B.C.’s new premier-elect, Lorne Doerkson, says he’s got a full slate of reforms ready to go the moment his government is sworn into office.
Doerkson, who won Saturday’s election in a blue wave of 63 seats, is beginning a transition process to replace the BC NDP government that is expected to take several weeks.
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He told media Sunday that his top priority is to launch an independent review into the state of provincial finances and the NDP government’s projected $14 billion deficit.
“I am very concerned about that, and I think British Columbians should be very concerned,” he said.
“You know, we’ve never seen debt grow like this in our province’s history, and it is a significant challenge.”
The Conservatives have promised a core review of government to reduce costs, a freeze on hiring and consultants, and a reduction in the civil service. At the same time, Doerkson has said he will not introduce any new taxes or cut health care spending.
“Let me just be clear: our interest payment is choking our economy and choking British Columbia,” he said. “We have to focus on this, and it will definitely be a focus of my government going forward.”
Interest debt payments have risen to the equivalent of the fourth most expensive ministry in government.
Doerkson said he also intends to follow through with a review of hospital emergency room closures within the first 100 days of taking office, working with what he said will be frontline doctors and nurses to come up with a plan to limit ER curtailments.
On legislation, which the Conservative government would likely not be in a place to table until the spring, Doerkson said his top priority is a budget that raises personal income tax exemptions to $32,000 a year, resulting in a $1,000 tax break for most people.
He also pledged to introduce legislation to decouple the municipal and provincial elections, which are now locked into a simultaneous four-year cycle due to defeated Premier David Eby’s decision to call a snap election at the same time.
A functioning Conservative cabinet would need to be in place to issue cabinet orders to cancel the Massey Tunnel project and begin work on a new 10-lane bridge, as an education minister would be required to scrap the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) learning module in schools.
The Conservatives are in the middle of a transition that requires the hiring of hundreds of staff, restructuring ministries, selecting a cabinet, writing mandate letters, reorganizing the civil service, and more.
Doerkson did not rule out a fall session of the legislature, but given it took John Horgan’s NDP administration two months to transition into power in 2017, it seems more likely the Conservatives would begin their legislative agenda in the spring.
READ MORE: B.C. Conservative’s Lorne Doerkson sets out urgent priorities to govern