 NDP Leader Adrian Dix speaks in Kelowna on Tuesday to local members of the Canadian Home Builders' Association.ndp |
The reaction was mixed with several members commenting: "He seems like a nice guy, but I still don't trust the party."
Builders didn't pull any punches during a question-and-answer session which followed his 26-minute speech. They asked how he was different than the NDP of the 1990s, which seemed to revel in more rules and regulations. They complained they couldn't afford union wages, about wage settlements in the public sector and wanted to know what he would do differently in the upcoming provincial budget.
Unphased, Dix responded: "I think the NDP government of the 1990s did too much. In 1992, in the first year, the NDP government passed 92 pieces of legislation. That's too much to implement, too much to be absorbed at one time, too many issues touched upon," he said.
A modern NDP government would pick three, four or five goals for that four-year term, he said. "You can't do as much and what you do has to be of higher quality. And you have to have more public consensus behind it."
Dix warned about the looming skills shortage - 21,000 carpenters will be needed in the next 10 years, for example. His promise to make solving the skills shortage a priority was something concrete for those who will be seeking trades people.
"We have to refocus on apprenticeship and training, and ensure young people have the diversity of skills and the power to compete in the marketplace," he said.
As for the provincial budget, "I'd be getting rid of the HST," said Dix.
"I think that a realistic deadline to get rid of the HST was June 30. Secondly, bring back stability so you know what the tax system is going to be into the future. That means bring the PST back now. We've got to get on with it. It's not like it's the martian sales tax; we've had this tax for a long time. I think the government has allowed its disappointment with the (referendum) result to colour the extent of its effort on this question."
Afterwards, Dix told reporters it is clear the Liberal government's action on the HST has hurt the economy and homebuilders in particular.
"We're seeing the continuing effect on pre-sales. They still can't tell us when the HST is going, what the transition rules are and they de-stabilized the economy over four years. And really, it's the only thing of substance the Liberals have done since 2009. And they said they wouldn't do it."
Although the Liberals continue harping about the previous NDP government, "I don't think a debate about what happened in the 1990s is what people want to hear. They want to hear what we're going to do in the here and now. That's what I'm offering," he said.
