The Liberals caught with a full cookie jar needed to do something. It couldn't be so. They announced on their first day a tax cut that insured BC would have fewer tax revenues providing them with the reasons to cut, slash and privatize government and crown services.
BC had suffered more in the late 90's due to the "Asian Flu" the historic collapse of asian markets for which 40 % of our exports were dependent on. The NDP government managed over the 90's not to cut health care despite record reductions in federal transfers to this province. Every other province in Canada had cut health care, the most drastic cuts coming in Alberta and Ontario, provinces that share Gordon Campbell's vision.
No need to take my word for this, Will McMartin has seen the briefings prepared by the Ministry of Finance for the new Premier, Gordon Campbell. You can read more here.
"A surplus topping $1.5 billion. That is what the figures in the binder recorded for the fiscal year 2000-01, the last full fiscal year of NDP government.... British Columbia’s economy was firing on all cylinders. The public debt had been reduced, the budget was balanced, and the treasury filled to overflowing." ~ Will McMartin, The Tyee April 20, 2005
"Far from inheriting a fiscal disaster from the NDP, Campbell and his party were given a provincial treasury brimming with cash. But the voting public was led to think very much otherwise." ~ Will McMartin, The Tyee April 20, 2005
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