In a desperate attempt to deflect from their own growing platform problems, the BC Conservatives have revealed they don’t know how to read a budget document or check footnotes.

Which was kind of already clear from looking at their platform.

The BC NDP’s plan is clear. The $2.8 billion coming from the federal government through the Canada-BC Shared Prosperity Agreement “provides additional room in the Province’s Five-Year Capital Plan” to fund new health projects (see footnote 3 under the Capital Budget table).

Under the agreement, the federal government committed to contribute 1/3rd of the cost of the Massey tunnel project up to $3 billion. This means capital amounts that had been booked in the Provincial capital plan for the Massey replacement can be redirected to other priorities.

The BC Conservatives are attempting to distract from the fact that their platform costing:

• leaves out more than $2 billion in the cost of their promises.
• includes a backdoor healthcare cut to the contingencies funding that funds healthcare caseload like surgeries, and services at clinics, hospitals and long-term care homes.
• uses a series of shell games to cover their cuts.