To spend or to cut? How finances factor into the B.C. election

B.C.'s provincial finances have gone from stable surpluses to deep deficits, and leaders contesting the upcoming election are debating whether the next government should keep spending or seek austerity.

In the latest fiscal update, the province's deficit for the current fiscal year had grown by $1.1 billion to $8.979 billion since the 2024-2025 budget was tabled, the highest ever in the province.

Total provincial debt is projected to be $128.6 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

It's created a wedge among political parties vying to form the next government over appropriate revenues and expenditures for much needed services such as health care and infrastructure like schools, transit and roads.

B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad says despite moving the province away from budgets defined by moderate spending tied to inflation and population growth, the B.C. NDP's spending is out of control without the results to justify it.

"When you look across this province over the last seven years, can anybody say that there is anything that is better?" he said at a news event on Tuesday. "All of this spending, quite frankly, is just putting our kids and their future in jeopardy as well."

Rustad plans to ramp up economic activity to boost revenues from B.C.'s traditional rich resources such as minerals and forests. He also says balanced budgets are a priority but would take time.

"Our goal is over multiple terms, over two terms, to get back to a balanced approach in British Columbia and bring common sense back."

Meanwhile, David Eby, who was premier for the last two budgets, says his government made bold choices not to make deep cuts, intentionally spending to hire new doctors, build new schools and hospitals, and cover emergencies like wildfires.

This year, responding to wildfires across the province added $886 million to the provincial budget, $653 million higher than forecast.

In addressing municipal leaders from across the province in Vancouver in September, Eby said if re-elected, his government's commitment to spending would continue.

"Now is the time that we need to be building, not cutting," he told delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention.

"We've got to build the schools and the hospitals and the roads and the transit systems and the infrastructure that makes it possible for our communities to be successful to have that quality of life that every British Columbian deserves."

Economists suggest both approaches pitched by Rustad and Eby can work, as balanced budgets free up money from servicing debt to be used elsewhere, while borrowing to spend also can bolster the economy to a place where it can recover.