Even though he’s the opposition leader in BC, BC NDP is not giving him any breaks by going hard against BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon, calling out his failures everything from money laundering and his defence of housing speculators. Langley MLA Andrew Mercier wrote to Falcon this week to ask him to apologize to British Columbians for his and his party’s failures on money laundering.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada 

VICTORIA – Even though he’s the opposition leader in BC, BC NDP is not giving him any breaks by going hard against BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon, calling out his failures everything from money laundering and his defence of housing speculators.

Langley MLA Andrew Mercier wrote to Falcon this week to ask him to apologize to British Columbians for his and his party’s failures on money laundering.

Mercier pointed out that on March 15, 2022, Falcon said: “I’m very interested in seeing the results of this commission. And I want you to know this. That if it points out that while we were in government we were in any way responsible, I will absolutely apologize on behalf of our party.”

This was on Thursday but earlier in the week the NDP launched a new ad highlighting Falcon’s defence of housing speculators and his opposition to the Speculation and Vacancy Tax.

“Kevin Falcon’s record shows he will work for the richest 1% while making life more expensive for everyone else,” said BC NDP MLA Niki Sharma. “This ad is about showing that Falcon would help real estate speculators while driving up housing costs for average British Columbians.”

The satirical cartoon highlights Falcon’s background as a real estate executive and his opposition to BC NDP policies to curb speculation.

The governing party said Falcon has consistently opposed the BC NDP’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax, which has turned 20,000 vacant units into homes. The tax is paid by fewer than 1% of British Columbians – people who own multiple homes and leave them vacant in the regions hardest hit by the housing crisis.

“Eliminating the speculation tax would help the 1% of people with vacant properties but would take 20,000 homes away from British Columbians,” said Sharma. “Kevin Falcon would make speculators even richer while making housing more expensive for everyone else.”

Falcon has opposed the tax since 2018 and recently defended speculators who are keeping vacant homes vacant: “These are not speculators, these are people that have a second property and they’re being forced to pay, you know, an additional cost.” 

The ad will be shown on digital platforms including Facebook.