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BC FORUM News BC FORUM STATEMENT ON BC BUDGET 2010 March 5, 2010 - The question we’re asking ourselves in the wake of the March 2 B.C. budget is simple – will it help to build a better B.C.? The short answer is no. The longer answer is it depends on who you are. The government is still pushing ahead with the HST, a $1.9 Billion tax giveaway to large corporations. The rest of us will pay for it. Medical Services Plan premiums continue to go up, an extra $84 a year for most families. There is no move to improve home support services, desperately needed as more and more retired workers search for ways to live with dignity in their own homes. There are still thousands of seniors forced to pay the highest rates in Canada for long term residential care. And there is no plan to tackle child poverty rates, to end the cruelty and embarrassment of our rich province having the highest child poverty rates in Canada for six straight years. Government, at its best, is an institution we’ve created to help each other. It should recognize that every citizen, young or old, is important. It should be a tool that enables us to work together to do for each other what we cannot always do for ourselves – clean air and water, safe communities, quality health care for all, education and the opportunities it brings for our children and grandchildren. In short, the first priority for governments should be to widen the circle, make it more inclusive, and bring people together. With the Winter Olympics, we’ve all seen what a powerful force it is when people band together. The organizational glitches and tragedy that caused some in the British media to label Vancouver 2010 the “worst Olympics ever” were washed away in a tide of pride, enthusiasm and celebration in the streets. These became the people’s Olympics. Unfortunately, the B.C. government has failed to learn the lesson that we’re stronger together. This budget does not build on the tremendous sense of community involvement and pride that was generated. Instead, it leaves too many people and communities to try to get by as best they can on their own. Instead of bringing us together to achieve common goals and objectives, it is dividing us. When you crunch the numbers, most people and many communities will be worse off in the years ahead. The three year plan shows that most ministries – despite population growth, demographic changes and inflation – will be providing fewer services. More than half of the ministries will be spending less in 2012 than they did this year. The government cut many services last year as its response to the financial meltdown. Most of those cuts remain in place. The budget guarantees that they will continue to reverberate through our communities. Perhaps it’s easy, sitting in the Legislature in Victoria, to see the provincial budget as a financial exercise, and to not see the people whose lives are affected. Budgets can be much more than that. They can provide leadership and motivation. They can help inspire us to work together for a common cause. This budget does none of that. It tells far too many people and communities that they’re on their own, and government doesn’t really care about them. If this hands-off, laissez faire approach is the best that the B.C. government can do to help our province get through the recession and emerge stronger, then not only the budget but the government as a whole is displaying a disturbing lack of vision. | ||
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