Iain Black’s B.C. Liberal record shows he’d cost people more, says Rotchford
VANCOUVER – Iain Black’s record as a senior B.C. Liberal cabinet minister under Premier Gordon Campbell shows that he’s not in it for everyday British Columbians.
As an MLA, Black voted for big corporate tax cuts while hitting working British Columbians with increased MSP Premiums, ICBC rates, and the Harmonized Sales Tax.
He was in cabinet when the B.C Liberals cut healthcare funding and rejected a proposal for a second medical school, despite warnings of the looming doctor shortage.
When he left government, he gave a strong endorsement of Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark: “I believe passionately in the work that has been done in the last 10 years and the work that Premier Clark and this government is going to continue to do for the next 10 years.”
When the B.C. NDP reversed B.C. Liberal tax breaks for the wealthiest and big corporations and harmonized those rates with other Canadian jurisdictions, Black opposed those moves. He also opposed the Employers Health Tax, which replaced the MSP Premiums that he helped the B.C. Liberals double.
The vast majority of British Columbians pay significantly less net tax than they did under Black’s B.C. Liberals.
Darlene Rotchford, B.C. NDP MLA for Esquimalt-Colwood:
“As a B.C. Liberal minister under Gordon Campbell, Iain Black cut healthcare and made life more expensive for working people by doubling MSP Premiums, hiking ICBC rates, and hitting us with the HST. With Donald Trump’s tariffs threatening our economy and finances, that’s the last thing people need. British Columbians can’t afford to go back to those expensive B.C. Liberal policies.”