BC Budget 2012...

Earlier this afternoon - BC's Deputy Premier/Minister of Finance Kevin Falcon rose in the BC Legislature to formally present the 2012 Budget for the Province of British Columbia

Full BC Budget 2012 Documents here
You can read the full speech from Minister Falcon here
See the Powerpoint presentation that Minister Falcon gave in the Budget Lockup here

See YouTube video of Kevin Falcon below:



Now - Alan Forseth (Reg Director for BC Conservatives' - Kamloops Region) was a little confused about deficits/debt so allow me to explain:

Deficit - When Expenses is more than Revenue
Debt - Money borrowed for a project(s) that is paid back over time

Highlights:

* $2.5 billion deficit in 2011-12, with $968 million in the 2012-13 Budget Year and a surplus of $154 million in the 2013-14 Budget Year

* New $10,000 Bonus for First Time Home Owners (Feb 21st, 2012 - March 31st, 2013)
* Home Renovation Tax Credit for seniors' to stay in their homes longer
* By 2014-15 Budget Year - Health Care spending to hit $17.3 billion
* School districts will receive $4.7 billion a year in funding for the next three years. Victoria will also invest an additional $165 million over three years to establish a fund to deal directly with issues of class composition
* Victoria to provide $294 million over three years — partly to address a growing demand for disability benefits, and also to respond to the relatively high numbers of single, employable people now receiving assistance. We are also improving funding by $144 million to strengthen supports for individuals with developmental disabilities, including funding for Community Living BC
* Selling of lands surplus to needs of BC Government

I know the BC Conservatives/BC NDP will "poo-paw" the budget.  For the NDP - they would spend right to the hilt and for the BC Conservatives - they want to take health care delivery and other measures to a place yet to be accepted by the vast majority of average British Columbians...

Alan Forseth (BC Conservatives Kamloops-area Regional Director) gives his take on this afternoon's BC Budget - read here

But in my opinion - a very realistic and fair budget for the times we live in right now. A great job by Minister Kevin Falcon and his BC Liberal colleagues...


SBF