March 3, 2003
Transportation Infrastructure and Funding for Trans-Canada Highway
Motion on Notice
K. Krueger: I certainly rise to support the motion and the member who made it. A paramount concern for British Columbians on the Trans-Canada Highway is the safety of the people who use it. We welcome visitors to British Columbia from all over the world, and they come in on that highway: Asian tourists, European tourists, Canadians, Americans people whose lives are in danger using the highway in its present state.
It was a marvel of engineering when it was built, and it followed the marvel of engineering that the railway had already been. It was a wonderful thing in its time, and it hasn't been adequately updated ever since. In the summertime there are platoons of traffic that build up behind slow-moving vehicles, recreational vehicles, commercial traffic, buses, semis. People become impatient; people try to pass. There are insufficient opportunities to pass, and the chances of being hurt on that highway are far, far too high. It's an unacceptable risk for a highway that is the gateway to British Columbia.
Like the member who spoke previously, I'm proud of a Premier who recognizes the high priority that this highway has to be and, indeed, highways throughout the heartlands of British Columbia, and has had the courage to bite the bullet, set up a funding arrangement through fuel taxes, go after mending the fences with the federal government that Premier Glen Clark burnt in the past, build those bridges again, get a relationship where we can move forward in the interest of the safety of British Columbians and of everyone who uses the Trans-Canada Highway.
The safety concern is paramount. The fact that this highway is a symbol is also a factor. It's a matter of national pride. It's a national symbol, the Trans-Canada Highway, and it's unacceptable that traffic has been turning south in Alberta and in the prairie provinces in order to finish the transcontinental trip on American highways because of the lack of attention to this highway by governments of the past couple of decades.
There's a direct effect on our economy if that happens. If people aren't travelling through B.C., they aren't spending their money in B.C. They aren't pausing to realize what a wonderful place it is, so that they can come back and visit it again. Our port in Vancouver is not as busy as it would be because of this highway and the fact that because of its poor condition, traffic is diverted to the U.S.A.
In Kamloops, of course. I live in a city that has been built as a transportation and communication hub at the confluence of two major rivers and the intersection of the valleys that they form. It's a place where transportation is tremendously important, and anything that impedes the use of the Trans-Canada Highway is a negative thing to the economy of Kamloops and of my entire constituency. In the wintertime, when there are mudslides and avalanches that close the Trans-Canada Highway, the traffic is often diverted to Highway 5 down the North Thompson Valley, which also hasn't been built to modern standards and needs upgrading.
I'm proud of the efforts our government is making and the things that I know are going to happen in the near future for both highways, but we need to do a whole lot more. We need rapid action by the federal government and the support of the federal government, in catching up on these critical infrastructure needs. There's a good four-lane highway from Kamloops almost to Pritchard in my constituency, but more work needs to be done from there on the way to Chase, on the way to Salmon Arm, progressing to Revelstoke, certainly through Rogers Pass, and on to Golden and the Kicking Horse Canyon, which the previous member alluded to. It all needs to be done, and it's an absolute travesty that the NDP government of the 1990s spent its money on things like $300 million to Skeena Cellulose in Prince Rupert, half a billion dollars to three so-called fast cat ferries that don't work and $1 billion or more to Forest Renewal B.C. that was literally shovelled out the door. I remember looking at a list of what FRBC was spending money on, and they had spent money on two grants to universities in Saskatchewan to study bat stratification in caves. They were always dishing out money for special interests and to their friends and their causes, and they didn't pay attention to something that matters to the very lives of British Columbians and our guests on that highway.
I'm very proud of a Premier and a government that are determined to make this the high priority that it needs to be. We must upgrade this highway. We must protect the people who use it. I reach out to the federal government, the senior government. I appreciate very much the indications we've already had of their assistance. I ask them to move fast. The studies have been done for years. That's one thing people have done. They've studied the problem to death, but they haven't dealt with it. They need to deal with it. I trust that will happen soon.
We are certainly ready to not only stand in the gap but also fix the gap. There's a place called Three Valley Gap on the highway, as you probably know, Mr. Speaker, and it's often the reason the Trans-Canada Highway is closed through British Columbia. We've got to deal with these things. It's a big issue, but the engineers of the past were competent enough to put the highway through for us in the first place. I know that in 2003 we certainly have the expertise to bring on the improvements, and bring them on quickly, to protect people's lives. That includes British Columbians and our visitors.
