A Free and Prosperous BC

BACKGROUNDER 

A Free and Prosperous BC

When it comes to dollars and cents, Eby’s BC is not doing well. Not workers, not businesses, and not even the government itself.

The cost of living exploded, and incomes just haven’t kept up. Workers and families feel exhausted just by trying to stay afloat, and businesses feel punished for doing the right thing by investing in BC. 

Somehow, the NDP have also ruined the government’s bank account: BC is now stuck with historic deficits and record debt, even as services are worse and infrastructure hasn’t kept up. It’s failure across the board in David Eby’s BC, and anyone with a record this poor would have been fired by now in the real economy.

If the economy feels bad, it’s because it is bad. David Eby’s government-first approach will turn BC into an economic basket case with a diminished quality of life for everyone. No working family or business in the province can afford another 4 years of Eby’s abysmal trajectory. It’s just not sustainable.

The time has come for a new vision based on respect for taxpayers, not taking them for granted, and encouragement - not hostility - towards productive economic activity and entrepreneurship.

The Conservative Party of BC will encourage investment, get government working for taxpayers, and grow our living standards again.

Good jobs that pay the bills

In 7 years, NDP have spiked government spending per-person by over 30% on top of inflation. That means government services should now be 30% better than before, and instead, they’re worse. This is mismanagement of a scale that our kids will still be talking about.

Private sector jobs are what generate the tax revenue that pays for everything else. Due to the NDP’s hostility to business, BC is losing its employment base: the province has lost nearly 12,000 private sector jobs this year, even as our population rapidly grows. 

To get BC’s economy back on track and end NDP stagnation, the Conservative Party of BC will:

• Focus on growing the private sector jobs that pay for everything else, not hitting British Columbians with more taxes or more debt.
• Differentiate between public and private sector jobs in all government communications and statistics. BC is fortunate to have many talented and hardworking civil servants, but government should not get credit for creating government jobs.
• Scrap the Eby-Trudeau Carbon Tax and all hidden carbon taxes that kill jobs and add costs to every part of our economy. We just can’t afford it.
• Champion Canada-wide free trade to create opportunities for BC businesses and cut costs for consumers.
• Support a Made-In-BC manufacturing boom by addressing the shortage of industrial land, and developing a clear pathway to ending the unfair and outdated practice of “taxes on taxes” which inhibits the development of supply chains in BC.
• Participate in the Canadian Northern Corridor initiative to build infrastructure that unlocks the potential of BC’s northern communities and regions.
• Build on BC’s LNG success story and double production by “getting to yes” for the range of proposed LNG plants which have the potential to create a new major industry for BC. 
• Provide certainty around land use and property rights. Business investment is impossible without land use clarity. Unlike the NDP, we believe in an approach of “no surprises” in such an important pillar of our economy and the rule of law.
• Attract international investment to capital-intensive industries like manufacturing. BC has developed a reputation for hostility to investment, and it’s harming our future.
• Empower First Nations through economic reconciliation, so all British Columbians have the opportunity to thrive and become economic leaders.

Uncorking the NDP’s bottlenecked economy

After 7 years of NDP rule, life in BC is characterized by waitlists, delays, and bottlenecks. Everything from housing to healthcare is in short supply, or just too slow. And it’s because the NDP doesn’t allow professionals to do their jobs or run their businesses without micro-management from an office in Victoria.

BC’s economy is currently sputtering to a halt, which the NDP is trying to cover-up with debt. To get it running again, the Conservative Party of BC Will:

• Reduce the provincial regulatory burden by at least 25% over our first term. A Minister responsible for Red Tape Reduction and Deregulation will be appointed to identify and repeal and unnecessary red tape that ties-up our economy in bottlenecks.
• Introduce a red-tape reduction law which requires the elimination of one regulation for every new one introduced.
• Remove barriers to international credential recognition in high-demand fields. If a skilled newcomer wants to fill a critical gap in the economy and perform at BC standards, they should be allowed to.

Restoring sanity on spending

The NDP inherited a $2.7 billion surplus and have turned it into a $9 billion deficit, with nothing to show for it and no end in sight.

BC deserves a government that understands that tax dollars come from and belong to the people of British Columbia, and that deficits and debt are nothing more than future tax hikes. Government is not entitled to tax dollars; they have to be earned by providing high-quality services with good value for money.

Dealing with the NDP’s disastrous fiscal situation will be a top priority for Conservatives. Given the scale of the problem, immediately returning to a balanced budget will require severe cuts to frontline services – something we just won’t do.

Instead, we will immediately adopt prudent financial measures and work to restore fiscal sanity, while preserving the services that we all rely on.The Conservative Party of BC will:

• Eliminate the NDP’s historic deficit within 2 terms of government, at the latest.
• Think like a taxpayer when introducing any new legislation.
• Conduct a Respect for Taxpayers Audit to make sure that taxpayers are getting the best value possible, identify government bloat, fix poor management practices, and ensure that spending actually improves front-line service delivery.
• Require approval from voters via a referendum or election campaign for any new tax. Government should have to think twice before extracting more taxes from hardworking people.
• Open procurement processes to all qualified contractors and workers, not just ones on a list of unions hand-selected by the NDP. The NDP would rather reward their friends than get the best value for taxpayers, making it costly to build the infrastructure BC desperately needs.

Making BC the best place in Canada to run a small business

British Columbians – far away from the government-subsidized factories of central Canada – have always known that we have to rely on ourselves for our own economic prosperity.  It is this entrepreneurial spirit that has produced more small business per capita than any other province.

Under the NDP, small business owners across BC are being squeezed by rising crime, unaffordable costs, red tape, and reduced consumer spending power.

We believe that the people who work, operate, or own a small business are heroes – they are the cab drivers, bakers, landscapers, store owners, trades contractors, and daycare operators who keep our province running.  A BC Conservative government will honour the critical work they do by committing to make British Columbia the #1 place in Canada for starting and running a small business.

The Conservative Party of BC will:

• Reduce the small business tax to 1%, with a path to 0% when finances allow, so entrepreneurs can keep their hard-earned money and have the best possible chance of succeeding.
• Crack down on crime. It is unacceptable that Eby’s catch and release policy threatens the safety of workers and customers, while adding major costs to small businesses. We will bring back safety to our streets.
• Reduce barriers to arbitration for faster and more efficient commercial dispute resolutions.
• Cut approval times for building permits. If a clear yes/no is not issued by a municipality within 3 months, the province will issue the permits.
• Work with cities to reduce business permit wait times by publishing average wait times, auditing the policies and processes in cities that are identified as laggards, and providing recommendations for improvement.
• Review Worksafe BC’s $2.1 Billion surplus in excess of its 130% funding target – the highest target in the country. If workers are getting all the support they need, part or all of the surplus should be returned to the employers who paid the premiums in the first place.