VICTORIA — The BC Liberal government unveiled its third consecutive surplus budget on Tuesday, drawing praise from the busines sector and criticism for a lack of social spending.
B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced a surplus of $879 million for 2015-16, calling for future surpluses in each of the next three years beyond 2015, totalling just over $1 billion.
The budget also calls for an $800 million payment to reduce the provincial debt, which grew by just over $5 billion from 2009 to 2013, during the worst years of the global economic downturn.
There was good news for the mining industry, as the province extended $10 million in tax credits on mineral exploration and increased the base budget of the Ministry of Energy and Mines from $6.3 million to $17.1 million.
The budget also earmarked $5 million over five years to the aerospace industry, $3 million over three years to draw more shipping companies to Vancouver and $2 million to promote B.C.'s Buy Local program for agriculture.
The B.C. Chamber of Commerce praised the budget's "fiscal discipline" with a focus on debt repayment and initiatives supporting economic growth.
“During this time of ongoing global economic uncertainty, it is important for government to continue to live within its means while finding affordable ways to drive our medium and long-term economic prosperity by enhancing our competitiveness and productivity,†said John Winter, president and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce, in a release.
But a senior economist for The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said the budget fails to make real investments in British Columbians.
Iglika Ivanova said the budget underfunds services in order to put a fiscal surplus as a top priority. That will leave future generations to pay for the problems that this government refuses to spend money on including poverty, environmental degradation, and gaps in healthcare, she added.
“We ended 2014 with a nearly $1 billion surplus,†said Ivanova. “Why can’t we afford to bring in a comprehensive poverty reduction plan, $10 a day childcare, or an effective job creation plan? Or raise welfare rates that have been frozen for eight years? Wouldn’t this be something to brag about?â€
There's little in the way of social spending in the 2015 budget, with no increases to social assistance rates or minimum wages planned.
There is some support for parents, however. Effective Sept. 1, child support payments will be exempted from income assistance, allowing parents to keep the money they receive over and above social assistance and disability payments.
As well, children born after Jan. 1, 2007 will be eligible for a one-time training and education savings grant of $1,200, while the early childhood tax benefit of $660 per year for children under six starts April 1.
Families will also be eligible for a new PST tax credit on up to $250 worth of children's sports equipment, worth $12.65 per child.
Although the budget calls for a $3 billion funding increase to health care over three years, the Hospital Employees' Union said this still leaves B.C. ranked eighth among Canadian provinces in per capita health care spending. The HEU also noted that $100 million in additional costs will be shifted onto families through Medical Services Plan premiums. Those rates will continue to rise by four per cent in 2015, to $75 per month for individuals, $136 for a family of two, and $150 for families of three or more.
There is no additional spending planned in education beyond the $564 million in extra funding over three years that was promised by the province in order to end the 2014 B.C. Teachers’ Federation strike.
Environmentalists also criticized the budget, with the Sierra Club of B.C. urging more decision action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change.
“We applaud efforts to reduce emissions by the cement industry and encourage the use of clean energy vehicles, but these measures are nowhere near adequate to the climate challenge we face," said Sierra Club BC director of communications Tim Pearson in a release.
The Sierra Club was calling on the province to adopt a comprehensive strategy to shift the economy away from reliance on fossil fuels and toward a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Pearson did applaud $25 million in funding toward the Water Sustainability Act.
To read the full details of the 2015 budget visit the province's website.