Talk:Robin Austin

Use of Hansard
I've added a section for Hansard quotes in Robin's biography. I believe that this use of Hansard, which is the official record of the debates of the legislative assembly, falls under fair use, as it is being used for the express purpose of illuminating the public as to Robin's policies. Hansard is the only source British Columbians have for the words spoken in the legislature. Hansard quotes are used by many organizations to illustrate the public policy of political agents in this province. If there is significant concern over this use of Hansard quotes I am willing to seek the permission of the speaker of the house as per the Hansard website's stated copyright policy. Please make note of your concerns here before directly interfering with all the effort I've put into finding and organizing these quotes. You'll see I've linked these quotes appropriately. Moonbug 19:54, 16 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I've moved the quotes from the article to here. It's not about fair use or not, so much as the fact that it makes for a better encyclopedia article if we write content about his political views rather than just copy-pasting a list of quotes. Bearcat (talk) 07:20, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Childcare
"I... find it amazing that the Finance Minister has been able to find $1.2 million for office budgets for each minister but could not find $5 million to keep child care resource and referral centres open." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"What can we do today to secure the future for our children and grandchildren? In Skeena people believe, and rightly so, that the first measure needed is a proper child care system — a comprehensive system so families can join the working economy safe in the knowledge that their children are looked after by professionally trained people who understand what early childhood development and learning means. These families don't want to be forced to leave their kids with an unlicensed day care facility whose notion of child care may be no more than putting the kids in front of a TV for several hours a day. Child care cannot just be about how many spaces are available, which is an issue in itself, but also about quality and affordability." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"All kinds of programs could be run outside of school hours, which would connect kids and families to their neighbourhood school and which would make the school the centre of the community. This would greatly help families who are challenged with putting their kids into healthy activities outside of school. For kids who struggle academically, it would help them to see their school in a more positive light." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"Families are also looking for sufficient day care facilities to support them while they work. As part of that infrastructure, our referral and support services, known as The Family Place, was shut down this year. And of course, our school district is still on a four-day school week, a decision made under duress by our school board. It's not based on best outcomes for our kids but on how else to balance the budget when so many kids have left our district." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

The Economy
"My last point that I want to make about the privatization of our rivers is this: how much revenue will be lost to British Columbians by not capturing the monopoly rents on our rivers? How many hospital beds and operations will never be funded? How many kids will not get to go to college or university? And how long will it take for government to fund a provincial child care program? These millions of dollars that have been given away to IPP investors are the very future of our ability to fund our social welfare programs.

The only solution to this economic giveaway is to take all public rivers and put these contracts under the auspices of the B.C. Utilities Commission so that once the IPPs have received a fair rate of return on their borrowed money, then the water rental is jacked up to reflect market rates so that all citizens benefit from this gift that we have been given — our incredible rivers and the water that flows through them." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

The Northern Economy
"With the undoing of the forestry act, the Liberals have undone the economy of Skeena. Every day that I'm in my hometown of Terrace, I get to drive by the lumber mill that was once a large part of the force of the town's economy and watch as it is torn down and sold for scrap piece by piece. To make matters worse, when Skeena tries to diversify its economy, this government seeks to block our best efforts — for example, pricing fish beyond many locals' ability and costs to go and use that resource, or privatizing our parks for those who have the money, rather than allowing little towns such as ours to support them.

The point is that Skeena has waited for six years for this government to stop promising that good times are ahead and start to do something about it... As this government spends hundreds of millions to improve the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler, the entire road system in northern B.C. is begging for substantial upgrades so that Skeena can indeed become part of the gateway to the Pacific. Without substantial improvement and proactive engineering to deal with significant upgrades and usage and potential environmental impacts of global warming, the infrastructure here in northwest B.C. will not be able to capitalize on the Premier's good intentions." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"Let me explain...what the heartland strategy has meant for my home community of Terrace: a funding formula in the school system that has led to a four-day school week; health care decisions now made in Prince George so that more of my constituents have to travel to get their health care; Ministry of Forests jobs gone; Ministry of Transportation jobs gone. All valuable jobs that we needed at the most…. Liberal cuts to eligibility for welfare, making it almost impossible for the most vulnerable people to survive." Hansard 3/14/07 Vol.16 No.7

Education
"Since 2001 over 1,500 students have left the school system as a result of families having to leave the region to look for work. Those who have chosen to stay have seen schools closed and support for their children decreased across the board by this government's cutbacks. It is well known that the school system cannot produce the brightest and best without support, despite the best intentions of parents and teachers." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"It is hard to attract new investments when any new workers who would come with that investment don't want their children to have only four days of school. Where the best and brightest go, so does business." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

Environment
"I'm pleased to see that the Premier has effectively put an end to the proposed coal-burning electricity plants, as the technology that could sequester that level of carbon emissions has not been perfected as yet. It makes no sense, now that everyone has come on board, with the threat that climate change poses for us all." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

Forestry
"Of course, in northwest B.C. we are far from in an economic boom, and this government seems content to do nothing about it. Instead, this government decides to approve the softwood lumber agreement with the U.S., which allows them to keep a billion dollars of money that came from communities like Terrace so that the Americans can use this money to pay for lawyers to get the next legal challenge going. What percentage of that money could have been used to help communities that are struggling within the forestry sector?

Members of the Finance Committee recently visited Terrace, and many people spoke at that time. In particular, there was a presentation about what could be done to assist the forestry sector make investments until the profiles of our forests improve and recover. We know that the cost of removing wood from a forest sector that has a high profile of pulp-quality fibre is not economic, especially when having to compete with the bug wood that is being taken down in the interior.

Surely some of those dollars that are being returned as part of the softwood lumber agreement could be used to set up an intensive silviculture program to manage second-growth stands or to upgrade the roads that have not been maintained as a result of the downturn in the forest sector. I think that would be a good thing for this government to be working on, instead of closing down the Legislature after only three days of work." Hansard 11/27/06 Vol.13 No.9

Healthcare
"I agree wholeheartedly with the notion that through better education, both at the school level and through public awareness programs, we can encourage our citizens to take more responsibility for ensuring our own long-term health outcomes." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"We need to encourage all citizens to make lifestyle choices to improve their overall health. But public health care policy cannot only rely on this, for many illnesses come about for a variety of factors, not least of which is our own genetic makeup, something upon which we have no control. It is for this reason that public medicare was created: essentially as a gigantic insurance scheme that ensures peace of mind for all families so that if illness occurs, they are not alone in dealing with it and will not face financial ruin." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

Healthcare for Seniors
"Another reason that families are leaving is lack of access to health care. Adequate health care services are part of the economic attraction of any region. As the average age of B.C. gets older, many families are relocating in order to take care of parents. Without senior care facilities, families that would choose to stay in communities are forced to leave. There was not a word in yesterday's budget for seniors or seniors housing." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

Poverty
"In Skeena those on welfare do not want to be on welfare, as it's largely no more than a poverty trap. It is the cuts to programs in getting people off welfare that have been more devastating than the low rate of support that they get. People want job opportunities and the ability to overcome barriers to employment, not just to get a raise in welfare rates that keep people and their children in poverty.

It is no wonder that we have the highest child poverty rate in Canada at a time when we are in a so-called boom. This government has left many people behind, and yesterday's budget does little to assist them in being able to experience the economic success that they see in other parts of the province. The cost of housing is so expensive in this province that if one compared the new shelter rate with that of, say, Regina or St. John's, I'm sure that we are still far behind in assisting people to put a roof over their heads." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

"When tourists come from around the world in 2010 for the Olympics in this province, we will carry the shame of displaying two worlds: one where people live in relative comfort, and another where our citizens sit on the street and beg for alms." Hansard 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9

removing POV tag with no active discussion per Template:POV
I've removed an old neutrality tag from this page that appears to have no active discussion per the instructions at Template:POV:
 * This template is not meant to be a permanent resident on any article. Remove this template whenever:
 * There is consensus on the talkpage or the NPOV Noticeboard that the issue has been resolved
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Since there's no evidence of ongoing discussion, I'm removing the tag for now. If discussion is continuing and I've failed to see it, however, please feel free to restore the template and continue to address the issues. Thanks to everybody working on this one! -- Khazar2 (talk) 23:41, 26 June 2013 (UTC)