Vaughn Palmer: NDP’s party platform mentions Conservative Leader John Rustad twice as often as NDP Leader David Eby. It’s very deliberate
VICTORIA — Premier David Eby’s election platform was remarkably candid about the situation in B.C. after seven years of NDP government, two of them under his leadership.
On the cost of living: “For too many in British Columbia, it seems like life is as uncertain now as in the depth of the pandemic. Costs keep going up while paycheques can’t seem to keep pace.”
On housing affordability: “Too many people in B.C. think the dream of home ownership is out of reach. People in B.C. are paying too much for rent. In fact, 25 per cent of renters are spending more than half their monthly income on it.”
On access to health care: “We know too many people are struggling to get access to a family doctor or are stuck on long wait lists.”
On public safety: “Too many communities are struggling with the heavy challenges of toxic drugs and mental-health crises. And organized crime is getting smarter.”
Those are the big four issues that Eby promised to tackle on becoming premier. Also, the areas where he had promised to deliver significant results before the election.
These days he’s more likely to talk about the magnitude of the challenges and how the New Democrats are just starting to turn the corner with remedies.
Give him another four years and he might show some real progress.
The platform, An Action Plan for You, runs to more than 60 pages. The promises for the most part stay the course on policies and programs Eby has already announced – sometimes more than once.
However, there were a couple of major departures worth noting.
The New Democrats vow to “work smarter” in delivering a health-care system that “works efficiently, effectively and minimizes waste.
“By streamlining health-care administration, we can direct more resources to the front-line patient-serving services you rely on and help put an end to emergency room closures.
“We will let doctors treat patients, while physician assistants chart and manage patient bed flow. Strategic use of physician assistants and medical scribes can free up physicians to focus on your care, instead of filling out essential but time-consuming paperwork.”
Included is a vow to conduct a full review of the health authorities – five regional and one provincial – “with the goal of driving down costs and streamlining overhead and administration, putting those savings to work delivering more front-line services to you.”
Really? Since taking office in 2017, the New Democrats have increased health funding by 72 per cent and $15 billion. They say they’ve added 45,000 more health care workers.
They’ve allowed the health authorities to flourish with top heavy administrations and no apparent limits on their budgets. The authorities overspent by $3 billion in the past year alone, according to a report this week by Tyler Olsen of the Fraser Valley Current.
The biggest offender was Fraser Health, which went over by $1 billion. The authority chair, Jim Sinclair, is the former head of the B.C. Federation of Labour and said to be more concerned with union priorities than cost control.
Now after all that spending and hiring, the New Democrats have decided that they should look at whether those billions are being well spent. Streamline things. Cut down on paperwork. Maybe even identify some savings and efficiencies.
But not to the extent of “displacing the voices of front-line health professionals who can help us deliver effective and efficient programs.” So Sinclair can relax.
Eby would also appear to have undergone a conversion on balanced budgets.
He spent most of the $6 billion surplus that Premier John Horgan left behind, then followed up with a deficit of $5 billion last year and a projected $9 billion in the current year.
The NDP line is that people don’t care about debt and deficits. Voters only want spending and damn the fiscal consequences.
The New Democrats have insinuated that balanced budgets are a right-wing plot – as opposed to something that Premier John Horgan accomplished every year except during the darkest stretch of the pandemic.
Eby now says he has a plan, or sort of a plan.
“We will balance the budget through a combination of internal efficiencies and economic growth, without compromising front-line services or hiking taxes or fees on people.”
Before that, he’s proposing to add several billion more to the deficit this year and next. Not as if his balancing act is in danger of being overtaken by the pace of continental drift.
Observers were struck that the platform had twice as many references to John Rustad as to David Eby.
For which the NDP leader had no apologies. The Rustad references were crafted to alert the public to the risks of voting for the Conservatives, he explained.
In short, if you don’t like Eby’s record, be assured that Rustad would make things worse.
One other point about this platform celebration of all things Eby — there was no mention of his predecessor, Horgan.
More than a few New Democrats say Horgan was better at managing, better at delegating, better at team building than the current premier, with his David-knows-best style of governing.