Sometimes public perception doesn’t reflect reality. This is particularly true in British Columbia where the myth of government spending cuts has been largely created and promulgated by organized labour. Earlier this year, the British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) released a comic book (in which Gordon Campbell was portrayed as villain Slash Gordon) that highlighted cuts to healthcare services. In June, the BC Fed sent 250,000 British Columbia households an 8-page newspaper insert detailing cuts to healthcare and education.

The myth of Liberal government spending cuts has also penetrated the mass media. Infomart’s media database shows more than 300 references to BC spending cuts since June 1, 2001. More recently, Paul Willcocks wrote an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun, which cited “irresponsible tax cuts” and the “quick, deep” spending cuts. And that’s just the newspapers in British Columbia.

Contrary to the rhetoric expounded by unions and other like-minded organizations, the Liberal government has actually increased spending since taking office.

In their last year in office, the NDP government spent $28.9 billion dollars (inflation adjusted). Last fiscal year, the BC Liberals spent a total of $30.3 billion. Over the last two years this means that total provincial government spending has risen by $1.3 billion. This is worth repeating: the Liberals have increased total government spending by 4.6 percent since taking office.

What about those much discussed “deep cuts” to healthcare and education? Over the last two years, BC’s Liberal government increased spending on healthcare by $1.5 billion and education received an additional $218 million. Expenditures on the last of the three largest spending portfolios, social services, was reduced by 8.3 percent in spite of the fact that the percentage of the population on social assistance has declined by 12 percent since 2000.

The story changes little when you take into account changes in BC’s population. Overall, the BC Liberals have increased total spending per person by 2.5 percent and spending per person has increased on both healthcare and education.

Many of the same groups aggressively protesting the (phantom) Liberal spending cuts also complain that the level of funding for public programs is inadequate in British Columbia. Yet British Columbia ranks first among the provinces in government outlays on healthcare, currently spending $2,628 per person annually. Our current ranking on education spending per person, while lower, is 6th among the provinces and still exceeds the provincial average by $53 per person. In addition, despite reducing per capita expenditures on social services by 10 percent since the Liberals took office, British Columbia still maintains a third place ranking.

While the BC Liberals have pursued pro-economic growth polices based on tax relief, they have shown little restraint on the spending side. British Columbia’s reluctance to cut spending is unfortunate given the mounds of research which show that increased rates of economic growth are achieved through reductions in government spending. Research also concludes that while tax cuts facilitate economic growth, they do so to a lesser extent than when combined with spending reductions, a fact that is particularly relevant for British Columbia.

Canada has two good examples of how reductions in government spending can pave the way for enhanced economic prosperity. Alberta averaged annual decreases in inflation-adjusted total spending of 4.2 percent in the two years after Ralph Klein’s election, while Ontario cut total spending by an average 3.6 percent in the first two years of Mike Harris’ tenure. Both these provinces have experienced above average rates of economic growth as measured by personal income and gross domestic product per person.

Just over two years have past since the Liberals took office in British Columbia. In evaluating their record it is important to focus on the facts rather than the rhetoric pushed by unions and others that make for provocative headlines. The notion that the BC Liberals have drastically reduced spending, particularly in areas such as healthcare and education, and are not adequately funding social services, is simply not true. If we actually had the spending cuts we hear so much about, British Columbia’s economy would be much healthier than it currently is.