Coons Signing the Parliamentary roll
I believe that it is imperative that the Premier call back the legislature as soon as possible. There is vital work to be done to ensure that the economic depression and our current financial situation is put out to British Columbians in an honest and forthright method.
During the election campaign, the premier insisted that “the deficit for 2009-10 will be $495 million maximum” (Vancouver Sun, April 24, 2009), despite being repeatedly warned by leading economists that his numbers were out of date. The deficient could be 4 times as much as this and hit the $2 billion mark.
The Premier needs to come clean on the true state of the province’s finances and provide an economic update.
British Columbians are being hit hard by the economic downturn and deserve immediate answers in a full session of the legislature!
- A June 3rd report showed that B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in the country for six years in a row.
- Figures released last week show there has been a sharp jump in the number of people receiving temporary income assistance, which increased by 52.9 per cent over the last year.
- Statistics Canada notes that B.C. lost 74,100 full-time jobs between September and April, with the unemployment rate jumping from 4.6 per cent to 7.4 per cent over that period of time.