VICTORIA - With three months to go before a B.C. election, about the only promise the Liberal government had for voters in the provincial budget tabled Tuesday is that things will get better after the Olympics.
Finance Minister Colin Hansen said British Columbians can expect two years of rough economic times that include a $ 495-million deficit for the fiscal year 2009 and $245 million for 2010.
But Hansen's budget forecasts a return to good times in three years, propelled primarily by a $10-billion economic impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Hansen wasn't making excuses for the lack of election goodies in the budget. Years past have seen governments show up on budget day with rebates and income tax cuts for voters.
The Liberal government is seeking a third consecutive term in the May 12 election.
"It's incumbent upon the government to tighten its belt in difficult economic times," Hansen told reporters in a briefing prior to the official release of his budget.
"What British Columbia families are looking for today is a sense of responsibility from a provincial government, one that says, `yes, we are going to provide stability in the vital programs such as health care, education and social service sector."
Hansen said his budget forecasts negative economic growth of -0.9 per cent this year.
He said the government projects its revenues to decline by $6.6 billion over the next three years.
"Since the fall, we have seen almost every major economic indicator turn downward," said Hansen. "Projected revenues have plummeted. Compared to what we were forecasting as recently as September, we have seen more than $6 billion of revenue expected over three years vanish."
Projected surplus is old news
In his last quarterly financial update in November, Hansen was still projecting a $450-million surplus and solid economic growth. Hansen said the government believed it could weather the environmental meltdown, but that changed rapidly.
Hansen said the budget includes cuts across most ministries but protects vital health, education and social programs.
He said the government is saving almost $2 billion cutting advertising, travel and contracting out costs -- money that will go toward health and education funding.
Hansen said the government will rely on attrition and restructuring to revamp the civil service. Wage increases for government worker contracts that expire after the Olympics are at zero per cent in the budget.
Premier Gordon Campbell said following the government's throne speech Monday civil service layoffs are his last choice to cut government spending, but he did not rule them out.
The budget also outlines $14 billion in infrastructure projects projected to create 88,000 jobs over three years. Most of the projects have been announced previously.
Hansen said British Columbia dug itself out of a financial mess created by the previous New Democratic government of the 1990s with surplus budgets and record job creation. Spurred by the Olympics, he said B.C. will return to financial stability by 2011.
But Hansen said he still couldn't provide any figures for how much the province will have to spend on Olympic security.
He said the federal government still has not completed its calculations but that B.C. is responsible for only 50 per cent of a portion of those costs, which have been estimated to have climbed as high as $1 billion.
