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Look at the Liberals

Letters

Editor:

I was so hoping that for once, the NDP’s “disastrous Fast Cat Ferry project” would not come up again. Alas, Doug Hockley had to drag it out one more time (“Just another era,” Letters, June 30). In the meantime, a number of studies have shown that the fast ferries have given the aluminum boat building industry in B.C. a great boost. The tax revenue from the wage earners and businesses has made up more than the $450 million loss.

Now lets’s look at the Liberals. Upon taking office, Gordon Campbell gave his rich friends a $2.5-billion tax cut. I have no idea how this windfall to a few fortunate individuals has benefitted the province, except, I suppose, the dealers in expensive automobiles and realtors of expensive residences. Then we have the BC Convention Centre. An overrun of $400 million. The sale of BC Rail, mired in scandal, for $1 billion. Since BC Rail paid about $135 million a year into the BC treasury, that money was used up by 2010. Since then, the province has suffered a loss of revenue close to another $1 billion.

The Supreme Court of Canada kicked the butt of the BC Liberal Government out of the court room in an unprecedented 20 minutes. (In olden days this would have caused the resignation of the government.) It is now a court-certified fact that the BC Liberals bargained in bad faith, and deliberately provoked the teacher strike in 2014. Price tag $300 million. Cost to the B.C. taxpayer for court costs, unknown. Christy Clark taking responsibility (she was minister of education at that time and premier during the strike), none.

BC Place roof replacement overrun $200 million, although the true cost has never been published. The shape of the roof reminds me of a crown of thorns that the Liberals have pressed on the heads of British Columbians.

For the sake of a smoke and mirrors balanced budget, the Liberals have moved mega projects like the Sea to Sky Highway and the Port Mann Bridge off the books. True cost to the taxpayer, as of yet unknown.

And, of course, the mother of all foolishness is still on the horizon, $9 billion for the Site C Dam. What we do know is that B.C. is the highest indebted province in Canada.

This, by no means, is an exhaustive list. I come up with $4.4 billion, about 10 times as much as the Fast Cat Ferries, which in the end created employment. And that, in the minds of some people, is still the pinnacle of NDP mismanagement?

Klaus Blume, Gibsons