REMINDER to BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong: Moody's examines budget projections ... BUT do not verify them as balanced ... or not balanced

'Let me make this perfectly clear ...'

So BC Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong says that Moody's assessment concludes that BC's debt remains manageable during the CURRENT low interest-rate environment. 

Lets take a look at what Jordan Bateman (British Columbia Director, Canadian TaxpayersFederation) has had to say however ... and I quote:
"By the end of the 2012-13 budget year, it will hit $57.6 billion. And in 2015, it will rise to $66.4 billion --DESPITE two years of planned surplus budgets."

So what happens WHEN (not if) interest rates go higher?

Mike de Jong also stated today that BC taxpayers 'will pay lower interest rates' ... but NOTHING could be further from the truth.

We will continue to pay the 'going rate'! 

That means the resources of government will be reduced, by nearly $7 million EVERY DAY, for debt service costs (interest the government pays on roughly $60 billion in debt).

Again ... that's $7 million EVERY DAY just to make the interest payments on that debt. 

That's $7 million EVERY DAY that could and should be going to provide from line services in health, education, senior care and more.

And that interest payment ($7 million a day) is before this BC Liberal government even begins to start reducing the debt; something which they have been unable to do year after year.  And just to be clear, the Liberal government of BC has not even had a balanced budget since 2006! 

I think perhaps it would be wise to mention two more things ... one from a Ministry of Finance news release sent out today ... and the other from a CBC "Reality Check" with regards to what Moody's really says.

First , the news release from the Ministry of Finance makes the claim that:
"Moody’s Aaa rating confirmation follows the first quarterly report, issued Sept. 10, 2013, which confirmed that B.C. is on track to balance the 2013-14 budget."

Now to the CBC Reality Check which quoted Helmut Pastrick, the chief economist of Central One Credit Union who said:
" ... Moody's and other credit rating agencies examine budget projections, but do not verify them as balanced or not balanced."

So Mike ... but there's no thanks coming your way from me ... only wonderings why you continue to misrepresent the truth of BC finances (debt and interest), how credit rating agencies work, and how much we really pay for the overspending by consecutive governments from the NDP, right down through the BC Liberals.

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.

Wouldn't you agree? Is this a legitimate expectation we should have?

Once upon a time a popular opposition firebrand named Christy Clark, stood up in the BC Legislature, to rip the NDP government for spending tax dollars on shameless, self-promoting advertising. 

“People don't want the government to spend 700 grand of their money so they can find out how to access services; people want this government to spend their money so that those services are there for them to access. That's what British Columbians want,” Clark railed. “How many firefighters, how many police officers will not be on the street because [the Finance Minister] is spending… on her advertising campaign?” 

The above is from an opinion / editorial piece by BC Taxpayers Federation Director Jordan Bateman (November 2012) entitled, "Government Ads Use and Abuse Taxpayers’ Money".  

For month prior to the May 14th provincial election campaign, the BC Liberals took hits from all quarters, on this clearly wasteful and partisan adverting campaign.  

Sadly, during the four week election campaign, it was all but forgotten ... even by former radio co-worker Bill Good who on November 16th, over the airwaves of CKNW had stated:  "Those are very partisan ads. They should be bought and paid for by the Liberal Party of BC." 

The election is of course ended a week ago, but perhaps the major political commentators such as Keith Baldrey, Vaughn Palmer,  Bill Tieleman, Michael Smyth, etc, will now ask this question which I now pose: 

"Will the Premier comment to ending this kind of self-promotion and stick to truly informative ads providing BC residents with 'needed' information?"  

I believe if she does this, it really will help to put her on a more solid footing with a large number of British Columbians who still sit in two distinct camps; those who didn't vote for her ( over 55%) ... and those who again for a number of reasons(including a belief it doesn't make any difference) didn't cast a vote at all (approximately 48%).  

By the way, this is equally a fair question to ask of Adrian Dix and the NDP, as he himself had also pushed for a ban on partisan information being presented in government advertising being paid for by taxpayers, and had indicated that if elected he would put forward legislation to stop this from happening again.

So I put the question forward to both leaders then; are you against partisan political advertising which is paid for by taxpayers, and will you put forward legislation / support legislation, that would see this in place and enforced?

It's fair question to ask this, and the taxpayers of BC should have every right to know the answer ... wouldn't you agree? 

Is this a legitimate expectation we should have of government?

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.  The floor is now being turned over to you ... and I welcome your thoughts on this.

BC job plan? What a joke! I had to move to Alberta just to make good money to support my family

WOW ... I have to say I am surprised that many of the comments, posted to the BC JobsPlan Facebook page, have not been removed.  They paint a VERY unflattering picture of what people think of Christy Clark's BC Liberal government.

Here's a snapshot of what I read today at noon:

Rather than blocking me from posting on CC fb page (because I got tired of her spam) for calling it spam, which is what it is. Maybe an idea would be to stop posting spam (just like this page) on mine. Or keep it up, that way this will be really fresh in my mind come election day. That's a great idea. Keep it up.

Why am I seeing jobs bc ads on every SportsNet
video highlight? What is this costing?

put people to work with the money, and stop spending on expensive commercials telling us about your plan. i start next week on a major job in the northern part of the province...i bet i don't see one new apprentice. But i will see two hundred commercials before i go.

Waste of time ... seriously..

more wasted tax payers money

the 15 million spent on this ad campaign by the BC Liberals could have been done for free through news releases and the ad money used to help the people in need of training to gain training for good jobs, that will make them pay good taxes . all we get is 15 million spent on political propaganda and someone actually things that is cool!

Must be an election looming, the Fiberals are pulling out all the stops

Governments cannot create anything, they only feed their own creation, another level of bureaucracy that sucks up funding ! ! !

Your Jobs Plan is Fraud!

The Liberal Government has caused the largest unemployment in a single stroke than any Government ever. Twenty five thousand good paying jobs gone. Any new job created are part time at minimum wage. An unlivable income

Stop wasting all this money, at least come up with a new disguise for the ads for your party

It is amazing how much money our government is suddenly spending on propaganda. It clearly shows that a "BC Jobs Plan" is needed now, 3 1/2 months before the election, because our Liberal government has done nothing for the past four years! There should be an "unlike" button on these ads.

BC job plan what a joke... I had to move to Alberta just to make good money to support my family. They all still live on Vancouver island

Those new ideas, John Martin spoke of, must include creative ways for Liberal MLAs to benefit party supporters, at the expense of BC taxpayers

BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins is reminding all British Columbians that taxpayers are footing payment for bills BC Liberal Vernon - Monashee MLA Eric Foster wracked up ... and for which no paperwork was provided.

John Cummins; "What we have here is exorbitant rents being paid, exorbitant renovation fees and the beneficiary of course, is his Constituency Assistant's husband and her family. I just think it is outrageous. I think the public is certainly upset and they want answers."



BC Liberal candidate John Martin. Which of his words
are true? Those spoken last Spring, or from last Fall.

Gosh I hate to do this again, but really I must.

This reminds me of comments that newly minted BC Liberal candidate John Martin made less than a year ago about the party he crassly has become part of:

JOHN MARTIN: "The Liberal government has failed the people of British Columbia and has squandered trust with the public ..."

Then ... after his leap to the BC Liberals in September, John Martin was also quoted saying, "Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberals have demonstrated to me that they are open to new ideas ..."

I guess those new ideas include creative ways of figuring out how to benefit party supporters ... at the expense of BC taxpayers.

Maybe that's why John Martin also had these words to say last Spring ... words which are just as true today, as they were then, "The best way to hold Christy Clark and the BC Liberal government accountable is by voting for the BC Conservatives ..."

I'm Alan Forseth in Kamloops ... with the thoughts of one conservative.

PLATO: “In a city of good men, people would probably vie with each other in order not to rule.”

PLATO: "In a city of good men, people would
probably vie with each other not to rule"

It's interesting to see the top search that are directing traffic to the Conservative Thoughts blog.  Four of them of course are on the latest trouble for the BC Liberals with FosterGate  and Auditor General John Doyle in the news -- and the one of direct interest to people here in Kamloops with Peter Sharp seeking BC Conservative nomination in the South Thompson riding.

#5  eric foster
#4  BC Liberals
#3  auditor general 2013 john doyle
#2  peter sharp kamloops

and the #1 search phrase is; eric foster constituency assistant

In the case of BC Liberal Vernon - Monashee MLA Eric Foster, his participation, and role in John Doyle not being renewed for another term in his role as Auditor General, is going to be in the news for some time.

Today, BC Conservative Party leader John Cummins had more to ask about the situation.  Here is just part of a news release from the BC Conservative Party today:

Why did renovations in 2009 to BC Liberal MLA Eric Foster's Vernon constituency office cost B.C. taxpayers almost half the assessed value of the land and building combined? John Cummins, leader of the BC Conservatives, asked today.

Cummins also questioned whether Foster knew that the building was owned by the family of a long-time BC Liberal financial donor -- and political appointee to the Agricultural Land Commission.

"We all know of Mr. Foster's recent bad judgement when he continued as chair of the special legislative committee which terminated the appointment of John Doyle as Auditor General, after Mr. Doyle had critically examined renovation expenses at Mr. Foster's constituency office," said Cummins.

A Globe and Mail story on Monday included this quote; it seems a fitting way to wrap this up today.  This story ended with:
Plato had it right: He said that the greatest punishment for being unwilling to rule is being ruled by someone worse than oneself. This is what makes people of good character step forward. “In a city of good men,” Plato mused, people would “probably vie with each other in order not to rule.”

I'm Alan Forseth ... in Kamloops

There's nothing wishy-washy, or fence sitting in these words ... that's because we believe British Columbian's deserve nothing less!

We've certainly had no end of swerving from side to side, by the BC Liberals and NDP, when it comes to job creation in resource development, and other major development projects.

 

So where do the BC Conservatives stand on things.  Unlike Christy Clark and Adrian Dix, BC Conservative party leader John Cummins has been crystal clear;

Can anyone explain what NEW jobs, and
the development needed for them to occur,
the BC Liberals actually do support?

 

The BC Liberals say that they want to encourage investment and job creation, but do they, really? When a controversial project is proposed, does Christy Clark show leadership? Or does she sit on the fence, waiting to see which way the wind blows? 

Does anybody think this will change under an NDP government led by Adrian Dix? They seem to believe it’s okay to reject every new proposal of capital investment that comes along. The NDP of course, are not opposed to new jobs … they just believe that all new jobs should be created in the public sector ... government jobs in other words.

 

 The BC Conservatives are not afraid to take tough positions … and we are not afraid of straight talk either.  We believe that policies to encourage new investment must be a top priority for BC's next government.  And, we know and have stated that a major component of new investment must be the creation of high-paying jobs. 

 

That led a friend of mine from social media to ask;

Al, what are some examples? I am not meaning to be a smart ass, but was curious which projects this would encompass.  Does this mean the BCCP is in favour of all of them? Some of them? This interests because much of my work relates to this sort of stuff and I wonder what the process would look like under the BC Conservatives.

Under both NDP & Liberal led governments,
wages and salaries for good well-paying
resource and industrial sector jobs (as a % of
GDP in BC), has shrunk by 5%.  Meantime
CEO's / management, in government ministries
and agencies, have been busy awarding themselves
a number of pay raises and bonuses.  This while
the number of front line workers, who actually
deliver services, has been reduced.

Well ... both NDP and BC Liberals talk out of both sides of their mouths when it comes to development --- BUT one thing you will NOT hear them say is that they are in favor of moving forward on resource development and large scale projects. 

That's because they fear what MIGHT be coming at them from environmental groups.

BC Conservatives on the other hand have said we WELCOME development -- and the well-paying union, and spin-off jobs (family supporting jobs) that will come from it.

When Mike Harcourt led the NDP to power in 1991, wages and salaries accounted for 56.6% of our provinces gross domestic product. Now, after two decades of NDP incompetence and BC Liberal mismanagement, that has dropped to 51.7% of GDP.

YES ... we will ensure tough environmental guidelines are in place, but OUR starting point is in having a renewed priority, and belief, in economic development – and especially on the creation of high-paying jobs.

This is how we differ from NDP and BC Liberals ... We believe in carrying out responsible, FACT-BASED stewardship of the environment. A BC Conservative government will base its decisions on the best available SCIENTIFIC data ... not emotional rhetoric.

What do you think? Would it be a good idea to increase the number of Sheriffs to have them take over some of the responsibility of traffic enforcement?

Did anyone else miss the following media release from last Thursday? I personally have to think that if we were to increase the number of BC Sheriffs, and tasked them with this duty, they actual could "... engage in traffic enforcement activities in order to modify behaviour and enhance safety ..."

I’m sure I’ll get flack on this; however I think that putting an RCMP, or city police, officer in a car with radar is a waste of resources.

Here’s the full media release from the Canadian Police Association:

Public safety, not "revenue-generating" should be focus of traffic enforcement

A proposal from the British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) to expand the BC Sheriffs' mandate to include traffic enforcement as a "revenue-generating" tool shows an unfortunate lack of understanding of the basic role of law enforcement, said British Columbia Police Association (BCPA) President Tom Stamatakis today.

"The simple fact is that Police Officers engage in traffic enforcement activities in order to modify behaviour and enhance safety; not to raise money for the government, and any suggestion otherwise by the BCGEU is misguided and frankly insulting to BC taxpayers," said Mr. Stamatakis.

The request for the outsourcing of police duties to inadequately trained employees of the provincial Sheriff's department comes as police officers in BC are already being diverted from their own regular policing duties towards the transfer of prisoners, and ensuring an adequate presence in the province's courtrooms, two key duties that the Sheriffs are currently mandated to perform.

In my honest opinion this program was poorly thought out, poorly implemented, and it definitely unfairly impacts the people of BC … depending on where they live

Today we have a follow up to the post, “Any smart business person would have made those changes anyways. Why? Because doing them increases profits, and saves them money!” from last Tuesday (May 29, 2012)

This morning I received a comment from HB2cents, who said:

I just wanted to share one tid-bit of info with you that you might consider - the Carbon Tax is revenue neutral, and the PCT doesn't get a cent of it. Taxpayers get income tax breaks as a result of the tax (that's why it is revenue neutral, i.e. government doesn't keep the money).

The tax was implemented to price carbon so that people would give thought to using less. If you do use less, you benefit even more - by saving on fuel and income tax.

Just wanted to make that point of clarification.

You should also know that Carbon Neutral Government (the reason why public sector pays for offsets to the Pacific Carbon Trust) is an incentive for those organizations to reduce carbon so they pay less in offsets. As a result of this, busy hospital CEOs and the like have actually paid more attention to their energy use because they are required to measure their CO2 output. This forces them to see the opportunities to reduce energy use - and they are doing it.

Like you point out in your article, you would think that if there is the potential for a business or school to save money by investing in new technology or simply turning down the heat, they would. The sad truth is people see cost (new curtains in a greenhouse, solar hot water heaters) and they turn the other way... unless there is a discount or incentive or law.

Was his hiring as Chief of Staff in the interests of BC … did the bloated Premiers Office need another political appointee paid for by the taxpayers of BC?

In recent days, John Cummins, leader of the BC Conservative Party has raised a number of questions, and points of concern, regarding Christy Clark’s new soon to be Chief of Staff, Ken Boessenkool

BC Conservative Party
Leader John Cummins

While Christy Clark has publicly stated she is against using a per-capita basis for health care transfer payments, as Cummins pointed out, that very idea was championed by Ken Boessenkool.

“Ken Boessenkool championed the idea of transfer payments being allocated on a per-capita basis, the very idea his new boss is campaigning against,” said John Cummins, Leader of British Columbia’s Conservatives. “Mr. Boessenkool was a super-lobbyist with significant influence in Ottawa – so it was no surprise that the move to per-capita funding was included in the 2007 federal budget.”

A Toronto Star story in December of 2010 in the Toronto Star had the following quote from Boessenkool … “If the past is any guide, this meeting will quickly degenerate into provinces begging the federal government for more money to fund their own programs. This makes sense: Wouldn’t we all want to spend someone else’s money?”

That being the case, Cummins has rightly asked, “Does he still stand by what he wrote … has Mr. Boessenkool already lost his first battle in the Premier’s office before he has taken office, or will the Premier’s position change when he becomes Chief of Staff in February?”

What is the answer to this question? Yesterday, John Cummins asked another important question of the Premier:

"Why did Premier Clark appoint a Chief of Staff who in her words 'share[s] a lot of views in common' with Quebec separatists?  Does Premier Clark still believe that standing up for provincial rights is the same as Quebec separation? Has she discussed these views with Mr. Boessenkool … how does Mr. Boessenkool feel about his new boss lumping him in with the Bloc Quebecois?"

Again, these are important questions, and it appears only one person is asking them … the leader of the BC Conservative Party, John Cummins.

A tale of two billion five hundred and fifty five million misspent dollars

For the past few days now I have been trying to find out what the average cost would be to staff, provide equipment, and maintain, etc the average hospital operating room in British Columbia.   I haven't been able to get an answer, but I have spent a few hours on Google Search trying.

So why, you ask, was I trying to find this out??  Well I happen to be one of those people in BC who is concerned with the debt being racked up by successive Liberal governments in our province.  Most people, I believe, have no idea what our debt is, but that information is actually quite easy to find. 

For example, there is the BC governments Fiscal Plan (2011/12 to 2013/14), which was presented to the legislature on May 3^rd, 2011.  At that time, here is what Christy Clark and our BC Liberal government estimated the provincial debt will be this year ... and over the next 2 budget years.

                                                    Budget Estimates

Provincial debt:                        2011/12                  2012/13            2012/14

Direct operating debt …………         8,763                      9,267                  8,599

Taxpayer-supported debt …        36,816                    39,162                 40,500

Self-supported debt ……………      16,271                    18,060                 19,505

Total debt (in billions)          $53,437 (billion)    57,572                 60,355

Nearly 53 and a half billion in debt this year ... 57 and a half billion next year ... and an estimated total debt of 60 billion two years from now.  That's a lot of money, and trying to get a concept of what billions of dollars are, is not that easy.  We can make it easier to comprehend however, by looking at what it costs to service those billions of dollars of debt.  That is, the cost of the interest payment being made on those BILLIONS of dollars. 

"This is one double header horror show that no one should have to live through again!" John Cummins says of the Liberals and NDP

Newly elected BC Conservative
Leader John Cummins

Former Reform Party and Conservative MP John Cummins is now officially the leader of BC's Conservative Party ... and in a speech to a large crowd of cheering members he fired the first shots in any upcoming election.

He announced that a BC Conservative government will abolish the Carbon Tax which will put more money back into schools and hospitals.  No longer will they be rebating money back to the government for tax credits--- money that should be going to students and to hospital patients.

Eliminating the Carbon Tax will also save everyday British Columbian's hundreds of dollars on the everyday items they purchase ... clothing, food, homes, heating, and for the gas and diesel British Columbians outside the main urban centers need to get around taking care of everyday responsibilities.

John Cummins stated clearly ... "The BC Liberals are going to try and claim we are pulling support from them ... BUT Christy Clark and the BC Liberals are driving people away with self-serving government ... inept government ... and dishonest government."

Government workers, just like any one else, need to be treated with respect – but so do we the taxpayer

Have you every noticed that those posted signs, that say you must be polite or you will not get service, or / and security will be called, are ONLY in government offices in BC (or government funded offices)??  

You would never see a sign like this at a building supply store ... department store ... restaurant ... car dealer etc. These kinds of signs only appear at places like offices for government services, and say hospital. ONLY at places you would be because there is something you really need.

So why are those signs there??