BRITISH COLUMBIA PLATFORM 2006

17 December 2005

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CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA
BRITISH COLUMBIA PLATFORM 2006

Clean up government and restore accountability

Appoint a Director of Public Prosecutions to deal with government corruption, modeled on BC’s special prosecutor.
Strengthen the independence of the Ethics Commissioner, drawing upon the BC example pioneered by Ted Hughes, Q.C.
Appoint a comprehensive, independent judicial inquiry into the Air India bombing of June 23, 1985.
Initiate an independent judicial enquiry into the collapse of the sockeye salmon stocks on the Fraser River.
Freeze the sale of the Ridley Coal Terminal in Prince Rupert until a review is completed.
Review CMHC’s handling of construction regulations and “leaky condos.”

Make homes and streets secure

Require mandatory prison sentences for convicted operators of grow ops and crystal meth labs.
Re-instate the Vancouver Ports Police to fight gun-smuggling and corruption.
Reduce traffic congestion and build transportation infrastructure
Guarantee British Columbia its fair share of federal infrastructure funding.
Guarantee the Lower Mainland its fair share of funding from an expanded New Deal for Cities and Communities, and transfer the equivalent of five cents per litre of gasoline to build and repair roads and bridges.

Promote Asia-Pacific trade with BC

Deliver at least the five-year federal funding commitment of $591 million for the Pacific Gateway Initiative.
Expand trade agreements with Japan and India and other democratic trade partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
Create an investment, regulatory, and security environment for our western ports to handle dramatically higher Pacific trade.
Remove the borrowing limits of the Port of Vancouver.
Protect the forest industry
Invest $1 billion over ten years to fight the spread of the pine beetle in BC forests.
Insist the U.S. lumber interests conform to the NAFTA rulings on softwood lumber, work to repeal the Byrd Amendment, and work to return more than $5 billion in illegal softwood lumber tariffs to Canadian producers.
Use the repayment of illegally collected American tariffs as security for loan guarantees to affected lumber companies.
Offset the cost of legal bills of BC businesses fighting American lumber tariffs against the repayment of the illegally collected tariffs.
Ensure adequate support for displaced forestry workers and their communities.
Preserve the fishery
Invest more in fisheries science and research into sustainable harvesting.
Exempt from capital gains tax the first $500,000 of fishing property transferred within a family.
Ensure the rigorous enforcement of federal fishing regulations on the Fraser River and the preservation of wild salmon stocks.
Work with the provincial government to create joint fishery management councils.

Address coastal issues

Maintain the staffing of lighthouses and bolster the search and rescue capacity of the Coast Guard.
Offer financial help to Victoria to stop dumping raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The assistance would be as generous as that recently afforded by the federal government to Halifax to solve a similar problem.
Support mining and oil and gas exploration
Retain tax incentives, such as the super flow-through share program, that have helped create Canada’s effective financial market for mining.
Streamline regulatory processes for mining and pipelines by implementing the “single window” approach recommended by the “Smart Regulation” task force.

Defend sovereignty

Restore a regular army presence in British Columbia.
Introduce an Unmanned Aviation Vehicle for safer and more comprehensive surveillance of the Pacific and Arctic regions.
Station a territorial defence force in the Lower Mainland to assist in emergencies and natural disasters.
Replace and upgrade the naval vessels stationed at CFB Esquimalt.
Establish the Canadian Coast Guard as an independent agency and invest $276 million over five years in expanding and updating the fleet.
Achieve fair representation
Give British Columbia additional seats to achieve fair representation in the House of Commons.
Introduce federal legislation modeled on the BC law requiring fixed election dates every four years.
Begin reform of the Senate by naming elected Senators.
Support the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games
Maintain all federal infrastructure commitments for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Maintain the $55 million, five-year commitment for high-performance athletes at the Winter Olympics.

Standing Up for BC

Your Conservative MPs understand and have advanced the interests of British Columbians. They have:

Defended BC’s softwood lumber workers and producers.
Spoken out for victims of crime.
Supported Chuck Cadman’s bill to stop street-racing and opposed Liberal attempts to weaken it.
Called for proper enforcement of federal fishing regulations to preserve salmon stocks in the Fraser and Adams Rivers.
Forced Ottawa to deal with the proposed Sumas II power plant in Washington State, which posed a threat to the Southern Interior’s air and water quality.
Promoted tougher sentences for illegal drug producers and distributors, particularly for crystal meth labs.
Continually pressed the Liberal government not to de-staff lighthouses and to maintain the Coast Guard’s search and rescue capability.
Embraced the Pacific Gateway Initiative and called on the federal government to make genuine commitments to fund infrastructure.
Pressed CMHC to investigate how it failed to warn homeowners about potential problems with “leaky condos.”
Raised questions about how and why the Ridley coal terminal in Prince Rupert is being sold off.
Offered enthusiastic support for the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.
Represented every region of British Columbia in Ottawa.