BC is not only broke … it’s going further into debt this year … and says next year will be even worse!
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey predicted in her 2026 BC Budget the province’s deficit (spending more than it takes in) will hit $9.6 BILLION … and next year, she plans to overspend by another $13.3 BILLION!
So much for the NDP promise that BC’s deficit would “come down year over year.”
The current projected deficit will swell BC’s total debt in 2026 to $183 BILLION!!
(Yes, I’m SHOUTING these figures, because BC taxpayers must WAKE UP!! The province’s debt has skyrocketed 178 per cent since the NDP became BC’s government in 2017 … and that includes a 49 per cent jump just since David Eby became Premier, and now there’s an admission/prediction by the Finance Minister the debt will go up ANOTHER 50 PER CENT in the next three years!!!!).
Holy Bankruptcy, Brenda!
No one could ever run their own/business finances like that.
Maybe the BC Government should just call Sands and Associates and file for one of those “Consumer Proposals” they tout on BC airwaves as a solution for those drowning in debt?
What makes the 2026 BC Budget even more depressing is that these terrible deficit/debt figures are projected, DESPITE the government saying it will also: raise Income Taxes on the middle class and higher earners; expand the Provincial Sales Tax to more goods/services; increase school tax on high-end homes; cut 15,000 government jobs; cut the BC Training and Education Savings Grant, end the rural and northern homeowner grant; and, freeze adding any more $10-a-day child care spaces.
So where is the money going?
If there’s any news in the Budget to help calm taxpayers, it’s that the government plans to spend: $2.8 billion more over three years for health care; $634 million more on K-12 education; $330 million morebfor child care fee reduction; $139 million more on community safety; and, $5 billion is set aside for contingencies, “such as wildfires and other emergencies that require the province to help out financially”, according to The Vancouver Sun.
(You can read the full article here: https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-budget-2026-how-it-will-affect-you.)
BC clearly is in a financial mess … and the future looks bleak as well.
The BC Real Estate Association says the Budget will “burden the development sector with tax increases, imperiling the ability of the province to meet its own long-term housing supply targets”.
BC Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar called it “is an assault on seniors, working families and the small businesses that drive our economy.”
“Any cut to front line services, any cut to unionized employees, that provide critical services to British Columbians, is not just going to hurt people that need those services right now, it is also going to hurt the economy.” said BC General Employees’ Union President Paul Finch.
“What we are doing is protecting the gains that we’ve made over the last year,” explained the Finance Minister. “We’re protecting the gains that we’ve made in child care. We’re protecting the gains that we’ve made investing in new hospitals and in education. We’re protecting those gains, but we’re not adding new things on that we would like to.”
Bailey blamed US tariffs and falling resource revenues for BC’s tough financial situation.
She did not mention Indigenous land claims, opposition to pipelines, coastal traffic, the implications of the Cowichan lands decision; or Eby’s insistence on just amending, not repealing DRIPA.
Scary to even imagine what impact those current problems handicapping BC will have on next year’s BC Budget!
Harv Oberfeld
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