Like any clever front-runner, Ujjal Dosanjh has been short on dollar and cent specifics, but long on promises to those that must place him in the NDP leader's chair and thus in the Premier's office. Pundits are predicting the sixth premier in nine years will likely be British Columbia's current Attorney General, and in the third and final analysis on the NDP leadership race, it is Mr. Dosanjh who goes under the taxpayer's microscope.

Like his colleagues, he supported the early NDP tax hikes on British Columbians. Speaking in the Legislature back in 1992, Ujjal Dosanjh defended the new government's tax hikes, saying "it's tough to increase the basic personal tax," "tough to impose new taxes," and "not an easy decision to increase the personal income tax surtax." Just in case anyone missed how terribly hard this was, he further argued it was "tough to increase the small business tax by 1 percent. It is not an easy or a pleasant task."

Mr. Dosanjh's defense was that the tax increases were necessary for wage parity, pay equity and government day care. Thus we have the first clue as to Mr. Dosanjh's thinking on how to fund favoured causes: increase taxes. That perhaps a government could re-allocate money from existing spending seems not to have occurred to him. Over the next couple of NDP budgets, Mr. Dosanjh lectured the opposition about their "obsession with the debt," and lectured British Columbians in general when he argued that "among other things, a budget is for imposing fair taxes," and that "a great budget is for ensuring that the top 8 percent of income earners in B.C. pay their fair share of taxes for a change."

Have Ujjal Dosanjh's views changed Mr. Dosanjh now opposes "expensive mega-projects such as the fast ferries." That's nice. So does everyone else in BC except for those whose last name is Clark (or Wilson.) While Mr. Dosanjh had no problem being tough enough to raise taxes, such a tough-as-nails approach was noticeably absent when Mr. Dosanjh could have made a difference on the fast ferry project, say back in the mid-1990s. And he doubled probate taxes in 1997.

Similar to his early comments, Mr. Dosanjh has, throughout the campaign for leader, endorsed higher welfare rates, universal day care, and pay equity. He told Kelowna farmers that he supports higher agricultural subsidies. His website says he would provide "substantial support for small businesswomen," and he says he would "enhance" the treaty process with "interim measures" (read: taxpayer cash.) Those promises add up to substantial spending hikes, not to mention that they are also ridiculously bad policy. (Pay "equity" is not what most people think it is, and taxpayer subsidies to small businesswomen but not men So we're to have corporate welfare based on gender )

Like the other NDP candidates, Mr. Dosanjh has the same simplistic faith in taxpayer money plus nanny-state devotees to deliver utopia in our time. Similarly, he delivers the outdated Ottawa/Asia-is-to-blame-for-BC's-budget-woes line and talks vaguely about "efficiency gains" in the bureaucracy. (How Mr. Dosanjh By limiting the number of paper clips ) No mention is actually made of cutting the size of government.

Given his multiple promises, it is perhaps wise Mr. Dosanjh refuses to "insult British Columbians" by refusing to guarantee a balanced budget by any specific time, though most would welcome the "insult." In Ujjal Dosanjh, it is possible British Columbians are looking at a Glen Clark (minus fast ferries) in a nicer personality.