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…
The dead should be appropriately honoured. But some opportunists will exploit these dead children for financial and political gain
The discovery of human remains at a former residential school site has set off a firestorm that has already resulted in demands for another national inquiry and massively expensive forensic and excavation projects. But maybe we should pause and ask some questions. The Kamloops Indian Residential School operated as a residential school from 1890 to…
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…
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…
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…
To attract the investment required to develop resources, mitigating the risks of policy uncertainly needs to be a top priority
By Jairo Yunis and Elmira Aliakbari The Fraser Institute The COVID recession has hurt Canada’s natural resources sector, with supply disruptions, commodity price declines and greater uncertainty regarding future demand. Not surprisingly, capital investment in the Canadian mining industry has dropped to its lowest level since 2009. Of course, business investment should be a key…
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…