SURREY NDP MLAs have delivered more rhetoric but no action, as Budget 2022 recycles the same NDP promises without any intention of following through for another year, the BC Liberals said on Wednesday.

“Surrey families are facing the highest grocery price increases in years, surging gas prices and record-high housing prices that have increased more than 40 per cent in the last year under the NDP. People’s everyday expenses continue to rise, and sadly we’ve still seen no meaningful action from this NDP government to help address the affordability crisis,” said Stephanie Cadieux, MLA for Surrey South.

“Surrey was promised a full-service hospital, but all they’re getting is a glorified urgent care centre with 168 beds, no ICU and no maternity ward. To top it off, Budget 2022 reveals only $2 million has been spent on the much-delayed project to date, which is simply not good enough for B.C.’s fastest-growing city.”

Election promises still missing from an NDP budget include: no funding for a second medical school at SFU’s Surrey campus; no $400 annual renters’ rebate, despite Surrey renters paying $3,228 more per year under the NDP; and no funding for the Langley-Surrey SkyTrain line, noted the BC Liberals.

“Despite repeated promises from the NDP to eliminate all portables at Surrey schools, the number of portables has increased by 40 per cent under five years of the NDP. Tellingly, there isn’t a single mention of the word ‘portables’ in the entire budget. The ballooning cost projections for the Massey Tunnel replacement fiasco alone could fund the Surrey School District’s entire capital plan,” said Trevor Halford, MLA for Surrey-White Rock.

“It’s also clear the NDP has given up on their $10-a-day child care promise and it’s now more likely that children born when the NDP formed government will be grown up and in high school before they see this government meet its commitment to parents. Whether it’s child care, eliminating portables, building a real hospital, or building a SkyTrain line, the NDP just don’t understand how to get big projects done for the people of Surrey.”