KAMLOOPS, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today rejected B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix’s announcement that an NDP government would repeal B.C.’s balanced budget legislation.

“Any suggestion to make it easier for politicians to put us further into debt should send shivers up taxpayers’ spines,” said Jordan Bateman, the CTF’s B.C. Director. “This is a slippery slope to send billions of borrowed dollars out the door to NDP causes and government union allies. NDP MLAs have talked about tax hikes, spending sprees and borrowing money—three things B.C. just can’t afford.”

The current legislation docks cabinet ministers up to 20 per cent of their salaries for failing to balance the budget and meeting ministry goals.

“The current cabinet has taken a pay cut every year the province has been in the red,” said Bateman. “This is both appropriate and welcome, and gives taxpayers some confidence that our ministers are working to get back in black as soon as possible. Mr. Dix wants to run deficits without that pesky pay cut eating into his wallet." 

Dix made the announcement at the Union of B.C. Municipalities meetings in Victoria.

“Ironically, B.C.’s cities are required by provincial law to balance their budgets—and do so every single year,” said Bateman. “Mr. Dix should be following that example—and putting his paycheque on the line to do so—not going back to the deficit sprees we saw in the 1990s and early 2000s.”