If you have ever wanted to take an extended Alberta vacation, say, until our wacky BC government either wises up or is replaced, it's best to pack up the van now since the latest cabinet shuffle reveals a government wildly out of touch with economic reality. And don't forget the kids, since children deserve cleaner political air than what drifts out of Victoria. But for those who want to stay in BC, consider the following an inoculation against the BC government's spin doctoring.

For starters, don't think Premier Clark's appointment of Gordon Wilson as Finance Minister will turn around the province's finances. Despite the Premier's claim that his appointment of Mr. Wilson shows "we are open to new ideas and a new perspective here," it actually means more of the same - more deficits, higher debt, and little in the way of real tax cuts. Doubt that? Moments after Mr. Wilson was appointed, the new minister "absolutely" endorsed the last provincial "budget," along with its $890 million, $1.5 billion, $2.7 billion (take your pick) deficit.

Mr. Wilson's defense, also spun out recently by the Premier and Moe Sihota, is the same one given by former Finance Minister Joy MacPhail: Unlike those nasty governments in the rest of the country (including Saskatchewan NDPers,) who have, or will shortly balance their books, BC's New Democratic government will "place people first."

Nice try Mssrs. Clark, Sihota, and Wilson. Those supposedly brutish governments in the rest of the country long ago figured out that growing debt endangers every program on the books, from roads and hospitals to the police, or the lack thereof thanks to money spent instead on over-budget and under-performing ferries. It's also why Alberta, which spends $565 million annually less on debt interest now compared to six years ago, can increase education and healthcare spending faster than BC. In contrast, our government now spends $440 million more every year on debt interest compared with six years ago.

Regardless of whether one thinks governments should devote a bit more or less to some social programs, BC now spends nearly $1.9 billion every year on just taxpayer-supported debt interest, (never mind higher crown corporation debt which means higher Hydro fees among other stealth taxes.) Sending billions in tax dollars to bondholders in Tokyo, Toronto, and New York hardly counts as putting BCers first.

In addition, deficits prevent substantial tax cuts, though the three musketeers also imitate Joy MacPhail by magically spinning small tax cuts into large ones. Remember those ads telling you "BC's small business rate is now lower than Alberta's." Can't dispute that the province dropped the small business tax rate from 8.5% to 5.5% on July 1st. That means it is lower than Alberta's 6% rate, right?

Wrong. Since the cut only happened halfway through the year, the average rate for 1999 is actually 7.0%. A small business is still better off in Alberta this year since 6.0% is what they'll pay, period, not to mention the advantages of no sales tax, hotel taxes at 5% compared to 8% in BC, lower personal tax rates, no tax on house purchases, and so on. Mssrs. Wilson, Clark and Sihota also forgot to mention five new user fee taxes introduced in the last BC budget, and increases planned for five other fees. And remember that joke about how the NDP would create small businesses in BC by taxing large ones downward? Feel free to keep telling the joke, since any taxable income over $200,000 for a business gets hit with a tax rate of 16.5% in BC, compared to 15.5% in Alberta.

And how about personal tax cuts? Don't hold your breath for broad-based relief after 30 years of ever-rising rates. Mr. Clark has repeatedly torpedoed that idea. "British Columbia has chosen a different path," said Mr. Clark. More correctly, the premier and his cabinet have chosen a different path, one that includes holding our absurdly high tax rates up near Mt. Everest and producing deficits that are the fiscal equivalent of the Pacific Ocean. But hey, Banff is really nice this time of year.