NDP platform released: no promise on balanced books
Posted April 24, 2013 5:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We now have the entire NDP platform in our hands.
The party has already said it would run deficits for three consecutive years if elected, but it now seems there are no promises for a debt-free BC after four years under Adrian Dix. In fact, there are no financial projections at all for year four.
Platform co-Chair Bruce Ralston says the NDP will work hard to balance the books but insists the Liberals claim to a balanced budget isn’t true, and that if elected the NDP would inherit what he calls ‘the real deficit.’
“There are no guarantees in that kind of endeavour,” he says. “Finances are unpredictable in a world economy but that’s our commitment and that’s our goal and we will do our very best to achieve that.”
“Our spending announcements are balanced by new revenue… we’ve identified our [revenue] sources. I think what BC can’t afford is another four years of the BC Liberals,” Ralston adds.
The forecast, though, isn’t exactly pretty. It’s a $790 million deficit in the first year, rising in the second year, and then falling to $450 million in the third.
Other than a new women’s equality ministry, a public opposition process for the Northern Gateway pipeline, and five million dollars for a BC Rail inquiry, much of the platform has already been announced.
The BC Liberal budget tabled in February forecasts a surplus of $197 million next year.
Former finance minister Mike de Jong says the NDP’s 60 page document shows reckless spending. He says it’s not what the economy needs right now.
“The $2 billion man is now the $3 billion man and it just continues to grow,” he told reporters in a news conference. “This isn’t a platform. This is a weekend with the Kardashians, it’s spend, spend , spend.”
He says it doesn’t outline an actual budget and adds workers should be worried about higher taxes.
“No wonder the NDP was hiding their platform from voters,” de Jong says. “Thirty-two of 68 pages have no text, as they are title pages and photos of Adrian Dix. It’s pretty pathetic when Adrian Dix has had two years to put together their platform and nearly half of his platform document has no text.”
But when asked how his party calculated $3 billion in spending, de Jong couldn’t really explain. The NDP’s fiscal plan amounts to about $2 billion, and Ralston insists his party has been up front and open on how it would pay for its promises.
