Balanced Budget 2006 - Growing with Confidence
February 21, 2006

Enhanced services for children and expanded skills training programs lead a range of new measures designed to keep British Columbia growing with confidence, Finance Minister Carole Taylor announced with the release of Balanced Budget 2006.

  • Balanced Budget 2006 provides more social workers and other front-line staff, improves supports for families at risk and children with special needs, and increases funding for public education to its highest level in provincial history.
  • It increases training and skills development, expands post-secondary education, and enhances opportunities for youth, First Nations, recent immigrants and those with disabilities.
  • It helps to keep home ownership affordable and provides a range of other tax reductions for individuals and businesses.
  • It also provides up to $6 billion to fund compensation increases for the people who deliver British Columbia’s public services.
  • Supporting these and an array of new investments, Balanced Budget 2006 will keep British Columbia growing with confidence.

Improving and Expanding Services for Children

Balanced Budget 2006 provides an additional $421 million over four years to help ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable children, to enhance services to children with special needs, and to better support caregivers and family members caring for children and youth at risk.

New measures include:

  • $72 million to add more social workers and other front line staff, to improve supports for grandparents and other relatives looking after children, and to increase the transportation allowance for foster parents by 50 per cent — the first increase in more than 10 years;
  • $100 million to enhance the child protection system, targeting early intervention services so the safety and well-being of children can be ensured in their families and communities;
  • $34 million to increase funding for Phase 2 of the Child and Youth Mental Health Plan, to better serve the approximately 140,000 children and youth in B.C. with mental health disorders;
  • $36 million to reduce waitlists for services to children and youth with special needs and their families;
  • $31 million in additional support to implement five regional aboriginal child and family development service authorities;
  • $2 million for the Crystal Meth Secretariat to integrate and coordinate efforts to combat the production and use of crystal methamphetamine;
  • $112 million in additional funding for K-12 education; and
  • $4 million to double the School Start-up Supplement — the first increase since 1993 — to help the approximately 29,000 school-aged children of families on income assistance cope with the costs of starting a new school year.

Expanding Skills and Training

Balanced Budget 2006 provides an additional $400 million to increase training and skills development, expand post-secondary education, and help more people connect with opportunities and achieve their potential.

New measures include:

  • $90 million for a new tax credit program, to be designed in consultation with industry, to expand training opportunities in the traditional construction trades and emerging industries;
  • $39 million for the Industry Training Authority to increase apprenticeship training through public and private training institutions.
  • $50 million for a Natural Resources and Applied Science endowment to support economic development and diversification through research in sciences and engineering through grants and fellowships;
  • $5 million in additional funding for ESL training, allowing new immigrants to enter the workforce more quickly;
  • $3 million to extend Bladerunners to more communities, an award-winning on-the-job construction training and apprenticeships program for disadvantaged and multi-barrier youth;
  • $17 million for computer training and to create computer access centres in First Nations communities;
  • $2 million for mineral exploration and mining training, and hands-on experience for youth in prospecting and environmental remediation;
  • $9 million to provide an additional 2,500 income assistance recipients with up to $100 per month for clothing and other expenses related to volunteer work they perform in their communities through the Community Volunteer Program; and
  • $145 million in additional operating funding to post-secondary institutions to help create 25,000 new student spaces by 2010.

Tax Reductions for Homeowners

Balanced Budget 2006 helps make home ownership more affordable. It provides $309 million over four years to improve the Home Owner Grant Program.

Home Owner Grant reductions include:

  • the basic grant will increase by 22 per cent to $570 — the first increase in the grant amount since 1993 — and the grant for seniors, disabled people and veterans will increase to $845 from $745.
  • as announced in January, the threshold at which homeowners qualify for the full grant will increase to $780,000 in assessed value — this change ensures that more than 95 per cent of homeowners remain eligible for the full grant;
  • and eligibility for the additional grant will be extended to include more people with disabilities.

Keeping Taxes Fair and Competitive

Including improvements to the Home Owner Grant Program, Balanced Budget 2006 provides $733 million in tax reductions over four years, two-thirds of which benefit individuals and the remainder to keep business taxes competitive.

Tax reductions include:

  • eliminating PST on labour charges for maintaining or modifying computer software;
  • expanding and clarifying PST exemptions for machinery and equipment;
  • extending the B.C. Mining Flow-through Share Tax Credit to maintain an incentive for raising venture capital mineral exploration in British Columbia;
  • expanding eligible uses of coloured fuel;
  • increasing the vehicle PST surtax threshold for passenger vehicles to $55,000 from $49,000, allowing British Columbians who require diesel pickup trucks and similar vehicles for work to purchase them without paying the surtax;
  • increasing the Small Business Venture Capital tax credit program to $25 million from $20 million.

Health Care - $2 Billion in New Funding Over the Next Three Years

Balanced Budget 2006 provides an additional $301 million in increased funding for health care. Combined with previously announced increases, that amounts to nearly $2 billion in new funding over the next three years. The new funding will support a range of enhanced services, including surgical wait times initiatives, providing new residential, assisted living, and supportive housing, and health prevention.

Education - $437 Million in New Funding Over the Next Three Years

Balanced Budget 2006 provides an additional $112 million in increased funding for K-12 education. Combined with previously announced increases, that amounts to $437 million in new funding over the next three years. Furthermore, as the number of students entering the school system continues to decline, that results in more funding for each student. Per pupil funding will reach a record $7,338 in 2008/09.

World Centre for Digital Media Education

In partnership with industry, Balanced Budget 2006 provides $40.5 million to develop a new graduate program in digital media and capitalize on the province's position as Canada's largest digital media hub.

Supporting Research and Innovation

To encourage emerging industries and attract, train and support highly skilled researchers, Balanced Budget 2006 provides an additional $134 million for research and innovation.

These investments include:

  • $45 million for Genome BC;
  • $70 million for the Michael Smith Foundation;
  • $4 million in research funding for a Cancer Chair at the Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon Division; and
  • $15 million for the Pacific Alzheimers Research

B.C.'s Negotiating Framework

By far the single largest commitment in Balanced Budget 2006, is the up to $6 billion to fund compensation increases for British Columbia's 300,000 public sector workers.

To put this in perspective, $6 billion is more than the annual budget for the province of New Brunswick and represents half of the forecast fiscal room available out to 2009/10. The other half of the available fiscal room remains to support all the programs and services British Columbians rely on, including health care and education. The framework entails:

  • $1 billion in 2005/06 as an incentive to reach agreements;
  • $4.7 billion over 4 years for annual compensation increases; and,
  • Up to $300 million dividend in 2009/10 for agreements that extend to March 31, 2010 or later, subject to the surplus exceeding $150 million.

Strengthening B.C.'s Communities

Balanced Budget 2006 reconfirms the government commitment to strengthen B.C. communities by investing an additional $191 million over three years to improve housing, safety and supports to vulnerable individuals.

New measures include:

  • $8 million for housing and support services to people who are homeless;
  • $16 million will help provide persons on income assistance with the services they need, including supplementary benefits and program enhancements;
  • $21 million to create 548 additional assisted living and supportive housing units for eligible lower-income seniors and persons with disabilities;
  • $21 million in higher traffic fine revenue to municipalities, helping enhance community policing, crime prevention and other programs to make communities safer;
  • $42 million to increase the small community and regional district grants, in line with the government commitment to double these grants by 2009/10;
  • $3 million for a community court pilot project that will explore more effective responses to street crime;
  • $13 million to improve capacity in the B.C. Coroners Service and reduce backlogs, including child death reviews.

Community Living BC

An additional $67 million will expand community living services to cover almost 2,000 more individuals and deliver new or enhanced supports to 5,300 British Columbians with developmental disabilities.

Natural Resources and Sustainable Development

Balanced Budget 2006 invests an additional $312 million over four years to support the sustainable development of natural resources, to provide new opportunities for workers and communities, and to strengthen environmental protections.

Tourism and International Opportunities

British Columbia aims to double the tourism industry by 2015 and take advantage of its international exposure as host of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Balanced Budget 2006 adds $50 million over three years to help meet that goal.