Adrian Dix: More of the same...

From the BC Government Caucus:

In the 165 days since becoming Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Dix has haphazardly promised expensive new programs and projects that would bankrupt the province.

“Adrian Dix is scrambling around, promising the moon without acknowledging the consequences of ratcheting up government spending at a time of global economic uncertainty,” said John Les, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier.

“The BC Liberal government re-established British Columbia’s reputation with the international financial community after a decade of economic mismanagement with Dix at the controls.

“We simply cannot afford Adrian Dix.”

The following are just some of Adrian Dix’s spending promises:

Hazy promises without a plan:

An array of capital spending promises in the health care sector, amounting to $2.2 billion.
Dix’s plans to rip up clean energy contracts could cost British Columbians upwards of $5.8 billion to compensate IPP owners from the provincial treasury.
A vague plan to “retrofit” all public and private buildings in B.C. based on the $35 million program at UBC. Simply retrofitting each university in B.C. would cost approximately $840 million. The cost to retrofit every building in the province would be too much to even calculate.

Reckless spending:

Although there’s no link between health care spending and health outcomes, Dix stated he wants B.C. to be the highest per-capita health care spender in Canada. The cost: $4.15 billion added to the provincial health care budget annually.
A back-of-the-napkin plan to implement a provincial childcare system, which would cost over $2 billion per year.
An annual student grant program, costing $148 million.

“Adrian Dix, chief architect of one of the most fiscally irresponsible governments in Canadian history,” said Les, “obviously hasn’t learned a thing. If given the chance, he would once again spend taxpayers’ money without regard.”

The total cost to the treasury to implement the programs outlined above is just under $15.14 billion. Dix has identified “just” $490 million in tax hikes to offset the costs.

“On average, Adrian Dix has promised over $1,061 in new spending every second he has been leader of the BC NDP, but has offered no plan to offset these costs,” says Les.

“Consider – in the two minutes or so it has taken you to read this, that’s another $127,424 – more than the average family makes in a year.”

“British Columbians deserve to know how Mr. Dix is going to afford these promises, and they deserve answers now.”