B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey continues to point to a government “hiring freeze” as one of the ways the province is saving money to protect core services in the wake of American tariffs. But as the Opposition pointed out yesterday, the so-called freeze is questionable at best.

Bailey said the freeze, which began in December, is how “we’re sharpening our pencil” and “looking for efficiencies” as the provincial treasury strains under both the weight of the NDP’s $9.5-billion deficit and the expected recession to be caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“Where we're looking to bring some money back into the public coffers is really through careful efficiencies reviews,” Bailey said Monday, on the eve of the provincial budget.

“You see us making decisions, for example, like a hiring freeze in the public service. That's very important in terms of how we move forward… and additional work that we intend to do to ensure that every dollar is landing where we intended it to land.”

And yet, during the time of the supposed freeze, the government also hired or promoted as many as 35 new staffers in its communications, political and executive ranks, to be paid upwards of $4.3........

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