Politics Provincial A message from Pat Bell - March 9, 2010
A message from Pat Bell - March 9, 2010
| Politics - Provincial |
Hi all,
Another beautiful weather week in Prince George and Mackenzie with a temperature of +10’ as I type this. What happened to winter is anyone’s guess and I sure hope we don’t pay for this in the summer.
This past week was the budget and while many called it boring and predictable there were some interesting pieces in it. While there was not extensive new funding the funding provided to the Ministry of Education and then on the School Districts should be helpful to SD57. There are a number of assumptions made by the School Board as a “worst case scenario” that did not play out. The Annual Facilities grant was $600,000 better than they had predicted and should be back to the historical level of about $3.2 million, Teacher wage and benefit increases are fully funded as is all day Kindergarten. All in all it will allow the School Board to make their decisions based on the needs of the students that they serve.
In addition I should report that contrary to the Thursday Prince George Citizen Editorial the Ministry of Forest and Range budget was reduced by $32 million (or about 6%) not the $400 million as reported. The remaining $350 million was a result of the extraordinary fire season which required a midterm budget lift to be accommodated. Our harvest levels are off by about 1/3 and while no reduction is ever easy I’m confident we will be able to manage within the allocation I have received. In addition the Editorial also inaccurately suggested that the Highway 37 power line will not start construction until 2012 while in fact a quick call would have allowed readers to understand that the construction will start later this year.
With the budget under our belt I’d like to outline some of the highlights for you.
Have a great week!
Pat
1. Revenue is expected to average 4.9 per cent annual growth over the next three years. Total government revenue is forecast at $39.1 billion in 2010/11, $40.9 billion in 2011/12 and $42.8 billion in 2012/13.
2. Total expense over the next three years is forecast at $40.6 billion in 2010/11, $41.6 billion in 2011/12 and $42.5 billion in 2012/13.
3. New funding of $447 million for health services – a total of over $2 billion since 2009/10. Of that $2 billion,
- $1.3 billion will go to the health authorities for front-line services.
- $145 million will go to PharmaCare.
- $52 million will support improvements to ambulance and tele-health services.
- $514 million to the Medical Services Plan for physician and laboratory services.
4. The new 2010 Sports and Arts Legacy will provide $60 million over three years to encourage participation in sports and the arts. Divided equally, $30 million will be used to encourage youth participation in sports and improved athlete and coach development, $30 million will enhance existing provincial investments in the arts, such as music, theatre and dance.
5. Per pupil funding for students in the K-12 levels will rise to an estimated $8,301 for 2010/11, the highest ever. $280 million over three years has been set aside for the introduction of full-day kindergarten for five-year-olds, including $22 million in new funding. In the post-secondary sector, funding remains stable at $1.88 billion in 2010/11.
6. An additional $26 million over three years has been set aside to support child care programs that assist low and moderate income families with the cost of child care.
7. $100 million over three years to further commercial development of new climate technologies.
8. $35 million over three years for the LiveSmart BC: Efficiency Incentive Program.
9. • $2.7 billion allocated over three years to the transportation investment plan, plus leveraging an additional $1.3 billion through federal cost-sharing and other partnerships.
10. • $5.3 billion has been committed to over 850 accelerated capital projects across B.C. to generate and protect approximately 34,000 construction jobs over the life of the projects.
Cost-share breakdown of accelerated infrastructure investments are:
- $2.6 billion (49 per cent) provincial
- $1.4 billion (27 per cent) federal
- $1.3 billion (24 per cent) municipal and other
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