The NDP was served two reminders this week of the kinds of ticking hand grenades that could blow up on them if the party takes power next spring: the toll on the new Port Mann Bridge and the deteriorating state of the government's finances.
As for the toll, the B.C. Liberals have moved to ensure that for many motorists who regularly use the new bridge, the toll will climb to $3 a few months after the election.
The "introductory" toll of $1.50 will expire just before the election, but drivers who "lock in" to the lower toll can enjoy it for a few months after that.
In other words, the larger toll will take effect a few months into the next government's term, which means if the NDP takes power, it will have to deal with the inevitable anger that will come from the thousands of commuters who will now have to fork over more than $1,000 annually to cross the Fraser River each day.
There's not much the NDP can do about it. The bridge's financing is tied to the toll, and presumably so are various contractual obligations associated with building the bridge and collecting the tolls.
The NDP's transportation critic, Harry Bains, wants to commission a feasibility study of putting tolls (albeit smaller ones) on other bridges in Metro Vancouver.
Surrey Mayor Diane Watts is pushing the idea of a regional tolling policy, to spread the financial pain around all the motorists who use bridges and thus make it a more level playing field.
Once the Port Mann toll becomes a reality, the whole issue of tolling will become magnified and will be dumped into the next government's lap.
Despite Bain's call for a study, his party leader Adrian Dix has told me he doesn't support tolling bridges that have already been paid for.
But fiscal realities may dictate a change in his view. Public transit desperately needs a bigger revenue stream, and replacing the aging Pattullo bridge will cost around $1 billion.
You can bet the NDP will not include any mention of a tolling policy in its election platform. The entire Port Mann/toll issue has bedevilled New Democrats in the past.
A thornier issue, however, is how to go about righting the government's financial ship. The first quarterly report for the current fiscal year lays out the challenges facing whichever party is going to be overseeing the books over the next few years.
A dependable cash cow - revenues from natural gas sales - is no more.
At one point a few years back, the government collected more than $1 billion in a single year from this line item. This year, the revenue will have declined to a little more than $150 million, as a glut has taken over the North American natural gas market.
Over the next three years, the decline over what had been expected from natural gas sales will hit about $1.4 billion, which is a staggering amount of money. That will have to be made up either through tax increases or spending cuts, or a decision to run deficits.
Anything more than a return to corporate tax levels set a few years ago by the B.C. Liberals will be rejected by the business community, and any increase in personal income taxes will be rejected by the voters.
Spending cuts are never popular and running large deficits will further exacerbate the NDP's struggle of shedding its image of being financial amateurs.
Something has to give here. After more than a decade in Opposition, New Democrats may soon discover just how hard governing can actually be.
And they can be sure there will be more little hand grenades waiting for them if they get back into power.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.
