BC Budget

[Wetcoaster]

No and I don't think facts means what you think it means. But it is impossible to argue with a brick wall though.

[inane]

Talk about a brick wall... and with no foundation nor mortar based upon your lack of substantive responses.

So you have no facts in response. Good to know,

I know exactly what facts, evidence and inferences mean - it is what I have dealt with day in and day out for almost 40 years.

[Langdon Algur]

Talk about a brick wall... and with no foundation nor mortar based upon your lack of substantive responses.

So you have no facts in response.  Good to know,

I know exactly what facts, evidence and inferences mean - it is what I have dealt with day in and day out for almost 40 years.

[ronthecivil]

one of the best ways to protect the environment is to invest in public transit.

[ronthecivil]

Because they are a central feature of the budget. Not all sales are bad, nor am I saying you can't sell when you're in a shortfall. Those are your exaggerations. But to have sales of assets as one of the main elements of your 'balanced' budget, well, it's not that balanced.

[Wetcoaster]

Nope.And why you would assume I have no facts is bizarre.

[Wetcoaster]

Translation "I'm a lawyer therefore I am smarter than you"

[inane]

If you do you have yet to present them with verifiable sources.

[Langdon Algur]

Where are we going to get the money? We don't have enough to pay for our existing transit.

Never mind the never ending required increases to keep the black hole of taxation known as our healthcare system to stagger along.

[inane]

That's likely an entire new thread topic, but it may be worth looking into how much we subsidize roads vs. transit.

[Wetcoaster]

Would it matter? Nope.

[inane]

At least then there would be something to make a judgment upon.

Mind you if the facts are not there that makes it even more difficult, eh?

[inane]

Another take on the whole thing

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/bc-budget-reveals-a-governments-last-gasp/article8904005/

B.C. budget reveals a government’s last gasp

For the next three years, projected spending growth is limited to 1.5 per cent – at best a stretch goal. Debt to gross domestic product will have grown to more than 18 per cent by 2015, from 13 per cent in 2009. This remains far better than Ontario and Quebec, but nothing to be complacent about. Annual interest charges today are almost $3-billion and forecast to be more than $4-billion.

Premier Christy Clark has tossed a bone to her base with the promise of a balanced budget, while stealing from the opposition on taxes and social spending promises. This is textbook political triangulation. There were so many New Democratic party policies in the budget document that people in the lock-up briefing joked that this was NDP leader Adrian Dix’s first budget.

But by raising taxes and bootlegging much of the NDP’s platform, the self-described “free enterprise” Liberal party demolished its own political narrative along with any residual credibility. The key points of B.C. Liberal differentiation relative to the NDP are gone.

If nothing else, Ms. Clark’s Liberals have been all politics and public relations, all the time. That’s why it is very odd that Tuesday’s budget was not linked to the government’s “Jobs Plan” for which it is spending millions in pre-election advertising. Nor was it linked to last week’s Throne Speech.

The B.C. Liberals once had a claim to economic realism. The Throne Speech undermined that, too. Its centrepiece was the assertion that liquefied natural gas could contribute a whopping $1-trillion to provincial GDP over 30 years. Anchored on the dubious prediction that government revenues would exceed $130-billion over 30 years, based on new taxes on an industry that today doesn’t exist, the Clark government is flogging a new “prosperity fund.”

Without any evidence or tangible investment commitments to back up their claim, the Liberals say the province is in for a windfall that will “transform” British Columbia. Most others call it the “fantasy fund.”

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, this budget will make it more expensive to invest and do business in the province.

An assortment of other taxes (disguised as fees) has also swelled. Medical services premiums are up, hydro rates are up, and property-tax exceptions are being closed. No consequential spending cuts are being made. Presenting a balanced budget only became hypothetically possible with the declaration that certain assets would be sold. However, we don’t know which assets, when they might be sold, or for how much.

Tax, fee and royalty increases will have an immediate effect on business and have already drawn sharp criticism from business groups. Jock Finlayson of the B.C. Business Council said, “This is an inopportune time to be adding to the tax burden facing business and industry. Further erosion of the province’s overall competitiveness will have negative longer-term implications for jobs and the economy.”

A day before the Clark government tabled its budget, former Bank of Montreal economist Tim O’Neill signed off on its revenue forecast assumptions. You know a government has a very serious credibility problem when it feels compelled to ask an outsider to vouch for its honesty and competence. Such is the deteriorated state of the B.C. Liberals.

The Liberal decline can be traced to Gordon Campbell’s decision to spring a new harmonized sales tax on an unsuspecting public immediately after his party won the last election. His caucus soon drove him out of office. Radio talk-show host Christy Clark won the race as a perceived “outsider” and HST opponent. Her bubbly personality and time away from the cabinet table created a sufficient distance from Mr. Campbell. It’s been downhill ever since.

Ms. Clark and her Liberals are betting that voters have short memories and even shorter attention spans. What we’re witnessing is the last desperate gasp of a government with the unmistakable hallmarks of a fin de régime.

[Wetcoaster]

Again, your 'facts' leave a lot to be desired. But you go on and do your thing, it's been a number of posts since you quoted yourself or reposted the same material for the 14th time so you should probably do that.

[inane]

The facts only leave something to be desired if they are disregarded.

[Wetcoaster]

Nope.

[inane]

And you would be in error yet again.

If the facts, evidence and inferences are incorrect please point out the mistakes.

[Wetcoaster]

Nope, it wouldn't matter.

[Gross-Misconduct]

The latest Angus Reid poll shows that people aren't buying that truck load of garbage Mike Dejong was trying to pass off as a "balanced" budget.

It's not surprising though. The BC liberals have ZERO credibility left.

[inane]

So you have nothing.

Not surprising.