No new ideas for pandemic and/or economic recovery
If NDP spent time thinking up responses to pandemic, recovery, it didn't show in speech
The New Democrats opened the postelection legislature session with a throne speech that acknowledged the yawning gap between B.C.'s performance in the first and second waves of the pandemic.
“The successes we collectively achieved in flattening the COVID-19 infections curve in the spring stand in contrast with the toll extracted by the wave we confront now,” said Lt- Gov. Janet Austin, reading lines written for her in the office of Premier John Horgan.
There was no avoiding the points of comparison.
Hospitalizations are running at double the peak reached in the first wave, according to the most recent situation report from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
The 82 deaths from COVID-19 in the last week of November were three times as many as incurred in the worst week in the spring.
B.C. recorded almost 6,000 confirmed cases in that same week in November, equalling the total for the first seven months of the outbreak.
Nor is the end anywhere in sight. Barely was the reading of throne speech out of the way Monday, when Dr. Bonnie Henry reported there were another 2,000 cases and 35 more deaths over the weekend. Whereupon she extended the recent crackdown on gatherings into the first week in January, ensuring the no-fun holidays would extend past New Year's Eve.
Against that backdrop, the throne speech was bound to be a letdown. The text had Austin expressing the hope to members of the newly elected house that “your commitment to the well being of all British Columbians guide and inspire your work.”
Those words, written by the government, invited a contrast to something Austin herself improvised back in the spring.
“It's wonderful to see the kind of teamwork that we have in our province among our political leaders,” she told MLAs after the three parties joined in approving $5 billion in pandemic funding in a single day.
“I have to tell you honestly that I've heard from friends and colleagues across the country who are so impressed with B.C.'s leadership and B.C.'s collaboration and the teamwork that we see happening here.”
All that teamwork and collaboration came to an abrupt end when Premier John Horgan called a snap election in September. He claimed it was necessary to end “political bickering” and “instability” that was not evident to anyone but himself.
There followed five weeks of campaigning and another five weeks when Horgan mostly avoided the news media while working on a makeover of the cabinet and government.
If he spent any time thinking up new responses to the twin challenges of pandemic and economic recovery, it didn't show in Monday's throne speech.
The contents were an eightpage repackaging of NDP election promises: More MRI machines, urgent care centres, child care, housing, transit, hiring incentives, skills training and so on.
Most of this came with less detail than the New Democrats shared when they released their platform back in October.
The key item in the throne speech was fulfilment of Horgan's promise of an economic recovery benefit of $1,000 for eligible families, $500 for eligible individuals.
Eligibility is tied to income, with families getting the full amount if their combined income is less than $125,000 and individuals qualifying at less than $62,000. Above those thresholds, some families and individuals will qualify for amounts to be discounted on a sliding scale.
While Horgan has sometimes suggested that money is aimed at low income earners, the NDP platform guesstimated that about 80 per cent of B.C. families or individuals would qualify for at least some of the money.
Horgan memorably announced the benefit with a quote that did protest too much: “We want British Columbians to know that we're not just throwing money to try and buy votes.”
Heavens no, premier. Who would have thought that?
But at least you couldn't call it a cheap vote-buying scheme. The NDP platform costed the payout at $1.45 billion and the government has been under pressure to expand the entitlements, so it may end up costing more.
All this will be rolled into a supply bill — as in “supply of money” — that the house is expected to pass next week.
There may be some other items in the supply bill, boosting the operating deficit for the year beyond the already record $15-billion estimate in the NDP platform.
But that, too, is a guessing game. The province's fiscal focus also seems to have been put on hold while Horgan pursued his self-serving political needs.
The New Democrats have already cancelled the quarterly update on provincial finances that was set for Nov. 30. New Finance Minister Selina Robinson confirmed last week that the next budget will probably be delayed from February to a date in March.
As well as the unprecedented operating deficit, the New Democrats promised a $9-billion boost to the three-year, $23-billion capital plan. Details still to come.
Nor is there any indication what the extra spending will do to the next two years (2021, 2022) in the three-year fiscal plan. “Not projected,” was all the NDP platform had to say on that score.
But the main order of fiscal business for the house in this short session is the promise to deliver the economic recovery cheques “by the end of the year.”
Horgan originally suggested the cash would be delivered by Christmas, hence the decision to call the legislature into session despite the surging wave of the pandemic.
Fiscal focus ... seems to have been put on hold while Horgan pursued his self-serving political needs.