BCs September Budget Update is unlikely to live up to its promise of protecting vital services and building for the future. Instead, the big-spending, tax-increasing, debt-loving budget is a step back from BC's recent progress and will burden, rather than build for, the future.
Start with the seemingly unavoidable $2.8 billion deficit. According to Finance Minister Colin Hansen, the government was forced into deficit largely as a result of a loss of $2 billion in expected revenues. The $2 billion figure certainly captured the attention of the media.