B.C. Conservatives call for more transparency on NDP’s deficit size and potential program cuts

The Opposition in B.C.'s legislature is warning that the government is on a dangerous financial path.

Prices at gas stations across B.C. are down, one week after the province axed the carbon tax.

While the B.C. Conservatives pushed for the tax to be eliminated, they have plenty of concerns about the resulting size of the government’s deficit and what programs may have to be cut after losing the $3 billion in revenue it planned for in last month’s budget.

The budget was planned before the carbon tax was eliminated, causing a net loss of nearly $2 billion for the government, despite it cancelling the related tax credit.

“The only conclusion we have is this is a ‘fudge-it’ budget, it’s not a real budget, and who knows how high these numbers will go,” said B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad on Tuesday.

Rustad points to the $6 billion surplus inherited by Premier David Eby, and an $11 billion deficit that they say has grown even further with the elimination of the carbon tax revenue, a deficit pegged last week at $14.3 billion by credit rating agency Moody’s.

“When you’re talking about a deficit this large, it’s impossible to be able to recover from, and that means that it puts all programs at risk, and that’s why we’re asking the questions. Where are they planning to make cuts? What are they planning to do to actually deal with this size of deficit?” said Rustad.

Various ministries are currently debating how their budget is spent in their so-called estimates debates.

The Opposition says they need to know whether certain ministries face program cuts to engage in a proper debate.

“Is the minister cutting these vital programs or are millions being added in debt to their ‘fudge-it’ budget?” asked Conservative MLA Ian Paton during Tuesday’s Question Period.

“I don’t know if we were debating real numbers or a ‘fudge-it’ budget,” said Conservative MLA Gavin Dew, also during Question Period.

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey won’t say how big the deficit is projected to be, or where exactly cuts to programs might be coming.

“Of course there’s going to be an impact from the carbon tax, you’ve already seen that,” Bailey told reporters Tuesday.

“We’ve gotten rid of the climate action tax credit, which was designed in order to help people with the cost of the carbon tax, so there’s more work ahead.”

Bailey says the size of the deficit will be reported in September, as is usually the case following the first fiscal quarter.