It says a lot about a budget when the finance minister spends the first five minutes of his media briefing talking about credibility, but that’s what Finance Minister Kevin Falcon did when he tabled his latest budget.
Seems the minister is a bit touchy on this point. Could it be that the decade-long fiscal shell game that his government has played with the public is wearing thin and that his budget is now seen more as an attempt to deceive than an honest picture of what our province needs?
No surprise that his party has dropped so precipitously in public-opinion polls.
The voting public, it seems, has grown tired of a government that finds lots of money for “special projects” – a new roof at BC Place for example – but claims the “cupboard is bare” when it comes to providing the services B.C. needs to grow and prosper.
On the fiscal front, Falcon claimed that B.C.’s treasury was hard pressed to find any money for services. But look behind those numbers and you find that he has decided to book the $1.6 billion in HST transfer into one year even though he has a deal from Ottawa to repay it (interest free) over five years. Then consider that between contingencies and forecast allowances he has close to $700 million of fiscal cushion in his budget. And just to pad his accounts a bit more, he has low-balled every conceivable revenue source that he can get his hands on.
Falcon was right about one thing though: credibility. This budget just doesn’t have it.
Of course, Falcon wouldn’t find himself in this corner if he and his cabinet colleagues owned up to the fact that their “big idea” – tax cuts – has been a terrible flop. Billions have been depleted from the provincial treasury to finance tax cuts that have been a bonus for corporations and B.C.’s wealthiest families, but the rest of us have paid for those cuts with fewer services, greater inequality and a track record of economic growth that has failed to deliver sustainable prosperity to every citizen.
What’s disheartening in all of the above is that we are about to get the same game plan rolled out by Federal Tory Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
Like Falcon, he also scores badly on the credibility front. For example, his claims that Old Age Security (OAS) is unaffordable simply don’t square with the Parliamentary Budget Office, which notes that the so-called crisis in OAS does not exist. But Flaherty wants to fan the flames of dire outlook because that becomes a convenient way to press ahead with the deep cuts that his government wants to implement. Keep in mind that this is the same Jim Flaherty who showed no hesitation when it came to unloading more than $50 billion in corporate tax cuts a few years ago.
Like the BC Liberals, it seems the Harper government can find the money to finance things for its friends, but it cries poverty when it comes to paying for the public services that really count.
Like the BC Liberals, the Harper government’s fixation with reducing the size and capacity of government rests on ideology, not sound public policy. That distorted view of things shows up repeatedly as the Conservatives strip federal departments of the essential resources needed to carry out even the most basic mandates.
Like the BC Liberals, the Harper government will find it increasingly difficult to maintain its fiscal credibility. Low-balling growth estimates to justify cuts might be easy short-term tactics, but the truth eventually surfaces. Don’t believe me? Just ask the departed staffers in charge of the robo-call controversy. •
