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In Fact, Campbell's TV Talk Lacked

Cheer up! The worst is yet to come!

Last week's television address by Premier Gordon Campbell was only compelling for one reason: the number of falsehoods Campbell presented as facts.

Campbell started with a misleading claim about the massive tax cuts that have put British Columbia deeply in debt. "In total, those tax cuts returned over $1.5 billion into workers' pockets," Campbell said. But it isn't in "workers' pockets" at all, unless your idea of a worker is a stockbroker millionaire.

In fact, economist David Schreck has calculated that just over 1,673,000 BC taxpayers with income under $30,000 (based on 1996 taxation statistics), will save a combined total of $209 million through Liberal tax cuts, for a maximum benefit of $372.

But just 7,920 BC taxpayers with income over $250,000 will save a total of $206 million, almost the same total amount as their fellow "workers" in the lower income category with an average tax cut of $23,848, Schreck says on his website, www.strategicthoughts.com

And the 24 percent of taxpayers who have less than $10,000 in assessed income (about 625,000 people) will get an average tax cut of $6. As George Orwell might have said, in Liberal B.C., some "workers" are more equal than others.

Even worse, the premier didn't say that whatever small tax cut workers did get will likely be eaten up entirely by a 50 percent increase in Medical Service Plan premiums. For a family of four making $35,000, a $36 per month MSP increase will mean an additional cost of $432 annually. That wipes out all but $29 of their tax cut savings. And that's not considering the extra costs from the delisting of physiotherapy, eye exams and other medical services from coverage.

There are exceptions. The government has rightly lowered premiums for 230,000 low income earners. And unionized workers and others whose employers pay their MSP premiums won't pay the increase, but no doubt employers will try to claw it back.

Speaking of workers, since when did workers become a priority, other than imposing contracts on them? It makes the 1996 Campbell TV appearance in a plaid flannel shirt more sincere.

The mood carried on with regard B.C.'s financial situation. Campbell: "An independent financial review panel told us that the previous government had created a situation where we were facing at least a $4 billion deficit this coming year."

In fact, the Fiscal Review Panel Report shows an estimated 2002-2003 summary accounts deficit of $1.94 billion, partly based on spending projections that University of B.C. economist Jon Kesselman said in a Vancouver newspaper are "unrealistically high - more than double the rate that spending grew in the last five years of the NDP administration."

To get to Campbell's $4 billion, add $1.5 billion for the personal tax cuts. Then add a grossly increased "forecast allowance", a type of contingency fund, which goes from zero in 1999-2000 to a massive $1.1 billion in 2002-03, for a total deficit of $4.54 billion. But the report came before Campbell cut corporate taxes by $600 million, so total the deficit at $5 billion, with at least $3 billion due to Liberal decisions.

The prevarications continue. Campbell: "But would our bottom line be worse in years to come if we didn't cut taxes? Absolutely." Actually, absolutely not.

Finance Ministry's projections show that the tax cuts will lead to a huge loss of revenue. At an October 3 open cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Gary Collins showed revenue projections dropping to just $22.3 billion in 2004-05 from $24 billion in 2000-01. And if the government runs a $3 billion to $4 billion deficit annually for three years before balancing the budget, total debt will go up by $10 billion or more, with debt carrying charges increasing by about $400 million a year if interest runs at 4 percent.

Campbell also claimed the government was "putting patients first in health care." How do plans to close hospitals and emergency rooms, increase medical premiums and cut ambulance services put patients first?

And in part of a long attack on public-sector unions, defined as "special interests," Campbell again misleads viewers by stating that B.C. nurses are "the highest paid nurses in Canada." Actually, nurses in Alberta and Ontario are paid more.

There is more misleading information in Campbell's address than space left here to correct it. Let's just say that when it comes to television, the premier's show will never be mistaken for To Tell The Truth.

*****

West Star Communications' President Bill Tieleman has clients in labour, business and non-profits. He is a political commentator on CBC TV's Canada Now and CBC Radio's Early Edition. Email at weststar@telus.net

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