B.C. budget delivers ‘action today, plan for tomorrow’

The B.C. government is promising more action to fight climate change and to protect residents from climate-related disasters in its new budget.

“It delivers action today, with a plan for tomorrow,” said Finance Minister Selina Robinson as she outlined the details in Victoria.

The budget provides $2.1 billion to fund disaster recovery efforts and future response to the threats posed by wildfires, floods and heat waves.

A three-year climate fund will support ongoing disaster cleanup and rebuilding in southern B.C. communities hit by last November’s floods and mudslides.

The budget does not include a total estimate of the recovery costs, resulting in the government adding a $1.1 billion contingency fund for the 2022-23 fiscal year to cover future costs.

Robinson pledged an additional one billion dollars for CleanBC to help reach a low carbon future faster. The province’s Go Electric program, which provides rebates for electric vehicle charging systems, will continue.

“And to make use of these even more affordable, we are going to remove the PST [provincial sales tax],” said Robinson.

The PST exemption is for used zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), effective until 2027, and a higher threshold for a luxury surtax on passenger ZEVs to a base of $75,000.

The province will also provide $30 million in grants to local governments to improve active transportation infrastructure, like bike lanes and multi-use pathways.

The B.C. Wildfire Service will be transitioned to a year-round firefighting and risk mitigation agency.

“To support these efforts, budget 2022 includes nearly $200 million to support wildfire prevention activities. This includes $90 million in new funding to help more communities participate in programs like FireSmart,” the minister stated.

Robinson said the financial plan will also help reduce child care costs

“With this year’s budget, we are embedding childcare within the Ministry of Education,” Robinson explained. “This is all part of our governments work to establish childcare as a core service that’s available to any family that wants it when they need it at a price they can afford.”

Robinson said they will lower the average prices for pre-school and before-and after- school childcare to less than $20 a day for the 2023-24 school year.

The budget also earmarks $633 million over three years to deal with homelessness, includes $25 million for helping the tourism-industry recover, and $22 million to support survivors and support funding for 50 sexual assault service centres in B.C.

The financial blueprint forecasts a deficit of $5.5 billion for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Here are more highlights from the B.C. budget tabled Tuesday:

• a new Declaration Act Secretariat will ensure legislation is consistent with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and that it is developed in consultation with Indigenous Peoples;
• $27.4 billion will be spent on infrastructure over three years, including on the SkyTrain from Surrey to Langley;
• the number of urgent and primary care centres will be doubled by 2025 as part of $3.2 billion earmarked for the health and mental health-care systems;
• the provincial sales tax will be removed on all electric heat pumps;
• a new clean buildings tax rebate will provide incentives to undertake energy refits of larger rental and commercial buildings.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is criticizing the B.C. government for failing to provide any plan to balance the books and for going over budget in its spending in 2021.

“Budget 2022 gets a failing grade from taxpayers,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF. “The government doesn’t have any plan to balance the budget because it’s using the cloud of the pandemic to go on a debt-fueled spending binge.”

Budget 2021 forecasted 2021 spending to be $68.6 billion. However, spending for 2021 is projected to be $70.7 billion. Had spending stayed on budget, the government would have balanced its budget in 2021 with the additional $11 billion in revenue it collected.

The Opposition BC Liberals say the NDP budget has failed British Columbians and made no progress on key promises like affordability, proving once again that this government is incapable of turning its words into concrete actions.

“Budget 2022 fails to properly address the issues British Columbians really care about — the ones that are on their minds every single day,” said Peter Milobar, BC Liberal Critic for Finance. “From the absence of measures to meaningfully address the rising cost of housing, gas and groceries, to the lack of progress on affordable childcare, and the continued underfunding of needed mental health and addictions supports, budget 2022 completely misses the mark.”

The Liberals say the NDP’s sixth budget failed to deliver on the following promises to British Columbia:

• parents expecting $10​-a​-day child care will be disappointed by the lack of progress;
• the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions is getting an $8-million increase for public communications and engagement funding, not ​for new treatment beds or other measures to save lives;
• the NDP have added or increased three new taxes​: A brand-new tax on online marketplaces, increased taxes on used car sales, and increased taxes on the purchase of home heating systems that use fossil fuels​;
• no sign of the twice​-promise​d annual $400 renters’ rebate​;
• no relief on the horizon for people trying to buy a home​, as prices skyrocket — in fact, the NDP are profiting from the housing market, collecting more than $3 billion in revenue from home sales last year;
• in budget 2021, the NDP promised budget 2022 would have a “specific timeline, approach and plan” to balance the budget — it’s nowhere to be found.

For more on the new budget from the government, click here.

(With files from The Canadian Press)