Budget 2012 / 2103. Read what you can, and then you decide if the BC Liberal Party has delivered a budget focused on austerity … and fiscal prudence

Murray Langdon Comment (CFAX 1070):
 “Manageable debt”. I’ve never heard of such a ridiculous phrase

That’s just one of the comments, on yesterday’s budget, that caught my eye.  Media from across the whole spectrum were quick to have stories up and online … as were the politicians.  Here is just a snapshot of what they had to say.

The Tyee:
BC Conservative leader John Cummins released a statement blasting the budget as the kind of thing the NDP would deliver. "The core features of this budget are ballooning debt levels, higher taxes and growing spending masked by accounting tricks," he said.

"The [Premier Christy] Clark Liberals are raising taxes on the most productive part of our economy -- small businesses," he said. "By cancelling the planned reduction of small business taxes, with only a month's notice, they are killing jobs and reducing investment in British Columbia."

He said its "smoke and mirrors" to claim a balanced budget for 2013-2014 while also increasing the debt by $5.1 billion. "Even if the government is calling it a surplus, the government is spending more than it is taking in."

News 1130:

School districts are dealing with overcrowding and the BC government isn't providing a lot of new funding to build schools. A UBC professor says the problem is a lack of communication between municipalities and the province.

"These communities are, in part, created by long-planned policies on a municipal level that need to connect up to how the province, and in particular the Minister of Education, decides to build schools," argues Adjunct Planning Professor Andy Yan.

Vancouver Sun:
Not to say any of the targets laid out in the three-year bud-get and fiscal plan will be easy to hit. Government struggles to contain spending for even one year. Three years is unprecedented. Health has been growing two to three times as much as the two-per-cent-a-year specified in the plan.

Then again these numbers don't need to stand for three full years, but only until the next election in 2013. And along with a stringent approach to spending, Falcon also made some conservative assumptions about growth and revenues.

Vancouver Province:

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.

This story concluded with the following however:
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.

Vancouver Sun (Business Section):

British Columbia's debt will balloon to $66.4 billion in 2014-2015, a whopping 30 per cent increase from 2011-2012, despite the government expecting to balance its budget by 2013-2014, according to the province's budget released Tuesday.

The province's deficit is now predicted to be only $2.5 billion in 2011-2012, better than projected six months ago. That number will drop to $968 million in the coming year and the government projects a surplus of $154 million for 2013-2014 increasing to $250 million in 2014-2015.

During that time debt will continue to increase but at a slowing rate, growing 13 per cent in 2012-2013 and only 5.8 per cent in 2014-2015 when it reaches $66.4 billion.

Globe and Mail:

Those hoping the B.C. Liberals would toss a financial lifeline to the province’s stretched justice system were met with disappointment, as the government’s budget largely maintained the status quo for the legal sector.  The budget allocated an additional $237-million over the next three years to the Ministry of Justice, but much of that funding was reserved for existing services …

Sun News Network:
The province is still projected to be in the red this fiscal year, with a deficit of $2.5 billion, down from the previously forecast deficit of $3.1 billion. But Falcon vowed to get B.C. back in black by 2013-14, with an estimated surplus in two years of $154 million.

To get there, the government will be selling off $700 million in Crown assets, including two Victoria parking lots and the province's liquor distribution warehouses. The sales will not take place until 2013.

While the budget drew praise from taxpayer and business groups who called it "responsible," critics complained it hurts B.C. families - going against Premier Christy Clark's "families first" mantra.

Bob Simpson (Independent MLA)

We can’t have it both ways: years of tax reductions and robust public services.

Problem is: this year’s budget cuts and its continued attack on household disposable income (MSP premium increases, BC Hydro increases, etc.) will only compound the current recession. Too many families are living paycheck to paycheck to absorb more direct costs and pay for services they once used to get from their government.

The government had alternatives.

BC Conservative Party
leader John Cummins

John Cummins, BC Conservative Party Leader:
“After Budget 2012, most working British Columbians will also pay about $75 more on their provincial income tax payments.

On July 1, the carbon tax will be increased and will collect $212 million more from the pockets of British Columbians. MSP rates are increasing and will take another $134 million from British Columbians. ICBC is projecting an 11% increase for basic coverage, which is a stealth tax on British Columbians. BC Hydro is raising rates on customers, and is incurring more debt.

All of these are measures which will make the lives of British Columbians more expensive.”

Christy Clark (Globe and Mail):

By the end of the day, Ms. Clark was warning the legislature about the billions she claims the opposition New Democratic Party has pledged to spend to finance programs she says the province can’t afford. That is in contrast, she said, to her government, which manages tax dollars prudently.

As much as anything, Tuesday’s budget established the ground upon which next year’s election will be fought.

There was some positive news for the BC Liberals, as the Province Newspaper said in their editorial:

There are those who argue for higher taxes so that even more money can be spent by government, but that’s no way to treat taxpayers, attract investment or build the economy. As a group, British Columbians only have so much money.  Mr. Falcon has a hard job, but overall he’s doing it right.

Budget 2012 / 2103.  Read what you can, and then you decide if the BC Liberal Party has delivered a budget focused on austerity and fiscal prudence … and one that will protect our children and grand-children from crimpling debt.

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops