B.C. Conservatives promise $1,000 tax cut, Doerkson says in Surrey

The Conservative Party of B.C. is promising a $1,000 tax cut if it forms government after the Oct. 24 election. Party leader Lorne Doerkson made the announcement while campaigning in Surrey for a second consecutive day on Thursday, Oct. 8. He said the province’s basic personal tax exemption would rise from $13,216 to $32,000, calling it “the most generous in Canada.”

Doerkson said the change would put $1,000 a year back in the pockets of working British Columbians and $2,000 for the average couple. He also said people working full time for minimum wage would pay no provincial taxes.

Doerkson criticized David Eby, saying Eby believes politicians and bureaucrats know better than people how to spend their money, while the Conservatives believe the opposite. He told people struggling to pay for groceries that help was on the way, and said the money was theirs, earned by them and deserved to be spent on what they need. He said he was “absolutely committed” to the tax relief he said was badly needed in British Columbia.

Spencer Chandra Herbert, the NDP candidate in Vancouver’s West End, claimed the Conservative tax cut “would blow a $2.5-billion hole into the B.C. budget.”