NDP's promises to be paid partly by tax increase on B.C.'s richest 2%

If elected in May, NDP Leader John Horgan says he would scrap a tax cut the B.C. Liberals gave to the top two percent of B.C. wage earners in 2015. 

In a year-end sit-down interview, Horgan said restoring tax rates to 2015 levels for the richest people in B.C. could bring a billion dollars into provincial coffers.

"I am expecting to rebalance the tax break the B.C. Liberals gave to the richest people in B.C.," said Horgan. "Government is about choices and the choices I would make are focused on making life better for people."

"The choices Christy Clark has made have left kids, 7,000 of them, in portable classrooms in Surrey. Choices Christy Clark has made have been leaving people waiting on the sidewalk as a bus drives by full."

NDP would remove portables, boost transit funding

Horgan has previously outlined a number of his government's commitments but is waiting until the provincial budget in February to cost out his plan. 

The platform pieces already announced include getting rid of the 7,000 portables that are currently at Surrey public schools.

The current government has estimated this would cost about $500 million to do, including building necessary classrooms to house students currently in portables. 

The B.C. NDP would also increase the provincial share in Phase 2 funding for the Metro Vancouver mayors $7.5 billion transit plan.  

The boost from 33 per cent to 40 per cent pledged by the NDP would cost $525 million over 10 years and cover the costs of the Surrey LRT, Broadway subway and a new Pattullo Bridge.

The NDP has also promised to restore the bus pass program for people with disabilities. The provincial government took away free bus passes and replaced it with a monthly increase of $77 a month for people on disability assistance. 

"You gave a billion dollars to the richest people in the province. You've got a billion dollar surplus and you are still saying people with disabilities cannot get a bus pass, said Horgan. 

"You are still saying that you don't want to invest in moving people around. Those are again choices. I intend to make choices in the interest of the people in British Columbia."

NDP to reveal spending plan after budget

The provincial government's latest projections forecast a budget surplus of $2.24 billion. Horgan says that's partly why he's waiting until after the official budget is tabled in February to explain exactly how the billions of dollars in new spending will be paid for.

"We will be costing these programs when we see the budget for 2017, and I think that's a reasonable expectation by the public," said Horgan.

In addition, Horgan says he committed, well before the Supreme Court of Canada decision, that the government must restore class size and composition to 2002 levels — something the BCTF estimated could cost $300 million a year.

The final big ticket item the NDP has promised is a $10-a-day daycare program, which based on provincial estimates, would cost $2 billion a year.

Childcare advocates say the program would benefit the economy by getting people back into the workforce.