Horgan’s heroes
NDP Leader makes Penticton stop after releasing election platform; p raises candidates across the province
Fresh off unveiling an ambitious election platform that includes promises of interest-free student loans and the elimination of MSP premiums, NDP leader John Horgan rolled into Penticton on Thursday to campaign for a pair of local candidates.
The NDP lost to the Liberals in 2013 by just shy of 1,400 votes in the Penticton riding, where Tarik Sayeed is flying the party’s banner this time, and by just under 1,200 in Boundary-Similkameen, where Colleen Ross is now leading the charge.
Horgan believes the difference-maker for his party this election will be those “two outstanding candidates,” and the prospect of “four more years of Christy Clark and a government that’s not been working for the people.”
“We have a dynamic group of candidates, we have 51 per cent of our candidates are women, the first time that’s ever happened. They’re diverse, they’re accepting, they’re tolerant, they reflect the future of British Columbia, and I’m stoked about our candidates in every corner of B.C.,” he continued.
Earlier in the day, Horgan released his party’s platform at a Coquitlam restaurant. It pledges to create 96,000 new jobs by building public infrastructure, construct 114,000 units of rental and co-op housing, and implement $10-a-day child care and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
In all, the promises add up to extra spending of $717 million next year, which Horgan proposes to fund through a predicted $295-million budget surplus and $530 million in new tax revenue, leaving a $108-million cushion.
The new taxes include hiking the bill for those earning over $150,000 per year, increasing the corporate income tax rate from 11 to 12 per cent, and implementing a new property-speculation tax. The NDP would also raid B.C.’s $500-million LNG Prosperity Fund.
Dan Ashton, who’s vying for a second term as the Liberal MLA for Penticton, is skeptical about the NDP’s numbers and hopes voters will be, too.
“The NDP has done this before and the consequences of their proposals sent ramifications throughout the entire province for a 10-year period,” he said.
Finance Minister Mike de Jong, who was in Penticton on Thursday for a Liberal fundraiser, went even further in suggesting the NDP’s plan would cost $4 billion per year and hurt the province’s credit rating.
Horgan countered, however, that the projections in the NDP’s platform are based on figures from the 2017 provincial budget that de Jong tabled in February.
“So for him to say that you can’t trust the numbers is telling you that you can’t trust his, either,” said Horgan.
The Liberals’ platform, released Monday, is far more modest, calling for additional spending of just $157 million on the likes of new tax credits for seniors’ home renovations and respite caregivers.
“The reason is we want to keep a balanced budget,” Ashton said.
“We have a plan in place and we have a track record of five balanced budgets, plus a phenomenal amount of infrastructure that has, and is, being built or is committed. And we know you have to have the money available, and if you don’t have the money available, you’re going into the taxpayers’ pockets.”
The election is May 9.
They’re diverse, they’re accepting, they’re tolerant, they reflect the future of British Columbia, and I’m stoked about our candidates in every corner of B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan