Ralston said the Liberals are still bitter about the HST loss, and refuse to tell the truth about the benefits of the PST. Helmut Pastrick, the chief economist with the Central 1 Credit Union, acknowledged that “Reverting back to the PST/GST system does boost overall growth a little bit in [2013, 2014 and 2015] compared to the HST scenario, mainly because of a pickup in consumer spending and residential construction.”
VICTORIA – NDP charged that the release of the government’s first quarterly report shows the Liberals continue to mislead British Columbians when it comes to the economy when it serves their political purposes.
“We saw a lot of numbers that tell us that returning to the PST is not the end of the world, but the Liberal spin was still focused on recasting it all in the gloomiest of terms. This is dishonest and frankly will only hurt economic and consumer confidence,” said New Democrat finance critic Bruce Ralston.
“During the HST debate, the Liberal mantra was that a return to the PST would cost the province $3 billion, but now that the vote is over, the Liberals’ new mantra seems to be $700 million less.”
“Clearly the Liberal government was trying to scare voters ahead of the referendum.”
Ralston said the first quarterly report released today by Finance Minister Kevin Falcon further misleads British Columbians by comparing the effects of returning to the PST to the 12-per-cent HST even though they promised to lower the HST to 10 per cent.
“The premier herself acknowledged that lowering the HST would blow roughly a $1 billion hole in the budget each year for each point lowered,” said Ralston, noting that the minister and ministry staff acknowledged that was not reflected in today’s briefing.
“Instead, the Liberals compared to a scenario that would not have existed. It’s simply more deception from a Liberal government that’s run out of gas and new ideas.”
Ralston said the Liberals are still bitter about the HST loss, and refuse to tell the truth about the benefits of the PST. Helmut Pastrick, the chief economist with the Central 1 Credit Union, acknowledged that “Reverting back to the PST/GST system does boost overall growth a little bit in [2013, 2014 and 2015] compared to the HST scenario, mainly because of a pickup in consumer spending and residential construction.”
Ralston said the Liberals had put all of their eggs in the HST basket, and clearly have no plan to address the important issues facing the province now that the tax is gone.
“Under the Liberals, our job growth has been poor compared to the other western provinces,” said Ralston. “But the only thing the Liberals could tell us about their plans for the future involves more cuts and belt-tightening for British Columbians.
“Low and middle-class earners are expected to tighten their belt even more, while under the Liberals’ watch top executives in the province are making more than ever.”
