{"id":117536,"date":"2017-09-13T03:39:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T07:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=117536"},"modified":"2017-09-13T03:39:25","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T07:39:25","slug":"green-factor-explains-disappearance-of-big-ticket-promises-in-b-c-budget-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/13\/green-factor-explains-disappearance-of-big-ticket-promises-in-b-c-budget-james\/","title":{"rendered":"Green factor explains disappearance of big ticket promises in B.C. budget: James"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Finance Minister Carole James (Photo by By mattjiggins – http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mattjiggins\/2897624842\/, CC BY 2.0)ROLE JAMES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VICTORIA \u2014 British Columbia’s three-member Green party was a factor behind the absence of big-ticket election promises in the minority NDP government’s first budget update, Finance Minister Carole James says.<\/p>\n

James said universal child care and a comprehensive housing strategy will anchor her next budget in February, but not before a period of consultation with the Greens, interest groups and organizations.<\/p>\n

The NDP and Greens reached an agreement to combine their seat totals in the 87-seat legislature to defeat the Liberals in a non-confidence vote after B.C.’s spring election did not produce a clear winner. The agreement also sees the Greens support the NDP minority in confidence votes in the legislature.<\/p>\n

The NDP’s election promises included a $10-a-day child care program for families struggling to find affordable, accessible, quality daycare. The party also pledged to offer renters annual rebate cheques of $400 to offset high rents in much of the province.<\/p>\n

Green Leader Andrew Weaver said the Greens support free daycare for families of children under age three and will suggest universal child care should not be stuck on the $10 number highlighted during the election campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position was why $10? Why not $15. Why not free?\u201d<\/p>\n

Weaver said his party also believes the $400 renter rebate could be spread more widely to help people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share the same value that we need to give renters a break,\u201d he said, suggesting that giving a rebate to all renters and creating the bureaucracy to deliver it may not be the best way to go.<\/p>\n

Weaver said he was thrilled the promised child care and renter rebate programs were not detailed in the NDP’s first budget update on Monday.<\/p>\n

However, social policy groups, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said they were concerned James did not deliver the child care plan in the budget update, which forecast a surplus of $246 million and economic growth of 2.9 per cent<\/p>\n

\u201cBy February’s budget you’ll certainly have an indication of the plan,\u201d James said. \u201cBoth of those need discussions before we come to February and a full year’s budget. The Greens are part of that discussion and part of that consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weaver said the absence of details on rent rebates and $10-a-day child care in the budget update indicates \u201ca softening of some of their promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not forcing our platform on them,\u201d Weaver said of upcoming talks on the issues with the NDP. \u201cThey’re not forcing their platform on us. It shows how a minority government can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

James’s budget update also promised to hire 3,500 teachers and build thousands of rental units and homes for the homeless.<\/p>\n

And the government will increase B.C.’s $30-per-tonne carbon tax by an annual $5 per tonne on April 1, 2018.<\/p>\n

The hike is intended to ensure the province’s carbon tax reaches the federal government’s goal of $50 a tonne a year before its 2022 deadline for a set carbon price agreement across Canada, James said.<\/p>\n

She also said the carbon tax will no longer be required to be revenue neutral and the expected $1.2 billion in revenues this year will fund government programs rather than tax measures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VICTORIA \u2014 British Columbia’s three-member Green party was a factor behind the absence of big-ticket election promises in the minority …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":117226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[23724,23725],"class_list":["post-117536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-british-columbias-three-member-green-party","tag-finance-minister-carole-james","mauthors-dirk-meissner","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}