B.C. government takes heat over marked growth in public payroll [Video]

B.C.’s NDP government is defending itself in the wake of new reports detailing the dramatic increase in public sector employees and the cost of payroll.

The province is in the midst of a staffing shortage across key public sectors – currently short more than 1,000 teachers and six times as many nurses.

But while critical positions go unfilled, the size of the public sector continues to grow, with British Columbia leading the country in the growth of taxpayer-funded jobs.

“It’s gone from $5 billion worth of people (earning) over $75,000 to now $11.5 billion, so it’s more than doubled,” BC Conservative finance critic Peter Milobar said.

“This government has a real problem when it comes to hiring, reining in costs and bringing things under control, and that leads to our structural deficit of over $12 billion.”

Critics say the size of government has increased across the board under the NDP’s …