Wake-up call: Business Council of B.C. says provincial deficit unsustainable [Video]

A major British Columbia business group is sounding a “wake-up call” over the provincial government’s money management.

B.C.’s latest fiscal update forecasts an $8.9 billion deficit for 2024, the province’s largest ever and something the Business Council of B.C. says is unsustainable.

“That’s larger than the deficit we ran during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Business Council of B.C. vice-president of policy David Williams.

“We have the largest deficit relative to the size of our economy of any province, we’ve got rapidly rising indebtedness, and we’ve seen repeated credit rating downgrades.”

According to the council, the federal government is currently running a deficit of 1.3 per cent of GDP, Alberta’s is 1.1 per cent of GDP and Ontario’s is 0.9 per cent.

British Columbia’s deficit is 2.1 per cent of its GDP.

By 2026/27, Williams said the province will be spending $600 for every person in the province to service the costs of its growing debt.

He said newly-appointed Finance …