Overview
- The finance ministry’s first-quarter update released Monday raised the province’s projected deficit by about $450 million to $13.8 billion for the fiscal year.
- Natural gas royalties were cut after a $306 million error in the price forecast, a mistake Osborne says she learned about during her first briefing as finance minister.
- The quarterly report says roughly $614 million in additional wildfire-fighting costs and higher refundable tax credits also pushed the shortfall higher.
- Stronger income and sales tax receipts added nearly $789 million and mining revenue rose by $209 million, but those gains were outweighed by the cuts to resource revenue and higher spending.
- Opposition parties and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade criticized the update as evidence of weak fiscal control, and the government says it will tighten forecasting processes while the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions consults the auditor general.