B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson hit the campaign trail in Surrey Sunday (Sept. 27) with an announcement promising no new taxes on British Columbians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m announcing that if I am premier, I will make the affordability crisis a top priority for our new government,\u201d shared Doerkson.<\/p>\n
Doerkson, along with Surrey candidates Trevor Halford, Mandeep Dhaliwal, Zeeshan Wahla and Megan Knight, began his campaign at Bridgeview Park, a place he shared was important to him because he grew up in the area. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, across the river, and I grew up playing in these parks. It was an absolutely amazing place to grow up,\u201d Doerkson said, detailing how he also attended Bridgeview Elementary and did Cub Scouts in the area. <\/p>\n
Doerkson moved to explaining a bit about himself, mentioning that his past is in business and therefore he knows what it takes to make a payroll and balance books. <\/p>\n
He promised that a future Conservative government would help the economy by not raising taxes or introducing new taxes. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you don\u2019t balance books, you cannot move ahead. In fact when you can\u2019t balance books year after year, the problem is serious and the end is near,\u201d said Doerkson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are blessed with talent and resources and the most beautiful geography in the world, and yet our economy is struggling, our industries are in peril, and life has never been more expensive than it is today.\u201d <\/p>\n
A Conservative Party of B.C. press release targets multiple NDP moves that it says have hurt \u201cworking British Columbians,\u201d including raising the lowest income tax rate from 5.06% to 5.60%. It also calls out the NDP for announcing an expansion of the 7% PST and eliminating several PST exemptions, then pausing the expansion on the eve of an election.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just last week, the answer from David Eby and the NDP to the housing affordability crisis was to hike yet another tax,\u201d the release continues. \u201cBrackets are also frozen through 2030 \u2013 a quiet tax hike that hits British Columbians every time their pay keeps up with inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doerkson said \u201cmismanagement\u201d of the economy has resulted in a large deficit that isn\u2019t getting the right attention from the NDP and David Eby. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is at a time when B.C. and Canada are facing a bully in Donald Trump and an administration that wants to weaken us and break us,\u201d said Deorkson. <\/p>\n
Doerkson also said the NDP has done nothing to fix some of the bigger problems such as crime, drugs, disorder on the streets, medical wait times and hospital emergency room closures. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis cannot carry on. Over a million people in our province without a doctor. That challenge is real,\u201d said Doerkson. <\/p>\n
Doerkson said a hospital emergency room in Merritt is closed today (Sept. 27) and he is shocked that men and woman can be sent to the moon and yet B.C. can\u2019t keep a hospital open.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething is fundamentally wrong with a system that allows this to continue week after week in this province,\u201d said Doerkson. <\/p>\n
He continued his point by saying that British Columbians are looking for a strong government to fight for the workers, people\u2019s families and their rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo bring some stability to British Columbia, we will commit to not raising taxes and we will not introduce new taxes,\u201d said Doerkson. \u201cAs the premier, I will never allow our government to raise taxes on hardworking taxpayers in this great province.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t need fancy solutions to fix this. We need to go back to basics,\u201d stated Doerkson. <\/p>\n
Doerkson also said he found the choice of David Eby calling a snap election \u201cappalling\u201d and \u201ccynical\u201d but also said he thinks the people want something new. <\/p>\n
When asked about SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity), same-sex marriage and abortion, Doerkson said SOGI needs to be repealed in schools. <\/p>\n
\u201cI respect abortion, I feel like it\u2019s a woman\u2019s choice,\u201d Doerkson answered, saying he also is in favour of same-sex marriage but believes that SOGI has steered away from its original purpose. <\/p>\n
\u201cSOGI has become an absolute lightning rod for division in this province, and most people I talk to are extremely frustrated,\u201d shared Doerkson. <\/p>\n
He continues by saying that everyone he has spoken to in regards to SOGI have said they want to make sure their kids are safe within their schools. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to provide that, but SOGI has to be repealed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Doerkson said the province needs to focus on the things that actually matter to British Columbians and explained he is prepared for that challenge.<\/p>\n
The B.C. NDP sent out a release in response to Doerkson\u2019s campaign stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoerkson\u2019s first campaign commitment confirms healthcare to take the brunt of their cuts,\u201d the NDP said in a release. <\/p>\n
The release states that Doerkson falsely claimed that the B.C. NDP have \u201craised taxes against people that are least able to afford it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The NDP shares that a typical working family with an income of $100,000 now pays $3,000 less in taxes under the B.C. NDP then what they did under the B.C. Liberals. The release says British Columbians pay the lowest middle-class taxes in the country. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe B.C. NDP has, however, asked the top 2% of earners, speculators, and owners of $3-million-plus houses to pay a bit more, so everyone else can pay less,\u201d said the NDP. <\/p>\n
The release says that Doerkson\u2019s tax announcement today (Sept. 27) \u201cconfirms that the BC Conservatives would make deep cuts to healthcare to balance the budget.\u201d <\/p>\n
The NDP said the B.C Conservatives\u2019 plan to \u201caggressively\u201d cut the deficit will require new revenues and\/or deep cuts to services. <\/p>\n
The release notes that Doerkson\u2019s commitment does not include car insurance or housing costs and says the B.C. Conservatives plan to cancel David Eby\u2019s changes at ICBC would double car insurance rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoerkson also reiterated his plan today to scrap David Eby\u2019s housing plan,\u201d the NDP said in the release. <\/p>\n
This includes the speculation tax and the new Unsold Condo Tax, which would drive up the cost of housing again and keep condos unaffordable for people, the NDP release says. <\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Eby and the BC NDP\u2019s plan will lower costs for middle-class British Columbians, ensure those at the very top pay their fair share, and keep investing to strengthen healthcare.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson hit the campaign trail in Surrey Sunday (Sept. 27) with an announcement promising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":912088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-912087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}