By Wilf Hanni

The B.C. Liberal Party is trying to scare the voters into voting for them by claiming that the B.C. Conservative Party will split the vote and elect the NDP.

And which will set up another level of government, with veto power over any decision your provincial government makes regarding land use or resource development anywhere in British Columbia.

This will stop all economic development in British Columbia and possibly even take away your title to your own home.

Premier Campbell and his Liberal government are not Conservatives. They are not even a good imitation. The B.C. Liberals never did represent the Conservative voters, and they are turning further away from them every day. They are turning so far to the left that it is now hard to distinguish them from the NDP.

Premier Campbell has become arrogant and autocratic and will not even listen to his own caucus, let alone the voters. His B.C. Liberal government has lost touch with the people who elected them and the voters of British Columbia must remove them from office on May 12, or at least hold them to a minority government, with the B.C. Conservatives holding the balance of power.

The B.C. Conservative Party has over 20 good quality candidates running in this election. We also have a party platform that includes policies covering the following areas:

1. Health care

We will support implementing measures to make health care more effective for all British Columbians.

This will include measures like “performance based payment” by the government to publicly owned facilities like hospitals.

And the fast-tracking of accreditation of foreign-trained doctors and nurses.

And the opening of more facilities in rural areas of British Columbia that have been abandoned by the B.C. Liberals.

2. Aboriginal land claims

The B.C. Conservative Party believes that all of our citizens should be treated equally.

B.C. Conservative MLAs will oppose the recognition of aboriginal title to up to 100 percent of British Columbia and will instead insist that the federal government negotiate fair and equitable land claim settlements with the aboriginal population of British Columbia.

These settlements must ensure that British Columbia’s land and resources remain under the control of all our citizens through their provincial government.

3. The environment

The B.C. Conservative Party is the only party in British Columbia that advocates a balanced approach to the economy and the environment.

The B.C. Liberal carbon tax does absolutely nothing for the environment.

It simply takes money out of your pocket every time you drive your car or heat your home.

We will eliminate the Liberal carbon tax.

We will also work to stop the Liberal giveaway of our rivers and streams to foreign-controlled corporations with no regard for the environmental damage those corporations do.

4. The economy

B.C. Conservative MLAs will work to reduce regulation and red tape so that businesses can establish in British Columbia and create jobs for our citizens.

This will include the expansion of resource development, including coal, methane, oil and gas, precious metals, and forest products.

5. Taxation

B.C. Conservative MLAs will work to reduce the PST, by one percent immediately and eventually to zero, once we have a strong enough economy to support the province’s infrastructure without this revenue.

We will eliminate the property transfer tax and will work to establish the lowest personal and corporate tax rates in Canada for taxpayers in all brackets.

6. Education

B.C. Conservative MLAs will work to introduce equal “per student” funding for all K-12 students in British Columbia.

We will work to have the Corren Agreement repealed and restore the principle of parental rights in education.

We will also work to establish tuition assistance for postsecondary students.

7. Infrastructure

B.C. Conservative MLAs will work to initiate equalized provincewide infrastructure spending so that the entire province receives the benefit, not just the Vancouver area.

8. Crime and justice

B.C. Conservative MLAs will work to reform the justice system so that criminals, not their victims, pay the price for criminal activity in British Columbia.

This will include more proactive prosecution and an insistence on tougher penalties for all criminal activity.

We will revamp the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal so that it can no longer be used to silence the people or the media.

We will also establish a “Communities That Care” program to help our troubled before they become criminals.

9. Freedom of speech

B.C. Conservatives will support the complete elimination of the gag law.

And the preservation of the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom to raise your own children according to your own beliefs, and the freedom of everyone to practice their own religion so long as they agree to live at peace with their fellow citizens.

10. Good government

We will reform the government itself, in order to make it accountable to the voters and thereby reduce the opportunity for unethical behaviour.

This will include:

Ӣ Ethics guidelines for MLAs;

Ӣ Free votes in the legislature;

Ӣ Effective recall legislation; and

Ӣ Preferential balloting for the election of MLAs.

We also support the election of federal senators for B.C.

The B.C. Liberals say that a vote for the B.C. Conservatives will split the vote and elect the NDP.

In order to split the conservative vote, there would need to be two conservative parties to choose from.

There is only one Conservative party in British Columbia.

The B.C. Liberals are not conservatives. They are not even a good imitation.

As I said earlier, there is now not much difference between the B.C. Liberals and the NDP. Neither one is qualified to govern this province and they must both be held to a minority.

You can do that by electing the B.C. Conservative candidate in your constituency and helping us to form the balance of power in a minority government.

You will also be helping to place our party in a position where we can form the government after the next provincial election.

Then, we will be able to implement our campaign promises and bring real change to British Columbia. This is change you can trust, and you can be a part of the change.

Wilf Hanni is the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party.