“Anemic” and “weak!” This is how recent reports by the Toronto Dominion Bank and the B.C. Progress Board respectively describe the B.C. economy’s performance in the two years since the Liberal government implemented its radical tax cut agenda.

The Toronto Dominion Bank’s “Provincial Economic Outlook” reflects just how poorly the provincial economy has responded to the government’s economic program.

The TD Bank estimates that B.C. will have the worst economic growth of any province in Canada in 2003. The report also notes the increase in unemployment since the Liberals took office. Further, it predicts the economy will continue to under-perform in 2004. The unemployment rate will remain over 8 per cent through to the end of next year.

The bank reported that real personal disposable income in B.C. rose by only 0.8 per cent in 2002, the year the tax cut was fully implemented. The Canadian average increase of 2.5 per cent was over three times higher than this performance. The Liberal economic record is clear: last in the country in economic growth, a 25 per cent increase in the number of unemployed, the largest deficit in B.C. history and the biggest increase in direct debt in B.C. history.

The TD’s analysis supports the conclusions of the B.C. Progress Board, the committee of business leaders established by Premier Gordon Campbell himself to assess B.C.’s economic performance. The board indicated that the B.C. economy had deteriorated in the past year on four crucial measurements of economic performance — jobs, real wages, business investment and exports. And while the board noted some improvement in GDP growth from 2001-02, it characterized the economic growth performance of the economy as “weak.”

How does this record of economic performance compare to what the premier and Finance Minister Gary Collins said when they introduced their “dramatic tax cuts?”

On July 30, 2001, Collins claimed that his big business tax cuts “combined with our personal tax cuts and other policy and regulatory changes, will boost B.C.’s economy this year and set the stage for even more significant growth next year ….We believe this confidence will translate into growth of 3.8 per cent in our economy next year (2002), up significantly from the 2.2 per cent expected this year (2001). Tax cuts will allow businesses to once again create jobs, compete and attract investment.”

Collins was wrong in basing his policy on the notion that tax cuts would drive economic growth in 2001 and 2002. In fact, economic growth in 2002 was less than half what the finance minister predicted. In 2003, B.C. will finish last in the country in economic growth. From the B.C. Progress Board to the Toronto Dominion Bank, the conclusion is clear: Collins vastly overstated the impact of his tax cuts on the economy.

And the worst may be still to come. The government borrowed from the future by increasing public debt to finance the largest tax cut in history.

The consequences of this decision are being felt throughout the economy as the finance minister moves to slash health, education and other public services while increasing MSP premiums and other taxes paid primarily by the middle class and small business.

The impact of the government’s cost-cutting agenda is being felt in the economy — particularly in communities facing serious economic difficulties. This is not simply the view of left-wing critics, labour organizations or Interior mayors. The TD Bank states in its report that in 2004 “further provincial government downsizing will continue to constrain growth.”

Ironically, the 2010 Olympics, in economic terms a significant public works project, is cited as the main source of optimism about the province’s economic future. Why? It will spur public investment in the economy — both in terms of infrastructure and tourism promotion. Yet, these are exactly the policies the government has abandoned in every other region of the province and area of the economy.

That the government was wrong about the economic impact of tax cuts on the economy is bad enough. However, its unwillingness to acknowledge the failure of its economic policies is even more damaging. Instead, like Walter Mitty on ether, it highlights every meager scrap of good news to pretend that the plan in working.

Thus, for more than a month, the government posted on its Web site: “Retail sales in B.C. in April were up 1.1 per cent from March, the third strongest increase in Canada and countering a national decrease of 0.9 per cent.”

This was true. Also true was the fact that retail sales declined in March and May and over the three-month period fell by 2.2 per cent, the worst record in Canada. Wholesale trade also declined in March, April and May.

The government continues to suggest its radical economic plan is working despite all evidence to the contrary. In the wake of the TD and Progress Board reports, could it be possible that the Premier will wake up and recognize that the province requires a change of course?

After all, his is the only government in the last 30 years lucky enough to inherit a balanced budget. Squandering this advantage by going from a balanced budget to the largest deficit in history and achieving the worst economic growth in Canada is hardly a record to inspire confidence.