By The Canadian Press

Health, education, public safety to be protected in B.C. budget, Minister Bailey says

Feb 17, 2026 | 1:01 AM

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s finance minister describes the government’s budget being unveiled today as disciplined, focused and serious.

Brenda Bailey says the government will protect the core services of health and education, while there will also be money for public safety in response to numerous shootings connected to extortion threats.

The NDP government has been criticized for a deficit forecast to reach $11.2 billion this year, and Bailey says the plan is to bring that down year over year.

She says shortly after she took over as B.C.’s finance minister in late 2024 there were “a few glorious weeks” where it felt like the province was coming out of hard times and there was sunshine on the horizon.

She says the pandemic was waning and there were predictions of GDP growth by as much as 3.5 per cent, but the 2025 budget came down on the same day that U.S. tariffs were announced.

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Since then, Bailey says there have been many challenges in the B.C. economy and across the world as global trade changes irrevocably.

She says the government will also continue work to find efficiencies in the budget to help whittle down the deficit.

“Bringing down the deficit and handling our debt metrics will allow for us to continue to make the investments into services that British Columbians need. That’s why it’s so important and that’s why we’re so focused on it in budget 2026 and beyond,” Bailey told reporters in a pre-budget news conference on Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2026.

The Canadian Press