VICTORIA – B.C. Liberal leadership candidate Michael de Jong must think people in B.C. have forgotten 16 years of B.C. Liberal neglect on housing, child care and education as he announces things he refused to deliver while he was the minister of finance.

Over the last week, de Jong said he would tackle child care and early education, address the cost of housing and look at foreign buyers of B.C. homes and the effect on the market.

“In 2014, when the New Democrats raised the alarm on the effect of foreign speculation on the housing market, it was Mike de Jong himself who quickly responded, saying he wouldn’t do anything,” said Janet Routledge, MLA for Burnaby North. “Over the next two years – before they were forced to act – the cost of an average home in Greater Vancouver shot up $600,000. People will remember that it was de Jong and his government that refused to act, as homes were priced far beyond families’ budgets.”

Routledge said “People in B.C. also won’t forget the B.C. Liberal 16-year war on education, and stubborn refusal to bring in affordable child care despite the crisis forming under their watch.”

Forty schools were closed province-wide while de Jong was the minister of finance, and many families were forced to make tough decisions about their careers when they couldn’t find or afford child care.

“People won’t forget it was Mike de Jong as the finance minister who repeatedly said there was no money for anything families need, yet he had no problem finding a $1 billion tax break for the wealthiest two-per-cent.”