The Report on the 2005 budget consultation process, tabled on November 15, 2004, is twice as long as any of the four previous reports and it contains a record 19 recommendations. It would make a good guide for the NDP's election platform even though it came from a committee consisting of Joy MacPhail and 15 Campbell Liberal backbenchers.

The budget consultation process is required by the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act (2000). This year's report is the fifth such report by a legislative committee. It is interesting to review previous reports to see what influence they had on government. On November 15, 2001, the legislative committee tabled the first budget consultation report for the Campbell Era. It made only three recommendations starting with "The government of British Columbia stay the course, proceeding cautiously in a manner which protects the most vulnerable members of our society." Only 8 weeks later, on what was called Black Thursday, Finance Minister Gary Collins laid out the Campbell agenda, cutting one third of public services over three years. Social services were hit particularly hard, exactly opposite to the first recommendation of the legislative committee.

Six of the 19 recommendations in the 2005 Report are focused on fixing some of the damage that was done by a seemingly uncaring Campbell government. Recommendations that are critical of the Campbell government start with the third: "The government provide more support services in the K-to-12 system for students with special needs." School boards fired special needs assistants after the Campbell government froze funding and imposed increased costs for school boards. We'll never know exactly how much damage was done to children.

The fifth recommendation says: "In order to reduce the waiting time for medical services and emergency treatment, the Ministry of Health Services encourage the health authorities to utilize existing diagnostic equipment and surgical facilities more efficiently." Waiting times have increased by more than 25% since Campbell's New Era began. Contrary to the promise to deliver health care when and where people need it, the Campbell government has been responsible for a dramatic decline in the quality of service.

The sixth recommendation says: "The government commit to funding more beds for seniors requiring intermediate and long-term care and to providing more home care and respite care services." That comes from a 15 to 1 Campbell Liberal dominated committee whose government promised to increase the number of residential care beds by 5,000. That was before the 2001 election; afterwards they said they would cut residential care beds in order to fund two assisted living units for every residential care bed that was eliminated.

The ninth recommendation says: "As financial resources permit, the government address the need for more community living services for people with disabilities; more community supports for people with persistent and multiple barriers to employment; and for more services for women and children leaving abusive relationships." Oops! The Campbell government cut funding for assisted living by over $70 million. Contrary to their promise to provide stability for the Ministry of Children and Family Development, it has been in chaos in the New Era.

The twelfth recommendation says: "To encourage resource industries to invest in rural economic development, the government consider restoring funding for geosciences and promoting further deregulation." After almost four years of cuts, it's easy to forget, but even the mining industry has been critical of the Campbell government. In the first round of cuts, they eliminated BC's geological mapping.

The seventeenth recommendation probably hits the hardest at twisted words and broken promises from the Campbell government. It says: "The government continue to explore ways of extending tax relief targeted to low-income British Columbians." In its New Era Document, Campbell promised to cut taxes for the bottom two (out of five) income tax brackets. On day one in power he cut taxes in all five brackets so as to give one third of one percent of all taxpayers almost 14% of the total benefits, or in other terms, the top 8,000 income earners got the same total tax cut as the bottom 1,664,000. That wasn't enough for Campbell; he then turned around and increased MSP premiums by 50%, and increased dozens of fees and licenses, from parking in parks to getting driver's license. The fees were the same, rich or poor. Campbell shifted the tax burden towards the bottom while the highest income earners celebrated "Christmas in July," as one spokesman for the business community put it.

It is no wonder that Campbell backbenchers facing defeat in 2005 are trying to forget the polices that they supported over the past three and a half years. A lot of British Columbians have better memories and are waiting to send Campbell a message.