Yesterday Gordon Campbell finally admitted that government revenues “are falling away from us” (Global TV, June 3, 2009).

This is a sharp change from his line during the election campaign, when the premier insisted that “the deficit for 2009-10 will be $495 million maximum” (Vancouver Sun, April 24, 2009), despite being repeatedly warned by leading economists that his numbers were out of date.

British Columbians shouldn’t have to wait months to know the size and scope of the problem that the B.C. Liberals have been hiding.

But even though it’s clear he knows he will break his promise on the deficit, the premier is refusing to come clean on the true state of the province's finances and provide an economic update.

And it leads to the question: how long has the premier known that he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise on the deficit?

As former B.C. Liberal Minister Christy Clark said, “I used to sit on treasury board (the cabinet committee responsible for budget matters) and I can tell you, they absolutely know when this stuff is happening” (CKNW, May 27, 2009). 

While Gordon Campbell continues to refuse to admit the truth, British Columbians are being hit hard by the economic downturn:

·     A report released yesterday showed that B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in the country for six years in a row.

·   Figures released last week show there has been a sharp jump in the number of people receiving temporary income assistance, which increased by 52.9 per cent over the last year.

·   Statistics Canada notes that B.C. lost 74,100 full-time jobs between September and April, with the unemployment rate jumping from 4.6 per cent to 7.4 per cent over that period of time.