Macdonald not impressed with Premier's plan

Legislature should be sitting, MLA says

By CAROLYN GRANT
Kimberley Daily Bulletin

October 27th, 2008

Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald says he has listened to Premier Campbell's 10 point plan for the economy and he is not overly impressed.

"It's a modest proposal to what are clearly worrying economic times for the province and the world," Macdonald said. "It's over-hyped. Many of the tax cuts are re-announcements of previous cuts."

However, Macdonald says there was one thing that he was pleased to see - removing the property tax from industry.

"That will be useful to our most important industry, which is still forestry. But, I still have a very strong criticism for the lack of a forestry plan. In the Lower Mainland the economic downturn is just happening now, but in rural BC there has been a clear downturn for over a year in both tourism and forestry. 20,000 high paid jobs have been lost and 50 mills are down and there is still no forestry plan that would offer some hope for community stability and the future of forestry. Contrast that with the NDP plan that will deal with the issues in an energetic way."

Macdonald also wants some clarity on the Premier's statement that cuts would have to be made.

"That needs to be explained. Where does he plan on making those cuts? The fact is that the health and education systems are already underfunded and not meeting the needs of rural British Columbians. Is he going to make cuts that impact his office, which is the biggest in BC history? Or maybe cuts in advertising campaigns?"

He says citizens were looking for a cut to the gas tax as well and are disappointed it did not happen.

Macdonald's final criticism of the Premier's speech is that it should have been delivered in the Legislature.

"In his 10th point he said he would call the Legislature back on November 20, which is a Thursday. Presumably he will let it sit for a few days. He treats the institution like it's a rubber stamp. The Legislature should have been sitting since the beginning of October as was scheduled."