The next session of the B.C. Legislature kicked off on Tuesday with the B.C. Liberals' throne speech. The 32-page report was filled with promises of education initiatives, and served as a prelude to this Tuesday's budget announcement.
Tuesday's throne speech was full of promises - promises for a more economically prosperous future.
Significant new spending is expected and education is said to be receiving a big part of that.
Improving education should certainly be a top priority, but we're wondering where the liberals plan to come up with all that money. Is it going to be the taxpayer who will be hit in the pocket book? Or are more budget cuts in other areas coming?
The Liberals are pledging to offer voters balanced books once the budget is tabled. That is certainly good news for a lot of people, but given the Liberals' track record of late, it's hard to be optimistic.
The Liberals have been avoiding scandal after scandal lately.
Two recent examples include the raid on the legislature in December, with still so many unanswered questions surrounding that, and Gordon Hogg's resignation as the Minister of Children and Family Development in late January.
With the next provincial election a mere 15 months away, Premier Gordon Campbell and his Liberal government have a lot to overcome.
We've heard a lot of promises from Campbell in the past. It's easy to say you're going to add this and increase that, but actually doing it is another things.
We hope this time Campbell's promises are not broken. If Tuesday's budget isn't what they say it is, the Liberals will be in for a rough ride in the next election, May 2005.
