British Columbia’s Finance Minister Brenda Bailey has handed down a budget she says will defend the province against “unjustified” U.S. tariffs.
Here’s a look at some of the budget’s key numbers and the tariffs’ projected impacts on B.C.
- $10.9 billion: Estimated 2025/26 deficit, up from $9.1 billion in 2024/25
- $94.9 billion: Estimated total spending
- $20.2 billion: Estimated 2025/26 capital spending, up from $16 billion in 2024/25
- 1.8 per cent: 2025 real GDP growth, up from 1.2 per cent last year.
- $110: Rebate for ICBC customers
- $43 billion: Projected cumulative GDP losses by 2029 due to U.S. tariffs
- 45,000: Jobs lost by 2029 under tariffs
- 6.7 per cent: Projected unemployment in 2026 under tariffs
- $1.7 billion - $3.4 billion: Potential annual revenue losses under tariffs
A RECORD DEFICIT, AGAIN
The budget forecasts the province’s first $10-billion deficit, with the gap between revenue and expenditure predicted to hit $10.9 billion in 2025/26.
Last year’s budget initially forecast a 2024/25 deficit of $7.9 billion — a record at the time — before a series of revisions saw it adjusted to $9.1 billion. The government predicts the deficit will fall to about $9.9 billion in 2027/28.
CONTINGENCY PLANS
The budget includes an annual contingencies fund of $4 billion for each of the next three years.
It sets aside the funding for “uncertain or unforeseen matters,” that include collective bargaining costs, future initiatives and responses to the trade war with the United States.
NO SPLASHES BUT NO SLASHES
Bailey says the budget doesn’t have “splashy new announcements.”
But the budget isn’t broadly slashing spending in response to the trade war with the U.S. — in fact, spending is slated to slightly increase over the three-year fiscal plan.
Consolidated operating expenses total $94.9 billion in 2025/26, rising to $98 billion by 2027/28. Capital spending in 2025/26 meanwhile rises from a forecast of about $19 billion in last year’s budget to a forecast of $20.2 billion in the new budget.
ANOTHER ICBC REBATE
Eligible drivers, both commercial and private, will get a $110 ICBC rebate, with payments expected in April.
It’s the fourth rebate since the 2021 revamp of the province’s auto insurer, and the budget papers say it’s possible due to “better-than-expected investment returns and prudent financial management.”
Basic insurance rates will be maintained until March 31, 2026.
Industry and labour groups say the British Columbia government is hunkering down in its budget in response to the tariffs from United States, but it should be more clear on how it plans to respond in its economic plan.
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey presented B.C.’s first $10-billion deficit on the same day as U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs against Canadian goods began.
Former provincial health minister Terry Lake, now the chief executive of the BC Care Providers Association, says Bailey’s budget has little new programming, and most of the capital projects in the document have already been announced.
Lake says the province could have taken a bigger step in updating its procurement model, which he says could have built more with the same amount of money.
BC General Employees' Union President Paul Finch says he is happy to see that the budget isn’t cutting major services, but adds that B.C. “needs an economic development plan,” which is absolutely critical to workers in the province.
Fiona Famulak, CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, says she is disappointed the budget contained little that would be “unlocking the potential of … natural resource sectors” or providing incentives for businesses to spur economic activity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025