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Will McMartin has a very interesting POV on the SS Gordo's Ghost Budget.
First, his take on the Slush Fund:
"Today, the government enjoys an enormous surplus, thanks largely to a billion-dollar equalization contribution from Ottawa. The BC Liberals intend to allocate $344 million of the federal windfall to the ministry of small business and economic development for unnamed projects prior to the general election. This unbudgeted, and as-yet unallocated, expenditure already has been described as a pre-election “slush fund” by the news media and NDP opposition."
Which is bad enough on its own. But if that doesn't have your blood boiling (especially if you have been involved with and/or contributed to any of the axed programs - for me these included a BC Housing Co-op and a no longer existent non-profit social service agency to name just two), this almost certainly will:
"During the budget lock-up.......Hansen (was asked) three times if the government would debate and pass in the House his $32.4 billion expenditure plan .... All he would concede is that the BC Liberals would “get the legislature’s approval for some spending.”.....“Some” spending means that the BC Liberals likely will pass an “interim supply bill” to permit the expenditure of public monies from April 1 (the start of the fiscal year) until some date after the election........(Thus,) Hansen’s budget might well become either unaffordable or unnecessary five or six months from now. And that means this budget is pure pre-election propaganda."
Seem far-fetched?
Perhaps.
But have you tried to find all, or even one, of those New Era promises that The SS Gordo made last time around on the bc.gov.ca website lately?
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Thanks: to Have You Had Enough Yet?, as always, for pointing us towards McMartin's piece.
Prequel: Prior to reading McMartin's take, we made a similar, but much more tentative suggestion re: Mr. Campsella's true intentions on the comments thread over at Paul Willcock's place (which should be required reading for everyone who want's to get a balanced, but hard-headed, view of all issues Provincial).
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