BC Government photo
THE NDP on Monday made Finance Minister Mike de Jong look pathetic and untrustworthy as they exposed his opportunistic flip-flops.
The NDP noted: “Last week, Christy Clark delivered a desperate throne speech that lifted numerous policies directly from the B.C. NDP’s broadly popular platform.
“But during the campaign, the B.C. Liberals dispatched Mike de Jong to attack the financial implications of the B.C. NDP platform elements they now claim to support.
“Not only have the B.C. Liberals copied the “big ticket” items from the B.C. NDP platform, but they’ve refused to adopt the revenue measures designed to pay for them: modest tax hikes on profitable corporations and the richest two per cent.”
Then the NDP mentioned some of his quotes that put down the B.C. NDP platform during the campaign and asked: “Does he stand by his statements now that the B.C. Liberals support the same policies?”
“The suggestion that these promises that are coming fast and furious from Mr. Horgan and the NDP can be accommodated within a balanced budget, absent massive tax increases, is simply absurd.” (April 19 Press conference, 1:00)
“It’s different by the way, from what the opposition party wants to do, which is eliminate tolls altogether. That represents foregone revenue in the amount of hundreds of millions of dollars and even worse, would immediately lead to a credit downgrade for British Columbia and that has all kinds of negative ramifications for taxpayers.” (Abbotsford News)
“The decision to forgo all toll revenues in the way the NDP have announced, in my view, will guarantee a credit downgrade for BC… this decision in and of itself is sufficient to lead to a credit downgrade.” (Metro News, April 10)
“But to simply shrug that off as I think a leading member of the NDP did just a few moments ago, and to say it’s just going to carry on as usual, that’s absurd. That’s either misleading or an indication that they simply don’t understand the magnitude of what they are proposing or the impact it would have for British Columbians.” (Press conference, 6:30)
“There’s an old saying down on the farm: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. British Columbians understand that when you make promises of the sort Mr. Horgan is making, someone is going to pay.” (Press conference, 5:15)
“We have resisted, consistently, the temptation to go out and make all these kinds of pledges and promises as if no one had to pay for them. That is not the approach Mr. Horgan has taken. And as a result, you can see what happens immediately… our debt to GDP will jump to in excess of 18 per cent and then track upwards in excess of 20 per cent.” (Press conference, 14:30)
“The question that flows from that of course is what taxes are going to be increased to accommodate that, or is the NDP simply not telling the truth when it says it’s going to balance the budget?” (Press conference, 8:30)
Mike DeJong and Christy have proven themselves to be flip-floppers. Without even blushing they embraced most of the NDP/Green policies but still haven’t said how they’d pay for them while accusing the NDP/Greens of not taking finances into account!!
Since Christy Clark wants to ban big money before people take another breath, we should not trouble her overburdened conscience by waiting another second before allowing her to implement her brand new born again NDP platform. Do not wait until after another speech or vote. Do it now. Without such action promptly, how will Clark, deJong, Coleman, Stilwell and Cadieux sleep at all? Dr. Maya Angelou wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Now that the Liberals have confessed to their NDP propensities, we should not stand in the way of their making BC great again.
I suspected the Liberals have for the last 8 years a party about money. How much, how fast, and when can we repeat it. Every capital project they have approved were done by friends of the Liberals with huge cost overruns and plenty of kickback. They run the party and the government as their personal domain, deciding only on policy which pads their pockets. I can’t wait to see there backsides.
Certainly the BC Liberals can never use the term “flip flop” again. Oh the irony. Three weeks ago they used the term “say anything John”. Only “MAD” magazine could offer us the full story after its all over.