(Vancouver) – 24 hours after Vision Vancouver provided a detailed cost breakdown of Suzanne Anton and the NPA’s platform, several questions remain as to what the NPA would cut and how new programs would be paid for – and so far, the NPA and Suzanne Anton have refused to release their internal costing document.
“The fact that Vision had to cost out Suzanne Anton’s platform for her just goes to show how inexperienced the NPA group of candidates is,” says Vision Vancouver council candidate Raymond Louie, who has chaired the city's finance committee for three years. “They don’t have a credible plan for running the city. When you look at the massive spending increases they’re proposing, the NPA will have to do one of two things: make major cuts to core services, or significantly increase taxes.
“It’s been 24 hours Suzanne, we’re still waiting – how are you going to pay for your platform? The ‘common sense’ thing to do would be to release your costing - just as every other political party in Canada does when running for election.”
The NPA platform includes an increase of $390.1 million in new capital spending, as well as $10.2 million in new annual spending, ranging from reopening planning processes, to building a streetcar line without TransLink, to creating several new offices, studies and commissioners. The NPA are proposing to balance this by promising just $1 million in spending cuts – leaving a massive, unanswered hole in their platform.
When asked how the NPA would pay for over $400 million in new spending, NPA candidate Mike Klassen didn’t provide an answer, only saying to The Province newspaper "our plan is well costed and we believe that the numbers stand up.
Vision Vancouver council candidate Tony Tang asks why, if the NPA has the costing for their platform, they won't release it to the public?
“The NPA have focused their campaign on running negative attacks against Vision, and it’s easy to see why – they don’t want to talk about their plan, because they can’t possibly pay for it,” says Tang. “Refusing to release the costing for their platform should be a big red flag. Voters shouldn’t roll the dice on the NPA this Saturday – with three years of either big cuts or tax hikes from the NPA, it’s too risky.”
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