Was the marquee promise of the BC NDP’s election campaign a big, fat, whopper of a lie that the party could never fulfil but nonetheless dangled over the heads of British Columbians to buy cheap votes?
Yes — or at least it’s a pretty compelling argument for the Opposition BC Conservatives to make after Finance Minister Brenda Bailey pulled the plug on a $1,000 “grocery rebate” that Premier David Eby once called the “core piece” of his re-election campaign.
“We intended to do this, but the world has changed on us,” Bailey said Thursday, citing the threat of U.S. tariffs. “It’s become much more uncertain.”
The world was pretty uncertain back on Sept. 29, 2024, too, when the NDP first made the province of an up to $500 rebate for individuals and $1,000 for families. In fact, a rebate during uncertain times was the whole point of the proposal.
“It’s really tough out there for many families – inflation and interest rates have driven up the cost of daily essentials,” said Eby. “People need help now so they can get ahead.”
“Now” was the operative word. Eby spent weeks hammering home how his plan would put cash in the wallets of British Columbians within months.
“You and your family need support right now, not five years from now maybe if you qualify and are able to gather all your documents together — but right away, $1,000 for the average household, immediately in a rebate in the first year of our government,” he said.
From the moment the promise first left the premier’s lips, there were rumbles it might never actually happen.
The $1.8-billion cost was extraordinarily high, at a time of a record $9.4-billion deficit. How could B.C. possibly afford it, while the premier was also promising to show “a path” to balanced budgets without cutting spending or raising taxes? Don’t worry, the NDP said, we’ll just add it on top of the existing deficit.
“A core piece of this platform has to be responding to the affordability challenges facing this audience,” Eby said Oct. 3.
“The work we've done around the costing and preparation of this has been significant.”
So important was the promise, the premier professed during his platform launch that his campaign couldn’t exist without it.
“I would not bring forward a platform for British Columbians that did not include a very specific and understandable piece that supports people with the cost of daily life,” he said.
“Because that is what people are facing. And that's what my commitment is, is to support people with what they're facing.”
Until now, anyway.
“It is something that we wanted to do and something that we were working on,” said Bailey.
“But that was a moment in time before an unpredictable person was in the White House and threatened our jobs, our businesses and the revenue that we need to power the programs and services that British Columbians rely on.
“It’s no longer the right time to make a new big expenditure.”
You can forgive voters for rolling their eyes. It’s always the “right time” for politicians to make grandiose promises when they need your votes, but rarely the “right time” to actually follow through with them once they get back into power.
“I think that’s code for saying David Eby lied and BS’d during the election because he needed the votes,” replied Conservative Leader John Rustad. “He knew there was fiscal problems.”
The Conservatives have a right to be angry with the flip-flop. During the election, they tabled their own affordability measure that would have let British Columbians write-off their rent or mortgage costs, earning a tax rebate of up to $1,700 annually.
Rustad proposed to phase it in over four years so he could mitigate costs and also reduce the budget deficit over time. Eby and the New Democrats mocked him mercilessly for what they called “the long wait” versus their immediate (and it turns out totally impractical) rebate cheques.
“How can we immediately get support for families that are struggling with costs?” Eby said Oct. 3.
“Which is the complete contrast with the Conservatives who appear to be saying, what's the longest date out we can reasonably promise people that they will see relief? In 2029 you can take your flying car to pick up the rebate from John Rustad after your long wait.”
Flying car. A fun laugh line at the moment.
It’s just too bad the BC NDP aren’t even half as good at governing and actually getting things done as they are insulting people with different — and it turns out, in retrospect, much better and more realistic — ideas.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
