BC Political Discussion: Election 2024 & 43rd Parliament

[chowhou]

In similar news, seems they're trying to get the gang back together.

https://uniteliberalbc.ca/

Meanwhile the Milobites are growing.

https://vancouversun.com/news/mla-teresa-wat-joins-conservative-defectors-new-bc-party

MLA Teresa Wat to join other Conservative defectors in new party
Teresa Wat, MLA for Richmond-Bridgeport, announced Friday she has joined a new party, currently led by interim Leader Peter Milobar.

A new centre-right political party formed by B.C. Conservative defectors has nabbed another high-profile name.

Teresa Wat, MLA for Richmond-Bridgeport, announced Friday she has joined the new party, currently led by interim Leader Peter Milobar.

“British Columbians want a strong, credible alternative to the NDP that is focused on affordability, and competent government,” said Wat. “After careful consideration, I have decided to join Peter and the growing team of sitting MLAs to help build this new party. I believe that this party can bring people together from across our province and replace the NDP as British Columbia’s government.”

Wat left the B.C. Conservatives in August after private texts between Tory Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay and her team surfaced, messages in which Findlay insinuated that Wat was associated with the Chinese Communist Party and that “the Chinese community that supports us knows this.”

The texts had been leaked and posted online in July by an anonymous social media post called the FindlayFiles.

“These remarks were distasteful, hurtful and made me question my place in the B.C. Conservatives under her leadership,” Wat said at the time.

Wat was one of seven MLAs who departed Findlay’s party in August, as controversy dogged the Tories and Findlay’s leadership was questioned. Those MLAs include Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day; Delta South MLA Ian Paton; Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird; Kamloops Centre MLA Milobar; Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman; and Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA Áʼa:líya Warbus.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by chowhou

In similar news, seems they're trying to get the gang back together.

https://uniteliberalbc.ca/

Meanwhile the Milobites are growing.

https://vancouversun.com/news/mla-teresa-wat-joins-conservative-defectors-new-bc-party

There were rumours that she wanted to run for mayor of Richmond. I wonder if that is on hold. Also, she is not young. I wonder if she is going to run in the next election.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by djmk

There were rumours that she wanted to run for mayor of Richmond. I wonder if that is on hold. Also, she is not young. I wonder if she is going to run in the next election.

No way a mayoral run could happen this cycle.

[logicbomb]

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/09/14/bc-first-quarterly-report-2026-27

The B.C. government says it is forecasting larger deficits over the next three years as the province faces “significant headwinds” from U.S. tariffs, the impacts of the war in the Middle East, and a tighter federal immigration policy.

The province’s First Quarterly Report, issued Monday, forecasts a deficit of $13.8 billion in 2026-27, followed by deficits of $12.7 billion in 2027-28 and $12 billion in 2028-29.

Peter Milobar and co need to get their — together asap. We need fiscal conservatism and big time austerity. The NDP are on course to do some long-term economic damage here.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/09/14/bc-first-quarterly-report-2026-27

Peter Milobar and co need to get their — together asap. We need fiscal conservatism and big time austerity. The NDP are on course to do some long-term economic damage here.

Or we could tax the wealthy and actually fund things like healthcare and infrastructure properly.

Also we probably shouldn't have done the largest tax cut in BC history with rising interest rates and increasing expenditures. Let's bring the consumer carbon tax back and inject billions in revenue back into the budget.

Couple alternative ideas to "big time austerity", what are you going to cut big time? Healthcare is our no.1 expense, so that would be unavoidable. Infrastructure is already getting cut. Debt interest is unavoidable unless you pay back that debt (which isn't about to happen any time soon).

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by mcj

Or we could tax the wealthy and actually fund things like healthcare and infrastructure properly.

Also we probably shouldn't have done the largest tax cut in BC history with rising interest rates and increasing expenditures. Let's bring the consumer carbon tax back and inject billions in revenue back into the budget.

Couple alternative ideas to "big time austerity", what are you going to cut big time? Healthcare is our no.1 expense, so that would be unavoidable. Infrastructure is already getting cut. Debt interest is unavoidable unless you pay back that debt (which isn't about to happen any time soon).

The carbon tax is dead. No political party is ever bringing it back.

Big corporations can either automate or have the mobility to move across borders. We are already seeing this happen with forestry. Regulation and tax increases just hasten these decisions. Right now, we should be removing environmental regulations and encourage further resource extraction.

Consumption taxes are in a no-go when we are trying to increase consumerism in this economy. Taxing "rich people" through income is also not an answer since wage earners get taxed a ridiculous amounts. Most of the true wealthy people see insane capital gains that are increasingly getting difficult to tax.

We are really running out of options and will ultimately have to reel in spending in the next few years.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by mcj

Or we could tax the wealthy and actually fund things like healthcare and infrastructure properly.

This isn't America. We already tax the wealthy here. The highest marginal tax rate is 53.5% in BC and the breakpoint to hit the highest rate is significantly lower than in 'competing' jurisdictions. If we ramp that up higher in any meaningful way were going to see an even bigger brain drain of professionals from this province.

Austerity doesn't mean cutting spending and getting nothing for it. It's no secret a lot of government entities are not efficient, if we look to make the existing work run more smoothly we can get the same work done with less capital spend.

Well over $30 billion in debt in 3 years is a horrifying prospect for this province.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by chowhou

In similar news, seems they're trying to get the gang back together.

https://uniteliberalbc.ca/

Meanwhile the Milobites are growing.

https://vancouversun.com/news/mla-teresa-wat-joins-conservative-defectors-new-bc-party

I find it amusing that Milobar's group is referred to as the "Peter Party" in BIV.

The leaders of CentreBC and the “Peter Party” of five MLAs are both vowing to push forward as alternatives to the BC Conservatives, even as, on paper at least, they look like basically the same political offering.

CentreBC has 25 candidates identified for the next election, a fully functioning and registered party apparatus, and a candidate in the ongoing Abbotsford-Mission byelection. But the party led by Peter Milobar now has five MLAs, a platform in the legislature and a steady source of funding from its elected officials....

...Milobar pointed to CentreBC’s name as a fundamental issue, failing to capture the intent or interest of voters.

“I don't know many people when you ask them, ‘Well, what's your position on this?’ That they would say ‘centre,’” said Milobar.

“It’s not that they use right or left labels either when they're describing it, but you know, they rarely would say, ‘Well, I'm right in the middle of this issue, and that issue, and that issue,’ right? Because what does that even mean then?”...

https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/rob-...new-party-to-find-common-ground-12752535

[Migrant_Coconut]

Okay, so what do you intend to do differently?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

This isn't America. We already tax the wealthy here. The highest marginal tax rate is 53.5% in BC and the breakpoint to hit the highest rate is significantly lower than in 'competing' jurisdictions. If we ramp that up higher in any meaningful way were going to see an even bigger brain drain of professionals from this province.

Austerity doesn't mean cutting spending and getting nothing for it. It's no secret a lot of government entities are not efficient, if we look to make the existing work run more smoothly we can get the same work done with less capital spend.

Well over $30 billion in debt in 3 years is a horrifying prospect for this province.

I'm not saying to increase income taxes, we should be taxing wealth directly, something this Province has no shortage of.

I've also heard every political party, especially right wing ones, talk about cutting wasteful spending and making things "efficient", but promising is a lot different than doing. We can look at the fact that every Province in Canada that is run by a right wing government isn't actually doing this magical austerity = spending cuts without service cuts scenario, they're also going into massive debt and are increasing government spending year after year. The BC Liberals also promised this and they also delivered growing deficits by the end of their reign, why would going back to that same party make any difference?

So, what do you propose to cut? Besides promises of "efficiency" that never materialize.

If we had kept the consumer carbon tax that $30B hole would be $10B smaller.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by mcj

I'm not saying to increase income taxes, we should be taxing wealth directly, something this Province has no shortage of.

I've also heard every political party, especially right wing ones, talk about cutting wasteful spending and making things "efficient", but promising is a lot different than doing. We can look at the fact that every Province in Canada that is run by a right wing government isn't actually doing this magical austerity = spending cuts without service cuts scenario, they're also going into massive debt and are increasing government spending year after year. The BC Liberals also promised this and they also delivered growing deficits by the end of their reign, why would going back to that same party make any difference?

So, what do you propose to cut? Besides promises of "efficiency" that never materialize.

If we had kept the consumer carbon tax that $30B hole would be $10B smaller.

No one will take you seriously unless you can explain how a BC wealth tax will not decimate our already struggling economy. There is only one thing you can say that could make sense, otherwise please explain to me exactly the rate you would like to tax seniors' retirement accounts, farmers, and mining investors simply for existing. What should the tax rate be on my chequing account?

I'll let you in on a secret: IF we seized all the wealth from every billionaire in BC, the province would still be in debt.

[LeftCoaster]

Problem is capital/wealth is very footloose. Tax the wealth (double taxation which is already super problematic) and it just leaves. There's a reason not a single jurisdiction in north america does it.

The wealthy have proven time and time again that they can hide their money. Events like the Panama Papers show us how big of a business it is. I doubt a wealth tax will help us, and I'd imagine any meager earnings it drums up scares off far more investment than it could ever bring in through revenues.

Bottom line is we need to stop spending so much and so wastefully. Is it easy? no, of course not. But does that mean we shouldn't try?

[Migrant_Coconut]

I'd also point out that Victoria just lost half a billion (with a B) in revenue because of a clerical whoopsie-daisie. That does not inspire confidence in them handling 1% of the province's wealth.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I'd also point out that Victoria just lost half a billion (with a B) in revenue because of a clerical whoopsie-daisie. That does not inspire confidence in them handling 1% of the province's wealth.

Not quite, it was more like one and a half billion.

https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-now-pro...llion-amid-errors-on-natural-gas-revenue

[mcj]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Bottom line is we need to stop spending so much and so wastefully. Is it easy? no, of course not. But does that mean we shouldn't try?

Like I said before, everyone promises this and no one has ever delivered on this. What would we stop spending on so wastefully here? Healthcare is the biggest expense at $35B, we still have people without family doctors and hospitals are overwhelmed, what are we going to realistically cut to the tune of $10B/year+?

[chowhou]

The Keynesian in me wants to say cutting probably isn't the thing to do because even if it's inefficient in hard economic times we need to keep employment and cash circulating. The cuts should happen when times are good which the NDP would never accept. We also shouldn't be adding taxes and barriers to investment we should be cutting barriers to investment and development in the province. Also something the NDP seems ideologically against accepting.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by mcj

I'm not saying to increase income taxes, we should be taxing wealth directly, something this Province has no shortage of.

the richest guy in BC has about $10B in assets. What do you want to do? Force him to sell his shares in Save on Foods so he can pay taxes?

[djmk]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The Keynesian in me wants to say cutting probably isn't the thing to do because even if it's inefficient in hard economic times we need to keep employment and cash circulating. The cuts should happen when times are good which the NDP would never accept. We also shouldn't be adding taxes and barriers to investment we should be cutting barriers to investment and development in the province. Also something the NDP seems ideologically against accepting.

To be fair, the demand for housing (and the spin off effects like property transfer tax) is largely outside the NDPs control.

The budget for health care went up by $10B in three years. Total income is 85B. Health care expenditures is $36B. Thats 42% and it's only going to get worse as baby boomers age further.

Lets be 100% honest here with what the real problem is.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by djmk

To be fair, the demand for housing (and the spin off effects like property transfer tax) is largely outside the NDPs control.

The budget for health care went up by $10B in three years. Total income is 85B. Health care expenditures is $36B. Thats 42% and it's only going to get worse as baby boomers age further.

Lets be 100% honest here with what the real problem is.

I'm not talking housing, I'm talking resource development.

Also believe it or not we actually kind of solved the population aging. Canada had a — ton of 18-40 year olds immigrate in the past five years if you might remember. Our population pyramid looks more like a developing nation than a dying first world country.

https://populationpyramids.org/canada

The issue is not that we're spending money on health care, the issue is that we have not allowed productivity to keep up.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by djmk

To be fair, the demand for housing (and the spin off effects like property transfer tax) is largely outside the NDPs control.

The budget for health care went up by $10B in three years. Total income is 85B. Health care expenditures is $36B. Thats 42% and it's only going to get worse as baby boomers age further.

Lets be 100% honest here with what the real problem is.

Yup agreed, and if we are going to find $10B+ per year in "efficiencies" (cuts) it's very likely ~40% of those cuts will come straight out of healthcare.


Table 4.8 2025/2026 Expense By Function lays it out. Out of $94.6B in expenses, $39.0B are Healthcare (41%), $19.7B is Education (20%), and $10.5B is social services (11%), that's $60.9B (72%) of the budget on those core functions.

It's inevitable if cuts happen, they'd come primarily from those core functions. So for the people that want austerity big time, what should we be cutting from healthcare, education and social services? and why is that a good idea? and if that can't be answered directly, why should we trust politicians, especially those who have previously been in office, to handle these cuts and not end up in a DOGE style situation like the US?