Finance Minister Katrine Conroy tables the budget in the legislative assembly at the legislature in Victoria, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
VICTORIA – British Columbia has ended the fiscal year with a deficit of about $5 billion, a figure boosted beyond the original budget forecast by wildfire expenses and what the government said was essential spending on “priority services.”
A statement said higher revenues from vehicle insurer ICBC were also offset by lower revenues from natural resources.
The final $5.035 billion deficit for the year ending March 31 was lower than the most recent $5.9 billion forecast last quarter, but higher than the $4.2 billion originally predicted in the 2023 budget.
A statement from the Finance Ministry said the public accounts showed the province spent a record $1.1 billion on wildfire management, exceeding the budgeted amount by $401 million.
It said increased spending on priority areas including health, education and housing also contributed to the deficit exceeding the budget figure.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy said it was the “wrong approach” to respond to fiscal challenges with deep cuts to services.
“With a slower world economy and a growing population, we cannot afford to have a deficit of services,” she said in the statement.
The public accounts showed B.C.’s economic growth was 1.6 per cent, which the ministry said outpaced the national average.
“B.C. continues to have one of the best credit ratings and one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios among provinces,” the provincial statement said.
The public accounts report, written by the office of the comptroller, said taxpayer supported infrastructure spending on hospitals, schools, post-secondary facilities transit and roads was $8.77 billion. That was about $3 billion than the budget figure, mainly due to project scheduling changes, with the spending deferred to future years.
Total provincial debt increased last fiscal year by about $18 billion, lower than the budget figure of about $18.5 billion.
The deficit is forecast to increase to $7.9 billion in the current fiscal year, according to the 2024 budget.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 22, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly said the public accounts were the last look at B.C.’s finances before the October election.
