Cabinet swearing in date
Posted June 8, 2009 by Sacha Peter - Link
Category: News
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The BC Liberal and NDP MLAs have been sworn in; Vicki Huntington gets her own swearing-in session on Tuesday. On Wednesday, June 10, cabinet will be sworn in.
The next day of the legislature will be on August 25th, with the revised budget in on September 1st. It is no secret that the $495 million deficit will be significantly higher than expected, primarily due to a reduction of projected revenues. Current economic indicators highly suggest reductions in income, corporate and sales tax collections, property transfer taxes and natural gas royalties.
The government will face a huge challenge on whether they will deal with this by waiting out the economic storm and continue with higher deficits, whether they will raise taxes, or whether they will decrease spending. They have four years of political lee-way until the next election, so I would highly suspect the decisions they make will likely be unpopular politically, but good from a policy perspective.
Another minefield on the policy arena will be the negotiation of union contracts, most of which are due to expire after the 2010 Olympics.