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Vaughn Palmer: B.C. NDP jumps all over Tory MLA's musing on cuts to health care and education

Opinion: Tony Luck may have been referring to cuts to bureaucracy, not teachers, doctors and nurses, but it's a bit late now for him to clarify

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VICTORIA — B.C. Conservative MLA Tony Luck said before the budget was introduced last week that he’d like to see staff cuts, deficit reduction and — ahem — “education and health care are going to have to take the brunt of this.”

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The New Democrats pounced and pounced again on Luck’s comments as proof that Conservative cuts would devastate health care and education.

“British Columbians can’t afford B.C. Conservative plan to make schools and hospitals ‘take the brunt’ of their cuts,” was the headline on a morning-after-budget-day news release from the NDP caucus.

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“This would mean firing desperately needed doctors,” said Health Minister Josie Osborne, designated hitter for the government side. “They would try to balance the budget on the backs of working people with deep cuts and higher costs, just like they did before.”

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey picked up the theme in the first question period after budget day.

“We know what the other side would do, because you told us,“ said Bailey.

“In fact, a direct quote: ‘If education and health care are the two biggest line items on the budget, then they’re the ones that are going to have to take the brunt.’

“That’s not the decision that this side will make,” continued the finance minister, struggling to be heard over a cacophony of heckling from an enraged Opposition.

On Monday, it was Premier David Eby’s turn to make political hay from Luck’s quote when answering a question about child care.

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“I tell you,” Eby told the house, “if they get on this side, they will not care about parents or seniors or health care or anything, because they have told us that what will bear the brunt is health care and education. They will bring those cuts as sure as I’m standing here, and we will protect British Columbians.”

Luck’s quote was not as definitive as the premier and the finance minister have made out, judging from the full report of his comments in Kamloops-based Castanet news service on Feb. 17.

“Luck told Castanet he’d like to see the deficit come down, but feels the finance minister will have a tough job ‘until we get this economy really ramping up again,’” according to the report by Michael Potestio.

The Conservative MLA went on to say, “I think we really need to see that there’s a lot of incentive here to get business moving again in the province.”

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He also called for an audit of all ministries and programs to determine where staffing efficiencies could be made.

“I think we’re overdue for that audit,” Luck said. “If education and health care are the two biggest line items in the budget, they’re the ones that are going to have to take the brunt of this somehow.”

In context of the audit, Luck might have been talking about the same kind of staffing reductions that the New Democrats are already undertaking in health, education and other government ministries and agencies.

With the New Democrats having turned the MLA’s comment into a daily talking point, it is a little late in the day for Luck to say he would target managers and bureaucrats, not front-line doctors, nurses and teachers.

As the New Democrats said in their news release, “the Conservatives rarely say what they would cut.”

This episode explains why the more experienced hands on the Opposition side are also the most cautious.

On the eve of the 2017 provincial election, then B.C. Liberal MLA Doug Bing chose to venture into the political mine field of sales tax reform with an ill-advised reference to then recently slain harmonized sales tax, the HST.

“I think that in the near future it would be revived,” said Bing.

Then NDP leader John Horgan of course seized the opening. Incredibly, it took then Premier Christy Clark several days to come up with an unequivocal disavowal of plans for “an HST or any other-value added tax.”

By then, speculation about an HST revival would be counted as a factor in Clark losing her legislative majority — and power — by less than 200 votes in one riding.

The HST debate is back on the political agenda today, thanks to a suggestion from the business community that a tax on the value-added model would be preferable to the provincial sales tax.

“If that’s a campaign that the business community wants to take on, I’d be happy to hear the public discussion about it,” was Premier Eby’s reply to the suggestion.

The Luck and Bing episodes recall a similar blurt before the 1991 election from NDP candidate Leonard Krog: “If we’re going to be honest with people in the next election, we’re going to have to tell people: Believe you me, we’re all going to have to pay higher income taxes.”

Krog managed to walk back his words. Plus, happily for the New Democrats, the election was still 18 months away, by which time the comment was mostly forgotten.

The passage of time is probably Luck’s best hope as well. Besides, given the devil-may-care attitude of some Conservatives, there may be more embarrassing comments to come.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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