Tuesday, November 27, 2012

What I Really Meant to Say ...

I think what outgoing Premier Clark really meant to say is that the chickens are coming to roost, folks. Our last decade of privatization, fiscal mismanagement, unparalleled corruption and incompetence and ill-fated attempts to introduce corporate and business models to provide public services has been not only bad social policy, but also, as it turns out, a really, really bad way to run your government. 

The downside of all of this is we are dead broke! Well, lets face it, we're beyond broke. But I'm really, really thankful, you the taxpayers and electorate (suckers as I like to call you in the backroom) will have no idea how bad things actually are until May 2013. By that time, I will already have lined up my next gig. As an aside, it's so helpful to have friends in high places at a time like this. 

So, while I head into my final months as Premier, we're going to keep using taxpayers funds on advertising, because, let's face it - we can get away with it. We're going to continue to pretend we're doing something about child and family poverty with the bafflegab of the "BC Jobs Plan" while we continue to dodge making a real poverty reduction plan.

Most importantly, my little warning here today is going to soft peddle the massive spending cuts we're about to carry out on your taxpaying asses. How does anyone balance a budget when there is a gigantic hole under the cookie jar that has been funneling all of your public funds into the corporate masters our party has been serving for the last decade. And two of the funniest things of all is you, Mr. & Ms. Taxpayer can't do a thing to stop us and a bunch of my own MLA's probably even don't know what's about to happen & they're going to go down with the ship in the next election and they don't even know it yet. But don't worry about me, I'll be okay, because I've got friends.

British Columbians should brace for bad economic news: Christy Clark
But she still vows to balance the province's budget next year


By Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun, November 27, 2012.


A quarterly economic update to be released by the B.C. government Wednesday "won't be pretty", Premier Christy Clark warned in a speech Tuesday.


"The global economic uncertainty that we're facing has put huge pressure on our commodity prices in British Columbia and it has certainly affected our budget," Clark told the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce.


Clark did not go into specifics, but said that despite the economic turmoil, her government will keep its promise to table a balanced budget for the coming 2013-14 fiscal year.


"We are going to balance our budget nonetheless and we're going to look at everything to do it," she said.


"No we will not cut education. No we will not cut health care but we will do what it takes to get to balance," she added.


Finance Minister Mike de Jong is expected to release the province's second quarterly update on Wednesday morning, which Clark said will provide "a clearer picture of what exactly we're facing."


"I do want to give you the heads up," she added. "It won't be pretty."


When he released the first quarterly report in September, de Jong revealed the province had taken a $1.1 billion hit to projections of the natural gas royalties it planned to take in over three years.


At the time, de Jong promised an immediate hiring freeze across government and a wage freeze for public sector managers, including those at schools, universities and health organizations. He also projected the deficit for the current fiscal year would be $1.14-billion, up $173 million from what had been forecast in the government's February budget.



© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

British Columbians should brace for bad economic news: Christy Clark

But she still vows to balance the province's budget next year



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/British+Columbians+should+brace+economic+news+Christy+Clark/7617711/story.html#ixzz2DTSZ3Prc

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