This analysis deals not with the platform but with the more instructive past performance.
If I vote Liberal on May 14 it will be for the following reasons.
Major Reasons:
* In 1992, when the NDP was elected, BC’s GDP per capita was 8% above the Canadian average. By 2001, when the NDP was defeated, it was 8% below. Now it’s again above the average. In 2013 Moody’s awarded BC its highest possible rating – Triple A. Moody’s praised “the province’s track record of prudent fiscal planning and of managing fiscal pressures effectively.”
* BC has the lowest income tax rate in Canada for those earning less than $120,000. The small business tax rate is now half what it was under the NDP.
* With the Port Mann Bridge and freeway widening the Liberals remedied this bottleneck.
* The rebuilt B.C. Place Stadium is spectacular.
* The new Convention Centre is magnificent.
* An example of many major projects is Rio Tinto’s scheduled $3.3 billion upgrade to its Kitimat aluminum smelter creating 2,500 construction and 1,000 long-term jobs.
Secondary Reasons:
* The minimum wage was increased to $10.25.
* The Canadian Federation of Independent Business awarded BC an “A” for leading all provinces in red tape reduction.
* Since June, 2012 welfare recipients can earn up to $200 a month without clawback.
* With Liberal support, “BC is now a world leader in clean tech with over 200 clean tech firms generating an estimated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2011.” Todd Stone
* A 10-point, $2 million anti-bullying strategy was implemented.
* An Independent Investigations Office was established to investigate serious cases involving police officers.
If I don’t vote Liberal it will be for the following reasons.
Major Reasons:
* The costly HST fiasco.
* The reprehensible plan to use government resources for partisan gain among ethnics.
* Breaking an agreement by cancelling the $6 million legal defence loan despite the fact that senior Liberal staffers Dave Basi and Bob Virk were convicted of crimes in the BC Rail case.
* When the Liberals were elected in 2001, BC’s debt, including the guaranteed agencies’ debt, was $33.6 billion. When Christy Clark took over it was $45 billion. Now it is $56 billion.
* In 2011 Auditor General John Doyle stated that “For a government that strives for transparency and accountability this is unacceptable.”
* In 2011-12 the government’s Pacific Carbon Trust, which sells carbon credits, collected about 97 per cent of its carbon payments from public institutions. The project is failing.
* At 6.7 cents per litre, the carbon tax penalizes consumers but does not reduce pollution.
* The new convention centre was to cost $495 million; it cost $883 million. Reconstructing BC Place Stadium was to cost $150 million; it cost $458 million.
* One in seven BC children lives in poverty.
* In 2006 the government rejected the “Missing Women Report”. Many lives might have been saved.
* It broke its promise not to sell BC Rail.
* The government’s incredible mishandling of Boss Power’s uranium mine application cost BC taxpayers $30 million.
* In 2012 the government lost $35 million by rejecting a tentative deal with Telus to rename BC Place Stadium.
Secondary Reasons:
* British Columbians pay more than twice what Ontarians do for generic drugs.
* Instead of lowering rates, the Liberals’ 2010 budget transferred $778 million of ICBC surplus funds to general revenue.
* $780,000 was spent on a pro-HST mailer that was never mailed.
* $100,000 was spent improving the Coquihalla Toll Plaza a few months before tolls were abolished and it was removed.
* After its big sale to CN in 2003, BC Rail was left with 40 kilometres of track and 30 employees. CEO Kevin Mahoney reportedly continued to be paid $500,000 a year.
* Numerous high salaries and severances are unconscionable. In 2010 almost 99% of BC Hydro’s 6,000 employees received bonuses totalling $42.3 million. Almost 40%, 2,371, earned more than $100,000.
When Premier Christy Clark released aide Allan Seckel, his severance was $549,776.
* The first Family Day holiday cost the average small business $1,135. BC’s economy lost at least $200 million.
* With rising prices the Property Transfer Tax is unfair.
I have studied the issues and have decided how I will vote. I urge all eligible voters to do likewise.
– John H. Redekop Ph.D. is an Adjunct Professor with Trinity Western University