Here’s a thought ... maybe the BC government can have a bottle drive!

How does Wikipedia define a “Balanced Budget”??

The public perception of balanced budget is when there is neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus – when revenues equal expenditure ("the accounts balance") – particularly by a government. More generally, it refers to when there is no deficit, but possibly a surplus.

The private definition used by government is often setting the tax so high that if it were any higher a tax revenue shortfall, rather than gain, would be predicted.  Thus "maximum tax rate" would be a better way for the public to perceive it.

Meantime ... what does the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) say about deficit and debt in BC?

When you run your credit card to the limit, you soon get a bill in the mail, and B.C. is beginning to experience the hangover from this borrowing binge of Olympic proportions … the sooner we balance the budget, the sooner we can start paying down debt.

I have had blog stories on this before but here is a refresher straight from the CTF.   The BC Liberal Government has run the province’s public debt from $34 billion to nearly $48 billion in ten years in office.

By the end of March 2012, the government’s own forecast shows total debt hitting $52.4 billion, then $55.9 billion in 2013.  (NOTE … others have said this debt could actually be closer to $60 billion however)

I have also talked about what the cost is to each of us, when government continues to run deficits year after year --- piling up more and more debt.  Again, here is more from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation:

·         Interest costs will top $2.3 billion this year … that’s more than $500 for every man, woman, and child in British Columbia

·         $2.3 billion is more than we spend on our entire university and college system

·         $2.3 billion is more than double the cost of the entire provincial Pharmacare program

·         The daily interest rate just to service this debt is costing BC taxpayers $6.3 million at day

In 2009, Premier Gordon Campbell said, "I hate budget deficits; I think they take away from future generations."

During her leadership campaign Christy Clark said, “...families are counting on government to live within its means and we need to get back to sustainable balanced budgets as soon as possible".  She also stated that a government that she led would "return to those prudent, conservative business-like principles and ensure that balanced budgets are the norm, not the exception, and that deficits are only incurred in extraordinary circumstances.”

A media release from the BC government in March said that … university and college students in BC just need to buy fewer coffees in order to pay for tuition increases.  Perhaps this is the same plan government will announce shortly for all MLA’s, their assistants, the heads of crown corporations, and all other government staff and employees.  They'll have to give back to government, the cost of a coffee each day, which will go towards the deficit and debt.

Here’s a thought ... maybe the government can have a bottle drive!

The BC Liberal government under Christy Clark is continuing to increase the government’s debt, which is why I found it puzzling to learn that in March she had her picture taken with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Debt Clock.

Dr. David E. Bond (retired chief economist of HSBC Bank of Canada) said the following in a June 9^th Globe and Mail story

Eventually the reality will have to be faced. In the meantime Court back-ups are ever growing, the education system continues to under perform, and infrastructure needs are being ignored. But we now have a retractable roof on BC stadium, a Vancouver convention centre that will never make money, a mixed up tax system and warm memories of the Olympics. Aren't we lucky?

Eventually the reality will have to be faced  … so says Dr. David E. Bond.   

And what do the John Cummins led BC Conservatives have to say??

“… every tax dollar collected from British Columbians is received in trust.  The trust must be managed and accounted for according the highest standards of integrity and transparency.  The people’s scrutiny of all spending decisions should be encouraged and welcomed….”

“ … will provide citizens with a government that will live within its means … focus on responsible spending and cost-reductions … and this focus on fiscal management will ensure debt costs are reduced.”

The Christy Clark led BC Liberals continue to increase the government’s debt despite her saying that, “…families are counting on government to live within its means…”

BC Conservatives on the other hand, through a bottom up platform of policy, are planning to actually deliver on government living within its means!

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … and those are the thoughts of one conservative.