The B.C. NDP platform is short on Vancouver Island-specific promises beyond a commitment to implement the South Island Transportation Strategy and continue with safety upgrades to the Malahat highway.
The election platform, unveiled Tuesday in Vancouver, largely banks on voters wishing to stay the course.
NDP Leader John Horgan said the party’s platform builds on progress already underway during his government’s 3 1/2 years in office.
“We have three basic priorities: better health care for you and your family, affordability and security in your home and in your community, and good jobs and livelihoods in a clean-energy future.”
The NDP says it will make B.C. Ferries more accountable to its customers by improving service at peak times, allocating more space to reservations and allowing walk-on reservations.
And although it has sparred with Victoria city council in the past, the NDP borrowed a couple of city initiatives by promising to phase-out single-use plastics and provide free transit for children under 12. Victoria moved to ban single-use plastic bags in 2018 and began providing free transit passes last year to youth under 19.
Additional pledges include a one-time $1,000 COVID-19 recovery benefit for families and $500 for individuals, a rent freeze until the end of next year, an expansion of $10-a-day daycare and the creation of British Columbia’s second medical school at a location that has yet to be determined.
The NDP platform promises would push the anticipated $12.8-billion deficit for this fiscal year to $15 billion.
They would cost about $2.2 billion in 2020-21, $2 billion in 2021-22 and $2.7 billion in 2022-23.
An additional $3 billion would be spent each year for three years on a new Recovery Investment Fund to build schools, hospitals and other capital projects. “This plan will create 18,000 jobs a year and put people back to work who have been affected by COVID-19,” Horgan said.
The new recovery benefit would come in the form of a one-time $1,000 direct deposit to families whose household income is under $125,000 annually, with a sliding scale up to $175,000. Single people earning less than $62,000 annually would be eligible for $500, with a sliding scale up to $87,000.
Horgan called the election just days after releasing his government’s $1.5-billion economic recovery plan. He said the recovery benefit wasn’t left out of that plan so he could save it as a campaign promise.
“We did not contemplate this until after we were putting together the platform, which was not until after the election was called,” he said.
Horgan accused the B.C. Liberals of giving tax breaks to the rich and said the NDP benefit would help those who need it most while stimulating local economic activity.
— With a file from Lindsay Kines
