When Christy Clark led the B.C. Liberals to a surprise election victory in May she did so on the promise to eliminate the provincial debt in 15 years.
Now the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants to hold the premier to her pledge.
"Clearly debt-free B.C. is a slogan at this point, we hope that it becomes a philosophy," the federation's B.C. director Jordan Bateman said on a visit to Prince George with the organization's travelling debt clock.
With more than $57 billion in debt and with that figure increasing at a rate of about $1 million every 78 minutes, the province is a long way from reaching Clark's goal. At the current rate the provincial debt will surpass $70 billion by 2016.
The Liberals are pinning their hopes on royalty payments they expect to receive from natural gas extraction once pipelines are built to the north coast and liquefaction plants are constructed so the resource can be shipped to foreign markets.
Bateman said Clark is on the right path, noting that throughout most of Ralph Klein's tenure as Alberta's premier in the 1990s and early 2000s that province used royalty revenue to eliminate its debt. But resource prices can be fickle and that, along with changing spending priorities, has plunged Alberta back into debt in recent years.
For B.C. to become debt free, Bateman said the province must tie a certain percentage of future surpluses to debt repayment like the federal Liberals did under Jean Chretien and find ways to reduce the rate of spending increases.
"We're never going to live in a society where we can afford a bus to every door, a school every half block and a hospital around every corner, we have to make some of these tough decisions and prioritize things otherwise we'll leave an incredible amount of debt to our kids and grandkids and that's not fair," he said.
As Bateman has made his trip from the Lower Mainland through the Interior over the past month he said the debt clock has generated a lot of stunned looks from people passing by who are surprised the figure is in the billions. They are often surprised to find out that it works out to more than $12,000 in debt per individual.
The reaction of one family upon seeing the clock has struck with him.
"They're having their ice cream and the dad says, 'there's four of us, that's $50,000 of debt for all four of us' and the little girl says, 'Man, dad, you're in trouble,' " Bateman recounted.
The clock was re-calibrated following the release of the post-election provincial budget to reflect a slightly higher rate of increase for the debt. When the tour began in Langley on June 14, the clock was adding $209 to the total every second, but that rate has jumped to $214 a second.
Bateman said the goal of the debt clock is to raise awareness about the issue and encourage people to send a message to elected representatives about the importance of restraining spending. He's hoping to create some political cover for Clark if her government decides to cut back on major projects like new roads or hospitals.
Prince George was the last stop in B.C. for the debt clock. A new decal will be put on it and the numbers will be reset for an Alberta tour later this month. The clock will make its way across the Prairies this summer and a major tour is planned for Ontario in the fall.
