Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What is Adrian Dix trying to hide?

From the BC Government Caucus:

Adrian Dix and the NDP are trying once again to rewrite history in a desperate attempt to fool British Columbians into believing the 1990s NDP government was actually a strong economic performer.

“It’s strange that Adrian Dix wants to run on his record as architect of the disastrous 1990s NDP economic policy, but we’re happy to oblige by showing what Adrian Dix is trying to hide from British Columbians,” says Chilliwack MLA John Les.

NDP claim:
• Under the B.C. Liberals, economic growth has been weaker (just 2.4 per cent on average) than in the 1990s (3.0 per cent).

What Adrian Dix is trying to hide:
• It’s about context! GDP per capita in B.C. increased by 8.7% under the 1991-2001 NDP. Unfortunately, they didn’t mention that across Canada in those same years, the growth was 25.3% - which means B.C. under the NDP did only about a third as well as the rest of the country.
• Between 2001-2009 under the BC Liberals, GDP per capita grew by 11% - double the national average.
• Even the independent, non-partisan BC Stats described B.C. “an under-performer in Confederation during the 1990s.” (BC Stats Infoline, Issue 02-04, pg. 3).

NDP claim:

• Under the Liberals, job growth has also been slower - just 1.5 per cent growth per year on average, compared with 2.2 per cent in the 1990s.

What Adrian Dix is trying to hide:
• B.C. was last in job growth in Canada from 1991 to 2001. During this time, only 257,800 jobs were created.
• Despite the worst economic recession in over 30 years, the BC Liberals created more than 380,000 jobs, - 47.4 per cent more than during the 1990s.

NDP claim:
• Under the Liberals, British Columbia’s business sector investment has lagged well behind the Canadian average. This has resulted in the second-lowest record in the country on productivity growth. The gross domestic product per hour worked has increased by only 0.7 per cent on average under the B.C. Liberals.

What Adrian Dix is trying to hide:
• Private sector investment in the 1990s was crippled under the policies of Adrian Dix and the NDP. Capital investment from 1992-2000 grew at an average of only 2.8% annually. Under the BC Liberals, it has grown at an average of 7.5% - almost three times as fast.
• “British Columbia’s anaemic economic performance in 1998 was largely attributable to a decline in business sector investment. Overall, business spending on structures and equipment was down 7.8%, marking the third time in the last four years that it has fallen.” (BC Stats Infoline, Issue:00-04, pg. 2)

“When Adrian Dix and the NDP point to their economic record in the 1990s, they only show you a small part of the whole,” says Les. “By almost any measure, the NDP record on jobs and the economy was dismal.

“We know that Adrian Dix was the architect of those failed economic policies of the 1990s, and we now know that the only plan they have is to take us back there again. Higher personal income taxes and higher job-killing business taxes are both the past and the future of the NDP.

“Adrian Dix is trying to hide that fact, but British Columbians will not be fooled.”

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The bottom line is that under BOTH the NDP and the BC Liberals, we have had bdugets that have run defeicts in all but 3 years (2011- 2004),... and the annual debt has increased year after year -- this from the governemtns own finance ministry reports!!

The BC Liberal Party is simply NDP light