Taxes, health care, fracking and raw log exports were among the many topics discussed by Nanaimo-North Cowichan’s political hopefuls at an all-candidates meeting in Chemainus April 30.
Peter Matthews, president of the Chemainus and District Chamber of Commerce, chaired the event, directing questions to representatives of the province’s major political parties and their independent rivals.
Incumbent NDP MLA Doug Routley, Amanda Jacobson of the BC Liberals, John Sherry of the BC Conservatives and Mayo McDonough of the Green Party of BC fielded questions alongside independent candidates Murray McNab and P. Anna Paddon.
Health care reform
Sherry was the first to respond to a question on health care reform. B.C. claims the lowest number of nurses per capita, Sherry said, something that is “absolutely unacceptable.” The Conservatives would direct more money toward health care in B.C., Sherry added, stripping away “administrative overburden” through audits to ensure funding reaches front-line workers.
Jacobson followed, referencing Liberal investments in health care that led to the construction of new hospitals and a doubling of spaces for first-year medical students and trainee nurses since 2001. Wait times have decreased for hip and knee replacements and open-heart surgery, Jacobson added, earning the province an “A” rating from the Wait Time Alliance.
McDonough spoke next, identifying three key factors pivotal in health care reform. Improved home care, new guidelines for treating chronic illnesses and cutting wait times by facilitating direct communication between physicians were paramount.
Referencing the results of a pilot project at Surrey Memorial Hospital, she said “there was a 75-per-cent improvement in wait times in the area of lung cancer [treatment]. All that happened was they had the cancer specialist talk directly to the surgeon instead of having the paperwork go around in a big circle. And that improved wait times 75 per cent at no cost.”
McNab followed suit, taking aim at the “explosion of middle management” at VIHA. The new emergency room at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is spacious and bright, McNab said, but lacks funding for additional doctors.
“Hospitals should not and cannot be run as a business,” he added. “Put more resources into patient care and get rid of the top-heavy management.”
Paddon suggested improved access to alternative practitioners would help relieve pressure on the health care system.
Routley rounded out the discussion of health care reform, stating that health care comprises 46 per cent of the provincial budget. B.C. ranks second in the country in terms of overall spending on health care, Routley added, but on a per-capita basis, B.C. ranks ninth out of Canada’s 10 provinces. Routley dismissed the scapegoating of seniors as the primary cause for inflation in health care, stating that “seniors account for only one per cent” of inflated health care costs.
Routley said the NDP would invest in “innovations, child and youth mental health care and in local primary care to reduce the burden on acute care.”
Logging
Matthews directed the conversation toward the province’s logging industry, asking candidates if they would impose stricter limits on raw log exports or allowable cuts.
Jacobson responded first, acknowledging forestry’s position as a “cornerstone of our economy.” The industry employs 56,000 people, Jacobson said, and is valued at “$10.2 million” [the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations lists the value of the industry’s 2011 exports at $9.95 billion]. In spite of the decline of the U.S. housing market, she said the Liberals have managed to “encourage” a 1,500-per-cent increase in exports since 2011 through the sale of wood to Chinese buyers; exports that kept 16 mills in operation that would have otherwise closed.
McDonough followed, stressing the importance of “science-based management” in creating a forest inventory. She said the Greens “want to put as much support as we can” into the management of forestry resources in a sustainable fashion, run as “community forests” owned and run by “local economies.”
McNab suggested the government encourage upgrades to the Island’s existing mills, adding that he “would love to see more value-added products produced on Vancouver Island.”
McNab stressed the importance of reforesting both private and public lands, but he said he softened his stance on the banning of raw log exports after speaking with former forestry workers.
“When talking to some ex-loggers over coffee this morning, they informed me that as many workers are employed to export raw logs as to mill them,” McNab added.
Paddon would not ban raw log exports either, she said, and she supported long-term planning for “planned-growth forests.”
Routley followed, referencing the loss of 30,000 forestry jobs in B.C. prior to the downturn in the U.S. housing market “due to raw log exports and the disintegration of the market.”
“In 2001, there were 1.5 million cubic meters exported,” Routley said. “Last year: 6.5 million. Last year in the spring, while we were in session, in a 60-day period, the BC Liberal government overruled its own log export panel 80 times in 60 days and exported logs that were not surplus to domestic need. Coast Land Industries in this constituency — the fastest log-peeling operation in North America — is efficient and they can’t get logs. We have to apply the rules as they exist, and we would cut [raw log exports] in half just by doing that.”
Sherry agreed that banning raw log exports would be counter-productive, citing a resulting unemployment figure of 25 per cent as one reason why exports should continue.
As “more of carrot than a stick guy,” Sherry said he supports the creation of industry incentives in the form of research and development credits and “accelerated capital cost appreciation” as a means of encouraging the production of value-added products.
Taxes
The issue of increasing taxes to fund improvements for social programs was also on the agenda during the meeting.
McDonough said the Green Party doesn’t believe additional funds are needed to support social services.
“We think we should take a brand-new approach to social services, something called a ‘guaranteed livable income,’” she said.
By pooling money earmarked for various special needs from all ministries, McDonough said they would fund a program guaranteeing a minimum income, distributed on the basis of people’s income tax returns.
McNab would not support tax increases at present and he “would rather see better use of existing moneys.”
McNab said additional money should be allocated to social programs once the economy picks up.
Paddon said renewable, sustainable vehicle incentives offered by the federal and provincial governments, combined with a $100 fee serving as an alternative to the gas tax, could fund social programs and eliminate the need to raise taxes.
B.C. scored the worst child poverty rate in Canada for eight consecutive years, Routley said, improving its position marginally to second-last place last year.
The NDP will enact a “predistribution of wealth,” he said, improving education and training programs in the province through what he later described as “modest tax increases to the top two per cent of earners in this province, as well as large corporations and banks.”
The NDP’s “poverty reduction plan” will use skills training, education and housing opportunities “to raise up 8,400 children out of poverty” by supporting families, Routley added.
Sherry reiterated the fact that many families living in poverty are working families “living on the edge” that “run out of money before they run out of month.”
Sherry said the Conservatives’ “spending smarter” initiative would see all of the province’s MLAs form three committees to scrutinize spending in three sectors: all Crown corporations, all ministries, and in the “schools, universities, colleges and hospitals sector.”
The Conservatives would not increase taxes, Sherry said, because “we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” He said the savings found through scrutinizing government spending would be directed “to those people who need it most.”
Jacobson rounded out the discussion of social services by reminding those present that the Liberals reduced personal income taxes while increasing the minimum wage.
“There is a monthly earnings exemption for ‘expected to work’ clients until they are able to develop their job skills and take advantage of short-term, temporary work opportunities so that they are not completely left out,” she added.
