Dan Davies – Weekly Column – “Fudge-it” Budget Foreshadow

Over the past few weeks, MLAs have been debating one of the most controversial bills to be tabled since the election. I have often spoken about the efforts of John Horgan and the NDP to slowly strip away government transparency and accountability, and the hotly-debated Bill 10 is a prime example of this. While John Horgan and the NDP will continue to argue this supply bill is ‘business as usual’ and just like any other supply bill, in reality, there are some very concerning differences. 

Whereas most supply bills come after a budget is tabled — as required by law — John Horgan is seeking to use Bill 10 to take $13 billion without first presenting a budget, meaning that British Columbians will have no idea what exactly the government plans to spend such an incredible sum of money on. Typically, a government cannot spend the allotment of a supply bill like this without first presenting a budget. The only problem is, John Horgan has delayed the next budget by two months. 

The Premier plans to take full advantage of his new government majority by adding a workaround in the bill that will circumvent the financial rules in the Financial Administration Act. Of course, the Premier insists that there is no foul play here and that British Columbians should simply trust his government to use the cash in our best interests, but British Columbians have good reason to be a little suspicious. 

It was this time last year that all parties unanimously approved $5 billion in COVID recovery aid to assist British Columbians at the onset of the pandemic. Rather than use it for its intended purpose, Horgan instead sat on the cash so he could frame much of the money as campaign promises in his fall snap election. Businesses and communities are still desperately waiting for much of the support promised by this government nearly a year ago. To date, less than a quarter of the NDP’s $300 million in business recovery grant funds have actually made it into the hands of small businesses. 

The last time B.C. saw this level of financial trickery was during the infamous “fudge-it budget” scandal of the 1990s when the previous NDP government under Premier Glen Clark claimed that the budget was balanced, only to admit after the 1996 election that the province was in fact facing a massive deficit after overshooting their budget by $495 million. John Horgan, a policy analyst at the time, seems to be using the tricks he learned back then to once again remove the checks and balances that keep governments and their finances open and transparent to British Columbians.  

As your MLA, I will continue to work alongside my colleagues in the BC Liberal caucus to hold John Horgan and the NDP financially accountable to the people of British Columbia.