From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did BC.'s finances go astray?

In just under three years, B.C.’s NDP government has gone from projecting billions in surpluses to logging a record deficit. So how did the province’s finances flip in just a few years time?

When Premier David Eby took over in 2022, B.C. was on track to post a $5.7 billion surplus for the 2022-23 fiscal year. He had a choice: Spend the money on one-time programs or use it to pay off some of the province’s debt.

His predecessor, John Horgan, had gone into deficit spending in the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 years at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other than that, he posted balanced budgets every year alongside finance ministers Carole James and Selina Robinson.

Eby chose to spend the money to get a jump on priorities such as the

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