NDP leave the big questions unanswered in year-end cost-of-living statement (BC Conservatives)

David Eby and Brenda Bailey are touting temporary cost-of-living relief while families are facing more, permanent, carbon tax pain in just three months" ~~ Peter Milobar, MLA – Kamloops Centre, Finance Critic of the Official Opposition

Yesterday’s cost-of-living announcement by British Columbia NDP finance minister Brenda Bailey is no more than a shell game designed to distract families from the big carbon tax increase coming on April 1st, according to the Conservative official opposition.

“It’s ironic that Brenda Bailey is touting a temporary boost in the BC Family Benefit that runs out next June, when she’s planning another permanent hike in the carbon tax on April 1^st,” said Peter Milobar, MLA – Kamloops Centre, Conservative finance critic. “And she didn’t say a word about the $1,000 per household in ‘immediate’ tax relief that David Eby promised during the election campaign.”

“It’s tough to see how the NDP are serious about the cost of living, when they plan to add 3.3 cents a litre to the price of gas on April 1^st,” said Milobar.

“And once the railroads, the truckers, and the greenhouse operators start paying the extra carbon tax, the added tax will be showing up in our shopping carts the same way it has since the NDP started raising the carbon tax every year.”

Milobar said the April 1^st carbon tax hike will more than triple the carbon tax since the NDP took office in 2017, bringing the extra tax to more than $10 for a tank of gas for a standard Honda Odyssey minivan.

Milobar noted that the NDP continue to be silent on David Eby’s election pledge to deliver $1,000 a year in household relief, starting immediately.

“David Eby could have recalled the legislature last November to deliver the ‘immediate’ relief” said Milobar. “Will Eby finally deliver next February? We still don’t know.”

Milobar said nearly every NDP MLA received a pay raise, ranging from roughly $20,000 to $60,000, either as a minister, minister of state, or parliamentary secretary, immediately, as soon as they took office after the election.

“David Eby is providing immediate relief for some British Columbians from the rising cost of living,” said Milobar. “Too bad it’s only NDP MLAs and staffers.”