British Columbia's Democratic Destiny Awaits: A B.C. 2013 Election Primer from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Jordan Bateman

In a lot of ways, the past four years have been wasted by the B.C. government. In mid 2009, the B.C. Liberals, led by Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen, plunged into the HST quicksand and never emerged. The more they struggled, the deeper they sank, until the electorate spoke and killed the HST once and for all.

The HST dominated every political and economic discussion in this province over the past four years. Yo-yo deficits, a new premier, a new opposition leader, voter outrage: they all flowed from the HST.

On May 14, 2013, British Columbians get to hit a giant reset button. The HST is dead and gone and now is the time to plot the way forward by casting a ballot.

Over the past two years, the B.C. office of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has written hundreds of articles, blog posts, news releases and speeches on the state of the B.C. economy. Always filtered through our missional lens of “lower taxes, less waste, more accountability,” we have held our politicians’ feet to the fire.

As voters prepare for this important vote on May 14, we thought it would be worth a look back. This e-book collects many of the CTF’s op/ed pieces, blog posts, articles, speeches and reports on the B.C. government’s fiscal policy. Where’s the waste? What are we spending money on? What can we do better?

We hope this e-book helps fill out your knowledge base and shape your opinion as you head to the ballot box. B.C.’s future is in our collective hands – let’s not mess it up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jordan Bateman
• Release date: Apr 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301829415

Jordan Bateman

Jordan Bateman brings a diverse background of journalism, small business ownership and elected life to his role as B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Jordan previously served for six years as an elected Township Councillor in Langley, B.C., a community of 100,000 people. His work with the Township included serving on the community's Economic Development Commission, Tourism Langley and the Fraser Valley Regional Library Board. His blog, Langley Politics, was read throughout B.C., and was a key part of his commitment to transparency and accountability. After winning two elections, including topping the polls in 2008, Jordan resigned from Council in 2011 to take on his role with the CTF. A trained journalist who worked for the Langley Advance for six years, Jordan also owned and operated his own writing and editing business for a decade. He has ghostwritten and edited more than 125 books for religious, political, business, charity, music and other clients. Jordan and his wife Jennifer are both licensed wedding chaplains, having married more than 300 couples. They have three children--Indiana, Danica and Jackson--and live in Langley. He is an unabashed Vancouver Canucks, Green Bay Packers and B.C. Lions fan.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

In a lot of ways, the past four years have been wasted by the B.C. government. In mid 2009, the B.C. Liberals, led by Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen, plunged into the HST quicksand and never emerged. The more they struggled, the deeper they sank, until the electorate spoke and killed the HST once and for all.

The HST dominated every political and economic discussion in this province over the past four years. Yo-yo deficits, a new premier, a new opposition leader, voter outrage: they all flowed from the HST.

On May 14, 2013, British Columbians get to hit a giant reset button. The HST is dead and gone and now is the time to plot the way forward by casting a ballot.

Over the past two years, the B.C. office of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has written hundreds of articles, blog posts, news releases and speeches on the state of the B.C. economy. Always filtered through our missional lens of lower taxes, less waste, more accountability, we have held our politicians’ feet to the fire.

As voters prepare for this important vote on May 14, we thought it would be worth a look back. This e-book collects many of the CTF’s op/ed pieces, blog posts, articles, speeches and reports on the B.C. government’s fiscal policy. Where’s the waste? What are we spending money on? What can we do better?

A note: we have tried to post these sections is reverse date order (i.e., the newest comes first). If you are looking for a specific topic, you may want to search the book via your e-book reading software. If you’re interested in more information (or if a link isn’t working), try plugging a sentence from the article into our taxpayer.com search engine – it should take you to the original piece online.

We hope this e-book helps fill out your knowledge base and shape your opinion as you head to the ballot box. B.C.’s future is in our collective hands – let’s not mess it up.

Jordan Bateman

B.C. Director

Canadian Taxpayer Federation

April 10, 2013

ABOUT THE CANADIAN TAXPAYERS FEDERATION

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is a federally incorporated, not-for-profit citizen’s group dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government. The CTF was founded in Saskatchewan in 1990 when the Association of Saskatchewan Taxpayers and the Resolution One Association of Alberta joined forces to create a national taxpayers organization. Today, the CTF has 84,000 supporters nation-wide

The CTF maintains a federal office in Ottawa and regional offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Prairie (SK and MB), Ontario and Atlantic. Regional offices conduct research and advocacy activities specific to their provinces in addition to acting as regional organizers of Canada-wide initiatives.

CTF offices field hundreds of media interviews each month, hold press conferences and issue regular news releases, commentaries, online postings and publications to advocate on behalf of CTF supporters. CTF representatives speak at functions, make presentations to government, meet with politicians, and organize petition drives, events and campaigns to mobilize citizens to affect public policy change. Each week CTF offices send out Let’s Talk Taxes commentaries to more than 800 media outlets and personalities across Canada.

Any Canadian taxpayer committed to the CTF’s mission is welcome to join at no cost and receive issue and Action Updates. Financial supporters can additionally receive the CTF’s flagship publication The Taxpayer magazine published four times a year.

The CTF is independent of any institutional or partisan affiliations. All CTF staff, board and representatives are prohibited from holding a membership in any political party. In 2012, the CTF raised $3.6-million on the strength of 21,527 donations. Donations to the CTF are not deductible as a charitable contribution.

ABOUT JORDAN BATEMAN

Jordan Bateman brings a diverse background of journalism, small business ownership and elected life to his role as B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Jordan previously served for six years as an elected Township Councillor in Langley, B.C., a community of 100,000 people. His work with the Township included serving on the community's Economic Development Commission, Tourism Langley and the Fraser Valley Regional Library Board. His blog, Langley Politics, was read throughout B.C., and was a key part of his commitment to transparency and accountability. After winning two elections, including topping the polls in 2008, Jordan resigned from Council in 2011 to take on his role with the CTF.

A trained journalist who worked for the Langley Advance for six years, Jordan also owned and operated his own writing and editing business for a decade. He has ghostwritten and edited more than 125 books for religious, political, business, charity, music and other clients.

Jordan and his wife Jennifer are both licensed wedding chaplains, having married more than 300 couples. They have three children--Indiana, Danica and Jackson--and live in Langley.

He is an unabashed Vancouver Canucks, Green Bay Packers and B.C. Lions fan.

CONTACT US

Jordan Bateman

British Columbia Director

Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Mail:

PO Box 20539

Howe Street RPO

Vancouver BC

V7Z 2N8

Phone: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Twitter @jordanbateman

OPS/EDS

B.C. Judges Guilty of Attempting to Gouge Taxpayers

B.C. judges suing taxpayers for another massive pay raise should be ruled out of order.

The Provincial Court Judges' Association of British Columbia, on behalf of its 146 members, are technically suing the Attorney General for refusing to increase their pay and benefits. But make no mistake about it: everyday taxpayers are the true defendants in this suit.

Judges aren’t hurting financially. The standard salary in 2010 was $231,138. It has gone up in eleven of the past thirteen years and jumped 43.3 per cent in the past six years.

Now they want another six per cent to get to $245,526 a year. That’s an increase of $14,388.

Judges can, and should, hold the line for at least the next three years. The B.C. government should be applauded for saying no to another pay increase and for holding firm to their net-zero mandate.

Net zero has been the only thing giving the government a fighting chance at balancing the provincial budget in 2013. Basically, it is a policy that says any increases in wage or benefits must be matched by a decrease in spending elsewhere in the contract.

Before net zero came into play, taxpayers were getting scored on more than Roberto Luongo in Beantown. Public sector employees—even ones claiming to be independent like these judges—have got to come back to earth and realize that B.C. seniors and families are tapped out when it comes to paying taxes.

But Big Labour doesn’t seem to care. B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair told a Victoria newspaper Oct. 4, Zeros are done in this province—[the government] couldn't get collective agreements by offering zeros again. The government is going to have to get real and realize wages will have to go up and they'll have to pay for it.

Sinclair is wrong. It’s not the government who pays—it’s taxpayers who pay. That fact is the great disconnect in the thinking of public sector unions. The judges want more money, the teachers want more money, the Fed wants more money, but there simply isn’t any.

British Columbia is already living beyond its means. We are borrowing money to fund our big labour contracts, precisely the problem that so many European countries are now facing.

The river of red ink rages on: a $2.78 billion deficit projected this year. Another $805 million deficit in 2012-13. Even a $458 million deficit on the books for 2013-14, when B.C. must be back in black to meet its legislated requirements.

It’s unknown if B.C. judges feel the same way about where to find extra cash to boost their pay packets as the teachers do. The B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) offered its solution in a pre-budget submission earlier this month: tax, tax, tax. In fact, the BCTF wants to hike income taxes 35 per cent. That’s a $764 tax increase for someone earning $50,000 a year—all for more pay and benefits for teachers.

Public sector unions want to cut your pay to increase their own. They aren’t shy about it. Taxpayers shouldn’t be shy either in saying, No.

Hopefully B.C. judges show some good judgment and temper their demands. Citizens often speak of good judges as being wise and fair—two qualities tapped-out taxpayers hope to see prevail in this case.

Fat Tax Didn’t Work in Denmark, Won’t Work Here

Whether by the B.C. independent business tax panel, the B.C. Healthy Living Alliance or a Kamloops city councillor, the idea of a fat or sugar tax continues to pop up like the pesky mole in that old midway game. Unfortunately, it’s taxpayers – and the provincial economy – that would get whacked by such a tax.

Supporters of such a flawed taxation policy should look to Denmark’s experience for a textbook example of why it doesn’t work.

In October 2011, Denmark was the one of the first countries in the world to bring in a fat tax, and the first to abolish it thirteen months later. No wonder: it was a fiscal disaster, driving hundreds of thousands of Danes across the German border for cheaper groceries and costing hundreds of jobs, according to Jens Klarskov, CEO of Dansk Erhverv (the Danish Chamber of Commerce).

It got so bad during Denmark’s fat tax era that German stores sent flyers to Danish homes, translated into Danish, bragging: No fat tax here!

The ads worked; more Danes began to shop in Germany. The Danish Chamber released a poll showing that before the fat tax, one in three Danes shopped in Germany. During the fat tax era, that number grew to one out of every two.

When asked about why they shopped outside Denmark, one in three named the fat tax as the primary reason. Long known as the place where Danes shop for booze, cigarettes and sweets, Germany, thanks to the fat tax, large discounts and professional marketing, became a place where Danes also shopped for food.

Sound familiar? Lower Mainlanders crossed the U.S. border 15.4 million times into Whatcom County last year in search of cheaper gas, cheaper flights, cheaper booze, cheaper clothing, cheaper consumer goods, cheaper milk and cheaper cheese. That’s the highest cross-border shopping total since 1997.

With money stretched thin due to a high cost of living and heavy tax load, British Columbians are already pouring south to stretch their paycheques further.

As the Fraser Institute’s Mark Milke recently pointed out, Canadian customs tariffs already add $3.6 billion in consumer costs to nearly everything we buy here. Throwing on another tax would just further grow that price gap.

Imagine a tax on fat or sugar in B.C., and U.S. grocery stores ripping a page out of the German advertising playbook: No fat tax here!

For the two-thirds of British Columbians who live in the six regional districts along the U.S. border, such savings would be impossible to ignore. Add to that the thousands of people who live near the Alberta border and the economic fallout for B.C. could be catastrophic.

The argument for fat and sugar taxes revolves around higher prices limiting consumption and thus curbing obesity. Fortunately, many B.C. health experts don’t buy into that myth.

Research actually shows little correlation between individual behaviours and body weight: many who seldom consume such foods are overweight while many who do, are not, said Dr. Paul Martiquet, an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Medicine and the Medical Health Officer for Powell River, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.

Indeed, Klarskov, who visited Canada on a recent speaking and media tour to share the Danish fat tax experience, noted that Denmark’s health experts estimated only a five-and-a-half day increase to Danish life expectancy, once the fat tax was in place for ten full years. This is [like] shooting rabbits with nuclear weapons, Klarskov quipped.

B.C. bureaucrats have noted, in documents obtained by the CTF through a Freedom of Information Act request, that a fat tax is purely a revenue measure.

Klarskov and the Danish Chamber of Commerce estimate Denmark lost 1,300 jobs as a direct result of their fat tax social experiment. In B.C., it could be worse.

Fat and sugar tax supporters would do well to read up on the Danish experience before willfully causing harm to the B.C. economy for virtually no health return.

Tighten the Belts, or Face Electoral Oblivion

B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, like a cliché movie hero, is slowly sinking into fiscal quicksand. In his recently released quarterly fiscal report, http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/qrt-rpt/qr11/Q2_11.pdf he told British Columbians that economic growth has slowed, crown corporation revenues are down and the provincial deficit is exploding. The true culprit – runaway spending – has yet to be addressed, putting the BC Liberals in danger of electoral oblivion in the next election.

What was once planned to be a $925 million deficit this year has ballooned to $3.1 billion. Next year’s expected $440 million deficit will likely top $1 billion and the likelihood of returning B.C. to surplus budgets in 2013-14 is now hanging by a very thin thread.

Falcon is saying that he won’t know until January http://www.bclocalnews.com/business/134622003.html —just weeks before the 2012-13 budget is due—if he can balance the books by 2013-14, as repeatedly promised over the past two years.

The Finance Minister knows the stakes better than anyone. As BC Liberal voter support continues to bleed to the upstart BC Conservatives, Falcon knows a balanced budget is the only way to go into the 2013 election with any fiscal management street cred.

The core of the BC Liberal cabinet also understands this. During the leadership campaign a year ago, Premier Christy Clark committed to balancing the budget by 2013/14 or sooner. So did Falcon. http://taxpayer.com/sites/default/files/2011_LEADERSHIP_CANDIDATE_QUESTIONAIRE.pdf

Former leadership contestant and now Health Minister, Mike de Jong, oversees 43 per cent of government spending. His wistful comment, At times, I have felt like I was the only candidate in this leadership race talking about the deficit and the need for balanced budgets, seems like it was uttered years ago, but it came in February. Education Minister George Abbott, presently negotiating an expensive contract with the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF), said this about a balanced budget in 2013-14: I believe that objective is achievable. The rubber hits the road on contracts like the BCTF’s.

Clark sums her political philosophy up as, Families First, but leaving a legacy of debt for B.C.’s children and grandchildren is not family-friendly. The present generation is making a conscious decision to spend the future’s money—taking economic opportunity and prosperity from our kids and spending it on ourselves.

Four months ago, Falcon said government needs to tighten its belt. He’s right: the deficit is a spending problem, not a revenue one. In 2001-02, the B.C. Government spent $24.3 billion. This year, they are spending $43.6 billion.

When expenses skyrocket like that, everything needs to go right economically for a government to stay on track. It hasn’t and now the BC Liberals have 18 months to fix things or face the electoral guillotine.

The fall legislative session has just wrapped up and the government caucus has a shiny new website highlighting their achievements. http://changethatworksforyou.ca/

Notable in its absence is any mention of Falcon’s directed belt-tightening. Is it even happening? The money-wasting Pacific Carbon Trust http://taxpayer.com/blog/30-08-2011/bc-kill-dont-change-pacific-carbon-trust still belches millions of taxpayer dollars into private pockets, as just one of many examples of corporate welfare. Air Ambulance service is still delivered in an expensive, outdated model. http://taxpayer.com/british-columbia/bc-can-do-more-less-air-ambulance-service Public sector executives still get massive severance packages and bloated pensions. http://taxpayer.com/blog/31-08-2011/bc-wage-rage-over-public-sector-pay Government cronies still get well-paid appointments to boards and panels. http://taxpayer.com/blog/28-11-2011/bc-crony-questions-1-jagmohan-singh-named-sfu-board

The premier and cabinet already take a 10 per cent pay cut when the province is in deficit. If they don’t find a way to get spending under control, their salaries will plummet even further—many will find themselves out of work in May 2013, while others have to adjust to their new opposition member’s wage.

Ferries Finances Sinking On Hahn’s Watch

In early December, B.C. taxpayers got to meet Mike Corrigan, the new President and CEO of BC Ferries. . Let’s hope this new boss is nothing like his old boss, the free-spending, million-dollar man David Hahn.

Corrigan, formerly BC Ferries’ second-in-command, was promoted to the top job by the BC Ferries Board of Directors this week, who also limited his compensation package to 60 per cent of what Hahn earned. Of course, that’s about $600,000 annually that Corrigan will be paid. (https://www.bcferries.com/bcferries/faces/attachments?id=573097)

You’ll have to forgive taxpayers for not throwing a parade along the Inside Passage following this announcement—$600,000 is still a hefty amount of money to run a heavily-subsidized operation like BC Ferries. Just six years before Hahn joined the million dollar club, the same job earned him a much more reasonable $228,239.

If ever there was a time for significant change at BC Ferries, it is now. The corporate culture created by Hahn has turned what was once a profitable operation into a money-loser. His vision of BC Ferries as a boutique tourist operation does not fit with British Columbians’ view that ferries are an extension of the highway system. Tourists are nice, but they shouldn’t be the focus; moving people and goods should be.

On Hahn’s watch, BC Ferries fell from a $49.9 million profit in 2006 (http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Opinion+Ferries+bonuses+salaries+soar+while+earnings+sink+Gravy+Boat/5330808/story.html) to a projected $20+ million loss this year (http://www.bcferries.com/files/AboutBCF/investor/quarters_new/1112_Q2_MDA.pdf). Moreover, the corporation has run up its debt load to an estimated $1.3 billion (http://www.bcferries.com/files/AboutBCF/investor/quarters_new/1112_Q2_Consolidated_Financial_Statements.pdf).

But Hahn still earned $1.2 million a year and will start retired life with an annual pension valued at $315,000. (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ferries+boss+David+Hahn+stepping+down+this+year/5464890/story.html)

Hahn seemed tone-deaf to what British Columbians are experiencing in terms of the global recession. While wages were frozen and jobs were being lost in the private sector, 60 per cent of BC Ferries’ employees earned more than $89,000 a year (http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Opinion+Ferries+bonuses+salaries+soar+while+earnings+sink+Gravy+Boat/5330808/story.html)—putting them in the top five per cent of all Canadian income earners. While families and seniors were struggling to pay ferry rates that increased between 45 and 80 per cent over eight years, (http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Blame+board+million+bonuses/5356609/story.html#ixzz1XAHgr9ch) Hahn was approving million dollar ad contracts at Rogers Arena. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLCQUtyyDng)

One of Hahn’s final acts was to double the fuel surcharge to five per cent, making it even more expensive for B.C. residents and businesses to take the ferry. (https://www.bcferries.com/bcferries/faces/attachments?id=570124)

The average user has been priced off the ferry, despite the corporation’s $150 million annual subsidy from B.C. taxpayers. (http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/07/06/FerryRateIncrease/)

As fares have skyrocketed, passenger trips are down 2.9 per cent this year and vehicle trips down 3.4 per cent, as drivers cut any discretionary travel plans. (http://www.bcferries.com/files/AboutBCF/investor/quarters_new/1112_Q2_MDA.pdf) To stop the bleeding, BC Ferries is trying to convince the provincial government to allow them to cut 400 sailings a year on their major routes.

This is the mess Corrigan has inherited from his old boss: slumping ridership, a bloated debt, growing expenses and a public that looks at BC Ferries’ operating philosophy with disdain.

Corrigan announced Tuesday that he wouldn’t replace himself as Chief Operating Officer, which he said should save BC Ferries about $600,000 a year. That is a positive, albeit small, step forward. The bigger battle for Corrigan will be to undo many of the decisions of the Hahn era and rebuild the public’s confidence in our ferry system.

Ferries are a vital necessity in British Columbia. Many of our communities are completely dependent on having a robust, fairly-priced, well-run ferry system. Vancouver Island’s economy needs a good, reliable, inexpensive transportation link to the Mainland. This is the life-blood of many families in our province and hopefully Mike Corrigan’s BC Ferries will get back to putting those taxpayers’ needs ahead of lining their own corporate pockets.

Deferred Debt + Rate Hikes = Big Bonuses for BC Hydro

It’s been a tough year for BC Hydro, but the Crown Corporation is lost in an electrical storm of its own making. Scathing reports, rate hikes, smart meters, layoffs and a CEO resignation have left the company reeling. Now it’s time to realign BC Hydro’s gold standard with what ratepayers want: good value and low rates. They can start by fixing the gold standard bonus structure for BC Hydro employees.

According to a memo obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation under the Freedom of Information Act, BC Hydro met their financial targets for fiscal year 2011, reporting a net income of $589 million and operating costs of $706 million.

The May 13, 2011, memo, approved by CEO Dave Cobb May 24, confirmed a bonus to virtually all employees, regardless of how they individually performed. If staffers met their personal and division goals, they could collect even more money.

This corporate bonus structure explains how 99 per cent of BC Hydro employees collected a bonus last year.

In a general sense, rewarding government employees, financially, for finding efficiencies and improving the bottom line is not a bad idea. However, it must be done the right way.

BC Hydro sweetened their net income numbers, and thereby employee bonuses, in two ways. First, the corporation increased Hydro rates 4.67 per cent. Their own 2011 annual report says that the revenue increase was due to higher average customer rates in all rate classes. In essence, staff bonuses came on the back of ratepayers shelling out more money for power.

Second, B.C. Auditor General John Doyle reported last week that without deferrals, BC Hydro would not have hit their net income target. In fact, $696 million of debt was put into deferral accounts last year to be paid back in future years. The utility’s net income goal was accomplished only by deferring debt to future ratepayers. But staffers still cashed their bonus cheques. The hockey equivalent is a 15-goal scorer claiming a bonus for scoring 40 goals by telling management they will score 65 next year.

This all comes back to the provincial government’s August review of BC Hydro, and the gold standard corporate culture the Board and senior staff have developed there. The challenge to reduce costs can also be complicated by a culture in BC Hydro where the company strives for [the] gold standard, said the report. The regulatory environment and historical management culture supports managing cost pressures through rate increases.

Bonus programs that reward individuals for corporate goals, whether they contributed substantially or not, are flawed. They are also open to problems, as debt is pushed down the road in order to make net income targets today.

The August review showed that 9 per cent of BC Hydro employees were deemed to be less than fully performing. Only the 1 per cent of employees needing improvement didn’t get the bonus. In 2010, management and professional staff collected $31 million in bonuses, union staff another $10.5 million, and executive staff $840,000. This while deferring more in debt than they made in net income.

Energy Minister Rich Coleman has promised a review and revamp of the BC Hydro bonus structure. This work should be accelerated. At the very least, bonuses should be suspended in years when BC Hydro has to increase rates for its customers.

LTT: Carbon Tax Should Be Killed, Not Used For Transit

Whenever a transit authority cries poor in British Columbia, the NDP inevitably rush in with a claim that the carbon tax is the perfect way to pay for it. In reality, the vast majority of British Columbians would be better off if the carbon tax was killed, not repurposed.

Nevertheless, calls for higher carbon taxes happened again this month, when TransLink (Greater Vancouver’s transit authority) requested its independent commissioner increase fares by 12.5 per cent. NDP transportation critic Harry Bains recycled the old use carbon tax for transit plan—a spin as predictable as a cheap hit by a Boston Bruin.

Last year, the TransLink area mayors approved another two cents per litre gas tax for transit and upped property taxes. The transit commissioner has decided on a different tact, putting together a plan to examine TransLink’s bus service for cost savings. The mayors, on the other hand, simply took TransLink staff at their word, choosing to believe that every loonie of the $1.36 billion it spent in 2010 was fully maximized.

If the commissioner’s experts follow up on research by the media and the not-for-profit Canadian Taxpayers Federation, along with tales from the riding public, there should be some significant cost savings that can be realized in this process. The commissioner’s approach is the correct one—not immediately raising fares, rubberstamping increased taxes, or reallocating the carbon tax.

B.C. drivers are already overtaxed, with much of that money flowing to transit. In the Lower Mainland, governments collect 50 cents of tax on every litre of gas pumped, 17 cents of which goes directly to TransLink. Giving TransLink access to another 7.7 cents per litre in carbon tax is unacceptable.

The carbon tax is revenue neutral for the provincial government. Under B.C. law, every penny collected in carbon tax must be returned to taxpayers through corresponding tax cuts. So the idea of using the carbon tax means rolling back those savings. It’s a tax increase to pay for transit.

While the carbon tax is revenue neutral for government, it certainly isn’t for taxpayers. Some are hit harder than others by the tax—shift workers, ranchers and farmers, delivery drivers, rural and suburban residents and those with no access to transit. The corresponding tax cuts do little to mitigate those costs for those people—indeed, the carbon tax is really a tax shift off urban dwellers and on to the rest of the province.

That’s why it’s unfair to use the carbon tax for transit. One cannot expect drivers in Lac La Hache to fund transit systems in communities they never visit.

Even if an NDP government allocated carbon tax revenue to be spent within the communities they are collected, it’s still unfair to the driver who has no option but to take a vehicle. That’s a significant number of disenfranchised taxpayers paying for a service they do not use.

Drivers already pay for transit at the gas pump. Asking them to pay even more is wrong and will damage the long-term economy of B.C., as the vast majority of our goods and services are transported by fuel-powered vehicles. Adding cost to those items hurts both business and consumers.

As of July 2, 2012, the carbon tax will be frozen until the B.C. Government can figure out what to do with it. The best solution is not to hand it over to transit bureaucracy—it’s to kill it and give taxpaying drivers 7.7 cents of relief at the pump.

To Be Considered Truly Open, Government Must Be Proactive

Every election cycle, in every campaign from school board to prime minister, two sets of vows are made: incumbent politicians promise to continue listening to the public, while their opponents promise to change government by throwing open its doors.

The BC Liberal leadership race was no different, with candidate Christy Clark leading the charge for change. Taxpayers need to know how their money is being spent and if their elected officials are meeting their promises, Clark said in her platform, noting her desire to rebuild public trust and reconnect people with government.

Unfortunately, unless Premier Christy Clark takes action, she might miss a golden opportunity to walk out her commitment to open government.

Under Gordon Campbell, the B.C. government spent $124,522.48 on a legal battle to prevent the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) from getting a copy of a $300 million government services contract with IBM. FIPA requested the contract eight years ago under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOI).

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) uncovered the legal price tag through its own FOI request. The B.C. government, which has been ordered by both the Information and Privacy Commissioner and a B.C. Supreme Court judge to release the IBM contract,