April 13, 2005
Vancouver – The NDP released an election platform today that threatens the future viability of the tourism sector in British Columbia by cutting the Tourism BC budget in half and gutting essential funding for the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre project.
"The NDP platform promises a budget 'reallocation' that actually cuts the Tourism BC budget in half, reduces funding for the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, and eliminates funding for the new turf at BC Place Stadium," said Colin Hansen, Minister of Finance and candidate for Vancouver-Quilchena.
Page 63 of the NDP platform promises: "eliminating the budget increase of nearly $43 million for 'executive and support services' in the Ministry of Small Business."
The publicly available (http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/sp/sbed/Resource_Summary.htm) Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development's 2005/06 - 2007/08 Service Plan (page 7) offers a full description of the funding in this area. The $43 million funding increase includes:
Doubling the Tourism BC Grant ($24 million);
$17.2 million for the budget of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre;
Funding for the new turf at BC Place Stadium through the increased contribution to the BC Pavilion Corporation ($1.5 million).
"The NDP have always had a dismal understanding of the budget and the implications of their decisions," said Colin Hansen, Minister of Finance and candidate for Vancouver-Quilchena. "This clearly shows the NDP hasn't changed their ways."
What is worse that Carole James didn't even know that her platform was gutting the Tourism BC and the VCEC. When asked on CKNW's Jennifer Mather Show today whether this was a cut to the tourism budget, she said:
"No, in fact that's not correct at all. We will continue to maintain tourism budgets…when we saw more money going to the tourism ministry and that would be announced at the Union of BC Municipalities I was very clear that we were supporting that budget, so you know you won't see those dollars coming out. But I'd like actually the government to stand up and tell us what the $43 million in executive and support services in the Ministry of Small Business really is."
"It's a sad comment on Carole James and the NDP's preparation for their platform that they don't even know what's in their own proposed budget," said Hansen.
