With a new budget dropping and a throne speech within two days of each other in Victoria, it was a busy week for provincial politics in B.C.
What’s in the budget of relevance to the Sea to Sky?
Despite a suite of one-time goodies such as a year-long boost to the B.C. family benefit and a one-time B.C. electricity affordability credit (both of which are headliners for the government’s cost-of-living backgrounder document), West Vancouver-Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy said he doesn’t see much in the way of measures that will seriously put a dent in cost-of-living pressures being felt around the province.
“I don’t see any material impact on people, honestly,” he said in an interview with Pique.
“Don’t forget there’s going to be all sorts of additional costs—we’re going to be up to 14 cents a litre in carbon tax on fuel in the Sea to Sky, [and] we have seen no assistance in terms of transparency on fuel-pricing in the Sea to Sky … which we’ve been asking for for quite some time now.
“This is the kind of thing [on which] governments should be working with communities to actually make some change and make a difference. I just see pricing continuing to go up.”
Sturdy also noted a forecasted increase in house prices coupled with a decline in construction.
“So prices are going up, and construction is going down, which is not helping anybody,” he said.
Sturdy said it all comes down to voters getting value for money, citing the long-term promise of the NDP government that it will bring in $10-a-day daycare for parents.
“That was an election promise in 2017—[today], 10 per cent of the spots in British Columbia are $10 a day. Ten per cent after eight years, so that’s the kind of performance you’re getting.”
Bang for buck dominated Sturdy’s take on the budget, which was released Feb. 22 with a projected operating expense of $89.4 billion in 24-25, $90.6 billion in 25-26, and $92.7 billion in 26-27 coupled with revenues that are short of expenses all the way through the three years forecast.
Taxpayer-supported debts are projected at $88 billion in 24-25, and expected to rise to $126 billion by 26-27.
“They are certainly spending lots of money, there’s no doubt about that,” Sturdy said.
Sturdy pointed back to the provincial government’s taxpayer-supported debts when the previous Liberal government last had a full year in power—in 16-17 when it was $46 billion, and operating expenses were $47.5 billion.
“The question is, are we better off for those expenditures? … It took 150 years to get to $50 billion in taxpayer-supported debt, and just under eight years to double it. That is a tremendous amount of money,” Sturdy said.
The value just isn’t there, said Sturdy, who singled out a lack of investment in local schools (besides $66 million for a francophone school in Pemberton as a result of a long-term commitment to invest in francophone schooling in the province), little movement on health-care and aged care, and no movement on transportation.
“What do we see in the Sea to Sky in terms of health-care? Really nothing,” he said.
“The only improvements I’ve seen in the region is in some access to primary care as a result of the work of Whistler 360 and a kind landlord … It wasn’t the province that did anything.”
The most recent announcement from the province to do with health-care in the region was funding for a CT scanner at the Squamish General Hospital, with the province chipping in $2.8 million towards a $6.5-million investment announced in mid-February, 10 days before the budget.
Transportation, besides the already mentioned lack of help on the fuel-cost file, was another sore point raised by Sturdy, who said the long-promised Massey Tunnel is another example of promises without action—promises that didn’t seem realistic anyway.
Overall, Sturdy said the budget doesn’t offer much to be happy about, noting the government has a track record of “over-promising and under-delivering.”
“But it’s an election year,” he added.
Sturdy is not running in the coming election, which must be held on or before Oct. 19, 2024.
