Tough tactics unlikely to save sinking Liberals

It’s one of the toughest budgets B.C. has seen in a while, and now the governing Liberals hope it triggers a political fight for the ages, too.

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon’s 2012 budget cuts or freezes spending in a dozen government ministries. Increases for health and education are the smallest in years.

The government is slashing its own workforce, and refreezing the wages of the workers who remain. Falcon is bragging about holding the line on taxes, but people are being whacked with a long list of fee increases — everything from medical premiums to ferry fares.

The government’s message: We know this is foul-tasting medicine, but the NDP’S prescription would be even worse.

“The tax, spend and borrow approach is not just wrong — it is potentially catastrophic,” Falcon said in a shot at NDP Leader Adrian Dix and his “hidden agenda” to damage the B.C. economy.

Falcon hopes his tight-fisted approach to the budget will appeal to voters worried an NDP government would ratchet up taxes, blow the deficit through the roof and destroy business confidence. Premier Christy Clark piled on. “British Columbians want to know they will have a government that will control spending, as opposed to one that will raise taxes,” she said. “They want to know they have a responsible government looking after their tax dollars. They want to know it’s one that’s not taking risks with their money and hiding their agenda from the public.”

But the Liberal plan carries political risks of its own. The small increase in health-care spending, for example, will barely match inflation, never mind population growth, prescription-drug costs, rising rates of chronic illness or an aging population.

When more patients start stacking up in hallways on rows of gurneys will voters be grateful Falcon didn’t spend more on health care? We’ll see.

Likewise, the Liberals’ carping about the NDP raising taxes rings a little hollow when Falcon threatened Tuesday to hike corporate taxes if the economy doesn’t improve.

And how receptive will voters be to his message of “fiscal prudence” when they’re getting hammered by a combined 24-per-cent increase in medical premiums, among many other fee hikes?

Then there’s the ever-lingering stench of the HST. I was surprised Falcon didn’t offer more HST relief for home renovations. Instead, his home-renovation tax credit is available only to seniors, with a long list of exemptions and loopholes.

It’s hard to see how this budget will help the Liberals close the gap in the polls with the NDP, not to mention their bigger problem: the right-wing challenge from the upstart B.C. Conservatives.

While the NDP griped Falcon’s budget talons are cutting too deep, Conservative Leader John Cummins said he’s not cutting deep enough. Cummins pointed out that while Falcon is promising a “surplus” budget next year, the province’s debt is scheduled to explode to $62 billion — a 23-per-cent increase in just two years!

“The only surplus the government is going to achieve is a surplus of debt,” Cummins griped.

With the Liberals’ ship of state starting to resemble an Italian cruise liner, they needed a budget that would stop them from sinking in the polls. This isn’t it. Pass the life preservers.