Tough Questions for Carole James

The latest round of pre-election polls shows the gap between the Liberals and the NDP decreasing. According to the Mustel Group, it's now down to five percentage points with the Liberals holding a statistically significant lead only in the Lower Mainland (outside Vancouver proper) and in the north coast area.

Five percent is much closer than the previous eight percentage points difference, especially since the NDP's votes tend to be much more efficient than Liberal ones. The New Democrats, for instance, hardly ever win election races by large margins, unlike the Liberals who are quite likely to take as many as 80 per cent of the votes or more in some of the ridings in the so-called Fraser Valley Bible Belt. But each of those ridings still yields the Liberals just one MLA, no matter how big the margin of victory.

All of which should be leading the Liberals to worry about the possibility of a repeat of 1996 in which they won the largest number of votes, but still were relegated to opposition status. And all of which should be leading the voters to take a closer look at the New Democrats' platform.

And like the Liberals, it too has significant holes in it. On paper, the differences between a Liberal and an NDP government would appear to be a matter of mere tweaking - a million dollars here, another couple of hundred there, nothing really major at all. But anyone who has lived in B.C. for more than three milliseconds knows that that is nonsense. British Columbia would be a very different province at the end of four years of NDP government than it would be after another four years of Gordon Campbell. The differences are in the plans that the parties aren't stating up front.

So, a few questions for Carole James about the gaps in the NDP platform:

1. Will business buy the NDP?

The overwhelming question for the NDP is just how would James sell the party to business, large and small, in order to prevent decreases in investment and corporate move-outs, from the mere thought that a "socialist" government was once again in power in B.C. No matter how much James says she'd like to run a truly balanced government, she'll find herself behind the eight ball if investment starts to decrease before she even gets a chance to show what her government might do. And there's not much in the NDP platform to reassure businessmen that an NDP government wouldn't return to the "bad old days" of the Glen Clark administration.

2. Taxes on big business: How high?

The party platform commits to no new taxes for small business. It is, however, silent on the tax structure for larger businesses. Can James promise that any tax raises for those corporations won't be so onerous as to chase business right into the arms of Ralph Klein next door in Alberta.

3. Inheritance tax: Yes or no?

The Liberals have been fairly successful in scaring many British Columbians with the thought that an NDP government would re-impose a provincial inheritance tax. Is James prepared to categorically rule out this possibility - or else to explain why she thinks it would be a fair and reasonable tax for British Columbia to have.

4. Health care reforms: How practical?

James and the NDP have laid out an ambitious program of health care reform, including the addition of money to fund long-term care beds, reduce waiting lists, and reduce the pressures on emergency words. All of those would be seen by most British Columbians as valuable improvements to the health-care system. But all of them are also dependent on hiring significant numbers of new nurses and other health-care professionals. And nurses, and some of the other professionals, are already in distressingly short supply in many areas of the provinces. Indeed, some of the existing problems in both the acute and long-term care sectors stem from a lack of nurses to fill all the shifts, even in areas where the money is now available. Where would the NDP find the nurses and professionals to fulfill its ambitious plans?

5. Treaty process: Where's the balance?

The NDP has raised expectations among B.C. First Nations in respect to what they might be able to achieve through the tripartite treaty process. Can the NDP offer reassurances that any settlements under the treaty process would balance the interests of the First Nations with those of the areas in which they are located, and that non-natives who could be affected by treaties will have a say in the process as well.

6. Environmental standards: Science or emotion?

The NDP has spent a substantial amount of time this campaign working to woo Green Party voters back to the fold with promises of much stronger pro-environmental policies than were previously on the party's books. Can the party guarantee that all environmental standards will be based on the best scientific evidence, and not on any emotional rhetoric that isn't borne out by the science involved?

7. The budget: A multi-year approach?

Many of those affected by B.C. government budgets have benefited by the Liberals' plan of providing three year strategic plans, including spending estimates, for each ministry. The NDP has costed out only its current year of spending plans. Will it move to the same sort of system in which stakeholders can get a general idea of what will be happening to their budgets, two or three years in advance, instead of two or three months?

8. Labour and the NDP: A new relationship?

How can James convince the residents that an NDP government will, when the crunch comes, make labour relations decisions based on the over-all public interest, not the interests of their long-time friends in the organized labour movement?

Without satisfactory answers to Questions One and Eight, it seems unlikely that Carole James, or any other NDP leader, will ever be able to regain power in British Columbia.

Veteran political journalist Barbara McLintock, based in Victoria, is a contributing editor to The Tyee.