PROVINCE BENEFITS FROM BUDGET INCREASES FOR PHYSICS RESEARCH, FISHERIES, OIL SPILL RISKS
Among the budget items of interest to B.C.:
• The TRIUMF particle physics laboratory at the University of B.C., which got its $222 million, five-year base funding renewed in 2013, receives an additional fiveyear, $45-million pledge starting this year to continue its research in areas such as the production of medical isotopes to treat cancer.
• The government committed $3 million over three years, starting this year, to match funding pledged in the recent B.C. government budget to create a new International Maritime Centre in Vancouver. The centre would provide legal, chartering, brokering and market-exchange services.
• The not-for-profit Pacific Salmon Foundation is getting $2 million to fund the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, which is intended to “investigate the factors affecting the survival of juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Salish Sea in British Columbia,” according to the budget.
• The government is expanding funding for the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program, established in 2013 with $10 million over two years. The funding is being boosted with $10 million a year for three years starting in 2016-17.
• Anxious to meet demands from the B.C. government for safer shipping to deal with proposed new oilsands pipelines, the government pledged $13.9 million over five years to fund scientific research south of the 60th parallel (there is a separate fund for the Arctic) “in order to contribute to the knowledge base to effectively respond to oil spills in some of the highest risk areas in Canada.”
• In a pitch to diaspora communities in Canada, a key target for all parties, the budget promised $6 million over five years, starting this year, to help Canadians send money to family members over- seas. A federal official said the money will be used to establish a website to help Canadians find the most reliable and least expensive ways to ship money to their relatives. The impact of the federal budget’s tax cuts, such as income splitting for couples with younger children and the near-doubling of the maximum contribution to a TaxFree Savings Account, could mean a reduction of $18 million to $30 million in federal revenue to British Columbia, said provincial finance minister Mike de Jong. But that would barely have an impact on B.C.’s budget, he said. “On a $47 billion budget these are amounts that are certainly manageable for us,” said de Jong. Overall, he said Ottawa’s slim surplus, which he characterized as “balanced on a razor’s edge,” was good news for the country’s financial situation. Ottawa’s public transit fund, beginning in 2017, is an additional source of revenue B.C. hopes to tap, but the province is already seeking money through existing federal funding pots, de Jong said. “We of course will argue and seek our share of that money,” he said. Ottawa must also recognize B.C.’s unique role in the Asia-Pacific gateway in determining its priority for federal infrastructure funds, de Jong said. He also praised Ottawa’s commitment to expand forest markets in advance of what could be a looming softwood lumber dispute with the United States, as well as the federal commitment to the Maritime Centre in Vancouver. The federal numbers show B.C. continues to be a major force in driving Canada’s economy, de Jong said.