VICTORIA, British Columbia — Premier Ujjal Dosanjh has called a provincial election for May 16, saying British Columbians must choose between the social conscience of the NDP or the Liberals’ “dramatic” tax cuts.
“I believe that a government with all of the competing demands must put first things first,” Dosanjh said Wednesday at Government House.
“My chief opponent and I disagree about what comes first . . . He (Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell) believes dramatic tax cuts come first. We would all like another tax cut but not when it weakens health care, education and the environmental protection today’s families depend on.”
Dosanjh said his government had reduced unemployment, balanced the budget, increased spending on health care and education and taken measures to protect the environment.
“But there is still much more to do to address the changing needs of today’s families in health care, in child care, in education, in the environment and forestry and in the challenges of the new economy,” he said in a statement that referred repeatedly to “today’s families.”
The New Democrats, near the end of their five-year mandate, face a grinding, steep-hill battle to win a third term.
