Sudbury Candidate Bill Crumplin said in a press release issued Friday, that he is proud the Green Party of Canada is the first and only party to tell the public exactly what its policies will cost.
According to the release, the Green Party's fully costed program included more platform items than all the other parties combined.
While Crumplin said some of the more "ambitious plans" received pushback from the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, the Green Party will be using this constructive feedback to improve their plat-form moving forward.
Read the full text release below.
Crumplin proud of Green’s “Fully Costed Program”
Green Candidate Bill Crumplin says he is proud of his party’s fully costed program. “We were the first, and so far we are the only party to tell the public what all our policies will cost,” said Crumplin.
“At the time we released our cost estimates we had submitted more items to the Parliamentary Budget Office than all the other parties combined.” (24 vs 16)
“We are the first party ever to present a costed campaign platform. We sent our 24 main items to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. The PBO basically agreed with our estimates. We are still waiting for the other parties to catch up.”
“Personally I don’t think they can,” says Crumplin. “They are making up their platforms as they go.”
Crumplin also says, “If you get out in front you make yourself a target. We are way out in front of the other parties in costing our program, so we take a bit of flack.”
Crumplin admits there is uncertainty in some of the Green platform items. “For example, data on stu-dent loans is so bad no one know what they are really costing the country. We could be a bit high or we could be a bit low on this item.”
He also points out that the models that the Parliamentary Budget office uses aren’t really designed for the kind of ambitious plans that Greens propose. “They have done a good job and their suggestions are useful,” said Crumplin.
“Kevin Page and his team at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy Were more critical,“ said Crumplin. “He complains that we don’t list all the problems that might come up, that we didn’t say what we will do in a major recession and that we haven’t explained exactly how we will do some things. He’s right. And we didn’t give him a 1000 page document either.”
“Actually, I am glad he is setting a high standard. Now we know what it takes to make a retired Parlia-mentary Budget Officer happy,” said Crumplin. “I am looking forward to seeing if the other parties get off as lightly.
“As Elizabeth May has said again and again, we know we have the revenue coming to cover our new programs,” said Crumplin. “If any other local candidates want to discuss their program costing in public, just let me know.”
