(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

BC Finance Minister Colin Hansen's "budget update" - crafted by Premier Campbell - has set off a storm of criticism from the labour and people's movements in British Columbia.

     Typical was the response from the BC Government and Service Employees Union, which said the budget "continues the pattern established by the B.C. Liberal government of shifting the tax burden onto working families and cutting core public services."

     "The Campbell government is increasing costs to working families and starving public services," said BCGEU President Darryl Walker, noting that the recession is taking its toll on B.C. families: the number of Employment Insurance recipients is up 140%, and temporary income assistance caseloads up 56.5% since last summer.

     "It's clear that the B.C. Liberal government has no credible plan to address the startling increase in poverty and the ever-expanding services deficit in this province," said Walker. "The government is taking us down a highly irresponsible path. As public services continue to be gutted, local economies will suffer and the recession will be deeper and longer than it needs to be."

     The budget promises a reduction of 1,500 jobs over the next three years through layoffs and attrition and re-affirms the government's plans for a freeze on public sector wages. This continues the attack on the public service that began in 2001 when deep and broad-based cuts were made across all ministries.

     "The Liberal cuts since 2001 have been particularly devastating for the `heartlands' where key public services have been taken from many communities or eliminated altogether," said Walker.

     The Sept. 1 budget confirmed and deepened cuts to the Ministry of Environment's parks, protection, and stewardship programs; Ministry of Forests & Range's compliance and enforcement programs; and Ministry of Agriculture's land restoration programs. The Ministry of Transportation's highways maintenance and commercial vehicle inspection will see cuts of $29 million this year, with more cuts scheduled for the next two years.

     Other Ministries facing administrative and program cuts are Children & Families, Citizen Services, Community Development, Education, Finance, and Labour. However, nowhere in the budget documents are the number of full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs) listed ministry-by-ministry.

     The Hospital Employees' Union warned that the budget update "confirms that health authorities will be forced to proceed with more than $300 million in cuts to surgeries, seniors' programs, diagnostic and pharmacy services, residential care, health records, mental health services and other critical services."

     HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy called it "bad news for families who are facing economic uncertainty and need to know that health care and other vital public services are there for them."

     In addition to service cuts, British Columbians will face more than $100 million in MSP premium increases on top of the HST. Health authorities will also be forced to absorb the impact of increased MSP premiums on their payroll costs out of budgets that are already stretched to the limit.

     "Once again, this government is sacrificing sound planning and innovative long-term solutions in health care on the altar of quick fixes," said Darcy. "Many of these cuts will result in more expensive and unnecessary interventions in hospital emergency rooms in the long run."

     "The government has acknowledged the need to rejuvenate the workforce, yet they have confirmed their wage freeze on the public sector," she added. Many HEU members, such as Licensed Practical Nurses, have seen their wages slip behind rates in Alberta and other provinces. Their wages have also not kept pace with increased training and expanded responsibilities.

     The budget update "ignores the hardships faced by tens of thousands of unemployed British Columbians and their families, focussing instead on minimizing the deficit and tax cut," according to the B.C. Federation of Labour.

     "This budget is another spin doctor's dream, until you walk out the door into the real world and realize that we have more than 150,000 people without jobs, forest communities in crisis, seniors without proper care and students without a chance to get a decent education or proper training," said Jim Sinclair, President of the Federation.

     "The Campbell administration is preoccupied with minimizing the deficit which will cause even more job losses," said Sinclair. "This budget does nothing to get people back to work. It does nothing to get people into classrooms for training or retraining. It does nothing to help British Columbians weather the economic downturn or prepare for a recovery. In real terms, the government should be spending money to put people in school and to work. Instead of helping people and communities they are going to axe 1,500 jobs in the public sector."

     Sinclair also noted that on the same day as the budget update, the minimum wage in British Columbia became the lowest in Canada.

     Although the government says it is protecting health care and education, the front line workers who deliver those services are anticipating severe cuts in both health care and education. "Every day we hear of cuts to health care and education but to listen to the Finance Minister all is well in British Columbia and there's lots of money for services."

     "Colin Hansen was the last Finance Minister in the industrialized world to spot this economic collapse. He now wants us to believe that he's spotted a supposed recovery," Sinclair added. "This government doesn't understand that a so-called `jobless recovery' is not a real recovery. BC has lost full-time jobs faster than any other province. This budget does nothing to reduce those numbers, and combined with the HST will lead to even more lost jobs."