The BC Conservatives unveiled their full costed platform on Tuesday morning, less than a week before the provincial election.
Affordability, along with safety and recovery, anchors the platform and in a letter at the beginning, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad says he will bring back “common sense, refocus government on delivering real results, and build a future where every British Columbian has the opportunity to thrive.”
Under affordability, the BC Conservatives say they will scrap the carbon price, including “hidden carbon taxes”; implement the Rustad Rebate, touted as the “largest tax cut on housing in B.C. history”; end the housing shortage by approving projects in months, not years; cancel the PST on affordable used cars and “instead of NDP red tape, we will unleash a made-in-B.C. economic boom for investment and workers.”
Under safety and recovery, the BC Conservatives say they will stop the “revolving door justice system” by locking up repeat and violent offenders, implementing mandatory treatment for adults and youth suffering from addictions, expanding treatment for those struggling with addictions and eliminating “free hard drugs and drug paraphernalia”; end tent cities by moving campers into support services; and restore accountability and transparency in the court system by posting audio recordings of eligible trials online.
A previous statement from the Conservatives says they would eliminate B.C.’s nearly $9-billion deficit within two terms of government and require voter approval of any new taxes through a referendum or an election.
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At a media event on Tuesday, Rustad said this platform is all about “making sure those people, the youth in our province, can stay, that families are able to build that future and the only way to do that is through tax relief.”
Rustad said that the Rustad Rebate includes a budget of $3 billion annually in tax relief, once it’s fully implemented, $1.5 billion in the first year and “ramping up” from there.
In the Conservative platform, the party says it will get B.C.’s economy back on track by empowering First Nations through economic reconciliation, focusing on growing private sector jobs, differentiating between public and private sector jobs in all government communications and statistics, championing Canada-wide free trade, supporting a made-in-B.C. manufacturing boom by addressing the shortage of industrial land, participating in the Canadian Northern Corridor initiative to build infrastructure, approving the range of proposed LNG plants in B.C., providing certainty around land use and property rights and attracting international investment to industries like manufacturing.
The party says it will also cut the small business tax to one per cent and review WorksafeBC’s $2.1-billion surplus.
When it comes to working with B.C.’s First Nations, the Conservatives says it will return 20 per cent of the province’s forests to First Nations, “enabling Indigenous groups to manage these resources sustainably and in line with their traditions and values.”
It says it will also honour the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) “as it was intended: the central set of guiding principles for how governments can recognize and strengthen the rights and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples.”
The Conservatives are also promising to repeal Bill 44 unless the municipalities support it for their community; create the Civic Infrastructure Renewal Fund, which will be $1 billion a year that is available to municipalities that are building homes; and promise to “never force” low-barrier housing or shelter on a community that doesn’t want it.
The party promises to control strata insurance costs; invest in agriculture; reduce the growing cost of food in part by scrapping the carbon price; guarantee access to public lands and wild areas, including hunting and fishing rights; address health-care retention issues; expand $10-a-day child-care availability; and establish a BC Ferries Charter to “clearly outline the performance and service expectations of the Ferry Authority.”
-More to come.
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