Robin Austin

Infobox_Politician
name = Robin Austin


image_size = 250px
caption = Robin Austin helping with flood preparations, June 2007
birth_date = April 9, 1958
birth_place =
residence =
office = MLA for Skeena
term_start = 2005
term_end =
predecessor =
successor = incumbent
party = New Democrat
religion =
occupation =

Robin Austin, MLA, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Work, is the current New Democratic Party MLA for Skeena in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Austin's shadow cabinet portfolio is fisheries. As the chair of the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture, he is currently the only opposition member to chair a legislative committee. The Skeena River salmon run is of particular importance to his region's economic and cultural health.

Austin was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2005 election.

Life History

Austin was born in London, England on April 9, 1958, but at the age of six weeks he returned with his family to Ghana, West Africa, where he remained until he was ten years old. At age ten he was sent to a British boarding school, because his father, who worked for an international company in the resource industry, moved the family frequently, and they wanted him to have some stability in his schooling.

After graduating, he attended Strathclyde University in Scotland where he received his Bachelor of Arts with a specialization in hotel management. His first job out of university was at a hotel on Grand Cayman, in the Cayman Islands. It was there that Austin met his wife Colleen, who was from Victoria, British Columbia. It wasn't long before they fell in love and moved to Toronto, where Austin worked for The Four Seasons, Hilton, and Renaissance Hotels.

After several years in Toronto, Colleen began to miss the West Coast, so they decided to return to British Columbia, and make a life in Victoria. It was here that their son, Graeme, was born. While living in Victoria, Robin opened Camille's Restaurant at 49 Bastion Square, which remains a popular choice for fine dining to this day.

When Graeme was only a year old Austin was offered a position as catering manager at the University of British Columbia. He took the job and the family moved to Vancouver where they stayed from 1990 to 1995. It was in 1995 that tjhe couple decided to try life in a smaller city, believing that it would offer their son the opportunity to grow up in a more healthy environment than either Vancouver or Victoria could offer. After much deliberation, the two of them finally decided to move to Terrace, British Columbia.

Austin initially began working at the Terrace Best Western Hotel as food service manager, but within six weeks he had been promoted to relief manager. This position continued until 1999, when he was laid off due to the overall economic downturn in the area. Consequently, Austin decided to return to school, choosing to complete a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Northern British Columbia.

Soon after moving to Terrace, Robin and Colleen decided to become foster parents, and when Graeme was only six years old they began caring for another child, who was eight. They have continuously cared for foster children since then, many of them teenagers of first nations descent.

Political Beginnings

Austin's decision to go into politics was partially motivated by his belief that the BC Liberal government had a lack of concern for people in the Northwest who were affected by the economic downturn at the beginning of the millennium. Having lost his own job because of a sagging economy linked to the softwood lumber dispute and low commodity prices, Austin was frustrated by the province's lack of support for economic development in the North.

His exasperation with the state of the provincial government was only exacerbated by budgetary decisions that affected him in his capacity as a foster parent. He understood how damaging cuts to the funding of British Columbia's most vulnerable children would be, and decided it was time to do something about it.

As a result, in 2004 he sought the BC NDP nomination for the Skeena constituency. He won the nomination after three ballots, and stood as the NDP candidate, narrowly winning the 2005 election.

Fisheries

Austin is the Fisheries Critic for the NDP shadow cabinet. As chair of the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture, Robin has travelled extensively through the province, listening to concerns about the social, economic and environmental impacts of aquaculture.

Members of Austin's constituency depend on a healthy wild salmon run for tourism, and for both sport and commercial fishing. Consequently, the large body of evidence suggesting that open net fish farms may lead to a decline in the population of wild salmon in river and ocean systems where they are located has led to widespread antagonism towards open net fish farming in Northern British Columbia, and particularly in the Skeena area.

The Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture, which was chaired by Austin, tabled its final report in May 2007. The report included 55 recommendations on how to manage the British Columbia aquaculture industry in a way that was both economically feasible and environmentally responsible.

The report drew widespread criticism from the aquaculture industry because it called for the industry to move to ocean based closed containment within five years. According to the report, open net fish farms may contribute to the decline of wild salmon populations through the spread of parasitic sea lice and diseases from the farmed fish to migrating salmon fry. The industry claims that moving to closed-containment is tantamount to ending finfish aquaculture off the British Columbia coast.

The report also called for a ban on any new fish farms north of Cape Caution.

Power Sales

Austin has supported the fight by Kitimat Council against the misuse of public resources by Alcan. Since 2000 Alcan has been selling power produced with water from Nechako/Kemano River systems, while reducing output at the Kitimat smelter. This has caused many individuals in Kitimat, Terrace and the surrounding areas to lose their jobs, both as a direct result of layoffs from Alcan, or as a result of the general dip in the secondary economy caused by reduced income from the multinational giant.

Hansard Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

External links

* [http://www.bcndpcaucus.ca/en/mla/robin_austin Robin's NDP Caucus Page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/robinaustinmla Robin's Official Myspace Page]
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/robinaustin/ Robin's Flikr Picture Page]
* [http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/38thparl/session-2/aquaculture/index.htm Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture]
* [http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/8-8.htm Hansard Debates]
* [http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/38th3rd/h70221p.htm#5453 Source for quotes marked 2/21/07 Vol.14 No.9]
* [http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/38th3rd/h70314p.htm#6212 Source for quotes marked 3/14/07 Vol.16 No.7]