NDP promises

The facts

Open 1,000 long-term care beds this year and 5,000 more over four years.

·         Compare the records. Compared to the NDP, by 2006 we will have built twice as many seniors’ beds as the NDP, twice as fast.

·         The NDP cut the number of long-term care beds by 18% between 1994-99.The BC Liberals have built more than 4,000 new, replacement, or upgraded seniors' beds since 2001.

·         We will meet our commitment of 5,000 net new beds for seniors by the end of 2008.

·         They offer $50 million a year to fund this; our funding will increase by $100 million by 2006. The NDP will not tell us how they will fund the additional units in future years; we have a clear plan that will take us all the way to 2008.

Reduce wait lists and clean up dirty, over-crowded hospitals.

·         Empty promises, no plan. We gave health authorities an additional $230 million this year, in part to reduce waitlists. We are planning to increase healthcare funding by $1.5 billion over three years. What do they plan to cut to further reduce waitlists?

·         In 2003/04 we conducted 68,000 more procedures than in 2001. This includes:

o        33 % more knee replacements

o        21 % more hip replacements

o        20 % more cataract removals

o        40 % more angioplasties

·         Wait lists got worse under the NDP. For example, in 2000 there were 700 cancer patients who waited up to three months for radiation therapy. Today, there is virtually no wait for cancer treatment.

·         For the first time, health authorities are conducting a full audit of cleanliness in all hospitals – and the results show that cleanliness is improving. These independent audits were never done under the NDP when the HEU was in charge.

Freeze post-secondary tuition fees, double apprenticeships and begin to reduce K-12 class size.

·         Misleading. We are already limiting tuition fees, increasing apprenticeships, and we are spending more on education per student than ever.

·         Our plan adds $196 million in funding for advanced education  over three years, $56 million in the first year alone. We've proposed to cap tuition fees at the cost of inflation (around 2%). The NDP are only offering one year's funding, one-year guarantee of a tuition freeze, and no plan to complete the 25,000-seat expansion to our system.

·         There are more apprentices working today than ever. There were 16,000 apprentices registered in 2001, and there are over 19,000 apprentices registered today. Over the last year alone, the number of apprentices has increased by 29%,

·         For the first time, class sizes are protected under legislation. The NDP knows they could specifically change them at any time. Why the silence? The NDP plans to once again make this a bargaining chip for union negotiations.

Stop privatization to ensure low Hydro and ICBC rates and scrap the $6 training wage.

·         Phony and misleading. Both BC Hydro and ICBC are remaining fully public. The difference between us and the NDP is that we have ended the political interference that was the hallmark of the NDP – in fact, both Hydro and ICBC rates are now regulated under the BC Utilities Commission.

·         2004 was the lowest annual youth unemployment rate in BC since 1990. Youth employment has increased by 44,000 since Dec. 2001 with the majority of jobs being full-time.

Balance the budget and ensure people in all regions share the benefits of a strong, competitive economy.

·         Look at their record. The NDP ran 8 consecutive deficit budgets. Their final two budgets that were balanced were based on windfall, one-time energy revenues and one-time accounting changes. Even today, their platform only commits to a one-year spending plan, and already they are slashing hundreds of millions from the budget-protecting forecast allowance and contingencies funds.

·         The NDP talks about the regions but one of the first things they promised in their platform was to cut funding for regional economic development projects.

·         Unemployment is lower today than it was in Dec. 2001 in every region of BC. As of January 2005, every region of BC was in single digit unemployment.

Restore support for the most vulnerable – seniors and children, the disabled and the poor.

·         Just look at the record. It is the power of a strong economy that allows us to produce surplus budgets and invest in the services that people want. The NDP has never realized this, and still doesn’t.

·         What are they opposed to? We have 100,000 off welfare, with many earning two to three times what they made before. We gave people with disabilities the biggest increase in their monthly allowance in a decade. We are spending more on social housing than any government in BC history. Our tax relief means 730,000 low-income British Columbians pay reduced or no income taxes.

Re-establish the Ministry of the Environment and enforce clean air and water standards.

·         Empty promises. It takes more than changing ministry letterhead to protect the environment. The NDP platform has no plan for protecting wildlife, protecting our rivers, lakes and streams, or creating new parks for people. It says nothing about the Sumas II power plant.

·         We’re proud of our record. Fighting Sumas II. Completing the purchase of Burns Bog. 37 new parks and 34 new protected areas. Two to three times the rate of investment in parks capital. $16-million Drinking Water Action plan with $80 million in new water infrastructure. A $7 million Living Rivers Trust. The list goes on.