Much ink was spilled over the weekend as the BC NDP gathered in Vancouver for their 50th anniversary convention. There was a lot of fanfare and excitement, as leader Adrian Dix handily leads the BC Liberals and BC Conservatives in the provincial polls and seems poised for victory in May 2013.

This has ratcheted up scrutiny of just what a Premier Dix might do with the province’s taxation, spending and economic levers.

The World Today over at CKNW got things rolling with a scathing editorial just before the convention opened:

It’s time for answers from the NDP….not just drive-by smears.   It’s time for Adrian Dix and his critics to put forth solutions, tell us how much that solution would cost, and where the money is coming from.

But what really ticked me off was the fact they didn’t have the jam to actually say what they would do.    The NDP are leading in the polls.  If the vote were today, Adrian Dix would be the next Premier.   Long-time critic Bruce Ralston would likely be the Finance Minister.  Kathy Corrigan would likely be in charge of ICBC.   But get a straight answer from them on some basic questions – no way.

Corrigan was on with Bill Good yesterday morning, commenting on ICBC jacking up basic rates by an average of 30 dollars per year, while the Liberals have taken about 1-billion dollars in ICBC profits over the past several years and plunked the dough into general revenue.   Bill then asked a straight-forward question – are you saying an NDP Government would not take profits from ICBC or BC Hydro and put that money into general revenue?   Not once, not twice, but three times he asked the question, a lot nicer that I might have, and each time Corrigan danced and bobbed and weaved and refused to answer.  “We don’t have the keys to the car”.  “That’s a hypothetical question”.    The NDP governments in the 1990’s took Crown Corporation profits and put them into general revenue, just like the Liberals have in the past 10 years.    So, would an Adrian Dix government do the same thing?   Of course they will.  An NDP government will need just as much money as the current Liberal government does.   But no, Corrigan won’t answer the obvious.    She wants to criticize without saying what she would do.   She wants to criticize without putting forth a solution.    She wants to have her cake and eat it too.

On Monday, Finance Critic Bruce Ralston was on with me here on The World Today, commenting on the rise in the provincial deficit to 3.1 billion dollars, because revenue was down by 300-million.    As the Finance Minister in an Adrian Dix government, he would have to deal with the ramifications of any pay hikes for public servants.   So, a logical and straight-forward question – would you give the BCTF a pay hike and if so, how much?   The Liberals have consistently said to all public servants, including now the teachers, no net increase.   What is the NDP’s position?   I asked him three times and three times he refused to give an answer….only “We want the collective bargaining process to unfold”.   Kind of like Kathy’s “We don’t have the keys to the car”.

Adrian Dix has said the NDP would raise the corporate tax rate in BC from 10 per-cent to 12 per-cent, where it was under the Liberals 3 years ago.   Assuming business doesn’t tank for the corporations, that would give the Provincial Government an additional 400-million dollars.   The Liberals complain the cost of the promises made by Dix are 6-billion dollars.    Even if they are wrong by half, then that’s still 3-billion.  So where will the NDP get money they need - especially considering we haven’t heard any suggestions of cost cutting by the NDP?   Personal income tax – that’s the only place the NDP could hope to raise enough new money to pay for everything.    So, will the NDP raise the personal income tax rate to pay for its promises?

Mike Smyth at the Province dug deeper into the Dix's priorities:

His highest priority would be expanding post-secondary education to train more people for skilled jobs. Student loans would be forgiven and written off, while non-repayable grants would be increased.

How much would that cost? He didn't say, though he repeated a promise to hike corporate taxes to help pay for it.

His second-highest priority would be to "use the resources owned by the people of B.C. to create goodpaying jobs."

This would include restricting the export of raw logs. "We have to take specific steps to ensure logs are processed in British Columbia," he said, which sounds very similar to the NDP's failed Jobs and Timber Accord of the 1990s. But, again, there were no details.

Then Dix talked about the one issue that seems to increasingly dominate his thinking: The growing gap between rich and poor. "The single biggest challenge of our times is the issue of inequality," he said. "We have to make that the central issue in what the provincial government does."

In a "modest" way, of course. But what does he mean, exactly? Dix hints at expanded and higher welfare payments, and increased taxes on high-income earners to redistribute wealth.

But I was struck by a story he told about his immigrant parents, and how their generation built a more equal society. "They gave us a better life, and they didn't mind paying a little bit higher taxes to get there," Dix said.

Bingo. Higher taxes. And not just on the rich. The Liberals pounced. "He's talking about a much bigger government and a lot more government spending," said Liberal MLA John Les. "So he has just three choices: Higher taxes, or deeper deficits, or both. British Columbians deserve to know exactly what he would do and how he would pay for it. But he is being very, very, very vague."

An interesting side note: federal NDP leader Nycole Turmel used the convention to criticize Stephen Harper for wanting the HST bonus payment back from BC. As I’ve blogged before, as a provincial taxpayer, I’d be thrilled if the $1.6 billion payback was forgiven by Ottawa. But as a federal taxpayer, I’d be ticked off if that happened for another province. Imagine how we would feel if the HST had been rejected through a referendum in Quebec, and Quebeckers wanted the debt simply forgiven.

Anyway, The Province touches on that Turmel blunder:

Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel’s asinine suggestion that B.C. not repay the $1.6 billion it was given by Ottawa to help pay for the introduction of the now-rejected Harmonized Sales Tax shows yet again why voters so rarely pick that party to form government.

Time and again — either through unaffordable election promises or capricious plans to hike taxes — New Democrats act as though there is a magic money fairy somewhere who sprinkles government with endless supplies of cash. It’s why voters often fear giving the NDP the keys to the treasury.

We are headed into the closest provincial election since 1996; these will be interesting times for British Columbians as we learn more about what all four parties—the BC NDP, BC Liberals, BC Conservatives, and the BC Greens—are all about. Hopefully all sides will show enough respect for voters to give us specifics. We're all grown-ups: we deserve to be treated as such by those wanting our votes in May 2013.