BC Greens says 2026 Budget made for industry, not British Columbians

 British Columbia is in a pivotal moment. Communities across the province face momentous challenges, from a strained health care system and a deepening mental health and toxic drug crisis to poverty reduction and housing affordability.

Instead of addressing the systemic issues at the root of these crises, the BC NDP are doubling down on a familiar approach: managing decline while investing in industry-first growth and going backwards on forestry reform, Indigenous relations, and healthy ecosystems.

“This budget successfully maintains the status quo, and the status quo isn’t working,” said Rob Botterell, BC Greens’ Finance Critic and MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “British Columbia needs a budget focused on the health of people and communities—not one that ties the province’s prosperity to LNG expansion and fossil fuel dependency. The BC NDP’s key financial strategy—Look West—looks lost.”

The BC NDP’s budget puts the province’s future in the hands of volatile global commodity markets. Meanwhile, B.C. earns more from liquor and lottery revenue ($2.2 billion) than from natural gas and forests ($1.8 billion). The budget makes no major new investments in health care capacity—even as British Columbia’s population continues to grow and age. While the number of health care workers is increasing, it is only barely keeping pace with demand.

“This is a keep-industry-happy budget,” said Botterell. “It ‘looks west’ to a future that benefits industry and leaves the difficult issues—affordability, climate action, and housing—for communities to figure out,” added Botterell.

This year’s budget has dropped the government’s commitment of $10 a day daycare; it makes no mention of 30x30 commitments or new electric vehicle sales; it divests funding and attention away from reconciliation amid the government’s agenda to amend DRIPA; and it conflates mental health with public safety by focusing the government’s investment on involuntary treatment, when we need a continuum of care.

The BC NDP's modest measures to tax the wealthy barely move the needle on the deficit. The tax cut for those making less than $150,000 will return far less to families than they received under the carbon tax rebate.

“It’s become more difficult to understand this government’s priorities beyond LNG, and we have concerns with the lack of transparency and accountability in this years’ service plan,” said Botterell. “This budget is built on the backs of British Columbians—and it is crushing them.”