B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey has promised to use more human-resources tools to cut the province’s public service.
On Sunday, Bailey said the government had shed around 1,000 public sector jobs over the past year through retirements and a hiring freeze.
However, she said her Budget 2026 presentation set for Tuesday would include “additional HR tools” to further cut the workforce. Bailey was not specific, but aside from the hiring freeze and retirements this could include early-retirement offers and voluntary severance packages.
There are around 593,000 people working across the B.C. public sector, of whom three quarters are unionized.
Bailey is already on the record saying this coming provincial budget will make her the least popular person in the province.
On Sunday, she went on the say the budget would be “very serious for serious times.”
This is because she is tasked with trying to reign in a record government deficit, debt load and debt servicing costs.
For the financial year ending March 31, 2026, the government is expected to have spent $11.2 billion more than it generated, be $155 billion in debt and have spent around $5.5 billion on debt servicing.
The record deficit is also expected to rise over the next two years.
Bailey said there are some people who want to see big cuts in provincial spending, and some who want to see increased taxes to fund increased spending.
She said the government would not cut core services, which include health care, education and public safety.
The health care system in 2025-2026 was forecast to cost around $35 billion, which is 37 per cent of expected government spending for that period.
Bailey, who was appointed finance minister in November 2024, delivered her first budget on the same day U.S. President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on some Canadian products were imposed.
“We are in very challenging circumstances,” she said.
B.C.’s financial picture has diminished greatly since B.C. Premier John Horgan resigned in November 2022 due to sickness and current premier David Eby took over. At that point, the government had close to a $6 billion surplus.