In a speech to the NDP caucus and party officials in Vancouver, Opposition Leader Carole James claimed that Premier Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals  knew they were  underestimating the budget deficit  during the election campaign.

James noted that the campaign demonstrated that the B.C. Liberal team "is as fiercely disciplined as it is well funded".

"There is no question that their message was effective," James said at the Empire Landmark Hotel this morning  (June 27). "They delivered it well, but it was fundamentally dishonest."

She  noted that Campbell said the budget deficit announced in February would "hold" at $495 million.

"Second, he said that he was going to protect health care, education, and the vital public services that people depend on," James said. "He said it for 28 days. He said it at every single stop."

However, she added, as soon as the election campaign was over, Campbell started backtracking.

"And what about that promise to protect health care?" James asked. "Well, it turns out that health authorities are facing massive budget shortfalls—shortfalls that will force cuts to emergency rooms, to acute care beds, to services for seniors. I guess the premier forgot to mention those plans to British Columbians during the campaign."

She then mentioned that Mike Bocking, the NDP candidate in Maple Ridge-Mission, narrowly lost his campaign. Last week, James stood with Bocking and more than 200 Mission and Abbotsford residents in an attempt to save an emergency room in Mission.

"So you think Mission would have elected a Liberal MLA by a slim margin if they knew the Liberals were going to put their emergency room on the chopping block?" James asked. "Of course not."

Then James reminded party members of Campbell's comment during the televised leaders' debate—that being premier is a "big job—'Don't worry. The deficit is going to be modest. Your services are going to be protected.' "

"Well, the big job Gordon Campbell talked about in the campaign turned out to be a sell job for the people of British Columbia," she said. "As if the premier didn't know the truth. Of course he did. Senior economists had been warning him for months what the budget was going to look like."

James said that health authorities were told to submit their plans to the government on May 13—a day after the election. She said that this wasn't a concidence.

"Just this week we learned that public servants were directed to suppress information  that shows  a huge increase in social assistance recipients until again, surprise, after the election," she said. "The premier knew his promises weren't true."

Then she moved to the B.C. Rail  corruption case,  highlighting the recent revelation that hundreds if not thousands of e-mails pertaining to B.C. Rail were erased.

"So much for honest and open government," she said.

James also  talked about a "real stimulus package" to spur the creation of jobs across B.C.

"Gordon Campbell is going to cut the very things that we need to get through the recession," she claimed. "The very things we need to build the foundation for tomorrow's economy—all in a frantic attempt to save face on a budget promise that he knew wasn't true."

She said that's no economic plan: "It's a recipe for a weakened, less prosperous, and less fair British Columbia. I can promise you that New Democrats will fight to protect our families and our economy from Gordon Campbell's extreme cuts and broken promises."