Will the B.C. NDP government ever balance the budget?

It’s a question Premier David Eby and his finance minister both delicately danced around this week, as they updated not only the largest deficit in the history of the province but also two more years of increased red ink.

During the election, Eby was clear: a re-elected NDP government would show declining deficits and a path to return to balance, after inheriting a $5.6-billion surplus from John Horgan and driving it into the red with overspending.

“What you'll see from us is steadily declining deficits and a return to balance,” Eby said at a campaign stop on Oct. 2, 2024. “But we're not going to make people pay for that.”

“What people see when they look at our fiscal plan, what they will see is declining deficits over time and we're going to get back to balance,” he added the very next day.

“The commitment is that we're going to get back to balance over time. We're going to have declining deficits over time to get us back to balance.”

Unimpressed voters cut the NDP down to a bare one-seat majority in the October election.

Eby’s post-election budget, delivered this March during the apex of concern over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, forecast........

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