Premier David Eby was running late from his hotel on budget day, and trying to grab some eggs from the continental breakfast, when an older woman at a nearby table yelled, “Hey, David.”
The premier, accustomed to getting called out randomly in public, approached the five-person table, whereupon the woman gave him some unsolicited advice on how to handle the 25 per cent tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump had just made official that morning.
“She said, ‘My dad was a World War II vet,’” recalled Eby. “And she said, ‘If he was here, he would tell you, don't let the bastards grind you down. You're big enough to stand on your own two feet. Now go fight like hell.’”
Eby recounted the story in his speech Tuesday in response to Trump’s tariffs.
Privately, he called it a “moving experience” and said people at another nearby table shouted “Yeah!” after the woman finished speaking.
“It felt like a pep rally,” he said.
The premier carried that enthusiasm into his speech, when he announced “all bets are off” in the province’s response to the United States. It was the rhetorical highlight of an otherwise confusing, drab and at times alarming provincial budget day.
Despite a month to prepare, the B.C. budget contained no programs to respond to Trump, support small businesses or offer financial relief to people who might lose their jobs. Not even the hint of an idea of what the province might be considering, much to the concern of the province’s business community.
Instead, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey put aside $4 billion in a contingency fund to wait and see. It was an unimpressive amount, considering last year’s budget had contingencies of $3.9 billion with no looming global tariff threat.
The hope, said Bailey, is that Ottawa redirects billions in counter-tariff revenue back to B.C. in the future, at which time the province will fill in the gaps with its own support programs. None of that was actually reflected in the budget.
“I think the uncertainty that this president is bringing in is a feature, not a bug,” said Bailey.
“I do expect it to continue. And this budget was designed with that in mind, knowing that that uncertainty is at play and is likely to continue being at play. And the decision that we've made in that context is to support the services that British Columbians most depend on, while being very focused in our spending.”
“Focused” is not the word many people would use to describe a budget that contained a record-setting $10.9-billion deficit, alongside a plan to spike taxpayer-supported debt by 70 per cent by 2028, without any real new programs or services to show for it.
The budget documents also poked holes in weeks of arguments by New Democrats that a hiring freeze and spending review would help curtail costs.
The much-hyped exercise, which Bailey likened to “sharpening our pencils,” is only expected to identify $300 million in savings this year — a miniscule 0.3 per cent of overall spending — and $600 million in future years. At that rate, it would take almost two decades to balance the books. A job, perhaps, the current NDP cabinet can pass off to its children and grandchildren.
The budget also raised alarm bells at the idea that four consecutive years of record-level deficits are required just to hold health care, education and social services at existing levels.
The minister refused to concede what appeared glaring from the financial figures: B.C. has slid into a structural deficit of around $9-10 billion, annually, just to hold the status quo.
“It's important to know that deficits can be a positive tool, but not if they become endemic,” said Bailey. “And that's the work ahead of us. It's my job to make sure that this does not become the future of British Columbia.”
The future, though, is now.
A government delivering the largest deficit in B.C.’s history to accomplish nothing other than holding the line. No improvements to ER diversions, wait times or health-care recruitment. No reduction in classroom sizes or expansion of education assistants, as promised. No increase to social assistance or disability rates. No expansion of $10-a-day child care. No major growth in addictions treatment services. No new affordability programs.
Eby and Bailey blamed Trump.
But a more accurate explanation is that after almost three years of unchecked spending by the current administration, with little to no thought about revenue or economic growth, the provincial budget has grown so unsustainable it has simply decoupled from reality.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Glacier Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
