Looking for Stability

Following an eventful year on the B.C. fiscal scene in 2011 — during which the February 2011 budget was revised and tabled again in May under new B.C Finance Minister Kevin Falcon (and new Premier Christy Clark), British Columbians voted to ‘extinguish’ the HST in a referendum in August and the deficit estimate for 2011/12 ballooned — it is not surprising that the theme for Budget 2012 is stability. Yesterday, the B.C. government presented its latest fiscal plan that strives hard to stabilize spending in the next three years in order to eliminate the province’s deficit by 2013/14, as required by law.