B.C. wants “same old, same old”
After a rather lacklustre campaign, the provincial Liberal Party of B.C. voted to stick with the tried and true rather than attempting to reinvent itself with new policies, vision and leadership. By electing Andrew Wilkinson as leader, the Liberal party will devote its efforts, as the new leader said, “to building on the heritage of the Campbell and Clark administrations. That is where we came from and that is where we have to honour and respect.”
Only a few moment’s thought should lead to a conclusion that this is certainly not a particularly good foundation for a triumphant return to power at the next provincial election.
First, consider the fiscal ruin the Liberals wrought upon ICBC. Both the ministers and board members appointed by the Liberals should be held accountable for permitting the government to strip the company of the reserves it should have to meet potential claims. (Adequate reserves are essential for an entity which offers insurance products.) They decided supporting a “balanced budget” was more important than making certain ICBC was on solid ground. Now, unsurprisingly, we, the taxpayers of BC, collectively face a requirement to bail out the crown corporation to the tune of $1.3 billion.
Second, the Liberals’ so-called “balanced budgets” were just fiscal windowdressing with the government looting ICBC and BC Hydro leaving both in disastrous financial condition.
Wilkinson said, “We are a party that doesn’t spend our children’s money.” What does he think the needs of ICBC or the massive increase in provincial debt under the Liberals represents?
Our children and grandchildren who will have pay the interest on that debt and, hopefully, reduce it over time.
Third, over the past decade the provincial government was at war with the public school system as evidenced by the long legal battle — which it lost in the Supreme Court — for ripping up an already established legal contract with the BC Teacher’s Federation.
That action, among others, seriously harmed the system and, most importantly, harmed a generation of children’s lives, driving those parents willing to make the financial sacrifice to put a growing number into private schools.
The Liberal government also chiselled the healthcare system in many ways, large and small, thereby ensuring that a successor government will face a crisis of increasing demand from an aging population with disadvantages of inadequate infrastructure and personnel.
The Liberal government also actively sabotaged efforts to improve rapid transit in the Lower Mainland.
It avoided dealing with the escalation of housing prices in that same region because the developers and real estate industry were prime contributors to their campaigns.
The result is a city that is more attractive to foreigners looking to stash their cash somewhere safe than it is to the professionals needed by healthcare and educational institutions or by businesses looking to grow.
Were that not a sufficiently shameful heritage, the previous government steadfastly avoided dealing with First Nations’ claims during its long reign. It failed to negotiate energetically and in good faith and drove bands to seek relief in the courts.
There they were so successful that many bands are no longer interested in negotiating. It’s telling that none of the leadership candidates mentioned this issue during the campaign.
The Liberals plan to give us more of the same will be tested for the first time tomorrow in the by-election in West Kelowna, historically a very safe seat for them.
When voters have the opportunity to choose among a number of well-qualified candidates only one of whom offers them the opportunity of electing an MLA to the government benches, what will they do?
If the Liberal Party is to have any hope of regaining power in the next provincewide election, it has to develop a new set of policies, rid itself of the dead wood in its caucus and hope and pray that the NDP makes a series of truly horrendous mistakes in the next few years.
David Bond is an author and retired bank economist. To contact the writer: curmudgeon@harumpf.com. This column appears Tuesdays in The Herald.