Budget Update 2010

March 2, 2010 – The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce has done a preliminary review of Budget 2010 unveiled today by the Finance Minister. 

Budget highlights:

·          Limited spending

·          Cost Savings

·          HST

·          Health and Education

The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce notes the government has limited spending growth to an average of 2.34% which is below the expected rate of growth in the economy.

In order to satisfy the provinces’ commitment to a balanced budget the Minister of Finance outlined a $320 million cost savings coming from a number of ministries with the majority focused in the resource sector  The majority of these savings will be seen with an 11% reduction in staffing.  While the majority of these reduction will take place in the form of attrition layoffs will be inevitable.

The Budget 2010 provided no new announcements on HST mitigation but it did state all revenue generated by HST will be dedicated to healthcare.  The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce also notes the budget contains a commitment to continue the additional hotel room tax but no detail was provided on the level of AHRT or the structure of the system.

The Budget 2010 contains a commitment $150 million over 3 years to address the cost of full day kindergarten and teachers wage increases under the collective agreement expiring in June 2011.  Healthcare will see a $447 million increase in 2012/13 to take total spending to $16 billion (roughly 38% of all government spending).  In addition to HST, government will dedicate revenue from MSP premiums, tobacco tax, federal government transfers and lottery health special account to healthcare.