B.C. Finance Minister Carole James and her predecessor from the opposition Liberals traded barbs Tuesday over the implementation of the 2020 provincial budget. James defended the NDP government’s plans for economic recovery, and opposing MLAs criticized the lack of transparency on the province’s revenue.
Former Liberal finance minister Mike de Jong said that while the NDP government has been clear on announcing spending measures after the COVID-19 outbreak took hold, officials like James have been less forthcoming with the revenue side of the equation.
De Jong said during Tuesday’s second reading of the Budget Implementation Act that James needs to release the information as soon as possible to inform the debate on what changes need to be made to the 2020 budget.
“We have heard virtually nothing … about the impact that the pandemic and the economic downturn is having on the revenue side [of the budget],” de Jong said. “There has been no indication of a willingness thus far to share the details of that all-important side of the budgetary equation with the public, and I think that is unfortunate.”
James reiterated that an economic update will be issued on July 14 and that any earlier release - given the nature of data that may carry a month or two in lag time - isn’t realistic. She added that criticism that the NDP government isn’t acting fast or aggressively enough on economic recovery measures is misguided given the nature of the COVID-19 emergency.
“Our very best economic recovery plan is to make sure we are following the health orders because one of the key areas to deal with economic recovery is consumer confidence and the public’s confidence,” James said. “People can open all the businesses in the world, and if the public doesn’t have the confidence in going back to those businesses… then we won’t see an economic recovery.”
She added that the province has already committed billions in support for businesses, critical services and economic recovery, and the next step is to look at where future investments need to be spent.
“Yes, there will be additional dollars that will be based on the values that matter to British Columbians - values like protecting our environment,” James said. “Values like doing our part on climate action. Values like reconciliation with Indigenous people.… Those matter to us as a government, they matter to the people of British Columbia, and they will be part of the economic recovery we are looking at.”
But De Jong said the current pace of governmental support is still too slow and not transparent enough to address what he described as a “monsoon” of economic headwind facing local business owners.
“I’m not certain what interests would be compromised by delaying the debate of this bill until after that information has been disclosed to the public and to this house,” he said. “These are not normal times.”
The Budget Implementation bill (Bill 4) passed second reading Tuesday on a vote split exactly along party lines (with the three Green votes siding with the NDP) and will now be referred to committee.
