Norm Macdonald MLA                                Columbia River – Revelstoke

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

February 18th, 2009

Budget 2009: bad for rural BC

The last opportunity prior to the next election for the Campbell Liberals to indicate their support for rural communities passed with the presentation of the 2009 budget this week.  On the key issues that matter to rural British Columbians, the Liberals have again shown that they just don’t care, says the MLA for Columbia River – Revelstoke Norm Macdonald.

“There is nothing in the budget for the 20 000 forest workers who have lost their jobs,” declared Macdonald.  “There is nothing for forest contractors and precious little for forest-dependent communities that are being hit hard by mill closures and temporary shutdowns.

“If Premier Campbell really cared about rural British Columbia, he would have made forestry a priority in this budget.”

The Minister of Finance stated in his budget speech that the focus of this budget was to protect healthcare and education, but Macdonald says that after eight years of cuts to healthcare and education it is hard to believe that the BC Liberals have finally seen the light.

“This budget is a pre-election budget, and given the experiences of 2001 and 2005, we need to remember that what Gordon Campbell says before an election is dramatically different from what he does after.

“Before 2001, the Premier promised to protect healthcare, but as soon as he was elected he began to downgrade hospitals in communities like Golden and Invermere.  In Kimberley, he shut the hospital down.

Despite the claims that education funding is the highest ever, the funding formula still will not meet predictable cost increases so boards of education are going to be forced to make further cuts.

“That means less for children in our classrooms, and I don’t know anyone who finds that acceptable.”

Macdonald notes that even though we are supposed to be in a time of restraint, big-ticket items like the $365 million retractable roof for BC Place are still going ahead.

“This budget has $3.3 billion for a bridge in Surrey and a billion dollars for ‘Smart Meters’ in every BC Hydro customer’s home, but nothing of substance to assist rural British Columbians.”