BC Liberal Party

May 9, 2009

STOP THE NDP

For Immediate Release

In the final days of the election, the NDP continues to squander their chance to come clean on the true impacts of their tax-and-spend budget plan.

Today in an interview with the Globe and Mail, Finance Critic Bruce Ralston continued to mislead British Columbians, stating: “The commitments we have made in our platform we’re confident we can fund. It’s an affordable, practical plan.”

He further states that the NDP “have a plan to get out of the deficit” and that their plan is more accurate than government’s because it was designed in April instead of February and thus relied on “more timely statistics.”

Perhaps Mr. Ralston needs a refresher on his own platform. Allow us to assist:

• The NDP plan is not “affordable.” It actually contains $3.7-billion in new costs and reduced revenues, and provides no real plan to accommodate that plan except for ongoing deficits or new taxes.
• The NDP plan is not “practical.” It contains over $1-billion in new taxes on job-creating industries like energy, retail and rural employers. This will kill thousands of jobs and drive billions of dollars in investment out of the province.
• The NDP plan will not get B.C. out of deficit. It will actually more than double the three-year deficit plan with no strategy to balance the budget – breaking the balanced budget law that they voted for unanimously in February.
• The NDP platform is not more ”timely.” It is based on the same numbers as the government budget. To quote their platform: “These assumptions are based on the economic assumptions provided in the current budget documents.” (Pg. 49)
  

There are three days left for the NDP to come clean with people on their disastrous, job-killing plan before British Columbians go to cast their ballot.

Shane Mills, BC Liberal Party
604-648-4258

Authorized by Jim Pipe, Financial Agent, BC Liberal Party