The BCNDP Phantom Budget

By Aaron Ekman

Aired March 18th, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cu1LAT2Tsk

Well if the BC Liberal opposition has been struggling since losing power in 2017 to find an effective vein of attack on the Horgan government, those days are clearly over, and the fault rests squarely on the shoulders of rookie finance minister Selina Robinson, who at her first opportunity since replacing the retired Carol James, has just simply failed to submit a budget to the house of commons for approval. In it's place, Robinson's ministry is instead asking for a nearly $13 billion dollar blank check with which to carry on the business of government. That's nearly the cost of the entire Site C project combined.

Predictably, the opposition parties are appalled... but far more appalling is the number of BCNDP MLAs who lined up this week like good little caucus pets to advance flimsy justifications for why they shouldn't be expected to let British Columbians taxpayers know how they plan to spend our money.

Their main excuse is in no way surprising. "COVID" they all say, makes it impossible for us to tell the future.

Really?

So you expect taxpayers to believe that in all other cases, when we're NOT plagued by a pandemic, that somehow YOUR bean counters ARE able to predict the future? I've heard some weak sauce from politicians in my day, but this is paramount.

I don't have to explain to you why it's important for a government, (or any private company for that matter) to run itself through an annual budget process. Without some plan in place to guide and restrain spending, large organisational leviathans can put themselves irreparably in the red before knowing anything has gone amiss. Without a budget against which you can track your day-to-day spending, how are you or anyone else for that matter, supposed to identify problem areas before running the whole goddamned ship off a cliff?

And I'm sorry, an uncertain economic future doesn't lessen the need to plan out your spending in advance, on the contrary, you hardly need to be a conservative to know that uncertain economic times are when you need to plan your spending out the most. It's times like this when budgets are MOST important, because the risk of overspending and poor financial decisions are the likeliest to occur.

So what's the motivation here? Is it as the BC Liberal opposition says, just another repeat of the old 1990's Glen Clark gang repeating the history of their famed "fudget budget?" Well, perhaps, and it certainly doesn't help perceptions much that arguably the three most influential figures of this government, (Horgan. Meggs, and Dix,) come straight outta that yearbook.

But the context in 2021 is different. An election is not looming. There are conceivably three more budgets yet to come before the BCNDP is required to seek a new mandate, and frankly, voters would be undoubtedly prove quite forgiving in the context of this pandemic were the BCNDP to post a projected deficit for the year. Indeed, how exactly would the opposition criticise a deficit budget out of one side of their mouths while screaming for more subsidies to small businesses out of the other? Premier Horgan just last week, announced large additional cost overruns for the Site C dam, proving that he's not completely adverse to delivering bad news to British Columbians during difficult times.

So if it's possible that the BCNDP government isn't really hiding anything here, then let's take them at their word for just a moment. Is it impossible to produce a budget during COVID? Well none of the government agencies required to submit their budgets to the ministry of finance seem to have been let off the hook, however one wonders exactly how they can now be expected to effectly plan their own economic futures not knowing exactly how much the provincial government plans to fund them.

Are other governments across Canada finding it impossible to draw up a plan for expenditures and projected revenue in 2021... nope. To a province, across the board, governments are projecting deficits, yes... but at least their taxpayers know what the damage will look like, because unlike ours, their governments have put a budget in front of them to examine.

But how? you might ask... are all these governments able to project the future when the future is so uncertain? Exactly the same way they do every year... they conceive of all possible scenarios, (preferably even the worst scenarios) and they communicate to themselves and everyone around them, how they plan to spend the money they expect to take in. It's really not that difficult.

Of course it's always entirely possible that the projections in your budget will be way off... that revenue will be lower than expected, or that you'll end up spending more than you planned... and indeed, I've often cautioned people against spending too much time analysing budgets, and too little time looking at the expense statements near the end of the year, which show whether government adhered to its own budget or not... The latter is more important, but it can't exist without the former.

But it doesn't matter if you're a Conservative, a Libertarian, a Green, a Socialist, or a Rhinoceros... we should all be able to agree that providing a budget at a bare minimum... provides simultaneously the most effective transparency for taxpayers regarding a government plans, but more importantly, an internal framework with which to keep your spending in line... a particular benefit for a BCNDP government historically saddled with the perception of being prone to occasional fits of drunken-sailorism, (accurate or otherwise.)

Now I'm not suggesting that the Finance Minister has only one job here... that being to produce a budget. The portfolio is undoubtedly one of the most complex in cabinet... but producing a budget is in-arguably the most important function of the minister. It's the reason budget day carries so much pomp, circumstance and theatre every year. There's no way around it... failing to produce a budget is a major failing of the BCNDP's new Finance Minister. And British Columbians are entirely justified in wondering, if the minister is incapable of producing a budget precisely when the province needs one the most, at a time of considerably economic uncertainty... then why exactly is she occupying the position? That's a legitimate question, and one the opposition will undoubtedly lead with in the days and weeks to come.

But more reprehensible... is the degree to which the Horgan government has thrown rook MLA backbenchers out like cannon fodder during the second reading of Bill 10 to try to justify this absurdity - floating arguments that "nothing new is happening here... that governments approve supply bills all the time."
Well yeah... of course they do... except that virtually every year for the last half century, the government supply bill has been accompanied by a budget explaining how exactly they plan to spend the taxpayer dollars they're asking for approval. There's absolutely nothing normal about asking British Columbians to write a $13 billion dollar blank cheque to a government with a disputable track record on prudent spending.

And Make no mistake, Nathan... though I think it's fair to say the BC Liberals have really struggled to find an effective line of attack over the last four years... the new Finance Minister seems to have single-handedly blown the wind back into their sales here.