B.C. Finance Minister Katrine Conroy met with the Cranbrook business community, running through provincial budget highlights and answering audience questions at a monthly Chamber of Commerce event.
The budget was announced at the end of February, which includes $6.4 billion in new health spending over three years and includes $1 billion for for mental health and addictions services.
Additional budget items include $4.2 billion for housing — new home builds and modular housing — and $317 million for policing and and public safety initiatives, and $119 million for free prescription contraception.
“The budget is our map, our compass to guide us forward as one and it makes smart, strategic investments to help B.C. through the challenges of today,” said Conroy. “It puts money back in people’s pockets and it addresses the barriers that continue to cause pressure in people’s lives. It improves health and mental health services and supports safe and healthy communities. It also sets the stage to help us improve the housing market and build a stronger, cleaner economy for the future.”
Conroy nodded to local government officials in the room, including Cranbrook mayor Wayne Price, by noting the $1 billion Growing Communities Fund, as the city is receiving just under $5.6 million for infrastructure-related costs, while the Regional District of East Kootenay is receiving $3.6 million.
Audience questions included topics such as the Employer Health Tax, reforms to the Residential Tenancy Branch, corporate tax rates, accessing BC Housing funding and increasing access to childcare in Cranbrook.
An updated third quarterly report shows a projected $3.6 billion surplus for 2022-23, lower than the $5.7 billion that was forecasted last fall. The surplus balance will continue to shift as revenue forecasts are updated, according to the province.
The three-year fiscal plan also presents declining deficits starting at$4.2 billion next year and declining to $3 billion by 2025/26.
The B.C. Budget received a lukewarm reception from the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, which singled out a $15 per tonne increase to the carbon tax and the Employer Health Tax, in a news release issued after the fiscal plan was released.
Conroy said she wanted to bring a message of investing in people, given that she was presenting to a room of Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce members.
“By investing in people and putting money back into people’s pockets, they taking that money and they’re using it in their local communities they’re using it for small businesses, they’re using it for the members of the chamber of commerce,” said Conroy, in an interview after the presentation. “They’re buying local, they’re shopping local.”
Labour shortages are another issue Conroy says the province has heard loud and clear, noting the Future Ready plan, which will invest $480 million over three years to break down barriers to post-secondary training, along with $58 million to expand supports for newcomers and speed up recognition for foreign credentials.
Specific details on the plan are forthcoming, Conroy added.
“With our new program, we’re actually going to be helping small and medium sized businesses to actually invest in technology, but also to invest in workers so that they get the workers who have the skills that they need for their business,” Conroy said.
As minister responsible for the Columbia River Treaty, Conroy also noted that the Canadian and American delegations recently met last week for another round of negotiations on modernizing the agreement.
That coincided with a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden following last week’s bilateral meeting, as the two leaders pledged to intensify efforts to agree to modernized terms for the water-sharing agreement.
The statement also noted an intent to reach and agreement in principle by the summer to reduce and mitage water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai watersheds, as transboundary pollution has been a long-running concern on both sides of the border.
With files from Ashley Wadhwani