Public Wealth and Private Benefit

Because the B.C. Liberals are fixated on their deficit like a chicken with its beak to a chalk line, they're oblivious, both to the immediate harm they're inflicting on individuals, families, and useful institutions and organizations such as libraries, schools, and the arts, and to the longer-term damage they're wreaking on the economy by failing to invest in the healthy, well-educated citizenry we need to meet the challenges we face.

The first thing the Liberals should do after dropping the harmonized sales tax (HST), is to raise income taxes back to their pre-2001 level, thus restoring the $2 billion in revenue wasted when they first attained office.

If they still need to borrow money to invest in health, education, the arts, organic farming, and public transportation, the best way would be to issue B.C. Bonds dedicated to operating, maintaining, or building these essential elements of a civil society.

This would enable residents of British Columbia to invest directly and safely in our own province, something that would be welcome in today's uncertain economy. If the smallest bond was $50 or even $25, those with lower incomes could also participate.

The advantage of borrowing from ourselves is that our investments would work with our tax dollars to create both public wealth and a private benefit.