Sunday February 15, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 3:33 pm | Updated 9:15 pm]
Political news analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Our Premium ENews Subscribers get additional detailed analysis. Sign up or renew today!
On this Sunday afternoon on the BC Family Day long weekend, there was a bit of a preview of BC Budget 2026 delivered by Finance Minister Brenda Bailey at the Victoria Conference Centre.
A bit of a teaser, if you will, before the full Budget 2026 lockup for media and senior government officials on Tuesday. A wide range of stakeholders also attend portions of the lockup, to answer media questions.
Bailey says Budget 2026 is disciplined, focussed and protective of core services.
Pushback against the advice of traditional economists:
Today media heard about what the budget is not.
Bailey said she hears from some directions that now it’s time to make big cuts and from others to raise taxes and provide more services.
“This budget is neither of those things,” said Bailey calmly but emphatically.
That is effectively some pushback on what most of the bank economists and other advisors told her in December 2025 during the annual Economic Forecast meeting where the finance minister receives direct input from economists across the country.
In that December virtual meeting she heard about low productivity in the BC and national economy (nothing new for 25 years there) and a need for innovation (which BC already has an eye on in things bio-tech and AI). During that meeting Bailey never wavered on how the BC NDP government protects core services.
A new economic growth plan was announced in November. Trade missions have been held in the past year to various regions (including south Asia and India) and there is a big push for natural resources including mining and forestry, as delved into at the recent BC Natural Resources Forum last month.
She highlighted today that she is proud that four of the federal government’s Major Projects are in BC.
Post-pandemic glory didn’t happen:
With a bit of a historical flashback, she reminded media today that when she was about to start preparations in the fall of 2024 for Budget 2025 that things looked as though the economy could by rosy.
She reminisced about post-pandemic chatter that after 2022 the economy would be like the ‘jazz age’ (the Roaring Twenties) where there was expansion and celebration across the economy.
“But that didn’t happen,” said Bailey today. Instead, there have been affordability challenges.
Trump changed everything:
Trump got elected in November 2024 and everything changed, including the prospects for BC’s budget for 2025.
Now for BC Budget 2026 — being delivered this coming Tuesday, February 17, theere are challenges. “Global trade has changed irrevocably,” said Bailey, and as such, Budget 2026 “is a very serious budget for very serious times”.
Core services protected:
Three main areas of core services that Minister Bailey says Budget 2026 will protect are health care, education and public safety.
Arguably, the public safety area is something with additional focus now compared to perhaps a few months ago.
There were no specifics on health care, but in the education area Bailey said that “government will continue to make investments in classrooms as well as building schools throughout the province”. BC has been challenged in recent years to keep up with school seating capacity as the population of the province grows.
The finance minister cautions that “core services mean many things to different people”, noting how the “new extortion threat” in Surrey can be seen within the public safety core service (last month Premier David Eby described extortion-related crime as “terrorism in slow motion”.
Bailey said that she worked very closely with the premier on this budget. She noted how each Ministry in their mandate letters were asked by Premier Eby to find efficiencies.
Deficit:
The Province’s deficit will come down year after year, Bailey said today.
Protections for renters:
Bailey did not mention renters or rental housing supports specifically.
In response to a question from Island Social Trends about SAFER, RAP and the BC Rent Bank, Bailey energetically said that those programs were “protected and increased last year and remain important to us”.
More details to come on Tuesday, the finance minister said.
Continued restraint:
In the past year over 1,000 FTEs (full time equivalent) jobs have been reduced in the BC public service.
Looking for more efficiencies including staffing will continue in Budget 2026, said Bailey today, including the use of “additional HR tools to help us with our goals”.
Tumbler Ridge in the budget:
Budget 2026 was already “in the can” before the Tumbler Ridge tragedy happened on February 10, said Finance Minister Brenda Bailey today.
But the Province will use their contingency fund to undertake whatever is necessary to meet the needs and challenging of that small community of 2,500 people going forward.
There has been talk of providing portables or other adaptations of the school where the shooting happened last week, as well as providing more counselling and mental health supports.
Meeting the needs of Tumbler Ridge may include “adjustments within the Education budget”, said Bailey.
After Premier David Eby, the Education and Child Care Minister Lisa Beare, and others visited in Tumbler Ridge last week to assess the needs there, commitments were made. “We’ve made those commitments and will be moving forward with them.”
Having full moral support from the Opposition Parties in Tumbler Ridge last week will help stave off any opposition to additional Tumber Ridge-related spending in the budget.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: 43rd PARLIAMENT OF BC | BUDGET 2026 | HEALTH | EDUCATION | RENTERS & TENANTS | NEWS MEDIA