Surplus to thank for spending boost
Premier says government could afford to sweeten pre-election budget because it ended up with $2 billion extra
Photographer Gary Nylander and I arrive slightly before Premier Christy Clark at her constituency office in West Kelowna.
That way, we can watch her big, black Suburban roll into the parking lot and the security guard who travels with her has a chance to hop out of the vehicle and say hi to us first.
A few more staffers exit the SUV before Clark makes an appearance dressed all in blue.
There’s talk of the weather, coffee and it being nice to be home.
When we sit down in the boardroom for the interview to formally begin, I first ask if her re-election campaign has kicked off.
“I would put it this way. I believe a government should be judged on its record,” she said. “The budget (tabled Tuesday) is the completion of our mandate and I’m fully prepared to stand on our record. I don’t think of budgets as campaign platforms, but as part of running government.”
In other words, yes, the re-election campaign has begun although, officially, the May 9 provincial election won’t be called until April 11.
Not ready to leave it alone, I ask if the budget, which has generally been well received overall and for its Medical Service Plan (MSP) fee cuts in particular, was meant as a pre-election goodie.
“It’s the kind of budget we could table because we have the money to spend with a $2-billion surplus,” said the premier, who is also the MLA for Westside-Kelowna.
“Not all pre-election budgets can be great. You have to have the money to spend.”
The surplus effectively means the government is able to give citizens $1 billion back in the form of reduced and eliminated MSP premiums.
The other $1 billion in surplus will be spent on health care and education.
Clark said there’s no catch. The government doesn’t need to make back the lost revenue by raising other taxes because it has that surplus.
“It was the right thing to do. Cutting MSP puts $1 billion back into people’s pockets,” she said.
Most families with an annual net income of up to $120,000 will see premiums cut in half and will save $900 a year. More than two million lower-income British Columbians will pay no premiums.
But you have to register for the reductions and they won’t kick in until Jan. 1, 2018.
So, why do we have to register? And why can’t the savings take effect sooner?
Clark said people have to register because the fee cuts are based on income and proof of income is needed.
The process is going to take more than a few months, which is why the reductions won’t kick in until next year.
MSP premiums for everyone could be eliminated if the economy improves and there’s enough surplus.
“I can’t predict when that will be,” said Clark. “But B.C. will continue to grow. We’ve led the country in growth for two years in a row, something that hasn’t happened since 1976.”
Since the re-election campaign has unofficially started, I ask what her forecast is for her and her party’s chances.
“I think it’s disrespectful to predict an election because it’s up to the voters to decide,” said the premier. “But I feel optimistic because I’m naturally an optimist. The last election, I ran on jobs, and 70,000 jobs were created in B.C. last year. Since the B.C. Jobs Plan was launched, 202,000 jobs have been created and we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country.” Clark isn’t taking anything for granted. “I will have to work to let British Columbians know what we’ve done and convince people to vote for me when they go to the polls and have to decide to cast a ballot for one party or another,” she said.
Clark promised billions in liquefied natural gas investments and 100,000 jobs leading up to the 2013 provincial election, but that hasn’t materialized. In November, Woodfibre LNG was the first to announce it was proceeding with a $1.6-billion development near Squamish. Clark hasn’t give up on LNG as an economic engine. “I can’t change the demand or price of natural gas,” she said. “One LNG project has started and is being built right now. It’s going much more slowly than we anticipated, but all the players who were initially interested in B.C. are still interested and ready to move when conditions improve.”
Since Tuesday’s budget release, Clark has been on a mini post-budget tour, speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade and attending a Pink Shirt Day event in Burnaby on Wednesday, and dropping in on a women in business session Thursday night in Kelowna. She will address a Kelowna Chamber of Commerce lunch crowd today.
VICTORIA — The Liberal government’s new budget tries to put the squeeze on British Columbia’s Opposition New Democrats just weeks before the start of a spring election campaign, say political experts.
The campaign-style budget delivers several blows to the NDP by erasing much of the available surplus, cutting medical service premiums in half and increasing spending on health, education and children’s issues, said Hamish Telford, a political science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.
The budget presented on Tuesday also leaves little room for the New Democrats to fund their big-ticket promises of $10-a-day childcare and $15-per-hour minimum wage without considering raising taxes or running deficits, he said.
“In the first instance it really tries to kneecap the NDP in terms of major policy planks the NDP might want to pursue,” Telford said.
The focus on boosting spending for education, health and child-welfare initiatives leaves the New Democrats on the outside on issues consistently on their agenda.
“The finance minister has been saying nine other provincial finance ministers would love to give this budget, and my initial thought was the NDP would love to give this budget,” Telford said.
The $50.2-billion budget is forecast to have a surplus of $295 million.
The MSP generates about $2.5 billion in annual revenues for the government. The cut, effective Jan. 1, 2018, reduces that amount by about $1 billion.
The New Democrats have long called for the elimination or revamping of the MSP — along with increased social spending.
Carole James, the NDP’s finance critic, said she rejects suggestions the Liberals have tried to outflank the Opposition with the budget.
“We’ll take a look at the numbers,” she said. “We’ll take a look at what options there are and we’ll make choices. We’ll make different choices than this government has done. What the public is looking for is a government that is in their corner.”