The provincial government is approaching the 2012 budget with "fiscal discipline," according to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, who is promising to balance the budget by 2013/14.
"We will honour that commitment," he said Tuesday in Victoria, during his budget presentation. "We'll do it in part by continuing to hold the line on spending."
While government revenue is expected to rise an average of 2.9 per cent annually over the next three years, spending will increase at just two per cent over the same period.
Some of the government-picked highlights include increased funding for health care - $17.3 billion in 2014/15, when it will account for more than 42 per cent of total government spending.
School districts will get $4.7 billion per year for the next three years and there is an additional $165 million over three years set aside to deal with issues around the number of special needs kids in classrooms.
Social services will receive $294 million over the next three years, partly to deal with growing demand for disability benefits and high numbers of single, employable people receiving government assistance. There is $144 million to help pay for services for people with disabilities, including funding for Community Living B.C.
In his budget speech, Falcon predicted modest economic growth, from 1.8 to 2.5 per cent over the next three years, lower than private sector forecasts.
"(That's) consistent with our always prudent approach. But they tell the same story: the B.C. economy is slowly, steadily picking up steam," he said.
Falcon said for 2012 bargaining, the public sector will be able to negotiate "modest compensation increases if they can find equivalent savings within existing budgets."
Raj Chouhan, NDP MLA for BurnabyEdmonds was less than impressed with Falcon's presentation.
"If you really look at what he has presented, there was a serious effort to downplay expectations," Chouhan said. "On one hand, he's saying we'll have slow growth, but at the same time he talks about prudence."
Falcon said he expects to end the year with a $2.5-billion deficit, but Chouhan said that the only way the Liberals can balance the budget is by cutting services.
"At the same time we didn't see any reduction in the premier's office budget. None," he said.
