British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell's province-wide television address is watched by a shopper in an electronics store in Vancouver.DARRYL DYCK
Fighting for his political life, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is promising new tax relief with the second-largest cut to personal income taxes in the province's history.
In a televised address on Wednesday night, Mr. Campbell outlined a 15-per-cent reduction on the first $72,000 of personal income, effective in January - a measure designed to tie a tourniquet on his government's political bleeding over the harmonized sales tax.
Mr. Campbell began his speech explaining why he changed his mind about the HST shortly after winning the May, 2009 election. He said there was no time for consultation - Ottawa would only offer the deal, including desperately needed cash transfers, for a limited time.
"If I had to do it over again, there's a lot more we would have done after the announcement was made, a lot more information we would have provided to you," he said during his 22-minute-long pre-recorded address. "I sure would have liked to."
After making the case that the HST will help the economy, he tacitly acknowledged the tax change has shaken British Columbians' confidence to spend.
"I know that for some people it still feels like, you know, it's an additional tax for them at a time when they can't afford it," he said. "We have to actually reach the families of British Columbia and make sure that they have a sense of confidence in their future as well."
The tax cut will reduce provincial revenues by $568-million each year. The fiscal room for a new tax cut relies on the September budget update, which forecast $2.1-billion in additional revenues over the next three years. For an individual earning $30,000 per year, the savings would amount to $144. At $100,000 per year, the savings would be $616.
After all the tax talk, the Premier veered abruptly into a series of education initiatives, including additional support for preschoolers, personalized education plans, and a pledge to ensure that in five years every Grade 4 pupil will be reading, writing and doing math at a Grade 4 level.
The Premier's speech was competing against the opening game of the World Series. His back-to-back media interviews on Thursday will aim for the broad audience of voters who likely missed his TV appearance.
The cost of the television address was not released on Wednesday.
But B.C. New Democratic Party leader Carole James said the price of the airtime would likely be substantial.
"British Columbians will be asking why they paid well over $100,000 for the premier to take to the airwaves in an attempt to convince people the HST is good for them," she said. "This had much less to do with the economy and education than it did with a desperate premier trying to buy voters with their own money."
Although the next provincial election is almost two years away, the Premier needs to reach voters and spooked Liberal supporters.
"There has never been such a dramatic collapse in support in such a short period of time," noted Mario Canseco, vice-president of Angus Reid Public Opinion. Earlier this month, Angus Reid found Mr. Campbell's personal approval rating has shrunk to just nine per cent - a first for any political leader in three decades of Angus Reid polls. "It's a credibility problem."
The backlash against the HST has forced the government to call a referendum on the tax in September, 2011. Mr. Campbell appealed to his own populist roots by pledging to abide by a simple majority in the vote - making it far easier to kill the tax than under a strict reading of the province's referendum law.
"I respect those thousands of people who said they wanted to be part of this decision," Mr. Campbell said. "You will make this decision. ... And I know British Columbians will think about not just what's best for them, but what's best for our province."