Federal NDP leadership candidate Brian Topp brought a call to Prince George on Monday for developing an economy based on value-added products and less focused on exporting raw natural resources.
Building the Northern Gateway pipeline across northern B.C. to transport bitumen from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat for export to China will bring only minimal benefit to this province and, for that matter, the country, Topp said in an interview.
He worried that the resource is being developed at a "breakneck speed with all the consequences of a classic bubble" while collecting royalties of just "pennies on the dollar."
"And then, what are we doing with the pennies that we're getting?" Topp said. "We're pretending we're a low-tax jurisdiction for a few years. What we should be doing is we should be putting it in investment funds to build a future economy that's not dependent on the export of raw bitumen."
He pointed to Norway and what that country's government is doing with royalties from North Sea oil as an example of a better way - namely bank away almost 300 billion euros and use the money, in part, to better manage its currency.
"And secondly, they've using the one-time value of their resources to build a value-added industry in Norway that will still be there when the resource is gone," Topp said.
More specifically, Topp, who co-wrote the NDP's platform for last spring's federal election which saw the party become the opposition, emphasized tax breaks for small and medium-sized business which he said are the economy's biggest job creators.
Topp also supports improved access to capital for such businesses through creation of a "really strong" national credit union system and a "robust" labour-sponsored venture capital program where job creation is one of the measures for providing financial support.
"That's loyal capital that cares about the community that it's raised in," Topp said.
Topp was in Prince George the day after the final leadership debate was held in Vancouver.
NDP members will decide who will replace Jack Layton, who died in late August from a second bout of cancer, March 23, 24 in Toronto.
Thomas Mulcair leads the fundraising efforts, bringing in $226,000, followed by Topp with $193,000, Peggy Nash with $157,000 and Paul Dewar with $152,000. Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen has raised $142,000, almost $130,000 of that from members in B.C.
Martin Singh is in sixth place with $57,000, and Ashton in last place with $37,000.
Over the course of the leadership campaign, the NDP has seen its membership rise to 132,000 members, Topp noted.
- with files from Canadian Press
