May 2001
Editor's Notes
by Kristin McCahon
By the time you read this, British Columbians will have gone to the polls. I leave prognostications about the outcome of the May election to the pollsters.
So far, about a week in, the campaign has been quiet and low-key, despite all that is at stake. And there is a lot at stake. Recently-released government documents show that the province is close to losing its official status as a "have" province, something the authors of many of the articles in this issue of Fraser Forum have been warning about for some time. Taxes are high. Government spending is high. Business people are despairing of the investment climate in this resource-rich province.
But despite this untenable situation, British Columbians are being warned against change with the three magic words: "It's not fair." According to those saying them, the BC Liberal party election platform "benefits the rich the most." Not surprisingly, the party is also accused of supporting "an agenda for big business ..."
British Columbians! Wake up! Without changes in policy, this province is headed for economic disaster. Not only has the rest of Canada understood the need for a reform of policy—and implemented those changes (as Jason Clemens and Joel Emes describe in their comparison of BC with Alberta and Ontario in this issue)—but other nations have changed course as well. The growth in Mexican trade with the US, as Herb Grubel explains, also in this issue, is significantly outpacing Canada's. Canadians—and particularly British Columbians—cannot sit complacently by and expect our standard of living to remain high simply because we are fortunate enough to live in an attractive corner of the planet.
While British Columbians may value fairness, the province's economy is in a disgraceful state. How perverse it is to insist that we all continue to suffer together over poor policies because it would be unequal if we were to do things differently. We simply must abandon the "it's not fair" complaint in favour of a more constructive moniker.
—Kristin McCahon, Editor
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