Globe and Mail: B.C. abandons balanced budget law for three years in wake of pandemic

June 25, 2020
Colin Wong

[EXCERPT]

Liberal Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson called on the government to provide updated fiscal figures so legislators can debate a realistic budget in the legislative session that resumed this week. The Finance Ministry is set to release an economic update on July 14, which he said is not soon enough.

“We all know tax revenue has collapsed,” he said. “And yet we have a provincial government that won’t come forward with the whole story about the fiscal situation.”

Economist Jock Finlayson of the Business Council of B.C. said the budget Ms. James introduced in February is “irrelevant” and he expects to see the deficit this year reach as high as $10-billion.

“Our general assessment of the Horgan government’s performance is that they have done a good job managing the public-health aspects of the crisis,” Mr. Finlayson said. The staged economic reopening plan is solid, he added.

“But there is little evidence the government has summoned the will or developed the ideas needed to kick-start the recovery and rebuild a shattered B.C. economy – one that needs to find a way to survive and prosper in what is becoming a harsher and more unforgiving world.”

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