There’s still another month before the B.C. government’s next budget update, but new data indicates it could be a fiscal bloodbath for the NDP government.

Statistics Canada data released Thursday on the province’s economic growth shows it has shrunk over the last two years when adjusted for population, according to an analysis by the Business Council of BC.

B.C.’s GDP per capita fell 1.8 per cent in 2024, which is the second-worst among provinces, council vice-president David Williams wrote in his analysis Tuesday.

“B.C.’s economic performance over recent years has been poor, especially when considered in population-adjusted terms,” he wrote.

“While it can be tempting to blame the province’s economic woes on President Trump’s policy agenda, our home-grown challenges are evident in the data long before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.”

B.C.’s March budget projected a $10.9-billion deficit for 2025/26, though it’s likely closer to $13 billion currently with the elimination of the carbon tax and associated revenue.

The province’s taxpayer-supported debt has more than tripled since the NDP took office in 2017, and metrics such as debt-to-revenue as well as........

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