Budget that includes record capital spending
teens between the ages of 14 and 18 are the top consumers of pop,” James said in her budget speech.
“This is about keeping young people healthy while taking in a bit of revenue to continue to pay for enhanced health care services for everyone.”
The B.C. Liberals said with gas prices up and insurance rates at “skyhigh” levels, the NDP led by Premier John Horgan isn’t keeping its promise to make life more affordable. “British Columbians aren’t getting ahead and life is less affordable than ever before,” said Stephanie Cadieux, one of the party’s finance critics. “With 22 new or increased NDP taxes and no plan for economic growth, families across the province are going to keep feeling the squeeze under John Horgan.” James said the new BC Access Grant program for post-secondary students will be ready for the fall semester in September.
“For the first time, provincial grants will be available to parttime students and students enrolled in programs of less than two years,” James said. “This will help people land good-paying jobs in high-demand fields like early childhood education, health care and the skilled trades.”
She said there will be more than 800,000 job openings in health care, early childhood education, skilled trades and technology over the next decade, and more than 75 per cent of the jobs will require some post-secondary education or training.
The Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives encouraged the government to do more on social issues facing the province, particularly in areas like poverty reduction and increasing access to child care. “This is a very cautious budget,” Iglika Ivanova, the centre’s senior economist, said in a news release. “We can afford to do more.”
Interim Green Leader Adam Olsen said the budget makes incremental investments in areas where the party shares priorities with the minority NDP government, which it has supported to keep the New Democrats in power.
Olsen said the Greens like the grant for post-secondary students, is pleased to see funding maintained for the government’s key environmental program Cleanbc, as well as improving access to affordable early childhood education.
“However, it isn’t enough to make life more affordable,” he said in a news release. “Now is the time to go all-in on transitioning to a clean economy that has equity and sustainability at its core.”
James said the financial bleeding at the Crownowned Insurance Corp. of British Columbia is expected to be stemmed by the end of 2020-21, after losses of more than $2 billion over the past three years. The 2019-20 budget forecasts a loss of $91 million.
The government recently announced it will move to a no-fault system that will cut insurance rates by 20 per cent.