B.C. election: Horgan promises schools in Liberal-held turf, counters Liberal pledge to cut PST

COQUITLAM, B.C. – NDP Leader John Horgan was in Liberal territory Tuesday promising to complete two school construction projects if re-elected in British Columbia on Oct. 24.

Horgan says a New Democrat government will build a high school and middle school in the Burke Mountain area of Coquitlam in Metro Vancouver.

He says the timeline for the high school calls for a 2023 completion date, with the middle school completed shortly afterwards.

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Former New Democrat MP Fin Donnelly is running for the B.C. NDP in the Coquitlam-Burke Mountain riding held by Liberal Joan Isaacs.

Horgan says the NDP has promised to build 102 schools in B.C. since 2017 and hired 4,200 new teachers.

At a campaign stop Tuesday in Campbell River, B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said Horgan is making old news announcements while the Liberals are taking bold steps by promising to cut the provincial sales tax to zero for one year if elected.

Wilkinson is promising not to cut social spending to pay for his proposed plan to eliminate the provincial sales tax for a year.

The measure would cost the province about $7 billion in revenue in the first year, but Wilkinson says it will save each B.C. resident $1,700 in taxes.

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The plan also calls for the PST to be held at three per cent the following year.

Wilkinson says deficit spending is a necessary step to revitalize society because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau says the hard-hit tourism sector can’t wait until the end of the year for help to survive the impact of the pandemic.

During an election campaign stop in Squamish Tuesday, she said the sector that accounted for more than 160,000 jobs in 2018 is among the hardest hit by the pandemic.

She says all the NDP government has done is set up a task force to develop solutions that aren’t even due until the end of the year.

Furstenau says many businesses likely can’t wait that long and the consultation should have happened months ago.