BC NDP

Thank-you very much for that warm welcome.

It is truly a pleasure to be here today.

And I want to thank the Prince George Chamber of Commerce for your gracious invitation.

Itâ€^TMs been an enormous pleasure to be your guest in Prince George these last few days.

This has been an incredibly valuable experience for my Caucus. I lived here, I know how important this community is, and I know first hand many of the challenges the North faces.

But my team now has a much richer understanding of this community after spending much time meeting and talking with a broad range of businesses, municipal leaders, and community organizations here.

The energy, dynamism, and hospitality of the people in this community are extraordinary.

The character of our province is embodied in BC's North, and one of my reasons for coming here today is to hear from you directly about what youâ€^TMre doing right and to learn from your experience.

Holding our Caucus meeting here in Prince George isn't just some gimmick.

I am committed to this region, and you'll see our MLAs here often.

From forestry to tourism, from mining, to manufacturing and technology and a very lively cultural scene, the North is BCâ€^TMs economic driver, providing the resources and the wealth that everyone in British Columbia benefits from.

As Leader of BCâ€^TMs New Democratic Party I have worked very hard to reach out to BCâ€^TMs business community.

Because I believe strongly that the way forward for our province is to move beyond traditional political divides.

To join up the entrepreneurial drive of our business community with everyoneâ€^TMs desire to live in strong, safe and inclusive communities.

And I've had the great pleasure of meeting with business people in forums like this one in nearly every region of British Columbia.

Everywhere I've gone, I've been met with goodwill and a desire to set aside political differences in the interests of pulling together for the benefit of our province.

By extending a hand, I think we've demonstrated that politics in BC and big public policy questions need not be filled with invective.

But rather with a spirit of good will and shared purpose, for the benefit of all.

Itâ€^TMs what British Columbians expect of their political and economic leaders.

And itâ€^TMs what I will continue to do.

One of the commitments I made following the election was to actively reach out to all regions of our province.

I'm pleased to say that Prince George is the first community that I and my entire Caucus have come to, to meet with local business, municipal government, and community organizations.

Prince George is just the first of many key communities that we will visit throughout the year as a Caucus.

I've had the pleasure of speaking to many chambers throughout the province in communities from the Lower Mainland, including Surrey, Vancouver, and the Tri-Cities, to Vancouver Island, including Victoria and Nanaimo, to the Northeast in communities like Fort St. John and Chetwynd.

These opportunities are building relationships based on trust, mutual understanding, and a common commitment to the future of our province.

This is my first address to the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. And it's a special opportunity for me because I have many many friends and family up here in the North.

This is where I met my husband, and this is where I come to relax.

I also have many fond memories from my time living and working here in Prince George.

Today I want to offer you a few of my views about the role of the Official Opposition.

And to provide some concrete examples of what I am proposing can be done to build on our potential as a province.

New Democrats have worked hard to fulfill our responsibilities to the people of BC. We have held the government to account for its failures and we have put forward solutions to improve the lives of British Columbians.

I am extremely proud of the way in which weâ€^TMre serving the people of this province.

Because of the NDP Opposition, the public dialogue in BC is fundamentally changed.

No longer can the government do what it wants without question or consequence.

Today, there is an Opposition, the strongest in BC history, providing British Columbians with a balance and a voice for change.

A New Democrat Opposition in the mainstream of BC life, responding to the aspirations of our families and communities.

As well, my party has begun an exciting new discussion about the future.

We are living through a time of unprecedented social and economic upheaval.

Globalization, technological innovation, rapid demographic and environmental change â€" all are combining to re-shape the political and economic landscape.

Citizensâ€^TM expectations from government are much different today than they were only a generation ago.

And for those of us who believe in a positive, active role for government, those changes have placed unique demands on us.

As New Democrats, we face the challenge of re-vitalizing government.

Re-shaping it as a positive force for change, as an expression of our shared purpose and common values.

Doing what all progressive, social democratic parties must do:

Forge a new politics where the enduring values we share are tested and applied in a world very different from the world in which those values were cast.

The real challenge of government is responding to peopleâ€^TMs aspirations and priorities as they are, not how we feel they should be.

We must reflect the present reality facing everyday people.

And we must prepare for the future:

- Pine Beetle

- Skills shortage

- Changing economy

Under my leadership, the NDP in BC is bringing a new tone to BC politics, changing a style of intense partisanship that has lost all meaning and resonance for citizens.

We are leaving behind the us-and-them politics of the past, replacing it with an approach that brings people together around common goals.

Before the provincial election in May, I spoke to the Vancouver Board of Trade with the same message of unity and shared purpose that I delivered to the BC Federation of Labour.

And at both audiences I was greeted with the same positive response.

Under my leadership, the NDP has made a solid and lasting commitment to fiscal prudence and economic growth.

We are implementing far-reaching democratic reforms within our Party.

And we are pressing the government to strengthen our provincial democracy, so that BC citizens are its centre.

We are reaching out to young people, connecting our politics to the hopes and aspirations of a new generation of British Columbians.

New Democrats today speak as we always have â€" and always will â€" for ordinary people.

For a fairer, more just and equal province.

A province where government takes an active interest in the lives of all its citizens.

Where government works to ensure every British Columbian has every chance to meet their full potential.

A province where our values are joined with the need for a new approach to politics.

In a world defined by change.

Where challenges to our social and economic well-being come faster every year and from all sides.

Working in concert toward common goals is the surest way to ensure we succeed.

We canâ€^TMt prevent the coming of global economic forces.

We must, instead, prepare for them and take advantage of them.

In a globalized world, investment in accessible, public health care, education, and social services becomes critical to our relative, competitive advantage.

If weâ€^TMre to secure an economic future for our children, then their knowledge, their skills, and their intelligence must be nurtured.

In our province right now we have a serious looming shortage of skilled trades.

We cannot address this problem with cuts to apprenticeship and skills training programs.

Or by placing barriers on access to post-secondary education.

At the very moment when BC should be enabling its citizens, I believe that instead we risk de-skilling our workforce…

That we are currently subsidizing job creation outside the province, abandoning resource-dependent communities, and making it harder for ordinary families to pursue opportunity.

Future generations will judge our provinceâ€^TMs response to the challenges of the 21st century.

They will judge us…

Not on the success of this industry or that…

Nor on the success of the few…

But on how broadly opportunity for success was distributed.

On the success or failure of the least privileged among us.

On the number of people we left behind.

I want to close by thanking you again for the opportunity to speak to you.

And Iâ€^TMd please to take any questions you have.

Thank you.