Dear Editor:
There's one thing you say about the latest budget of the Liberal government: It's a heck of a lot kinder to business than to the ordinary taxpayer.
Finance Minister de Jong's boast that B.C. is one of two provinces with a balanced budget rings a bit hollow when put alongside the fact that B.C. is also one of two provinces that levies a medical services premium on its citizens. As if that isn't bad enough, de Jong is increasing that premium, the third such increase in as many years.
That seems a bit unbalanced to me.
However, "boring, balanced budget" or not, let's not overlook the government's predilection to add to the mountain of debt accumulated under their watch. It's projected to reach $68.9 billion over the next three years, almost a third of which has been added since Christie Clark assumed the Liberal leadership in 2011.
That certainly is not boring. That's questionable fiscal management.
Bill Brassington, Burnaby
