THE NDP on Thursday exposed Christy Clark the Copycat, pointing out what the desperate, power hungry Premier has said about the policies in her own throne speech:
On the day the writ dropped, Christy Clark said: “Leadership, I think, demands that we be clear about where we stand, that we be principled and stick with what we believe in, and that we be consistent in fighting for that.” (Christy Clark, Campaign ad, April 11 2017)
As recently as 10 days ago, Christy Clark said she wasn’t making any significant policy shifts: “We’re not pursuing any major new policy changes which is why you saw, it’s pretty much a stand-pat cabinet.” (Christy Clark, CP News, June 12)
But on Thursday afternoon, on the cusp of being defeated and replaced with a new government, Christy Clark delivered a desperate throne speech comprised almost entirely of BC NDP commitments she has spent her political career fighting against.
Here are just a few of the recent times Clark and her team rejected the policies she claims to support today:
On the removal of tolls on the Golden Ears and Port Mann:
“The decision to forgo all toll revenues in the way the NDP have announced, in my view, will guarantee a credit downgrade for B.C… This decision in and of itself is sufficient to lead to a credit downgrade.” (Mike de Jong, Metro News, April 10, 2017)
On the carbon tax:
“Well what I would say is we have an absolute pledge to freeze taxes, to freeze the carbon tax, to freeze income tax, to freeze business taxes, because we want to make sure life can be affordable and people can find jobs.” (Christy Clark, CKYE, May 8, 2017)
On childcare funding:
“This is a $2.4 billion a day proposal. There is a reason why taxes are over $8,000 more in Quebec than they are in British Columbia.” (Christy Clark, BC Local News, Feb 22, 2017)
“It would take an absolute minimum, extremely conservative estimate, of $1.5 billion additional a year. That’s a lot of money. We don’t have that amount of money.” (Stephanie Cadieux, Global, Dec. 1, 2016)
On banning corporate and union donations:
“We are not about to change anything. We have looked at this thing from a party perspective and will provide transparency.” (Rich Coleman, CBC Radio, March 15, 2017)
On reversing their cuts to Adult Basic Education funding:
“The decision to allow institutions to charge tuition for adult upgrading programs was necessary to ensure sustainability of these important programs…” (Andrew Wilkinson, Comox Valley Record, April 27, 2016)
