces. It's clear that much more needs to be done to diversify our economy in British Columbia and to educate the people of British Columbia.
The B.C. government has acknowledged a looming skills shortage of up to 160,000 skilled workers in the next few years. Yet, this government has failed to take advantage of many training opportunities which have presented themselves in the past few years. In contrast to B.C., the 2000 Sydney Olympics invested heavily in skills training for their future. With their Olympics training strategy, they saw an increase in the number of apprenticeships by 21 percent. Sadly, B.C. failed to use this golden opportunity of the Vancouver 2010 Games to leverage training opportunities for British Columbians.
It's clear that here in B.C. we must diversify our traditional resource economic base. We're already falling behind other jurisdictions both in Canada and around the world. We need to develop the future for our province and broaden our economic base by encouraging new green industries and a knowledge-based economy. We need to invest in education, skills development, and research and development to create a future for British Columbians where knowledge and innovation drive our economy.
This is the way to improve opportunities and prosperity for all British Columbians. We have the talent right here in B.C. Breakthroughs have been made in B.C. in environmental technologies, in health sciences and in arts and culture. This is the way forward for our economy and for the people of our province. What we need to see is a government committed to investing in education and skills development to create a sustainable future for our children and our grandchildren.
With innovation and creativity, we have the ability, right here in B.C., to create a province that is strong, green, smart, healthy and fair. Let's build upon our successes. Let's invest in our future. Let's ensure that B.C. is a leader in the knowledge-based economy.
To do that, we need to invest in people. We need to invest in education and skills training. Unfortunately, what we've seen the last eight or nine years in B.C. has been tuition that has more than doubled for students and cuts to student aid. We cannot afford to continue to saddle our students with debt loads that mortgage their future.
We have the brightest minds right here in British Columbia. Let's make sure that they have the educational opportunities here in B.C. to flourish and to build a healthy economy and a green future for all British Columbians.