Kris Sims was one of the few people who did not before B.C.鈥檚 Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services to ask for money.

The nine-person committee is currently touring the province, collecting public input in advance of the next provincial budget, and Sims, the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, drove from the Fraser Valley to Cranbrook, where the dommittee was in session Thursday.

She came armed with a top 10 list of items the CTF and its 15,000-strong B.C. membership wanted to see.

1. Balance the budget. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 one thing that gets our supporters riled up, getting people writing letters to the editor and calling talk radio stations, they say 鈥楤alance our budget.鈥� They don鈥檛 like to see deficits, they don鈥檛 like to see province going further into debt, because they know what it does to their own household.鈥�

2. Cancel the B.C. carbon tax. 鈥淧eople are fed up with it,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淎nd top of that we found out during the last mini-budget that it鈥檚 not even going to revenue-neutral anymore, and it hasn鈥檛 been revenue neutral for several years. The Fraser Institute, one of our colleagues, found that the previous government had been taking old tax credits 鈥� years old 鈥� and adding them to the balance sheet of the current budget, for the carbon tax, to make it look balanced and neutral. It wasn鈥檛. It was costing families $800 a year.鈥�

3. Eliminate the Medical Services Plan premium: 鈥淲e were very happy to see the MSP cut by 50 per cent by the previous government,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淎nd this new government to finishing it off 鈥� eliminating it 100 per cent.鈥�

4. Stop raiding Crown Corporations: 鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a budget shortfall, don鈥檛 turn around and scoop money out of places like ICBC and BC Hydro,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淲e are ratepayers for those services, and when we see our money going to things other than auto insurance and hydro prices and just being used to paper over a budget shortfall, that really ticks people off.鈥�

5. On ICBC: 鈥淲e think it needs an overhaul, not just a tune-up,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淲e think ICBC should be turned into a co-op. Turn it into something like Mountain Equipment Co-op or VanCity. Make it owned by B.C. drivers, so if you choose to take your basic auto insurance out with this nice new ICBC co-op, you can do that. And then open that co-op up to private competition from other companies. So if you鈥檙e a great driver, you can shop around and get a lower rate.鈥�

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6. Don鈥檛 kill the Site C dam: 鈥淲e say this with cautions,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淏y now, we鈥檙e in it. When we asked our supporters, they said don鈥檛 kill it, be as stringent and prudent and careful as possible, but we鈥檝e invested so much money in it now, better to see it through. 鈥� If we bail out now, BC Hydro at least is saying that it will cost $7 billion.鈥�

7. Get government contracts, including boards and councils, under control. 鈥淥ne of the heads of TransLink makes more than the Prime Minister of Canada, as does her second-in-command,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淭here are tons of boards like this, and they鈥檙e basically permanent government. People don鈥檛 hear about them or know about them, they鈥檙e not elected, but they鈥檙e paid an outrageous amount of money.鈥�

8. Eliminate the vote tax: 鈥淭he government has imposed a transition fund 鈥� a vote tax of $16 million that鈥檚 coming out of taxpayers鈥� pockets,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淲hen you break it down per vote it doesn鈥檛 sound like a lot of money. But most people don鈥檛 want their tax dollar going to a lawn sign or an attack ad. If you鈥檙e running for any political party, raise your own money.鈥�

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9. Don鈥檛 block the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion: 鈥淲e understand there are concerns,鈥� Sims said. 鈥淲e also understand the Trudeau Liberal government has approved it, and that lots and lots of people and lots of boards have reviewed this. If we rely on these important economic engines of our economy, and we allow them to continue things like Kinder Morgan, it helps the tax base.鈥�

10. Reduce spending and lower taxes: 鈥淭he men and women on the pre-budget committee are getting swamped with spending requests. We鈥檙e there to say stop. Cut your spending, and reduce our taxes. And as far as we can tell, we among the only people going to these meetings saying, 鈥楶lease stop!鈥欌��

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation came into being as a response to the implementation of the goods and services tax in 1990.