Slight rejig of the B.C. blogging cycle here on Taxpayer.com—we’re going to move our Friday Five feature to Monday, and rename it Monday Morning Quarterback. It will be the same list of five things we spotted over the past week.

Here is the debut of our Monday Morning Quarterback:

1. Brilliant op/ed by Phil Hochstein in today’s Vancouver Sun, asking mayors and councillors some tough questions about last week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities buntoss in Victoria:

That’s because municipal spending is out of control in B. C. It’s getting higher than the average pro- marijuana protester on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery — and there’s no end in sight. Since 2000, spending has risen 46 per cent — while population has gone up 12 per cent. Spending has risen almost four times faster than the population growth.

The only growth problem B. C.’ s cities, towns, and villages face is their own big- spending ways.

If a private company faced these kinds of challenges, the entire convention would be organized around topics like cost- savings, making do with less, and tips on how to economize. They would have no choice because a private company that had spending far outstripping market growth would be out of business. Municipalities think they have a limitless supply of money — the pockets of hard- pressed taxpayers.

Yet the mayors and municipal administrators don’t have a single session on the topic of taxes and spending.

You do have to wonder about the priorities of many of our elected officials.

2. ICBC customers have rated our auto insurer the worst in the country. More proof that it’s time to at least talk about whether this government monopoly is truly the best way to deliver auto insurance in British Columbia.

3. NDP spin doctors were busy all weekend trying to whitewash Adrian Dix’s comments that B.C.’s balanced budget legislation should be scrapped. As I wrote last week:

“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."

4. In case our comments about Dix make you think we’re somehow satisfied with the B.C. Liberals, rest assured we’re not. The two year, 4% settlement with the BCGEU is very disappointing. This is a raise that is more than the rate of inflation (now settling in at 1.2 to 1.6 per cent). The BCGEU cries about two years of net zero, but that came after a 18%, five-year deal with a $3,900 signing bonus for every employee. It’s another example of how unionized government employees continue to make more money, pension and benefits than comparable workers in the private sector. 

5. On a personal note, I will be speaking on Oct. 10 at the Canadian Public Relations Society meeting in Vancouver, sharing how our work on the TransLink waste machine has evolved over the past few years. If you’re interested in coming, click here.