B.C. NDP Leader David Eby holds a copy of the party's election platform while speaking, in Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 3.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The BC NDP has rolled out its complete election platform, tallying up commitments ranging from more before-and-after school care to an affordability rebate – and amounting to almost $3-billion in added spending to the province’s unprecedented deficit.
NDP Leader David Eby, who launched the platform Thursday at a home in Surrey-Serpentine River, one of the key battleground ridings in the Oct. 19 election, said the extra expenditure is justified and necessary to respond to the economic challenges facing British Columbians today.
“I hear you, and I see you,” Mr. Eby said in the document. “The challenges we are facing together are what drive me. And working to solve them is what gets me out of bed each morning.”
Facing what appears to be a close, two-way race against the Conservatives, Mr. Eby’s platform was announced hours after his rivals outlined a long string of new promises on transportation investments, and a “taxpayer respect audit” to streamline government services and eliminate “wasteful” spending. The Conservatives also promised to bring back plastic straws and cutlery, a measure originally launched by restaurant owners to promote environmental protection.
The NDP platform wraps up the party’s many announcements previously made in recent weeks, including significant housing investments. It also includes a plan to provide a $1,000 grocery rebate next year, which will morph into a middle-class tax reduction in later years. The measure, the single most expensive promise by the NDP, is expected to cost taxpayers $1.8-billion in 2025.
Mr. Eby said his party is committed to reducing the deficit in the years ahead, although he won’t say when an NDP government would return to balance. The current provincial budget forecasts a record $10-billion deficit this year.
The party is banking on economic growth to offset some of their new spending commitments, though Mr. Eby also acknowledged that recent disruptions on a global scale, including the pandemic, have demonstrated that it can be difficult to predict.
“We’re right at the bottom of the economic cycle. I’m certainly hopeful that we’re going to see increased resource prices as the global economy comes back online, and as interest rates are cut by central banks,” he told reporters.
To boost growth, Mr. Eby said he will fast-track critical mines construction and push for more private power projects, which are projected to add $490-million to the economy next year as they move ahead. There are 16 critical mineral mines currently proposed in B.C. that could help Canada develop the materials – copper, nickel, lithium, graphite and cobalt – needed for renewable energy projects and electric vehicles. Those mines will require significant new power production.
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad accused the NDP of fiscal policies that have driven away investment and bloated the bureaucracy, and pledged that his government would restore “fiscal sanity.” His party has promised to return to balanced budgets in the next eight years, though it has yet to release their full platform or a cost tally for their promises so far.
Mr. Rustad has announced several economic initiatives in recent days, including a plan to end the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s (ICBC) monopoly on basic vehicle insurance. He said Thursday that this would bring in competition, drive down costs and improve services. Mr. Eby said such a move would double insurance costs for young drivers.
In 2018, in an effort to reign in a ballooning deficit at the public insurer, the NDP government introduced no-fault insurance, helping improve ICBC’s finances. But the move has been heavily criticized for severely limiting the ability of accident victims to sue the corporation and leaving some seriously injured ones with little compensation.
The Conservatives had already pledged to exempt people who suffer life-altering injuries in crashes from ICBC’s no-fault model, saying it’s unfair to accident victims to curtail opportunities to sue for damages.
On energy, the NDP say that if the party forms government again, they will increase the number of renewable projects through BC Hydro’s call for power, sparking additional private investment. In contrast, the Conservatives want to look to small-scale nuclear power, natural gas and waste wood to meet the province’s growing energy needs.
Mr. Eby repeatedly singled out his main political opponent as he announced his platform. He said Mr. Rustad is trying to avoid accountability for the public-service cuts taken when he served as a cabinet minister in the previous provincial Liberal government.
“We can’t let him pretend that didn’t happen, because he hurt people, really hurt people,” he told reporters. He pointed to the overcrowded schools in Surrey, and said a Conservative government would mean larger class sizes instead of more resources that the NDP are offering.
On housing, the NDP platform expands on the party’s previous promises aimed at tackling unaffordability. The party is now also promising more infrastructure funds for local governments that meet or exceed the province’s housing targets, and to increase the speculation and vacancy tax.