During the years of budgetary surpluses, the provincial ministry of finance would always have to set aside some cash to cover the promises made during the premier's annual speech to the Union of B.C. Municipalities.Himself a former UBCM president, Gordon Campbell liked to wow the annual gathering of mayors and councillors with a display of provincial-taxpayer-financed generosity. Nor did the B.C. Liberal leader have modest aspirations in terms of what constituted walking around money at those events. His UBCM speeches usually ended up tapping the provincial treasury for millions of dollars.
The first of those goodie-laden addresses was delivered five years ago in Kelowna. With the
Liberals moving beyond the deficits of their first few years in office, Campbell presented the UBCM with $25 million to promote tourism marketing and another $10 million to top up the promise of returning all revenues from traffic fines to municipal coffers.
A year later, he addressed the convention in Vancouver with a $27-million boost in unconditional provincial grants for smaller communities and regional districts, $7 million to help fight the scourge of crystal meth, and $1 million for a leadership academy.Plus the government donated a prime lot in the provincial capital for construction of a new municipal house. The site was located behind the legislature buildings, providing local leaders with a convenient base from which to lobby for provincial money the year round.
The next year, the UBCM convened in the capital. The premier came packing $80 million for a trio of gimmicky programs -- Local Motion (funding for bike paths, walkways and greenways), Towns for Tomorrow (small-town infrastructure) and Spirit Squares (outdoor public meeting spaces). He also committed the province to paying one-third of the cost of sewage treatment for the capital region. No precise dollar figure for that one, although the as-yet-unbuilt project has been priced as high as $1.2 billion.
The convention was back in Vancouver in 2007 and Campbell was in the first year of his ambitious plan to fight climate change. His speech promised $50 million to expand green transit at the local level, another $100 million to bolster flood protection around the province.
Last year, with the convention in Penticton, the election approaching, and Campbell needing a popularity boost, the speech was top-heavy with expensive good news.A $10-million down payment on a new $400-million transmission line for the Northwest. Another $50 million for Towns for Tomorrow. A $10-million payback to local governments to offset the cost of the carbon tax.Plus he capped the hour-long address with a surprise. The B.C. Liberals were eliminating the tolls on the Coquihalla, at a loss of $57 million annually to the treasury. (More than one Liberal has lately remarked that those missing dollars would come in handy today.)Five speeches, more than $400 million in promises, even if you count only the ones that were fully costed in the government press releases.
But as Campbell prepares to take to the stage at the UBCM convention in Vancouver at the end of this week, he's scarcely in a position to do a repeat of those golden years."The fiscal cupboard is bare and currently hangs on a wall of deficit spending," in the clumsy characterization of the recent speech from the throne.True, the province last week committed to its share of $700 million worth of infrastructure projects in partnership with local government and the federal government.But that was a matter of keeping a promise made before the election to ensure that "not one dollar" of federal stimulus financing would be left on the table owing to a provincial unwillingness to provide matching funds.The UBCM had drawn attention to Liberal government foot-dragging on the stimulus money on Sept. 14."The ball is squarely in the province's court," said UBCM president Robert Hobson. "It's been eight months since the federal funding for jump starting the Canadian economy was announced. Municipalities, shovels at the ready, still don't know how much B.C. is prepared to match." The strongly worded protest served its purpose. The Liberals signed up for their share of the dollars within 10 days.
But it was hard to think of a similar public breach between the two levels of government during Campbell's time as premier.Nor is that the end of the points of contention. The harmonized sales tax is likely to take a beating at the convention, with many local government leaders critical of the timing of the HST as well as the shift in the tax bite from business to consumers.Where difficulties have cropped up in the past, the premier was always able to smooth things over by hauling out the provincial government chequebook during his convention speech.Not an option this year, unless the Liberals are still not playing straight about the financial situation. With no money in the treasury, Campbell will have nothing to fall back on but his reserves of charm -- such as they are.
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