B.C. budget to buffer province against Trump's 'uncertainty and disorder': minister

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey and Premier David Eby look on before the start of the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s finance minister is preparing to deliver a budget today that she says will brace the province against four years of “uncertainty and disorder” amid the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump.

Brenda Bailey’s budget is being handed down on the same day that Trump says a 25 per cent U.S. tariff will be placed on Canadian goods, while Canadian energy will face 10 per cent tariffs.

Bailey says Trump’s tariffs came “completely out of nowhere” when he announced them last November and they’ve already changed B.C.‘s financial circumstances.

The NDP government has cancelled its election promise of a $1,000 grocery rebate and frozen some public-sector hiring as it prepares for what Premier David Eby calls economic warfare by Trump.

The province goes into what could be a protracted North American trade war carrying a record deficit forecast of $9.4 billion this fiscal year.

Bailey isn’t ruling out the province’s first 11-figure deficit and she says now is not the time for deep cuts, but to plan for times of uncertainty.

The province’s ballooning deficit saw S&P Global Ratings drop B.C.‘s credit score last April for the third time since 2021.

Another agency, Moody’s, maintained the province’s long-standing AAA credit rating but revised its outlook to negative.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press