BC Political Discussion: Election 2024 & 43rd Parliament

[Lexus]

I’m glad this scam is coming to it’s end!

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I’m against owners of swastikars paying nothing toward transit while ICE vehicle owners are being soaked for it.

I guess I missed the 4th option, which is: you have no idea how the tax was collected or where the money goes.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

Remember that BC's Carbon Tax system gives it the lowest income taxes of any province (under $150k). I'd rather pollution be taxed than work.

Yep that is destined to change, we'll see what happens.

Maybe this is an opening to revive the HST.

[whatnext]

Carbon tax officially disappears as of April 1st.

B.C. reveals when it will officially scrap the consumer carbon tax
It is now official: After 17 years, the B.C. consumer carbon tax will officially be scrapped as of April 1, 2025.

While many assumed it would land on this date after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that he would cancel the carbon tax, the B.C. Ministry of Finance has now confirmed that it is tabling legislation on Monday, March 31, 2025, to remove the tax effective April 1, 2025.

The province also stated that it would notify fuel sellers and natural gas retailers now...

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-consumer-carbon-tax-scrapped

[jollyburger]

And he's a lawyer.

Eby's power grab collapses under mounting pressure

Premier David Eby backed down on his controversial anti-tariff legislation Friday, after a chorus of critics, including two former premiers, an attorney general and half a dozen business groups, lined up to oppose what they say is an unjustified power grab by the NDP government.

Eby said he’ll remove a clause from the bill that would have given cabinet the ability to change any law without approval of the B.C. legislature for two years.

“My interest in being able to move quickly to respond to the threat that British Columbia is facing got the better of, certainly, my understanding that the safeguards that people are calling for need to be there as well,” Eby told reporters.

“I’ll make sure that we're addressing those safeguards, that we're finding a way to achieve all these goals, if that's possible, and bring the bill back as a separate bill for the legislative assembly.”

The remaining of the legislation, called Bill 7 — which authorizes government to remove interprovincial trade barriers, cancel U.S. procurement contracts and tax American supply trucks in B.C. — will go forward and pass this spring, said Eby.

Former Liberal premier Gordon Campbell, and former NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh both slammed the Eby government in the past week for the overreach.

https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-polit...llapses-under-mounting-pressure-10444791

[Vin]

Does this come as a surprise?

B.C. government's budget performance to be the weakest of peers, both domestically and internationally: forecast
https://dailyhive.com/victoria/bc-government-credit-rating-downgrade-budget-analysis

Two of the world’s largest credit rating agencies have once again downgraded the Government of British Columbia’s credit ratings.

Standard and Poor (S&P) Global Ratings dropped the government’s long-term credit rating from AA- to A+ and the short-term rating from A-1+ to A-1, while Moody’s Ratings downgraded the government’s baseline credit assessment from AA1 to AA and the long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings from AAA to AA1. Both changes were issued yesterday.

.....it was stated that the deficit for the 2025/2026 fiscal year will reach $10.9 billion in the 2025/2026 fiscal year, $10.2 billion in 2026/2027, and $9.9 billion in 2027/2028.

The NDP government seem to fail in everything except hoodwinking the gullible electorate to put them into office by being fiscally irresponsible. At least back in the 90s the Fast Ferry fiasco woke up a lot of people here, but not anymore.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Breaking news: investors (and the people who rate investments for them) prefer short-term profit over long-term.

S&P and Moody's helped create the Great Recession. They rated AIG and Lehman "AA+" hours before they went bust. It's ridiculous that we still let them have a say on public policy.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Breaking news: investors (and the people who rate investments for them) prefer short-term profit over long-term.

S&P and Moody's helped create the Great Recession. They rated AIG and Lehman "AA+" hours before they went bust. It's ridiculous that we still let them have a say on public policy.

I don't know where this talking point comes from. Credit rating agencies have no say on public policy, all they have a say on is credit ratings. Regardless of whether or not you think it's "ridiculous" that a government has a credit rating, lenders care, and if the government is going to run deficits it has to get that money from somewhere. The lenders don't care about public policy either, only the likelihood that the government will pay its debts. If the credit rating agencies think government policy may result in a riskier loan, the credit rating will go down and the loans will be treated as riskier by lenders. Lenders are still going to lend, but the rates are going to be higher.

I'm not sure if you think lenders should just always lend to the government at the rate most beneficial to the government no matter what? Things don't work that way.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

- snip -

And yet governments often cave into pressure and pull a 180 to get their rating back up, and the indexes know they have this influence and often take advantage of it. I'd count that as a "say."

The Libs created their "surplus" by letting in money launderers, defunding the public sector and raiding Crown corps; the Dippers created their deficit by pouring money back into a 20-year healthcare/education/infrastructure shortage that'll only pay off decades after they're gone. If that's "irresponsible," then let's get another four years' worth of it after this round.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

And yet governments often cave into pressure and pull a 180 to get their rating back up, and the indexes know they have this influence and often take advantage of it. I'd count that as a "say."

What other alternative is there for investors? There are two main credit rating agencies. Savvy banks who ignore them could get all of the government's lending business by giving them better rates. Nobody is stopping that.

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The Libs created their "surplus" by letting in money launderers, defunding the public sector and raiding Crown corps; the Dippers created their deficit by pouring money back into a 20-year healthcare/education/infrastructure shortage that'll only pay off decades after they're gone. If that's "irresponsible," then let's get another four years' worth of it after this round.

That's a pretty biased view. There's a limited amount of money around. Capital spending is one thing, but the NDP is now running a huge operational deficit. Horgan kept a tighter lid on spending. Post-COVID they have lost the plot IMO.

You want all of this spending? Have the balls to increase taxes, or suffer the consequences. You can't have you cake and eat it too. We'll be at Ontario levels of debt per capita soon enough.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

- snip -

A pandemic, a trade war and a lot of supply chain disruptions will do that. So what do we start cutting again that won't hurt us later? Hospitals? Schools? SkyTrains?

The province has no choice but to keep spending, and so the creditors lowered our score. End of story.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

A pandemic, a trade war and a lot of supply chain disruptions will do that. So what do we start cutting again that won't hurt us later? Hospitals? Schools? SkyTrains?

The province has no choice but to keep spending, and so the creditors lowered our score. End of story.

Dude did you purposefully misread my post? I didn't say cut spending, I said raise taxes.

Province has no choice? Come on.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Dude did you purposefully misread my post? I didn't say cut spending, I said raise taxes.

Province has no choice? Come on.

Did you purposefully misread mine? I said there's nothing we can cut that won't hurt us later. I'll admit we talked past each other if you will.

By all means, raise rates on the upper brackets, but the same people who talk about fixing deficits are usually the same people who threaten to move if their taxes go up.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

By all means, raise rates on the upper brackets, but the same people who say a government needs to fix the deficit are usually the same people who threaten to move if their taxes go up.

I'm not in that camp necessarily but governments increase spending a lot faster when they can just throw more debt on the books.

If they think every dollar of this deficit is worth while, then increase taxes and prove it to voters.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

And yet governments often cave into pressure and pull a 180 to get their rating back up, and the indexes know they have this influence and often take advantage of it. I'd count that as a "say."

Lenders and rating agencies don't care what the credit rating is. Lenders are not begging British Columbia to axe health care spending in order to get a higher credit rating and lower rates. Why would a lender want lower rates on a safe investment in the first place? Lenders decide what financial risk an economy has and decide the rates they're comfortable with based on those criteria.

If the lending industry decides to raise rates to an appropriate risk adjusted level, they're not trying to "punish" or "bully" the government into enacting "conservative policies" or whatever this talking point is. It's just emotionless financial calculus. Lending rates are set at what the market believes the financial risk is.

[whatnext]

Worth noting that the deficit problem is largely an Eby problem. Horgan was a lot more fiscally responsible despite heading an NDP government.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

- snip -

"Conservatism" has nothing to do with anything I said. It's hardly a secret that Wall Street, S&P and Moody's included, prefers Smithian policy (technically classical/economic liberalism) and strongly dislikes Keynesian; the political left and right have each used both when convenient.

If they always stuck to being impartial indexes that simply told investors which investments would get them a return next quarter, no problem. Unfortunately, since they often use their influence to A) manipulate confidence in said investments, B) arbitrarily downgrade for personal reasons, and C) convince gullible headline skimmers that they're always right about anything money-related, that's not always the case.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

"Conservatism" has nothing to do with anything I said. It's hardly a secret that Wall Street, S&P and Moody's included, prefers Smithian policy (technically classical/economic liberalism) and strongly dislikes Keynesian; the political left and right have each used both when convenient.

There is no like or dislike here. Credit rating is a rating of the financial risk. The famously Nordic-model Sweden has a AAA rating, and the famously ultracapitalist Japan has an A+ rating. Canada with its generally world leading social safety net has a AAA rating, and Chile the neoliberal playground has an A rating.

The Moody's and S&P world order is really dropping the ball by rating those countries so incorrectly, don't you think? Chile should be rewarded with a higher credit rating and Canada really needs to be brought down a peg to slow down that pharmacare coverage.

Not how it works.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

- snip -

America's also higher than Japan on both indexes, despite having just spent the last two months committing economic suicide. It's like said indexes shouldn't be taken as holy gospel.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

America's also higher than Japan on both indexes, despite having just spent the last two months committing economic suicide. It's like said indexes shouldn't be taken as holy gospel.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/moody...gth-course-continued-decline-2025-03-25/

Right.