Cracks starting to show in what used to be Canada’s strongest economy: BC Liberals

Greg Kyllo

AFTER months of warning that NDP policies will kill jobs and hurt B.C. families, the Official Opposition’s Jobs Critics say the evidence is mounting.

The latest jobs numbers from Statistics Canada show that while the national unemployment rate decreased, it rose in B.C. from 4.1 per cent in October to 4.4 per cent in November. B.C. was the only province in Western Canada where the unemployment rate increased last month.

Meantime while the rest of the country added jobs last month, B.C. lost 17,500 full-time jobs. The only jobs the B.C. economy added in November were part-time jobs, but the total number of unemployed British Columbians rose by 8,500.

“B.C. is clearly standing out from every other province, and for all the wrong reasons,” says Greg Kyllo, BC Liberal Jobs Co-Critic and MLA for Shuswap. “The NDP-Greens’ out-of-touch economic agenda, comprised of numerous tax hikes and the blocking of Alberta’s pipeline, are clearly starting to reduce job opportunities and incomes for B.C. workers and families. It flies in the face of all their talk about making life more affordable for British Columbians.”

The NDP has announced 18 new or increased taxes worth more than $5.5 billion in its first year in government, representing $1,100 in new taxes for every man, woman and child in British Columbia.

“A heavy tax burden and fewer jobs are the new reality for B.C.’s workers and their families,” says Jas Johal, BC Liberal Jobs Co-Critic and MLA for Richmond-Queensborough. “While B.C. continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in Canada thanks to the job-friendly environment created by the former BC Liberal government, a return to NDP economics is clearly destroying B.C.’s stature as Canada’s strongest economy and best place to live.”