B.C. legislature takes Olympic break

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberals are in an Olympic party mood after enduring an autumn session of bad news at the legislature.

On Thursday, the Liberals endedthe session, which saw passage of a record deficit budget, withdeep cuts in grants to social, sport and volunteer organizations.

Government membersnowpredict an Olympic gold rush after months of tough questions by OppositionNew Democrats about Liberal ticket-hoarding for fat-cat supporters and the spending ofmillions on A-list parties while schools can barely afford to heat their buildings.

"We're, like most of the province, tremendously excited by the fact that we are just under 80 days away from the commencement of the Olympic and Paralympic games," said Liberal House Leader Mike de Jong.

NDP Leader Carole James and her party spent months criticizing the Games, he said, but the tone will change as the opening ceremonies in February approach.

"When that flame starts to move closer to Vancouver, you're going to see Ms. James and the NDP try to distance themselves from their own record, their own criticism, their own hostility towards the Olympic Games and try to become a part of what will be a tsunami of support and excitement."

NDP alleges Olympic secrecy

Opposition House Leader Mike Farnworth said the real cost of the Olympics will bethe issue. New Democrats used the fall session to expose what they believe is the government's secrecy involving the Olympics, he said.

"Too many British Columbians are seeing just unbelievable amounts of secrecy when it comes to getting information out of this government regarding the actual cost of the Olympics," he said.

The fall session saw the Liberals pass a $2.8 billion deficit budget seven months after being re-elected to a third consecutive term.

Last spring, the Liberals campaigned on a budget deficit of $495 million, but weeks after the vote, the government admitted revenues had dropped by a record $2 billion as the province, Canada and the world teetered on the brink of financial disaster.

Controversial legislation

The Liberals also announced plans to introduce a harmonized sales tax in July 2010 that will combine the five per cent federal goods and services tax and the seven per cent provincial sales tax.

Big business cheered the 12 per cent harmonized tax, which offers them $2 billion in tax cuts, but consumers and the tourism, real estate and restaurant industries are preparing for increased costs.

The NDP wants the government to drop the tax and has appealed to seven Liberals to vote with the Opposition to kill it.

The session also saw the Liberals legislate striking paramedics back to work after a seven-month strike and introduce legislation to ban use of hand-held electronic devices while driving.

The government passed the Shelter Assistance Act, which permits police officers to use force to take homeless people to shelters during times of extreme weather conditions. Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said the homeless will not be forced to stay at the shelters once they arrive.

Coleman denied the law was passed to help the government clear Vancouver streets during the Olympics.

The B.C. legislature will sit for three days in February, prior to the Olympics, then again startingon March 1, with a budget scheduled for March 2.