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Promises made and now not kept
By Tom Shypitka,
Kootenay East MLA
Budget 2018 to me was a case of “I told you so” to many of the people I met along the campaign trail back in April and May of 2017.
I foreshadowed this budget release earlier today before it came out and stated in my 30 minute response to the Throne Speech “the only one thing certain about the upcoming budget is that you will have to pay for it”…. and I was correct. I just didn’t know by how much… and it was a whopper.
The key feature for me was a $5.5 billion tax hike to all British Columbians. These tax hikes will affect everyone directly on personal taxes, or payroll taxes for small business, but it will also hit British Columbians indirectly by way of higher prices at the gas stations, tobacco, goods and services via a higher carbon tax.
This isn’t making life more affordable.
The second thing that is truly concerning to me is not so much for the ones who didn’t vote for this NDP and Green Party but for those who did.
Those who voted NDP should feel truly misled. The big hype on the $10 daycare was nowhere to be seen (surprise). Instead it will be called a universal daycare system but instead of $1.5 billion per year it has been reduced to about $333 million per year.
The same goes for the magical 114,000 affordable homes to battle affordability issues in B.C. This claim was the flagship of the NDP platform last spring. Flash forward 10 months and it is nowhere to be found and the 114,000 has now been reduced to 34,000.
To add insult to injury they go on to say that to achieve the 34,000 they need help from the federal government as well as municipalities to work on rezoning as well as provide land.
Issues like $400 renter’s rebate, $1,000 college/university credit, eliminating portables at Surrey schools, and the list is long of promises made and now not kept.
The third thing that was troubling to me is that although a lot of spending was announced like a new bridge to replace the Patullo, there was no mention on the revenue side. Nothing in their vision on how to attract, generate and sustain industry and revenue to the province.
Once again this side of the equation seems to be inconsequential to the NDP and Green Party. I know for a fact that if industry such as LNG and Trans Mountain were mentioned in this budget then their special interest and core supporters would be upset.
Mining has been cut. The truth of the matter is that these industries are key if we are to flourish as a rich, responsible province. Highly skilled and highly paid jobs WILL make life more affordable for tens of thousands of British Columbians. Industry will provide revenues to pay for services and to help those that are society’s most vulnerable. We must be able to walk on both sides of the ledger sheet.
The last thing that upset me in this budget presentation was that there was an awful lot of ‘rebranding’ of BC Liberal promises. Items like the reduction on student loans, additional engineering seats at TRU and UNBC, the elimination of PST on hydro to business and the Grand Daddy of them all the 50% cut and elimination to MSP.
The only difference between the BC Liberals and the NDP/Greens is that the BC Liberals were offering a TAX BREAK, meaning this would have come from our surplus and have no effect on taxpayers.
The NDP’s way is to shuffle that MSP premium and charge it to your personal income tax. This is nothing more than a shell game with MSP Premiums and income tax. The true kicker is that now the NDP is replacing all of the MSP with a NEW $2 billion payroll tax that will HAMMER small businesses.
I don’t think I need to tell anyone how important small business is to our economy. With this and the increase of minimum wage to $15 it is a sad day for small business in B.C.
For our local issues it was great to see that 10 more Conservation Officers will be hired (I hope Kootenay East gets one). But there is nothing on restoring our ungulate populations. Nothing on an independent funding model for wildlife, although I will be getting into the details in the days to come (please stay tuned).
There was also nothing mentioned in regards to our beloved ranching communities and their ever more difficult struggle in obtaining timely funding to replace lost livestock from predation. This is a big deal.
Also, improving the reservation system for B.C. campsites is nowhere. British Columbians get shafted every year on reserving camp spots as most of them are taken by out-of-province/country campers who block out entire campsites. British Columbians deserve a highly allocated percentage of these sites.
In summary I would like to think of Budget 2018 as an old movie entitled ‘Back to the 90’s’ and we all know that the sequel is never better.
If you ever have questions or concerns, my door is always open.
– Tom Shypitka is Kootenay East MLA and BC Liberal Party Critic for Energy, Mines, Petroleum Resources
