The NDP's promises don't add up.

The week after Premier Campbell laid out his action plan to spend $485 million over 3-years to safeguard British Columbians from the growing global economic crisis. The NDP's Carole James, trying not to be outdone, replied with an economic plan of her own. She promised the NDP would out spend the BC Liberals with $2.4 billion in spending over three years - five times more than Premier Gordon Campbell.

Imagine that - - Carole James says the NDP would spend 5 times more than the Campbell Government over the next 3 years. This from the NDP that brought you 10 straight budget deficits during the years they were the government in BC in the 1990's.

I guess the NDP also believe in the tooth fairy and unicorns.

Or maybe they believe that old Abraham Lincoln quote, that "you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time'.

But British Columbian's know, "you can not fool all the people all the time."

The provincial government has lost hundreds of millions of dollars this year due to the shrinking economy, as stated in September by Colin Hansen, BC's Finance Minister. However, NDP Leader Carole James went on television with a straight face and promised British Columbians that an NDP government would promptly spend $2.4-billion - on top of the new initiatives announced the week before by Premier Gordon Campbell.

Now that's misleading!

The B.C. government originally forecast a budget surplus of $1 billion earlier in the year, but B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen recently stated that that budget estimate number has not been updated since the worldwide deep market plunges. BC's overall economic growth this year is running slower than previously estimated and prospects for 2009 now appear to be softening in light of the global economic crisis.

As a result, Royal Bank Economics's forecasts for real GDP growth will be 1.2% in 2008 (down from 2.2%) and down to 2.1% in 2009 (from the projected 2.9%).

Our slowing GDP growth will have a negative effect on our budgetary surpluses over the next 3 years. You can't take the budget surplus forecasts from the spring budget and use these same estimated surpluses in your future spending plans. That is totally dishonest! The NDP should come clean on where they plan to come up with the $2.4 Billion dollars in spending over the next three years.

Or are they trying to fool all of the people all of the time?