Budget puts pressure on NDP government
Funding post-pandemic recovery expected to result in multi-billion-dollar deficit for province
VICTORIA — The pandemic has laid bare cracks in B.C.'s long-term care system, exacerbated the mental health and addiction crisis, and exposed racial and gender inequality — problems the NDP government is under pressure to tackle in its first budget since the start of the COVID-19 crisis.
Finance Minister Selina Robinson, who will unveil the government's spending priorities on Tuesday, has said the New Democrats needed two months beyond the usual February budget date to truly understand the scope of the pandemic.
However, as variants of concern cause a third wave worse than the first two, COVID-19 is not in the rearview mirror even as Premier John Horgan tries to steer the province toward a post-pandemic world.
According to a Leger poll for Postmedia News, at least half of 1,004 British Columbians surveyed say economic recovery and pandemic response should be top priorities for the provincial and federal budgets. About 44 per cent said they're confident the NDP will be able to deliver a budget that will help B.C. recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and 40 per cent think the budget will be in the best interest of British Columbians.
The budget is expected to predict a multi-billion-dollar deficit on the heels of record a $13-billion deficit in the fiscal year that ended March 31, the result of spending to support businesses and individuals hurt by the pandemic. The government has pledged a return to balanced budgets as the economy recovers.
Ken Peacock, chief economist at the B.C. Business Council, said the economy is already showing signs of a rebound that will replenish government revenues to pre-pandemic levels and gradually reduce the deficit.
“It's not the time for (fiscal) restraint,” Peacock said, adding he expects to see “modest spending” on infrastructure which will be propped up by funds from the federal government, which is releasing its own budget today.
Alex Hemingway, an economist and public finance policy analyst with the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, agrees.
“We need aggressive investments in meeting people's immediate needs in light of the pandemic: Re-starting the economy when it becomes safe from a public health perspective and making a series of much-needed investments in child care, housing, transit, each of which have an economic benefit over the medium term,” Hemingway said.
One of the top priorities will be spending on long-term care in light of inadequate staffing and poor infection control that last year contributed to deadly COVID outbreaks in some B.C. care homes. Last week's throne speech promised to improve care for seniors by hiring thousands of new long-term care workers and “fixing the cracks COVID-19 has exposed.”
The government is also being asked to improve mental health and addiction services, which are plagued by long wait-times, a patchwork of addiction treatment services, and inadequate access to a safe supply of drugs to prevent overdose deaths. It has been five years since B.C. declared a state of emergency over the opioid crisis and 7,000 people have died of drug toxicity since then, including a record 1,716 people last year.
The government has also promised more supportive housing with wraparound services to provide shelter for people living in parks and to fund the construction of affordable rental housing to serve the “missing middle” — those who don't qualify for subsidized housing but can't afford to buy a home and struggle to pay sky-high rents.
The budget will also include funding for anti-racism education in schools and, according to the throne speech, “targeted supports” for people of colour, women, young people and those working in frontline jobs and in the gig economy, all of whom have been hard-hit by the economic fallout of the pandemic.
The New Democrats' post-pandemic recovery plan relies heavily on a new investment fund called InBC Investment to provide incentives for innovative businesses to stay in B.C. and create jobs. Peacock said that fund could be key to fostering a more robust life sciences industry in B.C., which the government has said is vital for domestic vaccine production and biomedical research.
“Don't make it more difficult for businesses to operate and invest and make some profit or a return on their investment,” he said.