Cost of BC Conservatives’ promises announced just days before election

It’s the last week of the British Columbia election campaign and after a busy long weekend full of promises from the BC Conservatives, including a new Children’s Hospital for Surrey, the party released its costed platform on Tuesday.

Leader John Rustad said the party is expecting the province’s GDP to grow to 5.4 per cent by 2030, compared to the NDP’s estimation of 3.1 per cent.

“If BC had a government that took economic growth seriously, we’d have over $10 billion more per year for the services we need – at no cost to taxpayers,” the Conservatives explained.

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The Conservatives would eliminate the provincial deficit of nearly $9 billion within two terms of government, Rustad shared, as the party looks to “kick-start BC’s economy” to pay for its tax cuts and capital spending.

“Our plan for Common Sense Change contains a series of bold proposals to get BC’s economy working again. We will Get BC Building – to finally end the housing shortage that artificially constrains so many other sectors of the economy. And instead of tying up jobs and investment in redundant red tape, we will make BC the best place in Canada to run a small business, while responsibly developing the natural resources that have sustained BC for generations,” the Conservatives said in its platform costing.

“Getting the economy working again is hard work, but some decisions will be easy. For example, simply by repealing the NDP’s unaffordable ‘Clean BC’ scheme, BC’s economy will be $28 billion richer in 2030 – and that’s according to modelling conducted by the NDP government,” it said.

Conservative’s costed platform does not include any major capital promises

However, Rustad shared that the party’s costed platform does not include any major capital spending, with the newly promised Surrey children’s hospital, Pattullo Bridge expansion, Highway 1 widening, or the proposed Massey Tunnel replacement not included in the projected costs.

“All of these things we have not costed, in terms of the actual capital, including the new hospital in Surrey, that needs to be done. I’m anticipating that project will likely be in the vicinity of around $3 billion however, until we actually are able to draw the designs, until we’re able to work with the health care professionals to make sure we know exactly what goes in there, it would be inappropriate for me to put that kind of a number [in the budget],” Rustad shared.

The NDP has said its platform promises this election would cause government revenue to drop by more than $1.5 billion, while it forecasts the province’s budget deficit to increase next year to $9.6 billion.

“We will be adding, over the next two years, $2.3 billion in additional spending, plus the additional tax relief that we’re looking at putting on top of that,” Rustad shared. “Overall though, by getting our economy going, by increasing what I’m expecting to do, that is what is going to level that out and bring down our deficit over the two terms.”

Rustad explained that the party expects, if elected, next year’s deficit to increase to just under $11 billion, as it plans to spend more than a $1 billion each year over the NDP’s costed platform.

“Going forward, we’ve actually only put two years’ worth of costing into the budget, because one of the things that is extremely difficult to look at, is actually how what is the NDP actually spending money on? They’ve got $4 billion just in contingencies that they can’t even explain where that money goes,” Rustad claimed.

Part of the party’s costing platform includes reviews of provincial government spending, “like CleanBC,” Rustad shared, and “other things we need to be looking at removing from the budget.”

“There is significant potential for being able to reduce that,” Rustad added.

While no net new promises were announced on Tuesday, Rustad highlighted what his party will do if elected on Saturday, Oct. 19.

The 114-page “common sense change for British Columbians” platform includes tax cuts for renters and homeowners across the province, “unlocking” mining in B.C., reproductive health care changes, a plan to grow food production, and plans to address the health care crisis and mental health and addictions.

Opponents, experts criticize BC Conservatives’ costed platform

The leaders of both the BC Greens and BC NDP were out taking aim at the BC Conservatives’ election platform Tuesday morning.

Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau says it’s “laughable” that the Conservatives took so long to release their election platform.

She claims hers is “the only party that actually has a costed platform and a serious way to pay for what we are proposing in this province.”

Meanwhile, NDP Leader David Eby also took time in his Tuesday morning public appearance to target Rustad.

Eby says Rustad has promised to undertake an unspecified cost review that will result in major cuts to health-care at a time when the system is already under significant strain.

“And this is why I’m asking British Columbians to please think carefully where you mark your X,” said Eby. 

“Because this is a very significant and important election for the future of our province.”

While Eby has repeatedly claimed that a Conservative government would cut health-care services in the province, their platform does include provisions for additional spending in the realm of around $1.4 billion over the next two years.

Stewart Prest, a political scientist at UBC, says the platform doesn’t actually include the details on spending it promised.

Prest tells 1130 NewsRadio he was left questioning how the party makes “trade-offs between different competing needs of British Columbians.”

He says while the budget doesn’t reveal much about how the Conservatives would prioritize health-care spending over education, for example, it does show that they’re not really trying to appear fiscally conservative.

“They are not going to be in a hurry to bring the deficit under control. An eight-year timeline is a long one, and it’s not really that much different than what the NDP is saying,” said Prest.

While he says every new government would need time to figure out the finer details of how they’ll put in their plans, he still has a lot of questions about the proposed budget.

Overall, Prest says, he has the sense they’re putting it out just so they can say they did.

“It does have a bit of a box-checking exercise about it,” said Prest. “The Conservatives now have something they can point to, to say that they have thought about these issues, even if not all questions are answered.

-With files from The Canadian Press, Raynaldo Suarez, and Srushti Gangdev