Right...of course it will,and pigs can fly.
I watched Kevin Falcon walk away from the reporters the other day...the sheer arrogance of this man!
And he is Gordon Campbell's No.1 hitman!
We WILL wake up one day, but unfortunately,it will probably be too late.
What is gone rarely ever comes back, and this government is dismantling this province one lie at a time.

42% of the Provincial Budget is already allocated to health care. It's like a black hole already, I don't see how throwing any extra money at it is going to make it any better.

"It's like a black hole already, I don't see how throwing................"

I would like to fill Lordo-Gordo's black hole with my foot. This guy belongs behind bars

Mr.PG...Obviously you DON`T understand Ben Miesner`s post...

Let me try and explain it to you...I will use BIG LETTERS AND TYPE REAL SLOWWWWWW.

WHAT BEN IS TALKING ABOUT IS....

BEN IS TALKING ABOUT THE BC LIBERAL LYING ABOUT THE HST,IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FUNDING!

THE HST WILL BRING IN $200 MILLION LESS DOLLARS TO THE PROVINCIAL TREASURY PER YEAR THAN THE OLD PST DID.

NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND,DOES THAT MEAN THE HEALTH MINISTRY GETS $200 MILLION LESS DOLLARS? NO IT DOESN`T.

COLIN HANSEN`S STATEMENT WAS A GIMMICK DESIGNED TO FOOL AND CONFUSE BCers.

AND OBVIOUSLY IT HAS WORKED ON YOU MR.PG.

BUT WHAT ELSE IS NEW,NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER ARE YOU.

CHEERS

The fact that the government even has to make statements like this just shows how dumb everyone is. Money in, money out. At least the Liberals dont suggest, as the NDP does, that we can have all the services on earth with grossly overpaid union labor AND low taxes while we settle our debts with magic beans.

Rural BC WAS the backbone before we lost our ability to be competitive. Now mill and mine closures and a white collar service based economy will be increasingly centralized in major centers where white collar types want to live.

Grant, personal insults will get you nowhere, and is frowned upon on this site. Be careful. Besides the fact that I couldn't care less what you think.

Apparently you missed my point. Even if the extra money from the HST were to go to health care, it would be useless. We already put huge amounts of money to health care and we have a broken system.

Grant G.that is pretty much a personal attack and it is totally uncalled for.
Everyone has their OPINION..doesn't mean you have to agree with it.

Let me explain the budget to you all..Tree-planting has been slashed,the budget has admitted forestry in BC is all but dead..

I sent Miesner the story but he didn`t report it..The Coulson mills in Port Alberni shut down this week,the owner predicts most BC mills will be shut down.

The budget has confirmed that,the BC Liberals have destroyed forestry,thus destroying rural BC.

Good union wages built rural BC.

Gordon Campbell is a habitual liar,and one thing for sure,until you get the liar and his party out of office things will never get better,I have read many of your comments Mr.PG...and you defend this batch of con-men no matter what they do..

You want more..Less money is spent on health as a percentage of GDP than the 90s...Health spending to GDP ..BC is the lowest in Canada,dead last,so is our minimum wage.

So go ahead, grease each others palm,agree with each other..

"Ignorance is Bliss"

And this comment section is loaded with the usual offenders.

The claim that the income from the HST will all go to health care is just political posturing. As long as the amount raised by this new tax is less than the amount specified in the budget for health care, the claim can be considered true. Anyone who thinks ths government, or any other, will be bound by that promise if the amount raised is greater then the amount in the budget is living in a dream world. I seem to recall that, when it was first introduced, the Social Services tax, now the PST, was justified on the basis of being used to raise money for health care etc. That committment is long broken.

As to the 42% of the provincial budget going to health care, well, add back in the cost of running BC Ferries and the rest of the Crown Corporations that used to be included, and it will be much less than that, as it used to be in the past. If funds are not counted as part of government revenues and costs, then they are not part of the base line on which the percentage is based.

People fixated on percentages should look more closely at the absolute amounts in relationship to the total economic activity in the province (GPP), since that figure takes into account pretty much the same things from year to year, so percentages of the GPP have a stable reference point and show increases and decreases in funding far more accurately, without any effect from decisions by a governing party to include or exclude specific amounts of money from specific sources in their political budget. The data is available from the Ministry of Finance, I believe.

My understanding is that health and welfare funding has remained relatively stable and consistent from year to year as a percentage of the GPP for the last 30 years or so, and has been in the range of about 8-9%. In other words, there has been no "real" increase in health care funding, just increases to keep the funding stable overall due to cost increases from inflation and population growth. At the same time both inflation and population growth increase the taxes raise, so the actual cost to the province has remained relatively stable and is no more expensive now than it was then. It is certainly well within our ability to pay.

When I first started to look at this 25 years ago, the amount budgeted as a percentage of the GPP was in excess of 9%, and it has declined since then, so health care funding has actually decreased compared to then.

I've found that if you torture the numbers enough, eventually they'll tell you what you want to hear.

Grant: "I have read many of your comments Mr.PG...and you defend this batch of con-men no matter what they do.."

It's funny that people think this. I'm unlike many of the people on this site, I don't blame the government for everything. Sorry, I don't have the mob mentality. Even the old NDP regime took a lot of flak for stuff that was out of their control.

The bottom line is that the Government is out of money, revenues are down. How do you propose to fix it? Do we raise taxes or slash the budget?

The HST is all about the 1.6 Billion dollars in federal money coming to BC in transitional funding. It is the reason that it will happen. I will sign the anti-HST petition, but I don't think it will make a bit of difference. As I've noted in another thread, you can't even get people to vote, let alone sign a petition.

Really Mr.PG...I will give you the benifit of the doubt,OK your`re uninformed..or haven`t you heard,Gordon Campbell isn`t taking the hST bribe at this time,he`s only taking 250 million this year...

and,and by Gordon Campbell not applying the HST bribe to our debt or infrstructure spending he is costing the province $100 million EXTRA dollars in debt servicing!!!!

Gordon Campbell has decided on his own to take $100 million from BC ...He would be fired in a public company

I think you better read this story then get back to me!


http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/03/03/TightTimes/

Maybe the toxic air in Prince George that the Provincial government HID from scrutiny is affecting thought process?

Here`s what the CBC has to say...


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/03/03/bc-prince-george-formaldehyde-millar-addition.html

Opinion piece on a left-leaning news site aside;

Whether the $1.6B comes this year or next, or in multiple payments, does it matter?

My husband and I will be coming around in April to get signatures to petition against the HST. We care about the poor, elderly and sick in our province. And much more importantly is that our constitution states that the FEDERAL government CAN NOT tax the people directly. This is the job of the PROVICIAL GOVERMENTS. Not only did Campbell lie to get re-elected but he sold our constitutional rights for 1.6 billion dollars of OUR hard earned tax money. If the provincial government is willing to give the responsibility to the federal government then do we need them? Now is the time people to wake up and stand up for your rights before they are gone. Sign the petition, get out there and help us do it. Please.

You are very obtuse Mr.PG...And I suspect that every visitor to this site is well aware of that.

Will McMartin who wrote that piece is a proffessional accountant and long time numbers expert,Will Mcmartin used no spin,he reported verifiable money facts.

You Mr.PG have lost any credibilty you had,if you ever did have any!

Gordon Campbell lied during the election,after the election he said he needed 750$million dollars of the bribe money for the deficit,now he is only taking $250 million dollars of the money this year...

But...Have you read the latest,Gordon Campbell is pillaging ICBC for $587 million dollars this year and putting into his budget...and another $300 million dollars from ICBC next year and the year after....
Just more lies from Gordon Campbell, it`s people like you Mr. PG that are the problem,I am not a NDPer but Gordon Campbell makes the NDP look like geniuses.

I waste no more time on you,you don`t even believe your own words, you are a BC Liberal and you don`t care,that is obvious.

"You can lie to me but you can`t lie to yourself!"

One more thing...It does matter, if we take the $1.6 billion and apply it to debt or infrastructure we will save as a province...

$100 million dollars in debt servicing,that is $100 million MORE dollars we would have,so yes,it does matter,consider your credit card, if you pay your bill off you save interest payments...

If you don`t pay it off and only make meager payments, the interest piles up and you are back to square one...

Economics 101...Ben Miesner understands that,you Mr.PG...DO NOT

Case closed!

Again, you have not addressed the issue why it matters how the liberals get the 1.6B in transitional funding for the HST. The article says it's to make the liberals look better in the next election. So? Any political party would do the same thing. They want to get re-elected.

Politicians lie and stretch the truth for their own benefit, there's no revelation there.

And again, I couldn't care less what you think about my 'credibility', so save those comments. Your opinion of me doesn't matter.

So grant, what is your agenda?

Grant is correct in saying "you defend this batch of con-men no matter what they do.."

It matters how the Lieberls get the 1.6 mil. They are getting it on the backs of the BC taxpayer. Once they get it it'll be a corporate free for all to see who ends up with the greater portion of it.

MrPG says..."The article says it's to make the liberals look better in the next election. So? Any political party would do the same thing. They want to get re-elected."

"So" you say? Does that make it right? Don't think "SO".

The right thing to do is, to do the job they were elected for and take care of the citizens of this province, not themselves or their corporate bedfellows.

Thats what the Lieberals are all about, or have you convinced yourself otherwise?

Make no mistake, politicans of all stripes want to get re-elected. They'll juggle to numbers, do whatever it takes to make themselves look better come election time. I hope this isn't a shock to anyone.

There's an old saying that we as the voters get the government we deserve.

We don't have a lot of choice in this province, it's either the Liberals or the NDP. Neither has done a good job. When election time rolls around, it will be about electing the lesser of two evils.

And don't say "elect independents" because that isn't a solution, and it would never happen in a million years. I wouldn't let some of the independent candidantes carry my groceries let alone get a vote from me.

Caring Soul. Good to see you and your husband are going to collect signatures. I plan to volunteer also. Hopefully we can get enough signatures to force this issue to the legislature.

Campbell and his cronies want the issue to die as soon as possible. They certainly dont want it around going into the the next election, however I suspect it will be.

We have to somehow force the Government to take responsibility for their actions. It seems that the only solutions that Governments have these days is to raise taxes. We need something more than that.

If the Government got into this position through no fault of their own, then one might consider cutting them some slack, however the huge deficit is because of a number of things in addition to the decrease in revenues. Government spending on ill advised projects, High salaries for Government workers, the Olympics, etc; etc; etc; If the deficit is because of Government incompetance, then they should be kicked the hell out.

Let not make excuses for these people anymore. Its time they took the responsibility that we pay them for, or they should hit the road.

The proposed increased to BC Hydro rates is the final nail in their coffin. Its time for a change.

A change to what exactly? The NDP? Hopefully that's not what you mean.

MrPG. What are you saying??? Are we supposed to continue to elect the Liberals for the rest of our lives, regardless of how bad they are, because the alernative might be an NDP Government.

This just gives them license to do what ever the Hell they please. They are counting on you to keep them in office.

Hopefully we will have a third alternative by the next election, but if not then ((YES)) people will have to consider the NDP, or just give up.

The fear of losing power is the only weapon that the electorate can use against Government. If we give that up we have nothing.

I hate to disappoint you, but the NDP will never get my vote. "Premier Carole James" runs chills down my spine. I'd consider a 'third option' if there was one, but barring that, I see little choice.