Premier Horgan really needs to start getting his spending under control
The interest payments on British Columbia’s provincial debt this year could pay the salaries of 4,600 new paramedics for 10 years. But, instead of paying for first responders or providing tax relief to families, a whopping $2.8 billion is being sent to bondholders on Bay Street and Wall Street every year to pay for our…
Using taxpayers’ money for partisan purposes is wrong
If cheating taxpayers out of their money were a card game, politicians would beat the house every time. Politicians in British Columbia have taken around $30 million of your money over the past few years. They’re spending it on attack ads, lawn signs and junk mail. This money taken from taxpayers is officially called the…
It costs about $50 extra in taxes to fill up a minivan in Metro Vancouver, not including the cost of the fuel
As we see the light at the end of the COVID Tunnel of Hell, many families hope to hit the roads to explore beautiful British Columbia this summer. Safe road trips will be essential after the strain many have been under during the pandemic. But, because B.C. drivers are being burned by the highest gas…
$14 billion in extra taxes, with nothing to show for it
Emissions are going up in British Columbia, despite having the highest carbon tax in Canada. Since we all miss going to concerts, let’s put this into a West Coast grunge style. Everything is not Zen if we keep making people pay carbon taxes to reduce emissions while emissions keep going up. Government documents show that…
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims Canadian Taxpayers Federation Erin O’Toole’s proposed carbon taxes would cost you more to heat your home, put food on the table and drive to work. The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada broke his promise and announced that, if elected prime minister, he’s going to impose his own…
The Horgan government says that by 2024, it’s going to be $127 billion. That’s an increase of 45 per cent in three years
The sun will come out tomorrow and we need to start acting like it. Politicians keep telling us that we need to buckle up while they overspend like there’s no future, but, when we finally emerge from the COVID Tunnel of Hell, taxpayers can’t afford for governments to keep spending our bottom dollars. Premier John…
Provincial debt is more than $75 billion, and it’s increasing by $100 per second
British Columbia’s last budget feels like something from a distant, pre-pandemic past. Now the province’s throne speech gives a little glance into the future budget. And if we’re going to get back to balanced budgets, we’re going to have to go faster than Marty McFly to fix our finances in the future. Back in the…
Think you can avoid the carbon tax by riding your bike? Think again
British Columbians are now paying even more to heat, eat and drive to work. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's most recent carbon tax hike has found a willing follower in British Columbia Premier John Horgan. When Team Trudeau was fighting against several provinces at the Supreme Court of Canada, saying he should be able to impose…
We need the power to recall local politicians who are doing a bad job between elections
Most people probably haven’t spent much time in a champagne room, but taxpayers in the Kamloops area have paid the tab for that kind of fancy night out. Folks there are grappling with a shocking amount of bad spending by their local government, and it’s highlighting our province’s need for a municipal auditor general and…
It’s time to rein in the runaway salaries instead of saying you are going to and then reneging
In gift-giving etiquette, de-gifting is the most egregious foul. It’s worse than a re-gifter. There’s all the fanfare of opening the gift and thanking the giver. But then the gift is unceremoniously repossessed. Pro tip: don’t invite TransLink to your next birthday party. TransLink made headlines last spring when executives issued a press release saying…