Yesterday morning, I represented your Canadian Taxpayers Federation at a BC Chamber of Commerce breakfast in downtown Vancouver, where BC Finance Minister Kevin Falcon was the guest speaker. About 75 of us were there, and Falcon gave his thoughts on where the BC economy was headed.

I was glad to hear him speak so passionately and strongly for balancing the budget through spending restraint. This has been a consistent message for him, and he seems genuinely committed to getting BC out of red ink by 2013 at the latest. To do that, he will need to make significant progress in the 2012-13 budget cycle.

I tweeted the speech live. For those unfamiliar with it, Twitter restricts messages to 140 characters. @kevinfalcon is the Twitter name for Kevin Falcon. #bccc is a search term meaning BC Chamber of Commerce. And #bcpoli is a search term for BC politics. (You can follow the CTF on Twitter @taxpayerdotcom, or me personally @jordanbateman.) Here are my tweets from Tuesday morning, if you're interested in the play by play:

Downtown early to hear @kevinfalcon speak to the BC Chamber. But first, a little walkabout near Canada Place. #bcpoli

BC Chamber thanking @kevinfalcon for support of HST. They want balanced budgets through reduced spending. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon gets warm welcome from BC Chamber crowd. Warning: live tweeting ahead. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon says BC is moving past HST. Private sector & gov't needs to continue to work together for BC's economic success. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon says 30K new businesses formed since HST came in. Need to ensure those businesses know PST rules. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: Committed to balanced budget by 2013. Cabinet ministers take 10% pay cut when gov is in deficit. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC is well-positioned for making it thru global economic storm due to low tax rates & triple A credit rating. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC looking for ways to improve provincial tax system. Ideas welcome. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: Toronto & NYC investment circles very positive about BC, economic policies, Asia connections, & infrastructure. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC aggressively pursuing new markets. Looking outward, not inward. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC jobs plan smartly recognizes that gov't needs to get out of the way of job creation. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC tightening belt, will continue to invest in capital, cut red tape & push cities to do more to encourage biz. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: Municipal Auditor General long overdue; will be best thing to ever happen to cities. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: tumultuous time for world economy. Growth rate slowing. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC is a great place to invest. We are in a good position, and we are going to market that advantage. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon answering questions now. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: the province can do better, be smarter when it comes to encouraging knowledge-based industries. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC & Ottawa working together to make PST transition rules crystal clear and fair. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: Little progress on having feds & provinces merge environmental regulatory regimes, but BC working on it. #bccc #bcpoli

@kevinfalcon: BC looking to boost productivity, keep businesses growing. #bccc #bcpoli

That's a wrap for @kevinfalcon at #bccc #bcpoli