There was friendly banter and frank discussion over coffee Friday morning when Liberal-West Vancouver-Sea-to-Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy met with a dozen local business leaders at the Squamish Adventure Centre.
Sturdy first gave a brief overview of what he called the province’s “boring, balanced, budget” at the Squamish Chamber of Commerce-hosted gathering.
“There’s nothing glamorous about the whole thing, the focus really is on managing expenses and managing income and ensuring over time we can reduce the debt,” Sturdy said.
Regarding liquefied natural gas, Sturdy said while the government did have to put a lot into the industry initially, overall no one sector dominates the province’s focus.
“There is a perception that we are obsessed with one or two sectors of the economy and in terms of liquefied natural gas, certainly we had to spend the time to put in place a regulatory and taxation framework for that industry... and now it is up to the private sector as to whether they want to invest or not, but when we look at how the gross domestic product breaks up, you look at that and see that no sector of the economy is dominant,” he said.
While the topics discussed were wide-ranging, education seemed to be top of mind for many in attendance.
Stirling Angus, with JCH Forestry, told Sturdy he liked the new education coaching tax credit in the budget.
The new 2015-2017 coaching tax credit provides up to $500 for teachers and teaching assistants who do at least 10 hours of extracurricular coaching activity over the year.
“I think it is a wonderful idea and it shows a commitment and provides another method for the community to engage with education and our schools. And it takes some of the pressure off and gives more resources to our educators and to the teachers,” Stirling said.
Tradesman Robert Forsyth asked Sturdy several questions about provincial investment in education, including about cuts to public school funding.
Members of the BC School Trustees Association (BCSTA) and some parents have been vocal in their objection to the budget.
They say school boards will have to reduce spending on administration and related services by about $29 million in the next school year and by $25 million in 2016-17.
Sturdy said there has been concern that B.C. doesn’t spend as much as other jurisdictions on education, but he said more money doesn’t always mean better results.
He said the province also spends less on health care than other provinces, but the province has a longer life expectancy than many places. “The amount of money we spend per capita is not tied to the outcomes and I think that is also true with education,” he said.
“This comes back to what are the outcomes that we are trying to achieve and how do we measure them. I think those are valid questions, but by international standards, British Columbia does very, very well in terms of our educational outcomes in English and science and mathematics – all are in the top five globally.”
Sturdy said the provincial government is spending $550 million over the next three years on education.
After the meeting, Wolfgang Richter, the businessman behind Garibaldi at Squamish, said he liked some of what he had heard from Sturdy. “I thought it was a great line,” Richter said about one of the MLA’s remarks. “Sure we could spend more money and there are many areas that could be fixed and so on, but we don’t spend as much, but we are healthier.”
