{"id":853657,"date":"2026-08-11T02:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/853657\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:42:09","slug":"b-c-s-deficit-ends-fiscal-year-3-2-billion-lower-than-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/853657\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s deficit ends fiscal year $3.2 billion lower than budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

B.C.\u2019s deficit ends fiscal year $3.2 billion lower than budget<\/p>\n

Published 4:17 pm Monday, August 10, 2026<\/p>\n

Turns out, B.C. spent $3.2 billion less than budgeted last year \u2014 at least when a large tobacco settlement<\/a> and some delays to expensive projects are factored in.<\/p>\n

After a full accounting of the province\u2019s 2025\/26 fiscal year spending, the deficit shrank from the original $10.9 billion shortfall to a more modest $7.7 billion. The total spend for the year was a little more than $94.9 billion.<\/p>\n

While the revision includes a one-time $2.561 billion tobacco settlement added to the books after the budget<\/a> was released, provincial coffers were also boosted by better-than-expected economic growth and tighter spending.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey attributed some of the cost-cutting to what she called \u201cslippage\u201d in the capital spending plan. The province had budgeted $15.4 billion for capital projects, but spent just $11.4 billion.<\/p>\n

But this money is not off the books for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlippage happens every year,\u201d Bailey said, as she unveiled the province\u2019s audited financial statements at a Monday morning press conference in Victoria. \u201cIt was quite an aggressive capital allotment at $15 billion, and the slippage of $4 billion will in fact carry over into other years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of this she blamed on labour shortages and supply-chain disruptions.<\/p>\n

Bailey distinguished the \u201cslippage\u201d in last year\u2019s budget from the \u201crepacing\u201d of projects, which the province says it is doing this year to rein in spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepacing is a deliberate pulling back of a project and looking at when we can deliver it and how to keep the cost down,\u201d she said. \u201cThe projects that are experiencing slippage, maybe it\u2019s a five-year build and part of the build didn\u2019t happen in year two, but will happen in year three.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Finance Ministry has yet to provide a thorough breakdown of what projects have experienced \u201cslippage,\u201d but officials say this is normal practice.<\/p>\n

Broadly, it includes $466 million in lower education expenses due to slow project progression and labour shortages, $1.266 billion less in highways and transit spending due to slow project progression, and $1.863 billion less in health facilities spending<\/a> due to \u201cchanges in in-progress projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the project delays and tobacco settlement money making accounts for the province appear rosier than they actually are, Bailey projected optimism. She noted that GDP growth last year reached two per cent, which is 0.2 per cent higher than the forecast, and that unemployment, at 6.2 per cent, continues to be lower than the national average of 6.8 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are positive indicators that our economy\u2019s going in the right direction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also points out that this is the first time since 2017 that actual spending has not exceeded the budgetary forecast. That is the year the NDP took power from the B.C Liberals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see \u2014 albeit modest \u2014 but starting to see results from our expenditure management work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

B.C. Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar said the government is using the tobacco settlement to \u201cartificially\u201d depress the deficit numbers to have a \u201cmomentary look of fiscal management.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a brief snapshot in time, it might make them feel good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Milobar, repacing and slippage are synonymous with cancelled, and the end result is that the government is not delivering on projects in promised timelines.<\/p>\n

He says this latest budgetary release just continues the government\u2019s use of creative financial maneuvering to mask fiscal mismanagement and the \u201cever-spiralling of the operational costs of government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s deficit ends fiscal year $3.2 billion lower than budget Published 4:17 pm Monday, August 10, 2026 Turns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-853657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}