VICTORIA - Opposition New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix made no apologies Monday for trying to steal some of the thunder from Premier Christy Clark's anticipated jobs agenda.
Clark is due to reveal her jobs strategy next week, but Dix admitted he was trying to get ahead of her on the education front by calling on the Liberals to restore needs-based grants to post-secondary education students.
Dix, surrounded by students and New Democrats, made an election-style announcement at the Victoria area Camosun College campus where he said he will push the Liberals to do more to help debt-burdened students.
"I know the premier has recently discovered there's a jobs issue in British Columbia, about the same time she discovered she wasn't going to have an election," said Dix.
"But that's fine, we've got our work to do, and what I always try and do is bring about change from the Opposition side if I'm not yet on the government side."
A Liberal official confirmed that Clark will start laying out her jobs agenda early next week, culminating in two major addresses on Sept. 22 at the Vancouver Board of Trade and Sept. 23 at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver.
The official said education and training will be major focuses of Clark's jobs plan, but he provided no details.
Clark will focus on forestry, mining, tourism, natural gas, energy, ports and airports, clean technology, green technology, agribusiness and international education, the official said, declining to be named.
It will be the most major policy initiative Clark has introduced since becoming Liberal leader and premier earlier this year.
Dix said education must be a focus of Clark's future plans.
"It surely ought to be," he said."Hopefully, we'll see some government action in that regard."
Dix said he plans to pay for his students grants program through a tax on banks that he estimates would raise more than $100 million for students.
In 2008, the Liberals announced they would phase out capital tax on financial institutions by 2010. But the Liberals said they would introduce a minimum tax on financial institutions with capital over $1 billion to ensure they pay a minimum level of tax.
Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto said B.C. has the fourth lowest tuition rates in Canada and student debt-load is the third lowest in the country.
She said under the New Democrats during the 1990s, B.C. students took longer to graduate and had difficulty finding jobs once they finished their studies.
Yamamoto said B.C. has program bursaries available to students and the financial aid program does not turn away students if they meet the government's criteria for student assistance.
"The student financial aid package we have is one of the best in Canada," she said. "It's a good combination between Canada student grants, which are the up-front grants, and the back-end student loans."
The Liberals said from 2001 to 2010 under successive Liberal governments, 43,800 net jobs for youth were created, while from 1991 and 2001, under two NDP governments, 2,000 net jobs for youth were created.
