BC Conservative leader John Rustad released his party’s semi-costed platform Tuesday — four days ahead of the Oct. 19 provincial election — promising to balance the budget within eight years after first spending more than the BC NDP has committed to, over the next two years.
Rustad’s platform — titled Common Sense Change for B.C. — does not provide for an annual breakdown of revenue and cost projections nor specific plans for increasing those revenues.
Rustad, whose party is unaffiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada, fielded questions from select media for 18 minutes after announcing the platform at the University of B.C. Rose Garden, flanked by a handful of local candidates.
Asked by media for hard numbers on its budget, Rustad said his party would work from the current government budget as a base.
“The platform, when you look at the NDP’s budget that they brought forward in March 2024 — which of course they have blown within three months; they’ve actually added another $1 billion in [the] budget to that — but when you look at that, we will be adding, over the next two years, an extra $2.3 billion in additional spending plus the additional tax relief that we are looking at putting on top of that.”
By 2026, eliminating the B.C. carbon tax could punch a $3-billion hole in government revenues while a rebate for rent and mortgage interest costs will cost $900 million. On a smaller scale, Rustad would cut the small business tax rate to one per cent, costing $150 million.
In year one, Rustad said the party will have an $11-billion deficit in its first fiscal year, as opposed to the $9.6 billion from the BC NDP platform.
While the platform does not detail exactly how his government would quickly bring down the deficit in the third year and thereafter until it is balanced in eight years, Rustad said he wouldn't be making any drastic cuts to services but rather begin with reviewing spending.
“I want to be straight up with people right now in terms of the fact we will be adding spending and that we will be adding tax relief for the people of British Columbia,” said Rustad.
“Overall, though, by getting our economy going, by increasing what I’m expecting to do, that is what is going to level that out and bring down our deficit by two terms,” said Rustad.
The party is projecting a GDP growth rate of 5.4 per cent, as opposed to the government’s current projection of 2.4 per cent real GDP and 4.7 per cent nominal GDP (to 2028), as noted by Rustad. (Glacier Media has asked if the party refers to nominal or real and will update this article when it receives a response)
Rustad said the party will review current government expenditures, expedite permitting of mines across the province and “get forestry back on its feet.”
Rustad also alluded to a $4-billion contingency baked into the current government budget and said the Clean BC program would be reviewed.
Meanwhile, via media questions, Rustad defended other aspects of the party's campaign, namely Surrey South candidate Brent Chapman — the most recent example of a candidate making offensive remarks in past social media posts.
Those posts, unearthed by last week, show Chapman disparaging Palestinians: “They are all little inbred walking, talking, breathing time bombs,” Chapman wrote. “Figuratively and quite literally.”
Chapman has since apologized, saying the comments were “completely unacceptable” and “do not reflect who I am today or the respect and admiration I hold for the Palestinian and Muslim communities.”
Chapman also questioned if recent high-profile mass shootings, such as Quebec City, Orlando and Sandy Hook, were the product of media and police disinformation.
"I really hope no one was killed ...the people that talked to the press were not actually shot," .
On Tuesday, Rustad said Chapman (an actor, and the husband of South Surrey Conservative MP Kerry Lynne-Findlay) has already clarified his position and “he has put in place a lawyer so it would be inappropriate to comment.”
“It’s up to the people of British Columbia to make a decision, both if they elect Brent Chapman to represent Surrey South but also if they want to elect an NDP government that has brought such devastation over seven years.”
Rustad also addressed online editing of the party's education platform that took place Sunday.
The initial education plan, released Sunday, stated the party will “remove classroom material that instills guilt based on ethnicity, nationality, or religion, focusing instead on uplifting students and helping them thrive."
This was changed to: “Uplift all kids by ensuring the ideological neutrality of classroom materials, and that kids are made to feel proud about who they are. Education should be about uplifting students into their full potential.”
Rustad claimed he was taking a day off and “unfortunately when the release went out someone had grabbed an old version from many weeks ago and released it and when we realized the error we pulled it down and put the actual education platform out.”
The keys to the education plan include ending sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) policies and replacing them with “zero tolerance anti-bullying" strategies. The Conservatives also claim they will "phase out" portables.
With files from Rob Shaw/Glacier Media
This article has been edited Oct. 15 to better reflect GDP growth claims made by the party
