By The Canadian Press

Provincial deficit ‘unsustainable’ as budget comes Tuesday, B.C. official says

Feb 15, 2026 | 1:00 AM

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government didn’t have the opportunity to hint about what was coming in the provincial budget in its annual throne speech but both the premier and his finance minister have foreshadowed a cinching of government spending.

The legislative session started just days after a mass shooting that left nine dead, including the killer. Six of the victims were under 13 years old, five of them died at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.

The speech from the throne, normally used to promote the government’s agenda for the legislative session, instead focused on helping the community recover from the deaths.

British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey recently predicted that she was going to be the “least popular person in the province for a while,” after she tables her budget on Tuesday, but one economist is not so sure.

Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said he hopes the budget will avoid deep cuts.

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“But my sense is that they are talking a particular line around austerity now, but it won’t actually be as bad come budget day,” Lee said.

“I hope that I’m proven correct.”

A background briefing authorized by the premier’s office and delivered to reporters on Thursday points in a similar direction.

The deficit is too high, but the government is committed to protecting core services, while also creating financial room for any unforeseen economic eventualities, the briefing said.

Current forecasts peg the provincial deficit at $11.2 billion, and Shannon Salter, deputy minister to Premier David Eby, said in a recent email that B.C. has an “unsustainable provincial budget deficit.”

Eby himself has publicly previewed cost-cutting measures at a recent unrelated news conference.

“We have to reduce those expenditures, and we will do so in the budget,” he said. He added that government will continue to reduce the size of the public sector.

“There is room for us to reduce the bureaucracy, and administration while protecting core front-line services for British Columbians and that is what we are going to do.”

Bailey’s remarks, which she delivered last month in front of a business audience hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, drew an immediate response from the Conservative Party of B.C.

Peter Milobar, who is the finance critic and among 10 candidates running for the party’s leadership, said Bailey’s comments raise the question of where all the money has gone.

“When the government is previewing cuts and new difficulties for families in the upcoming budget, it’s a question that must be asked,” Milobar said in a release. “Under this Eby government, announcements haven’t translated into actions or outcomes.”

“The numbers show that nearly every aspect of life in British Columbia has gotten harder under the NDP government, despite unprecedented spending,” he said.

Milobar said Eby “inherited strong finances and squandered them,” pointing to B.C.’s almost $6 billion surplus when Eby replaced the late John Horgan as premier.

Conservatives said the provincial debt has also “exploded” under Eby. When he took office in 2022/23, the debt was $89.4 billion, the release said. It is now projected to top $155 billion this fiscal year.

“It’s time to get back to basics, restore fiscal discipline and present a credible plan to balance the budget,” Milobar said.

But Lee said fears around the debt and the deficit are “overblown,” noting that B.C.’s debt-relative-to-GDP is the second-lowest in Canada.

Figures from Statistics Canada published in late 2025 show B.C.’s net debt-to-GDP ratio at 3.8 per cent, Alberta’s at 2.1 per cent.

Lee said the current budget shows a contingency fund of $4 billion.

He said previous government spending has also created assets, like hospitals, schools, and highways, and it’s a difficult economic climate.

“We are in the middle of a trade war,” he said. Housing is also undergoing a major downturn and B.C.’s population growth is stagnating, he added.

“So, I don’t think anyone’s arguing that the B.C. government should be running a surplus or even balancing the budget,” he said. “So, the question is: how large a deficit is OK … and then what are the costs associated with getting there?”

On Thursday, reporters asked about potential future cuts to the civil service, the definition of core services, and the possibility of tax increases to make up revenue shortfalls.

All were told to wait until the budget.

The Finance Ministry has said the provincial public service has shrunk by over 1,500 people since restrictions started in 2024, with most of those through attrition.

Of the employees who left the public service since January 2025, 40 per cent were resignations, 18 per cent were retirements and 34 per cent were due to job terms ending.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press