Premier Eby defends budget after credit drop, but opposition says B.C. is going broke
By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s credit rating has been downgraded, but Premier David Eby says government made a “very clear choice” between making cuts to “meet a credit rating” and “prioritizing British Columbians.”
Moody’s Ratings says Thursday it has lowered B.C.’s baseline credit rating to Aa1 from Aa2 among other changes in creditworthiness because of “large, structural deficits.”
The agency says it has seen a “marked deterioration in the province’s credit fundamentals” and expects “sizable and entrenched deficits” for the next three years.
This year’s budget forecasts a record deficit of $13.3 billion, and Eby says the budget was “incredibly challenging” for a number of reasons, including rising health-care and infrastructure costs.
The premier says the budget was a choice between health-care bearing the “brunt of cuts” or making sure government was doing everything to deliver services for British Columbians, find savings and grow the economy.
Interim B.C. Conservative Leader Trevor Halford says financial markets are telling the government that “B.C. is going broke,” and he says it is time for government to table a budget that restores confidence.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2026.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
11-10
Bad drug crisis policies and the high costs of operating them, overtaxing corporations pushing out of province, loss of revenues by shutting down many projects that could have offset some of the high costs, and other bad NDP actions have added to the debt. The smartest thing they did though was attract healthcare professionals from the US, altnough at a high cost!
The NDP way: tax tax tax corporations, spending large amounts of money in social service programs that only increase the stress on society, believing money must falls from the sky!
No surprise!