B.C. Budget 2024 bleeds red ink, with no cure in sight
Finance minister says balanced budget is the NDP goal, but no hint of when that might be achieved. Not soon, for sure
VICTORIA — Finance Minister Katrine Conroy made no apologies Thursday for bringing in a three-year budget and fiscal plan that was awash in an atmospheric river’s worth of red ink.
Conroy budgeted for three years of operating deficits totalling $22 billion, double her forecast this time last year in her first budget as finance minister in the David Eby NDP government.
The revised three-year plan also calls for adding $61 billion in debt, leading to an almost 60 per cent increase in the total provincial debt since Eby took office.
Yet Conroy maintained all these deficits and debt represented “tough” but unavoidable choices in challenging times.
People need help to make ends meet, she argued. They are more dependent than ever on government services. She suggested that only a heartless right-wing government would have tried to manage spending and borrowing to different results.
