Finance Minister Brenda Bailey told an annual gathering of local government representatives that it is not the deficit the people of B.C. need to worry about — it's the rapidly increasing provincial debt.

"It's not our ratios right now that we're worried about; it's the future debt," she said."It's the accumulation that we see happening, that's the threat."

B.C. is projected to run a deficit of almost $11.6 billion this year, out of a total budget of roughly $95 billion. But the provincial debt is projected to rise to more than $155 billion this year, then $185 billion next year and $212 billion in the 2027/28 fiscal year.

Bailey appeared on a panel at the Union of B.C. Municipalities' annual meeting in Victoria on Tuesday (Sept. 23) alongside business leaders to discuss this spiralling

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