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British Columbias Liberal government, which faces defeat in the legislature as early as Thursday, has released a fiscal update that shows a surplus far higher than what was projected just a few monthsago.

The updated numbers, which have not been audited by the provinces auditor general, are designed in part to explain why the Liberals recently presented a Throne Speech full of expensive promises that deviated widely from the partys spring election campaign. They also leave the Opposition New Democrats with a comfortable surplus to pay for its agenda while insulating the party from claims that its plan would hurt the provincesfinances.

Do we wish we knew the money was there beforehand? Yes, B.C. Premier Christy Clark told the legislature after the update was released.

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Explainer: How B.C.s Liberal government could fall and what happens next

Globe editorial: B.C. politics get weird, but thats life in a hung parliament

Heres what you need to you about the fiscalupdate.

The Finance Minister says the province ended the 2016/17 fiscal year with a surplus of about $2.8-billion, which is roughly 10 times what his department forecast when it released a budget in February, 2016, and almost double what it predicted when the most recent provincial budget was released this pastFebruary.

That puts it just below the 2014/2015 surplus and makes it the fourth surplus in arow.

The Liberal government says the increased revenue was primarily driven by an economy that performed better than expected, which , in turn, brought in moretaxes.

The government says the increased tax revenue was driven by GDP growth that exceeded every other jurisdiction in Canada and, again, was significantly higher than initially projected. The 2016/17 budget predicted GDP growth of 2.4 per cent in 2016, but that figure grew to 3.7 percent.

B.C.s Finance Ministry says the growth was spread across most industries, including real estate, construction and manufacturing. Housing starts in particular have remained strong in recent months despite starting 2017 significantly lower than the average for lastyear.

The Liberal government is also trumpeting its debt performance. The government says the total provincial debt increased by almost $600-million compared with the year before, though taxpayer-supported debt decreased by$1.2-billion.

The provinces debt-to-GDP ratio decreased to 15.9 per cent in 2016/17, according to the fiscal update less than the 17 per cent initially projected and lower than the previous years figure of17.4.

MORE FROM THE GLOBE ANDMAIL:

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What you need to know about BC's post-election fiscal update - The Globe and Mail

The Liberal Party contains moderates like George Brandis, Christopher Pyne and Malcolm Turnbull, and conservatives such as Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz and Peter Dutton.

Do politicians read history any more? Liberal MPs who have not read Robert Menzies Afternoon Light: some memories of men and events (1967) should get it from the Parliamentary Library and read Menzies chapter on my humiliation of 1941. He writes:

There was a strong view that, having regard to our precarious parliamentary position, my unpopularity with the leading newspapers was a threat to the survival of the government. It followed that, although they had a warm appreciation of what I had done as prime minister, a change in the leadership was called for.

Menzies resigned, and Country Party leader Artie Fadden succeeded him as prime minister. Five weeks later the government fell: two previously supportive independent MPs switched their allegiance after Menzies was pushed from office. Labor was in power for the next eight years.

Key participants in the current Liberal leadership drama know a similar dynamic is at play. If Malcolm isnt PM, Shorten will be, one says. If Abbott took over, several people would retire and the government would fall.

This echoes the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd turnstile, redolent with the same animus. But with fringe right parties feasting on the margins of conservative political discontent in Australia, deeper questions are being asked about whether the Liberal Party itself is at risk.

Menzies famously welded several conservative political entities into a new one, the Liberal Party, in 1945. He then led it to victory at its second general election outing in 1949. Its lineage, Old Testament-style, is this. The Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party of the early Federation era fused into the Commonwealth Liberal Party, which begat the Nationalist Party of Australia, which begat the United Australia Party which, with Menzies as midwife, begat the Liberal Party of Australia.

Thus party reconfigurations on the conservative side of politics in Australia, while only occurring around the edges post-second world war, were common before it and could be so again. Despite the sulphur and brimstone being whipped up by some commentators, however, this does not seem to be one such moment.

Fringe party flare-ups are common in Australian politics. Since the second world war the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Liberal Movement, Australian Democrats, the Greens, and Pauline Hansons One Nation Party have all influenced the major parties room for policy and political manoeuvre. In this context, the latest, Cory Bernardis Australian Conservatives, is not unusual.

Nor is having to rely on minor parties or independents to form government unusual. Every federal Liberal government has been a coalition government, in league with the National Party (before the mid-1970s called the Country Party). This is despite Menzies private hatred of his coalition partner.

On the rare occasions the Liberal Party has had enough MPs to govern in its own right, it remained in coalition, mindful that forming government in more normal political times is impossible without it.

English academic David Runciman recently observed in the London Review of Books that Britain is now a 40:40:20 nation (where) deal-making is the essence of politics the 20 being MPs returned to Westminster from the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Democratic Unionist Party, among others.

Since governments rarely have a majority in both houses of parliament in Australia, coalition-building and deal-making have always been everyday life in our polity. Minor parties come and go in such equations.

It is ironic that Tony Abbott, singularly incapable of acquiring and practising those skills as prime minister, should so successfully destabilise his successor Malcolm Turnbull who, with the Gonski 2.0 school funding legislation, seems finally to have worked out how to govern.

There is irony, too, in the fact that, as Liberals soul-search about whether to move further to the right, Labor strategists see the Coalitions vulnerability as not moving quickly enough to the new centre on issues like marriage equality and, especially, the environment.

Affluent, educated, urban Liberal voters children are, in increasing numbers, not reproducing their parents voting behaviour but rather going Green. Abbotts drive to double down the Liberals alignment with climate denialism could only compound this.

Christopher Pyne is as much a Liberal MP as Tony Abbott, and attempts to portray him as a pinko outlier are a travesty of conservative political history in Australia. Menzies called it the Liberal Party, not the Conservative Party, for a reason: he intended it to be a broad church of conservatives and liberals, not least because he understood how difficult it is to win office without bringing the centre along with you.

While mouthing broad church rhetoric, John Howard drove liberals out of the Liberal Party, and persecuted those, like Pyne, who survived the scouring. This shrank the liberal ballast protecting the party from an even sharper lurch rightwards.

Turnbull isnt very good. We limp towards defeat, one Liberal wanly puts it. But that could be so much better electorally than the alternative. If Abbott again becomes the public face of the Liberals, prepare for it to become a very small party indeed.

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Note to Liberals: on the leadership front, best to keep calm and carry on - The Conversation AU

During a Tuesday press opportunity in the Oval Office, President Trump told a reporter that she had a nice smile. As a result, liberals are calling Trump out for what they call a classic case of sexual harassment and are asking that the president be punished.

While on the phone with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, Trump told the PM that some Irish journalists were in audience and, while on the phone with the PM, called one of them over.

We have all of this beautiful Irish press, Trump told Varadkar. Referring a reporter in attendance by the name of Catriona Perry, Trump said, She has a nice smile on her face so I bet she treats you well.

Liberal womens advocacy organization, UltraViolet, took issue with the presidents sentiments and claimed that the incident was simply sexual harassment.

In a letter to White House Counsel Evan McGahn, Ultraviolet called on the Counsel to investigate the incident.

The women who work in the White House, whether on staff or as members of the press, should be able to do their jobs without the threat of harassment, UltraViolets letter read. We also hope you agree with us that no one, and especially not the President, is above the law.

The letter read:

We write to you today to urge you to investigate an incident that occurred yesterday in the Oval Office between President Donald Trump and a female reporter from RTE, Caitriona Perry, which appears to be a classic case of sexual harassment.

The incident, which has been widely shared online, happened as President Trump wasspeaking to Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, on the phone. While speaking on the phone. President Trump said we have all of this beautiful Irish press and then singled out a female reporter in the women and commented on her nice smile.'

The letter featured a link to a video documenting the exchange, and continued:

As you may be aware, prior to being President, Mr. Trump has a long and well documented [sic] history of sexual harassment and numerous women have come forward to accuse him of sexual assault. We are particularly concerned about the incident yesterday in the Oval Office because it is eerily familiar to the behavior that President Trumpin the Access Hollywood tape that came out during the campaignhas himself stated is acceptable. In that tape, President Trump stated that when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.'

The letter concluded:

Given this, we ask that you immediately and aggressively investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was also copied on the letter.

The journalist herself, Perry, shared a video of the incident on Twitter, calling the moment bizarre.

Liberal Twitter users gleefully took to the social media platform in order to decry Trumps latest gaffe.

See some of their reactions below.

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See the moment that caused triggered liberals to attack Trump for Oval Office 'sexual harassment' - TheBlaze.com

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Two weeks ago, a deranged gunman, nourished on leftist hate and rage against conservatives, went to a baseball field with the intent of assassinating Republican congressmen.

That same morning, this column was unfortunately prescient in focusing on the imagery of violence against President Trump, and how the liberal loathing of the president has entered the realm of lethal fantasies. A few hours later, it shifted from fantasies to reality.

Armed with two firearms, he entered the field firing off at least 50 shots before two heroes from House Majority Whip Steve Scalises security detail shot the attempted assassin dead. Mr. Scalise, former congressional aide Matt Mika, the two Capitol Hill police, and a staff member of Rep. Roger Williams, were wounded.

By Gods grace and the genius of medical teams, Mr. Scalise had gone from critical, to serious and exactly a week later, was upgraded to fair condition. Mr. Mika who had been shot several times, was released from the hospital this past Friday.

But if you had gone out of town prior to that awful June 14 morning and unplugged to get away from it all and returned a week later, you would never know it happened. If you turned on broadcast evening news or looked at the Google News page to catch up, you would be unaware that an attempted assassination of so many Republicans ever occurred.

Six days after the assault, Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, and his team reported on the medias attempted disappearance of the atrocity. In addition to coverage at the online magazine, Mr. Davis tweeted these facts, with screenshots of the media outlets to which he referred: Six days after [Gabrielle] Giffords was shot, CNN had 8 stories above the fold about the shooting. Today? Not a single story on last weeks massacre. And this: Now compare The Washington Post six days post-Giffords (Giffords was #1 topic) to The Washington Post today: zero stories on the shooting, and The number one news topic on Washington Posts website 6 days post-Giffords? Giffords. Six days post-Alexandria? Phoenix is hot in June.

The Federalist reported, More use of the Wayback Machine shows the same trend for The New York Times website front page. One week after the attack on Giffords, five stories front-page. One week after the attack on Scalise, what to cook this week and how to get jobs for the wives of jihadis. Nothing on Scalise. Not even on gun control.

But this isnt surprising, its typical for liberals. Democrats and their weasels in media have perfected the art of denial and lies. During Barack Obamas eight years as president, obfuscating was standard operating procedure when facing facts was bad news for Democrats and reality exposed them for the frauds that they are.

ISIS? A JV team. Benghazi? A YouTube video. Obamacare? You can keep your plan, doctor and hospital. The IRS? Not even a smidgen of corruption. The economy? Shovel-ready jobs and summers of recovery.

But its not just the media thats decided to pay no mind to the attempted massacre of Republicans by a volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders and fan of TV host Rachel Maddow. Mr. Obama is demonstrating for all of his fans that ignoring it is the way to go.

The newly former president is a man who oversaw a Democratic domestic agenda reliant on dividing Americans against each other and the demonizing of Republicans as reprobate sexists, racists and homophones. His international agenda involved empowering this nations enemies and marginalizing our friends, and whispering to the Russians that hed have more flexibility after his re-election.

That same man has decided to say nothing publicly about attempted mass murder of congressional members.

Instead, Mr. Obama called Sen. Jeff Flake who was also at the baseball diamond but was fortunately unhurt. Politico did a whole story on how the former president reached out to Mr. Flake but did so as a friend. Oh, he also told Mr. Flake to tell everyone else he was sending them prayers and wishes.

So, Barack Obama, who is never at a loss for words and has spoken up many times in the past few months here at home and abroad against the current president and the Republican agenda, calls up the one guy he likes personally who survived a massacre. Everyone else? Meh.

Even more shocking is the fact that Mr. Obama has said nothing publicly about the violence. For a man who was supposedly so committed against gun violence, as an example, its bizarre the one time he grows silent is when the victims are people he apparently doesnt like.

Not only has Mr. Obama not condemned the violence, he hasnt issued any kind of a plea to liberals and liberal leadership to tone down the hate and rage against Mr. Trump and the Republicans.

Is the great orator just too busy vacationing, or is Mr. Obamas refusal to publicly condemn a mass assassination attempt a message in itself? If so, we should all be alarmed.

Tammy Bruce, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk show host.

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The alarming indifference of liberals - Washington Times

The tribunal members are paid up to $360,000 per year.

A failed Liberal candidate and a lifetime member of the Sydney University Liberal Club are among those who've been appointed to high paying jobs at an independent tribunal that had recently been purged by attorney-general George Brandis.

The names of the appointments to the powerful Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) were released on Wednesday, after news broke that several members of the tribunal would not have their contracts renewed.

Late last year BuzzFeed News revealed some of the Liberal party connections to those on the AAT the independent body of review for important government decisions around freedom of information requests, disability and veterans' appeals, child support arrangements and refugee applications.

Some of the jobs are full-time, others part-time, with tribunal members paid up to $360,000 a year. Both Labor and Liberal governments have attracted controversy in the past for appointing political allies to the tribunal.

Brandis announced 64 new appointments and reappointments to the tribunal on Wednesday, including a new president, Justice David Thomas from Queensland.

Among them is the National Australia Bank's senior government relations manager and part-time Spectator columnist Justin Owen, who is listed as a lifetime member of the Sydney University Liberal Club.

As reported by the Australian Financial Review last year, Owen took time off from his day job to campaign for Brexit in the UK, then wrote an essay for the Spectator called "Nude at 40,000 feet".

Failed New South Wales Liberal senate candidate and senior party official Hollie Hughes was named to sit for seven years on the tribunal.

As was Nora Lamont, the deputy mayor of the Victoria council of Maroondah, who wrote in a 2010 Facebook post: "I am a current member of the Liberal Party".

There's also barrister Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez, whose CV includes time as in-house counsel for Victorian Liberal premier Ted Baillieu, and consultant Helen Moreland, who once worked for Tony Abbott.

George Hallwood who was thanked in a South Australian Liberal MP's maiden speech for running a local Liberal party branch picked up a seven year term on the tribunal.

Several AAT members with Liberal connections were reappointed to their positions for another seven years, including Scott Morrison's former chief of staff Ann Brandon-Baker; former Tony Abbott staffer Helena Claringbold; and failed Liberal Party candidate Nick McGowan.

The full list of 64 new appointments and reappointments to the tribunal can be found here.

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George Brandis Taps Fellow Liberals For High Paying, Independent Tribunal Jobs - BuzzFeed News