B.C. begins the year with a new government for the first time in 16 years. Although the NDP has been on the job for almost six months, adjusting to life on the governing side of the house is not easy.
Nevertheless, the apprenticeship is over, and 2018 is the year for Premier John Horgan and his team to show British Columbians what the party can do after so many years in opposition.
They have already made their mark with changes to election-finance rules, a ban on hunting of grizzly bears and approval of the Site C dam project. That last decision showed that Horgan is willing to make calls that anger his base.
He can only hope that it’s the last time he has his own voters screaming “betrayal,” but government is about making painful choices. The outrage over Site C increases the pressure on the cabinet to deliver on enough high-profile promises to soothe at least some of those who are preparing the tar and feathers.
One of the biggest promises is already in motion: The referendum on changing our electoral system.
While details are still being worked out, we know the vote will come in November, and both the NDP and its Green allies will campaign vigorously to toss out our first-past-the-post system in favour of some form of proportional representation.
The approval threshold will be 50 per cent plus one, which makes it more likely that this referendum will succeed where the previous two failed. But it also makes the process more vulnerable to attack, as a low voter turnout could put this important decision in the hands of a relatively small number of voters.
Despite their passion for a new voting system, both the NDP and the Greens must take care that the referendum is widely perceived as legitimate. Attorney General David Eby’s disingenuous promise to stay above the fray isn’t enough.
As far-reaching as its effects will be, the referendum is big-picture politics compared with the NDP promise of $10-a-day daycare. That one touches young families where they live, and touches the rest of us where it hurts because the party expects it will cost $1.5 billion a year.
“Over time, the plan will pay for itself by empowering parents with the choice to continue their careers and boost our economy,” the party’s platform said.
That sounds like a left-wing version of the trickle-down economics that are newly resurgent in the U.S., and it’s equally suspect. Paying for it through higher taxes on rich people is another option that has been floated.
This year is a good one to start answering the many questions about the daycare plan. One source of answers is likely to be the government’s first full budget in February.
Budgets are where governments define their priorities with hard numbers. The NDP has promised that it will put a greater focus on social issues that were ignored by the B.C. Liberals — at least until the Liberals’ last desperate attempt to cling to power.
The budget will tell us much not only about the NDP plan for this year, but for the years ahead, as well.
On the other side of the house, the Liberals, under a soon-to-be-elected new leader, will scrutinize those priorities, with the benefit of years of experience in government. If they can spend their time in substantive critique rather than the juvenile games they played in the last session, they will serve British Columbians well.
The NDP has promised change, and as 2018 begins, we will find out how far-reaching that change will be.
