I rise to speak in reply to yesterday's Speech from the Throne. This is the fifth B.C. Liberal throne speech since I was elected in 2005. I have to say there's been so much hot air in these throne speeches that I think the Premier should probably slap a carbon tax on his own rhetoric in the throne speeches.

I'm also not sure that the Premier remembers any more why it's called the throne speech. So rather than remind him how the parliamentary system works, I'll just say this. Just because it's called the throne speech doesn't mean that the Premier can act like a king and do whatever he wants.

I'd intended to speak in a detailed response but, as has sadly become the tradition in this House, we have another Liberal throne speech that spends more time justifying broken promises and trying to change the subject than actually delivering a vision for the future.

In this throne speech there were 15 paragraphs defending the HST, trying to explain why this government had absolutely no idea why things were much worse than they told the public, desperately trying to construct an alibi for their deception.

The poor Premier, as it said in the speech, was brutally deceived by the economy? I'm sorry, but the speech got it backwards. It was the Premier and the Liberals who deceived British Columbians about the real state of the economy in British Columbia.

Our province has just gone through an election campaign in which the economy was the number one issue. During that campaign, the Premier made two fundamental commitments to British Columbians: one, that the deficit would be no more than $495 million, and two, that he'd protect health care and education.

During the campaign anyone who challenged those statements by the Premier was accused of fearmongering. That's not the only irony in this Premier's election platform. It also includes this statement: "Small business is the economy's backbone. You don't build confidence by ignoring their advice. You build it by listening to them, learning from them and working with them." 

Quite frankly, if the member on the other side would spend some time actually listening, he could actually do something with small business instead of providing that kind of rhetoric.

It's pretty clear that if the Liberals were listening to small business, they certainly didn't hear them. Small business people that I've talked to and that everyone has talked to across this province didn't ask for the HST, and believe me, we've heard from thousands of those small businesses since the HST announcement. If this government learned from small business, it's pretty difficult to find out what the lesson was that they learned.

In their platform they said that they were working with small business. Well, I think that from a B.C. Liberal perspective, it's more like working over small business. That's what they're doing with the HST.

What this government has done by not giving voters the truth in implementing the HST is exactly the opposite of everything they claimed to stand for during the election. Right now, in a difficult economic time, one of the worst recessions we've seen in decades, this government thinks it's a smart idea to bring in a new tax, with no consultation, no warning — one more broken promise from the B.C. Liberals.

I don't suppose we should be surprised. Did the Liberals keep their promise not to sell B.C. Rail? Did they keep their promise to build 5,000 long-term care beds for seniors? Did they keep that promise of health care where you need it, when you need it?

Is there a single member of this House who actually believed the Premier when he said that the deficit would be no more than $495 million? Certainly no one on this side of the House believed that.

British Columbians will find out next week what the deficit's going to be and how much this government's mismanagement and incompetence is going to cost them and their families. But they've been shown over and over again that they just can't be trusted to keep the truth.

We already know that this government is going to amend its own signature legislation — change the law, in other words — to enshrine its mismanagement to become legal. We know that the Liberals are going to run deficits right through the next election. So it's pretty clear, if you're a B.C. Liberal, that it's okay to break the law as long as you rewrite the law just before you actually break it. Is that a lesson that we want our kids to learn from this Legislature?

This government has been putting out so many items from this budget that I don't think the Finance Minister is going to have anything left to read when the budget is actually delivered next Tuesday. But I am convinced that we're not going to know the real state of the economy until the Auditor General reports out, because I have no faith in any numbers that this government puts forward. No one on this side of the House has faith in those numbers.

Is it any wonder that so many eligible voters didn't vote on May 12? Under the Liberals we've seen a growing accountability gap between government institutions and the people they are supposed to serve. When the bond of trust between citizens and the state is broken, democracy is diminished.

It's clear that it wasn't simply a distaste for the Liberal government that kept so many eligible voters away on election day. I also take responsibility for not capturing the hearts and minds of the voters. I accept that criticism, and I've committed myself and our caucus to doing a better job of putting our positive vision out for the future in British Columbia.

We had a profound reminder of the importance of democracy over the past two weeks when we saw brave Afghans literally risk their lives to cast their ballots. In B.C. we aren't subjected to anything like the people in Afghanistan are, yet barely half of us bothered to vote.

Oscar Wilde wrote that the cynic knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. If you substitute "B.C. Liberal" for "cynic," you could pretty well sum up this government's approach.

The Premier and the Liberals certainly know what it costs in terms of rhetoric, spin and deception to win a vote, yet they simply don't care about the corrosive effect that their approach has on voter participation and democratic institutions.

How many times have members of all sides in this Legislature heard the phrase: "Politicians are all liars; politicians are all crooks"? Well, this government empowers sentiments like that. As elected officials, we must grapple with the clear fact that in election after election more and more eligible voters stay home on election day, and I submit that one of the main reasons for this decline in participation is the increase in voter cynicism.

In recent memory I'm saddened to say that I can't think of a better reason for the voters to be cynical than the Premier finally admitting that the deficit will be higher than he had promised in the campaign. The worst part of that is that I don't think he thinks about it as breaking a promise. I think he actually believes that it's okay to not be truthful with British Columbians as long as you get elected. That's both sad and frightening.

It's clear now, through the election, that the Liberals knew they weren't giving voters straight information. It wasn't simply the NDP saying that the Premier's maximum deficit of $495 million wasn't credible. Business leaders said it. Economists said it. But the Premier and every one of the candidates clung to that mantra throughout the election.

It's unfortunate that this Premier and the entire government have become better known for their message discipline than for their fiscal incompetence. It's especially unfortunate in tough economic times to have a Premier who is more concerned about optics than good government.

You know, it's funny how the Premier's own words can come back to haunt him. For example, what was the Premier's answer to the restaurant industry during the election about the harmonized sales tax, which he now says is the single most important thing we can do for our economy? Not on our radar screen. That's what the Premier said during the election. He actually even listed a number of reasons why the Liberals wouldn't implement such a tax.

Less than three months later, after winning an election that was all about the economy, "not on our radar" has magically transformed into the single most important thing we can do for our economy. I have to say that the Liberal caucus must have whiplash from the speed of this U-turn. I can't imagine that their phones are ringing off the hook with public support for the HST. I can only imagine that the Premier's new-found enthusiasm for new taxes must have left the government caucus members feeling just as betrayed as the rest of us in this Legislature.

I'm sure that there are members of the government who don't support the HST, members who honestly thought that the Premier was being upfront during the election. They told their friends, their neighbours, their community what they thought was the truth, and the Premier has put them in an impossible position.

The fact is that the Premier does not have a mandate from the people of British Columbia to bring in this tax. If anything, after repeatedly telling people during the campaign that the HST was not on his radar, he has a mandate not to bring in the HST. In the coming days the official opposition will be encouraging government MLAs to let the Premier and let the cabinet in on what their constituents are telling them, to share the incredible amount of betrayal, anger and disappointment that British Columbians are expressing.  

Government MLAs can choose to vote as their constituents are telling them. They can choose to vote to stop the HST, or they can choose to vote as the Premier's office dictates and be complicit. This is one vote in the Legislature that people are going to remember.

I've been traveling around the province, and I want to share just one quick story from my last trip through Kamloops. I arrived on a Sunday evening and went out for dinner in downtown Kamloops to a restaurant I hadn't been to before. I didn't know the people in the restaurant. I finished off our dinner, and I had one of the employees in the restaurant come up and ask me if he could buy me my dinner because he was so appreciative that someone, anyone, was standing up to say no to the HST and the impact it would have on him and his job.

I paid for my dinner and told him that I'd keep working on the HST as well. But it just showed to me the kind of worry that's out there. This was an employee who moved to British Columbia from Nova Scotia five years ago and said he's not sure he can stay because he doesn't know if he can manage with the kind of downturn that's going to happen and the fewer customers coming into his restaurant. That's just one example.

I've heard from countless people who told me that they voted Liberal on May 12, that feel now they've been betrayed. They actually believed the Premier, and they feel betrayed. They're angry, they're frustrated, and they feel there's nothing they can do. But there is something we can do.

It's certainly no secret that our economy is in trouble. B.C.'s economic activity is inextricably linked to the overall Canadian economy and to our neighbours to the south. The old saying that "if the United States gets a cold, we sneeze" has never been more true than it is today.

While there are some signs of the beginning of the end of the recession, at least according to the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, a recovery from the economic devastation of the last two years is not going to come quickly. Until it does, until things turn around, I believe our government has a moral and economic obligation to those hardest hit to stimulate the economy using all the resources currently at its disposal.

I believe the government must act now, both for the long term and the immediate term, by investing in people. British Columbia has always been dependent on natural resources for its economic successes, and the sustainable extraction and refining of our natural resources will always play a key role in our economic future.

I believe that increasingly we must look to our human resources for future success. That's why I've called on the Premier not to cut access to post-secondary education, particularly not in an economic downturn. It's a deeply cynical move by this government so soon after the election where they promised they would protect education.

We see this Premier cutting back on scholarships for some of our hardest-working students in British Columbia. How is that going to help our economy grow? We've been ringing the alarm bells with what's been happening in forestry for years with no meaningful response from this government. Dozens of communities bleeding away thousands of jobs, and this government refuses to act. 

The best weapon to fight voter cynicism is political integrity, and when I say "integrity," I mean leaders who mean what they say, who keep their promises, who won't say one thing to get elected and then do something completely different once they're in office. Sometimes integrity means having the capacity to admit you were wrong. People respect someone who admits a mistake and demonstrates that they've learned from it.

I'd like to share a definition of integrity. People ask for integrity. They expect when the leader of a government says something, they mean it and they'll deliver on it instead of reneging on things. It's what we expect from our children, and it's certainly what we should expect from the Premier of British Columbia.

Who might have said that right here in this House? I'll give you a clue. It's the same public figure who stood beside me in the leaders' debate and said the deficit would be $495 million and not a penny more.

Wouldn't it be nice if after the election, instead of contradicting itself and introducing a new tax, the government actually implemented policies to help B.C. families, not hurt them? During the past five years or so, while our province's economy was firing on all cylinders, B.C. plunged to the bottom of all provinces.

We have the worst child poverty rate in Canada — for years. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the government changed course and actually started to care about children living in poverty? This government presided over that during good economic times and did nothing to address it. Now, when we're in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in history, this government has done nothing and set aside nothing for this rainy day.

Wouldn't it be nice if the government actually managed our tax dollars responsibly instead of draining the treasury to provide big tax cuts for their friends? Wouldn't it be nice if the government actually took steps to fight climate change in a meaningful way rather than using our tax dollars to encourage a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions? Wouldn't it be nice if the government told the truth about the finances of this province all the time instead of waiting until the election and trying to surprise the people of British Columbia?

Irony is a growth industry under this government. This government claims to be fighting climate change, and what have we seen? The cancelling of a successful program that got dirty, carbon-spewing clunkers off the road.

During the election the Premier claimed there were no plans to cut back on health care. Then afterwards: "Yes. Oh yes, we're going to cancel surgeries. We're going to close ORs. We're going to deliberately increase wait times for patients."

Many years ago another arrogant and unpopular leader, equally out of touch with the reality facing people, said: "Let them eat cake." I have to say that this throne speech might have well said: "Let them eat cake."

We are all enormously fortunate to live and work in British Columbia. I spent time this summer travelling this amazing province, including a spectacular trip to Haida Gwaii. Everywhere I went in B.C. I was reminded of the diversity, the strength and the strong values of British Columbians. We are truly fortunate.

It's in our nature as British Columbians to look out for our neighbours, to look out for each other. We saw that this summer in the example of forest fire after forest fire, where communities came together to help each other. That was the strength of British Columbia that we see each and every day.  It's in our nature as British Columbians to believe that we can never be truly successful as long as there are some among us who don't get a chance, that individual success is tempered by the terrible experience of those who slip through the fabric of our social safety net.

British Columbians understand our provincial economy is in trouble. They're willing to make sacrifices, to make common cause to get us through this recession and come out the other side stronger and more vital than ever. But it's going to take leadership to get there, and this Premier has broken trust with the public in such a profound way that it is impossible to imagine British Columbians uniting around a common set of objectives under this government.

I hope that this Premier will have a change of heart. He was once, according to him, just a few months ago on the right side of this issue. But we all know that he's not going to reverse himself without a strong fight. On this side of the House we are going to give him that fight, because it is long past time in this province that the public is shown respect by their government. They deserve that in British Columbia.

This is a Premier, as we know, that likes to divide British Columbians. Many pundits refer to his ability to unite the right within his party, and they may be correct. But his record as Premier has been one of dividing our province, pitting one group against another. Childish partisan attacks from the Premier won't end this recession. They won't put people back to work.

It's going to take tough work. It's going to take roll-up-your-sleeves work. It means being willing to work with folks you might not see eye to eye with on every issue. It takes an understanding, a true understanding, that there's more that unites us than divides us.

Over this session, on the balance of this government's mandate, whether it makes it through the full four years or not, the official opposition will put forward new ideas and solutions for the problems and challenges our province faces. We've proposed a new energy plan for B.C. that focuses on the real issue: how much power does B.C. need? And if we need more, what's the best way to develop it with the least environmental impact and with regional approval?

We're going to continue to push this government to drop its policy of pushing B.C. Hydro towards bankruptcy by insisting it pay more for power it can't use than it can sell it for, all to benefit Liberal friends. We're going to remind this Premier that he used to actually support a utilities commission that was free from political interference.

We'll continue to push this government to implement good ideas, no matter where they come from — like the independent child and youth officer that for years was fought for in this province by amazing social workers, people who work in the field and who care about children.

We're going to try and convince the Liberals that investment in education is essential if we're going to have the skilled workforce we need to compete with the rest of the world in the coming new economy. It really is unbelievable to me that the Premier thinks cutting education is a smart thing to do in these tough economic times.

There's so much work to do to position B.C. for the coming economic recovery. Government has a responsibility — we all share a collective responsibility — to protect the most vulnerable among us in good times and bad.

There's much work to do, as well, in our province to ensure that citizens who live in rural and regional B.C. are no longer left behind by economic success. The disappearance of tens of thousands of jobs in the forest industry during this government's last term alone should have been a wake-up call to this Premier, a wake-up call that his policies have failed.

The official opposition will continue to push for the implementation of a strategy to get our forest industry back on a sustainable course. We'll continue to fight for actions that will help rural and economic communities. Finally, the official opposition will continue to hold the Premier accountable for his broken promises to seniors who built this province. We will continue to fight for an independent seniors advocate and to get the government to stop cutting long-term care beds for seniors and actually fulfil that commitment to the people who built British Columbia.

I consider it an honour to be in public service. Every day when I take my seat in this House, I'm reminded of those who've served here before us and those who will take our place when we move on, and I'm reminded of the rich tradition of debate that has led to so many achievements in this place.

I honestly believe that every member of this House stood for election with the absolute best of intentions. I believe that everyone here originally was motivated by a desire to leave the world a better place than we found it. But this government has lost its way, and I say this with anger and sadness and disappointment.

I disagree with the Premier on many things, and this House is supposed to be a place where we can try and resolve those differences or at least work to serve the people who have placed their trust in us. Our system of democracy gives citizens the ability — the right — to see and hear those differences debated. If one side is dishonest about many of their intentions, it's no longer a debate.

This Premier said that he didn't get elected to be popular but to make tough decisions. With respect, it isn't about being popular or not. It's not about the decisions being tough or easy. It's about telling the truth. It's about being honest. That's the fundamental attribute of a government — public trust. And if that public trust has been broken, it's impossible to repair it. Sadly, I have to say that for this government, after just three months, that time is already here.