The B.C. government is not ready to announce when or how it will balance the budget, says the finance minister, despite a damning presentation Tuesday on the deteriorating state of the province’s finances that suggests it might take more than five years.

Brenda Bailey said that while credit rating agencies, economists and other experts may want to see a concrete plan to balance the record $11.6-billion deficit, she’s still putting the building blocks in place towards such a goal.

“I’m not going to be setting a specific timeline at this point,” said Bailey. “There’s a lot of volatility in the economy right now. But this work is ongoing. And we’re going to get back to balance over time.”

Bailey spent 90 minutes on a panel with financial experts at the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) conference in Victoria Tuesday. They all expressed concern about the trajectory of a three-year fiscal plan with growing deficits, sharply rising debt and out-of-proportion spending.

“This province has traditionally had, well, at least for the last 15 years, pretty solid profits fiscally,” said David Williams, vice-president of policy at the Business Council of B.C.

“But that is unravelling at a sort of a breathtaking speed, and I think it needs attention both on the expenses side of the operating budget and on the revenue side.”

Some of the weakening in the economy is due to the global instability caused by U.S. President Donald Trump. But the main driver of B.C.’s fiscal woes is Premier David Eby’s conscious political choice to add $15........

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