B.C.'s pre-election summer: Tax cut promises, strategy and sparring

Typically, late August is a quiet time in B.C. politics as the parties and their supporters rest up before diving into election mode ahead of voting day in October, so BC United raised eyebrows when they made a bombshell policy announcement in Victoria Tuesday.

Leader Kevin Falcon told reporters that if his party forms government, they would eliminate provincial income tax for the first $50,000, which would see 60 per cent of residents not paying any at all as a result.

“It will cost about $5.4 billion annually and no, services do not have to be cut,” he said, insisting there’s enough government waste and inefficiency to clean up.

“One of the ways we can be sure government can pay for things is make sure we have a growing economy,” Falcon added, highlighting his priority is fiscal responsibility in order to help seniors and other people struggling with the cost of living.

He certainly garnered some headlines and attention, but the substance of the policy quickly came under attack, as observers pointed out Falcon is giving conflicting talking points with his party in desperate straits after a disastrous rebranding from the BC Liberal Party, with BC Conservatives benefitting.

Premier slams motivation as ideological

As Falcon was finishing his remarks in Victoria, Premier David Eby was beginning an event in the Okanagan and was asked about the proposed tax cut, which he dismissed as a shell game.

“(They say) ‘oh don’t worry I’ll cut your taxes’ over here, but you'll pay MSP, you'll pay road tolls, bridge tolls, fees and charges, your ICBC rates will go up as government makes it possible to pull money out of our public insurer like they did before, they'll sell off public assets to pretend the books are balanced,” said Eby.

He also referenced Falcon’s time as a cabinet minister under the BC Liberal government of the day, which Falcon was eager to do, but may serve to further muddle voters’ intentions.

Eby maintained the NDP’s elimination of MSP premiums, freezing of ICBC rates and other measures have addressed some affordability concerns as they continue to pour billions of dollars into a strategy to end to the housing crisis.

“I think (Falcon was) truly revealing who he is – which is someone even to the right of John Rustad when it comes to cutting public services in services to a particular ideology,” Eby added, firmly planting himself in centre-left territory.

Convincing voters or courting donors?

Falcon’s timing is unusual: parties typically unveil major campaign promises and key planks of their platform in the 30-day campaign period before the election, with public appearances and rhetoric heating up after Labour Day.

He has dismissed dismal public opinion polling as pointless since few people are paying attention to the election so far ahead of the Oct. 19 voting day, with few people paying attention to politics at a time many families are on vacation.

So why make a big promise in the dog days of summer?

“More than anything, I think this is geared toward making the business community take a look at them,” observed Research Co. president and political analyst, Mario Canseco. “We know that some of the big funders in the BC Liberal days are now looking at the BC Conservatives.”

Buoyed in part by the popularity of the federal Conservatives, the BC Conservatives are reaping the benefits despite being a separate party, and Canseco sees this as BC United’s way of getting some traction and becoming part of the conversation.

“It might be the start of a trend where people start to look at BC United more seriously than they did in the last few weeks and that might be why they're doing it now,” he said. “It's tough to climb the charts this late in the campaign unless something really drastic happens.”