Throne Speech Lays Groundwork for Future Generations

The speech from the throne lays out an ambitious agenda to extend British Columbia’s success not just in the short-term, but also for future generations. Plans are laid out to create safer, more sustainable communities, increase patient choice and access in healthcare, build excellence in education, further strengthen the New Relationship we’ve established with First Nations as well as plans to bring British Columbians on board to personally participate in the fight against climate change. Some of those plans include:

Creating Cleaner Communities

• 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, with new “inclining block” rate structures allowing families to choose and save by making Power Smart choices.
• 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.
• New incentives will be created to encourage the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles. New investments will also be made in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered buses, clean retrofits of dirty diesel trucks and the electrification of truck stops.
• 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.

Providing Access and Choice in Healthcare

• Pharmacists will be permitted to authorize routine prescription renewals, making it easier for patients with chronic illnesses to manage their conditions.
• A new Health Profession Review Board will ensure that all qualified health workers can fully and appropriately utilize their training and skills and not be denied that right by unnecessary credentialing and licensure restrictions.
• Authorizing and training nurses to deliver a broader range of health services, such as suturing, ultrasounds, allergy testing, local anesthesia and cardiac stress testing. Nurses will be able to give medications for minor pain at triage while patients are waiting to see a doctor, order lab work, blood tests and X-rays.

A Focus on Prevention

• Banning the use of trans fats in the preparation of foods in schools, restaurants and food-service establishments by 2010.
• Enacting new legislation to ban smoking in vehicles when children are present.
• The Centre for Hip Health and Musculoskeletal Research will work to prevent falls and hip fractures through the development of early intervention programs for youth and seniors.

Other Announcements

• A new multi-year investment will be made to revitalize a 40-block area of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
• Support for fast-tracked treaty negotiations at common tables, as suggested by the BC Treaty Commission and First Nations.
• 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.

Click to read the full Speech from the Throne.