BC Provincial Election-I Voted Already

Agreed. It is money that the gov't has agreeded upon contactually to spend. For the most part it is money that the Liberals say we will be getting from.... LNG and... well, that's about it. Now, as long as the price of natural gas stays high we're fine right? ... OOPS. Way to diversify Libs. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket.

I appreciate you posting your link though. It goes to show that their are many ways to 'massage' the debt numbers to make them look a certain way and I will freely admit that the graph I posted shows DEBT and OBILGATIONS. Some parts of those obligations will be paid down by future revenue streams but the % is looking smaller and smaller over the past few years and the fact is we are contracted to pay those massive obligations no matter what happens to commodity prices or anything else. It's a massive risk and a poor attempt by the Libs to mask the debt to make it seem more tolerable.

I think all governments would try to hide debt this same way unfortunately. It's too easy to change the accounting to confuse the public. That's why we have an auditor general... and we all know that if the Auditor general is doing his/her job too well they get canned. Sad state of affairs.


trendsetter said:
High-five contractual obligations are not debt in the sense that money has been borrowed, spent and the government now has to pay that back with interest. It is money that the government has agreed to spend over set period of time on everything from capital projects, health care, education, transportation and on and on.
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The government certainly needs to diversify and expand the economy. LNG should be a part of that because there is great value there. As a percentage of our provincial GDP LNG is actually rather small. I am actually dead against fracking when there is a risk of contaminating ground water and sensitive environmental watersheds. We need to move forward with resource extraction but not in a way that damages the environment.

My view is we need to grow our economy, be stewards of the environment and reduce our tax payer supported debt. To do this there will need to be some cuts to services and some tax increases. I accept that. My opinion is that there is no better party than the liberal party to accomplish this. I'm not thrilled with all their decisions and all their candidates but as others have stated, this is the lesser of two evils for me.

Hopefully this thread encourages others to look a little deeper into exactly what all these economic metrics actually mean. Some might find that the sky isn't falling after all.
 
trendsetter said:
My view is we need to grow our economy, be stewards of the environment and reduce our tax payer supported debt. To do this there will need to be some cuts to services and some tax increases. I accept that.
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Tough to argue with that. It's just in terms of the "stewards of the environment" part I'll have to disagree with you that the Liberals have taken this seriously. Anyways, hope everyone voted and hopefully whichever gov't ends up in power at the end of the day starts working for BC, and not for neighboring provinces, foreign entities, and multinational businesses.
 
Voted today. Green again. We'll see how it works out.
 
terrin said:
The Liberals have racked up the most tax payer supported debt in B.C. history.
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As was mentioned earlier, debt that is incurred to build infrastructure is not bad as long as the debt as a percentage of GDP ratio does not get out of hand. This kind of debt is very much like the mortgage you have on you house - it is backed by assets and your mortgage payment generally is less than 30% of you annual income. Most people would not be able to buy homes if they did not go into debt by taking out a mortgage. Similarly, governments would not be able to spend millions on roads, bridges, school construction and other capital projects if they did not borrow money to fund these projects. Now, if you look at the number of capital construction projects that have been undertaken by the Liberal Government over the past 10 years, it is not hard to understand why the debt level is so high. Look at the Sea to Sky highway, the Port Mann Bridge, Canada Line, Abbotsford Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital expansion etc etc etc.
None of this stuff would have been built if not for "mortgage" financing. But through all of this, the Provinces debt to GDP ratio has been such that the Province has been able to maintain a AAA Credit Rating from virtually all of the major rating agencies.
 
GLG said:
Nope I'm just calling them as I see it. Been watching and reading since I retired here from Alberta.
Spent many a year working in the oil patch as a youth. Moved on to computers when the personal computer came out. Travel and lived in most provinces of Canada including Quebec. Tried my hand at learning business in Ontario working for a big newspaper chain. Brought everything together and back to Calgary and cranked up a computer consulting firm. Shut it down and moved here to raise a family as Alberta is not my idea of a place to live anymore. Yup I do have my friends interest in mind..... I don't what to see the same mistakes made over again that were made in Alberta. My friends are everywhere..... the whole planet for that matter. We are heading down a path that spells destruction to the things I hold dear to me. And for what reason..... money..... sure it makes the world go around but how much is enough? What is the cost? Are we willing to give up clean air, water and land?
Perhaps my views have changed since I stopped chasing the mighty buck. I know that since I have become a father things are different now and my concern is for my kid. I will do anything to protect her future including shinning a light here on this forum on a guy like Gwyn Morgan. Even if it means taking a hit from fellas like you.
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When I asked earlier how long you were in the patch and what you did now had you answered I was 95% sure this is what you would have said. Too bad you don't think the younger generation deserves the same chance at prosperity you had, it's easy to condemn industry when you have a degree financial freedom. If you made your living in Calgary you made it directly off of dead dinosaurs. Must be a good view from your glass house.
 
For the clarity of the past 5 posts I say thank you. It is good to know a few still understand how an economy works.
 
finaddict said:
For the clarity of the past 5 posts I say thank you. It is good to know a few still understand how an economy works.
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Yup and without one fishing guides will never have to worry about salmon runs since no one will be able to afford $1000 days. It sure won't be the Quadra kayak guides or the guy serving fish and chips to tourists getting off the ferry in Rupert that butter their bread.
 
triplenickel said:
When I asked earlier how long you were in the patch and what you did now had you answered I was 95% sure this is what you would have said. Too bad you don't think the younger generation deserves the same chance at prosperity you had, it's easy to condemn industry when you have a degree financial freedom. If you made your living in Calgary you made it directly off of dead dinosaurs. Must be a good view from your glass house.
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If I would have know how much damage my work in tar sand back then is doing now I would have gladly taken on another job. Back then we knew nothing about climate change or the destruction of the land. None of us had any idea what we were doing to the environment..... all we knew was what our leaders told us. Work the patch... work hard and get ahead. Today we see what is going on and it's not good. Last week we reached 400 ppm co2, a level not seen since the age of the dinosaurs. The Grand Old Party's Grand Old Experiment will cost my kids far more then you or I will every see....but throw rock's if you must..... Polls close at 8PM and we will see who wins.
 
GLG said:
If I would have know how much damage my work in tar sand back then is doing now I would have gladly taken on another job. Back then we knew nothing about climate change or the destruction of the land. None of us had any idea what we were doing to the environment..... all we knew was what our leaders told us. Work the patch... work hard and get ahead. Today we see what is going on and it's not good. Last week we reached 400 ppm co2, a level not seen since the age of the dinosaurs. The Grand Old Party's Grand Old Experiment will cost my kids far more then you or I will every see....but throw rock's if you must..... Polls close at 8PM and we will see who wins.
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We're kinda getting off track a bit I think, this is about BC's industries not the Tar Sands and what's happening in NE BC is absolutley nothing like that. I'd be curious to know how much you're willing to stand behind your ideals. Knowing what you know now I'm sure your retirement portfolio has no energy stocks in it right? Certainly none that belong to the big "E", you know the one that demon Gwynn Morgan helped build up? Sorry if it seems like I'm throwing stones but you know what they say about politics and religion, add that to ones livelihood potentially being jeopardized and I get passionate. I did manage to get out and make my voice heard ths afternoon, cheers amigo.
 
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Yea, pipelines and coal mines will be a go.
Fish farms will be a go.

Hydro is screwed.
 
High Five said:
Its done but you know why the results are the way they are....48% people voted WTF is wrong with people on our province...You wonder why things are the way they are... I am not saying things would have changed on winner but OMG a majority....
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All the hard working people showed up to vote. "WTF" did you think would happen lol. I saw it coming. If you want more people to vote then you have to get out there yourself to get them to vote. I have been an influence on quite a few folks over the years to get off their butts and go to the poll's.
 
Clarity and sanity have prevailed. No to bigger government, no to an extra 2 billion in spending, no to big raises for all the government unions.


It is a good day for B.C. and economic growth
 
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