VICTORIA: The BC division of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released its last update of election-related announcements and proposed spending by the three B.C. parties that have consistently scored double-digit poll numbers. The NDP now clocks in at over $7.1 billion and the opposition Liberals are pegged at over $3.9 billion - both based on very conservative CTF estimates of future health and education spending for example. The Green party platform is difficult to quantify but looks at least equal to NDP platform, especially due to promises on health care.

In brief:

The per taxpayer cost of NDP election-related promises and spending announcements is $3,761 per BC taxpayer.*

The per taxpayer cost of Liberal election-related promises and spending announcements is $2,075 per BC taxpayer.*

Dollar estimates were not available for the Green Party, but the platform looks to be at least as expensive as the NDP platform. (It is not likely that the Green party would cut out any spending promises made by the NDP for example.) The Green platform is also notable for its contradictory position on corporate welfare. While the beginning of the Green platform promises to abolish corporate welfare, the rest of the document is rife with proposals for business subsidies, loan guarantees, and interest-free loans from taxpayers - corporate welfare under a different name.

"Elections are often said to be an attempt to buy voters with their own money," said CTF-BC director Mark Milke. "In this election, all the parties have charged the taxpayer VISA up to its' limit."

The estimates track announcements and spending since December 2000, and include estimates of additional spending in the fiscal year 2000-01, the new budget which applies to fiscal year 2001-02,as well as multi-year estimates of promises beyond fiscal 2001-02 where applicable. The Liberals, based on public comments by leader Gordon Campbell, are assumed to copy the government's lead on healthcare spending in 2001-02, which accounts for almost $1 billion in proposed new spending. Additional spending in health care over the next three years, at only half the expenditure growth rate of the last three years, is also attributed to the parties based on their public comments. A breakdown of the updated analysis is available on the Federation's website at www.taxpayer.com.

*Per taxpayer estimates assume 1.9 million tax-filers in British Columbia based on CCRA estimates.