Monday, April 11, 2016

This Day In Clarkland...Bill Bennett Admits That B.C.'s Balanced Budget Is Bullshite.

BullshitIsNot
GroceriesVille


From Rob Shaw's latest in the VSun, in which a proMedia Club member is finally forced to start playing catch-up to Norm Farrell:

...BC Hydro) owes around $852 million to the government over the next three fiscal years in mandatory annual dividend payments. But it doesn’t have the cash, and so it will have to borrow the funds, said Energy Minister Bill Bennett.

The contentious practice sees the monopoly energy company borrow money — which ratepayers will have to pay back in the future — so that it can meet government’s annual demand for a share of its profits.

Bennett has admitted the practice is unsustainable, and will begin to be reduced by $100 million a year in 2018 until it is eliminated.

“If we could have afforded to have started to reduce the dividend by $100 million a year sooner, it would have been great,” Bennett said Monday.

“But we couldn’t. We’re on a fiscal plan and we want to balance the budget every year and we just couldn’t afford to do it before we did.”...



Surprise.


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Subheader about grocery bills and budgets and all that that ignore the bullshit entirely?...Why, the Dean, of course.


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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah.... Yes... but at least the Liberals are not raising taxes..... oh wait a second....they just believe they can hide it better...

Guy in Victoria

RossK said...

But Guy--

Do we have to pay interest on taxes?


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Anonymous said...

used to be 80 percent bchydro limit now it has been upped to 85 percent,Just in time for election?

Hydro uses a formula that sees 85 per cent of its net income returned back to the government in dividends.

RossK said...

Anon--

Yup.

Norm Farrell has talked about that too:

"...What may be planned is elimination of the 80:20 ratio. I find it amusing that government has a crown agency borrow money to pay a dividend that allows government to declare a fake surplus... and the Press Gallery gang applauds in admiration for the fiscal restraint..."


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RossK said...

The real point is...

As Norm points out, this is the OPPOSITE of fiscal restraint.


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Anonymous said...

We are being governed by a group of corrupt swindlers, engaged in the ultimate ponzi scheme. Since when is this in, any form ethical governance, and for such manipulation of taxpayers money's along with the "misrepresntation " of budget information, how can this be at all "legal".

e.a.f. said...

Here is an idea. get over trying to get money from ICBC and B.C. Hydro, just raise the dam taxes and restructure them so everyone pays their fair share. Stop giving money away to mines, oil and LNG companies. there is so much film work in B.C. I don't think they need an "Incentive" and forget the $100M for the tech industry,.

We might even balance the budget.

Like when to unprofitable corporations pay dividends. that's a new one for me. Gee I'll have to check with some stock broker about that. they're always saying when a company doesn't make money they don't pay dividends and here we have the capitalist pro business types saying its possible.

Lew said...

“But we couldn’t. We’re on a fiscal plan and we want to balance the budget every year and we just couldn’t afford to do it before we did.”

And somebody would have had to take a 20% wage cut under the Balanced Budget and Ministerial Accountability Act if the budget wasn’t balanced. Which had nothing to do with the smoke and mirrors of course.

http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/01028_01

RossK said...

Lew--

Are those portions of the act still in place (i.e. section 3)?...I can't tell what has actually been repealed (i.e. section 2.1)?

Thanks.

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Lew said...

@RossK:

Section 2.1 related to exemptions for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 fiscal years (due to 2010 Olympics?). Section 3 still applies.

Anonymous said...

Are BC Liberals are the lawnmower...and youre the lawn.?

inse said...

But Billy BS hasn't really turned the corner into truth, from the local news today;http://www.e-know.ca/regions/cranbrook/keeping-rates-affordable-investing-in-the-future/

Anonymous said...

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/john-robson-corporate-welfare-is-all-about-trading-favours-and-buying-influence

RossK said...

Thanks Lew...Post comin'.

Thanks inse and Anon-Above for the links.


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Anonymous said...

pay to plat the BC liberal way?

https://twitter.com/bobmackin/status/720022583156940800

Hugh said...

With total BC government debt and contractual obligations totalling over $170 billion, and growing rapidly, no, I'd say the BC budget is not balanced.

Anonymous said...

2015

https://fipa.bc.ca/bc-government-removing-penalties-for-document-destruction/