End of consumer carbon tax means cheaper gas but leaves $1.5B hole in B.C. budget: business prof
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British Columbia's budget shows that the impending end of the province's consumer carbon tax will leave a roughly $1.5-billion hole in its revenue streams, with one expert saying "there will be both winners and losers" from the change.
The budget released earlier this month shows the province was forecasting revenue of just over $2.5 billion from the tax in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while the estimated cost of the climate action tax credit was $995 million.
Werner Antweiler, associate professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, said that leaves about $1.5 billion in revenue the province will need to make up, which could include cutting spending or raising taxes elsewhere.
Antweiler said the end of the consumer carbon tax will bring relief for drivers at the gas station — as much as about 17 cents per litre.
However, he said the climate action tax credit targets low-income households, and those who have seen a significant benefit may lose out.
WATCH | How will the end of the consumer carbon tax impact individuals?
What does the cancellation of the carbon tax mean for your wallet?
2 days ago
Duration 1:53
British Columbians will soon have to pay less when they fill up their gas tanks. The province and the federal government are cancelling the consumer carbon tax, effective April 1. But with the disappearance of the associated tax credit, will the cancellation put money back into British Columbian's pockets?
People in lower-income households tend to drive less, especially in urban areas with transit systems, while wealthier people tend to drive more, Antweiler noted.
That means some who had been receiving the climate action tax credit won't see equal savings at the pump once the carbon tax is scrapped, he said.
It's also not clear how organizations that received money from the tax — including TransLink and B.C. Transit — will make up for the shortfalls.
B.C. looking to make up shortfall
The B.C. carbon price has been in place since 2008, when the province became the first jurisdiction in North America to impose such a levy.
The first phase of the system was designed to be revenue neutral, returning the costs in the form of corporate and personal tax cuts, Antweiler said.
As the price of carbon rose, he said the B.C. government took a "double dividend" approach by using some of the revenue to fund climate action initiatives while returning some of it to consumers with a climate action tax credit.
The province now faces a "significant shortfall," he said.
WATCH | Climate solutions minister Adrian Dix says politics has undermined carbon tax's value:
B.C. will do away with provincial consumer carbon tax, energy minister says
34 minutes ago
Duration 11:04
Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix said his government will follow through on a pledge to eliminate B.C.'s own consumer carbon tax in response to U.S. tariffs, among other measures.
Premier David Eby has said work was underway in the Finance Ministry to make sure B.C. is "able to accommodate this commitment within the budget."
He made the comment when announcing on Friday that his government would follow through on its promise to repeal the consumer carbon tax after Prime Minister Mark Carney moved to eliminate the federal version of the levy.
Energy Minister Adrian Dix was also asked how the province plans to replace the lost revenue at an unrelated news conference on Monday.
He said legislation would be introduced before the end of the fiscal year on March 31, and the finance minister would provide further details.
Dix said the tax had been effective but that it had been politicized beyond the point of usefulness.
"The debate about climate change has become a debate about the carbon tax," he said in an interview with CBC's The Early Edition. "[It's] undermined the overall effort to address climate change."
Eby said cost-of-living pressures and the pending removal of federal carbon pricing for consumers showed there was no longer support for the levy.
Still, he said B.C. would ensure "big polluters continue to pay" for their emissions as the province retains its carbon pricing system for large industrial emitters.
"Not because we want them to have to be taxed, but to encourage them instead to adopt the technologies that reduce emissions," the premier said.
WATCH | How will Canada tackle emissions as the consumer carbon tax is lifted?:
What's next for climate action with consumer carbon tax ending?
3 days ago
Duration 2:31
The Opposition B.C. Conservatives have previously voiced concern that Eby's government would scrap the consumer carbon price, then boost charges on businesses, which would still affect consumers in the end.
The B.C. Greens issued a statement last week saying the decision to end the tax and associated rebate "leaves many questions unanswered," including how the government will make up the revenue.
The Greens have long called for adjustments to carbon pricing "to make it more fair, so that big industrial polluters pay the same per tonne of carbon as everyday British Columbians. Now is the time to fix that imbalance, not abandon climate action altogether," the statement from Interim Green Leader Jeremy Valeriote said.
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The Province
7 hours ago
- The Province
Exclusive: B.C. public sector jobs have more than doubled under the NDP
Since 2017, government, health and education workers rose from 50,000 to 93,000. Total salaries jumped from $4.7B to $11.5B. Paul Finch is the president of the B.C. General Employees' Union. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG The number of B.C. public-sector employees in health care, schools and government ministries who make at least $75,000 a year has more than doubled since the NDP was elected in 2017, data collected by Postmedia reveals. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors In the time since the NDP took power, the total number of taxpayer-funded positions in health authorities, K-12 schools and the core of government have leapt to 104,600, from 49,400. And the amount of money spent annually on salaries for those government workers has jumped from just under $5 billion to more than $11.5 billion in that time, according to the 12th edition of The Vancouver Sun's searchable public sector salaries database. (You can search the database HERE.) British Columbians may scratch their heads when learning that the number of workers paid at least $75,000 from the public purse has doubled — especially if their local emergency department has recently closed due to a lack of nurses or doctors, or if their grandmother's retirement home doesn't have enough care aides, or if there isn't a teacher for their child's classroom. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Union leaders maintain their members in hospitals, schools and community services represent only part of this growth of government workers. They argue the biggest expansion has been in non-union staff and management roles, which they say increased disproportionately compared to workers on the ground. 'We've had this explosive growth in (non-union) management, and that hasn't resulted in a more efficient organization,' Paul Finch, president of the B.C. General Employees' Union, said of the public service. 'That should never have been allowed to happen.' The Finance Ministry, in a statement to Postmedia, said public sector salaries have risen an average of 23 per cent since 2017 through collective bargaining and that the government has launched efforts to hire more in-demand professionals such as nurses and teachers. Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It said three-quarters of the public sector is unionized, but did not address the unions' concerns that the overall percentage of non-unionized employees increased at a faster pace than the percentage of front-line workers in recent years. Postmedia's database contains the names and wages of nearly 170,000 workers who made at least $75,000 in 2023-2024 at approximately 100 public sector agencies, including the provincial government, city halls, universities and colleges, school districts, health authorities, Crown corporations, municipal police departments, and other agencies that use taxpayers' money to fund their payrolls. The Sun has created this searchable database for the 12th time because detailed information on how your tax dollars are spent on salaries is not otherwise easily available for the public to search, as it is in other provinces such as Ontario. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The total amount the provincial government spends on salaries for its 600,000 public sector employees is $53 billion, representing 60 per cent of the provincial budget. Our database contains just the 170,000 workers who make more than $75,000. By comparing this database with an earlier version, Postmedia determined the number of people who worked directly for government ministries and were paid at least $75,000 ballooned by 135 per cent since 2017 — a faster pace than health and education workers. Job titles captured in that surge include directors, managers, policy analysts, team leaders and supervisors. The BCGEU's Finch used B.C. Public Service Agency data to determine the number of non-unionized and management workers grew by 45 per cent, increasing to 7,350 in 2024, from 5,202 in 2017. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In that time, the number of unionized members in the public service increased by 31 per cent, from nearly 25,000 to just over 32,000 seven years later. That trend means that in 2010, there was one manager for every four unionized workers, but by 2024 that ratio was one-to-three, Finch said. 'That's a completely unacceptable ratio,' he said. 'We need to see ceilings put in place on ratios of management to front-line workers.' How to determine those ratios should be based on 'what serves the best interest of British Columbians,' he added. Postmedia's data shows that in some union jobs, such as child protection workers, wildfire fighters, probation officers and correction services staff, the number of people making $75,000 went from zero in 2017 to several hundred by 2024. Finch said those are not all new hires, but include existing staff pushed above $75,000 under collective agreement pay raises. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The health sector also had significant growth in our database, with the number of provincial employees making at least $75,000 increasing by 122 per cent since 2017. B.C. Nurses' Union President Adriane Gear said she'd like the government to assess the number of managers versus front-line workers during the health sector expansion. During that period, BCNU membership grew by just 16 per cent, from 43,000 in 2017 to 50,000 in 2025. 'There have been nurses hired in this province, but has it kept up with the needs of British Columbians? No. Nurses continue to work extremely short-staffed, which means below safe levels of nurses to patients,' she said. Statistics Canada estimates B.C. has 5,600 vacancies for different types of nurses. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Gear stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the premier in September, when the province announced improved nurse-to-patient ratios, in an effort to attract more nurses to B.C. But, she said, the details are still being worked out. 'I'm very frustrated. … We still don't have that deal inked yet,' Gear said. 'I'm puzzled how that doesn't seem to be one of the very top priorities.' B.C. Nurses' Union President Adriane Gear speaks at a recent rally in Vancouver. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG The Hospital Employees Union maintains there is also a desperate need to hire more of their members, especially care aides who are in high demand in care homes and hospitals as the population ages. 'More than 50 per cent of our members are working short (staffed) at least one day and sometimes twice a week. And so this is a really big part of the problem,' said Lynn Bueckert, the HEU's secretary-business manager. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Retention and recruitment are such big issues in the health-care system. Period.' HEU members, including lab assistants, cleaners, and staff who deliver meals, play vital roles for patients in hospitals. But they are unlikely to be represented in the database's 122 per cent growth in health workers making at least $75,000, because 'the vast majority' of those jobs don't pay that much, Bueckert said. The membership of the HEU expanded from 49,000 members in 2017 to nearly 68,000 in 2025, an increase of 39 per cent. Some of that growth was due to recruiting care home staff to join the union, said Bueckert. The third sector analyzed for this story, K-12 education, had a 70 per cent surge in staff making more than $75,000 since 2017. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. During that time, though, the B.C. Teachers Federation said its membership numbers rose from 46,200 to 52,600 — a 14 per cent bump. BCTF president Clint Johnston said he doesn't know the source of the growth in school district numbers. Government is making efforts to hire more teachers, but there is still a serious shortage. 'How many teachers we need versus how many teachers we actually have? That gap is growing every year,' he said. 'You can verifiably see it by the number of uncertified teachers who are being used in the province.' Postmedia's database shows twice as many teachers making at least $75,000 compared to our 2017 version, but Johnston said the number of instructors hasn't risen by that much. The increase could be due to wage enhancements pushing some teachers above the $75,000 threshold, as well as more veteran teachers at the top of the salary grid postponing retirement. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. BCTF members have raised anecdotal concerns about a hike in non-classroom staff, such as district learning coordinators or assistant superintendents, who would typically fall into the $75,000-plus salary bracket, Johnston said. 'That is absolutely an issue that they frequently talk about, the disproportionate growth in district staff who aren't in a classroom teaching, directly supporting kids,' he said. B.C. is short more than 900 teachers and nearly 600 education assistants and other support staff, positions that are advertised on the government's education-related jobs page. Johnston said the provincial education budget is large but does not keep pace with demand, which has forced school districts to cancel special programs like band and to find alternative revenue for inclusive education programs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Interviews with Finance Minister Brenda Bailey, Health Minister Josie Osborne and Education Minister Lisa Beare were requested for this story. They all declined. In written answers to our questions about the 135 per cent increase in government ministry workers, the B.C. Public Service Agency said ministry workers have an average salary today of $67,819. In 2017, the agency said, public service workers, on average, made less than health and school employees, which may explain why ministry workers earning more than $75,000 today have grown at a disproportionately faster rate. 'Those other data sets may already have had a higher percentage over $75,000, which would reflect in (health and education's) lower growth rates over the term,' the agency said in a statement. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Lynne Bueckert, secretary-business manager of the Hospital Employees Union. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / 10108123A The Public Sector Employers' Council said ministries have fewer workers than in health care and K-12 education, which means the hiring of a few new staff can boost the percentage of sector employees more quickly. While the B.C. Public Service Agency and Public Sector Employers' Council minimized the apparent surge of workers in ministries and service agencies making more than $75,000, the government's own budget documents chronicle the growth of ministry employees across all salary ranges. Budget documents show full-time-equivalent staff in ministries and service agencies grew significantly over eight years, to 48,386 in 2025-26 from 32,865 in 2017-18. This includes all ministry workers, regardless of their salaries, and the total money spent on wages for this group grew by 63 per cent over those eight years. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Public Sector Employers' Council acknowledged there are still shortages of key workers in other sectors, including health and education. The government has launched initiatives such as a K-12 recruitment and retention drive to find more teachers, the statement said. 'In health care, many efforts have been initiated to make recruitment easier from out-of-province and international health workers, including a new, fast-tracked credential recognition for U.S. trained and certified nurses last month,' the council said in a statement. The council noted there are three unionized workers for every non-unionized employee, but didn't answer questions about that ratio previously being four-to-one. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Clint Johnston is the president of the British Columbia Teacher's Federation. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG Of the 600,000 people employed by the province, 44 per cent work in health but, on average, have higher wages that account for 52 per cent of money spent on salaries; 17 per cent work in K-12 education but their lower-than-average salaries mean they take up just 15 per cent of the salary budget; and the eight per cent working in ministries collect nine per cent of the money spent on salaries, according to government figures. The Health Ministry, in an email, said the database's 122 per cent growth in health staff is largely attributable to collective agreements pushing some workers' salaries above $75,000 as well as the hiring of more in-demand staff 'to keep pace with an increasing population and corresponding demand for services.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It said the Provincial Health Services Authority, for example, has hired more paramedics, cancer specialists, and Indigenous health leaders. When asked about union allegations that the percentage of non-unionized staff has grown at a faster pace than that of front-line workers, the ministry said these 'non-contract positions' represent more than managers. They also include people who support quality improvements in labs or medical imaging, nurse practitioners and associate physicians, and human resources staff to help with recruiting health workers. The ministry said it has committed to new nurse-to-patient ratios and is fast-tracking credentials for nurses from places such as the U.S. and Australia in an effort to expand their ranks. The number of nurses in B.C. has grown by 27 per cent since 2018, based on statistics from the nurses' regulatory body, the email said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It is not clear why that number is different than the BCNU's 16 per cent increase since 2017. In addition to trying to hire more nurses, the ministry said a program to recruit additional workers for care homes has filled 10,000 positions since 2020. The ministry defended its hiring practices. It said the Canadian Institute of Health Information found B.C.'s ratio of spending on finance and human resources, compared to on front-line health workers, was the second best in Canada. Districts decide on hiring: ministry The Education Ministry did not answer Postmedia's question about the database's finding of a 70 per cent growth in staff in K to 12, or explain what types of jobs had expanded the most. It referred all queries to the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, but later provided this statement. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. When asked about BCTF allegations of a disproportionate increase of non-union and management staff compared to teachers and others in classrooms, the ministry responded that those decisions are up to school districts. 'Decisions about hiring are made at the local level for what makes sense in their community.' The statement acknowledged, though, that 'one of the biggest challenges the K-12 sector faces is hiring enough qualified teaching and support staff,' a problem that exists across Canada. B.C. is trying to hire more teachers by reducing barriers for internationally trained educators to work here, by offering hiring incentives of $500,000 for people to work in rural and remote communities, by increasing flexibility in teacher training programs to allow students to remain in their community to study, and by working with Indigenous groups to recruit more Indigenous teachers, the ministry said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Premier David Eby campaigned last year on every K-3 class having an education assistant. The ministry says 75 per cent of those classrooms have an EA, and it is exploring 'ways to support hiring more.' In our database, remuneration includes salary, overtime, bonuses and other one-time payouts or benefits, such as unused vacation time. It does not include expenses. The figures come from publicly available compensation disclosure reports and freedom of information requests. Some of the names and positions in the database may be out of date if someone has retired or moved jobs, but it provides a recent snapshot in time of public sector payrolls in B.C. lculbert@ ngriffiths@ Read More Vancouver Canucks Sports Local News Sports Vancouver Whitecaps
Vancouver Sun
9 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Exclusive: B.C. public sector jobs have more than doubled under the NDP
The number of B.C. public-sector employees in health care, schools and government ministries who make at least $75,000 a year has more than doubled since the NDP was elected in 2017, data collected by Postmedia reveals. In the time since the NDP took power, the total number of taxpayer-funded positions in health authorities, K-12 schools and the core of government have leapt to 104,600, from 49,400. And the amount of money spent annually on salaries for those government workers has jumped from just under $5 billion to more than $11.5 billion in that time, according to the 12th edition of The Vancouver Sun's searchable public sector salaries database. ( You can search the database HERE .) Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. British Columbians may scratch their heads when learning that the number of workers paid at least $75,000 from the public purse has doubled — especially if their local emergency department has recently closed due to a lack of nurses or doctors, or if their grandmother's retirement home doesn't have enough care aides, or if there isn't a teacher for their child's classroom. Union leaders maintain their members in hospitals, schools and community services represent only part of this growth of government workers. They argue the biggest expansion has been in non-union staff and management roles, which they say increased disproportionately compared to workers on the ground. 'We've had this explosive growth in (non-union) management, and that hasn't resulted in a more efficient organization,' Paul Finch, president of the B.C. General Employees' Union, said of the public service. 'That should never have been allowed to happen.' The Finance Ministry, in a statement to Postmedia, said public sector salaries have risen an average of 23 per cent since 2017 through collective bargaining and that the government has launched efforts to hire more in-demand professionals such as nurses and teachers. It said three-quarters of the public sector is unionized, but did not address the unions' concerns that the overall percentage of non-unionized employees increased at a faster pace than the percentage of front-line workers in recent years. Postmedia's database contains the names and wages of nearly 170,000 workers who made at least $75,000 in 2023-2024 at approximately 100 public sector agencies, including the provincial government, city halls, universities and colleges, school districts, health authorities, Crown corporations, municipal police departments, and other agencies that use taxpayers' money to fund their payrolls. The Sun has created this searchable database for the 12th time because detailed information on how your tax dollars are spent on salaries is not otherwise easily available for the public to search, as it is in other provinces such as Ontario . The total amount the provincial government spends on salaries for its 600,000 public sector employees is $53 billion, representing 60 per cent of the provincial budget. Our database contains just the 170,000 workers who make more than $75,000. By comparing this database with an earlier version, Postmedia determined the number of people who worked directly for government ministries and were paid at least $75,000 ballooned by 135 per cent since 2017 — a faster pace than health and education workers. Job titles captured in that surge include directors, managers, policy analysts, team leaders and supervisors. The BCGEU's Finch used B.C. Public Service Agency data to determine the number of non-unionized and management workers grew by 45 per cent, increasing to 7,350 in 2024, from 5,202 in 2017. In that time, the number of unionized members in the public service increased by 31 per cent, from nearly 25,000 to just over 32,000 seven years later. That trend means that in 2010, there was one manager for every four unionized workers, but by 2024 that ratio was one-to-three, Finch said. 'That's a completely unacceptable ratio,' he said. 'We need to see ceilings put in place on ratios of management to front-line workers.' How to determine those ratios should be based on 'what serves the best interest of British Columbians,' he added. Postmedia's data shows that in some union jobs, such as child protection workers, wildfire fighters, probation officers and correction services staff, the number of people making $75,000 went from zero in 2017 to several hundred by 2024. Finch said those are not all new hires, but include existing staff pushed above $75,000 under collective agreement pay raises. The health sector also had significant growth in our database, with the number of provincial employees making at least $75,000 increasing by 122 per cent since 2017. B.C. Nurses' Union President Adriane Gear said she'd like the government to assess the number of managers versus front-line workers during the health sector expansion. During that period, BCNU membership grew by just 16 per cent, from 43,000 in 2017 to 50,000 in 2025. 'There have been nurses hired in this province, but has it kept up with the needs of British Columbians? No. Nurses continue to work extremely short-staffed, which means below safe levels of nurses to patients,' she said. Statistics Canada estimates B.C. has 5,600 vacancies for different types of nurses. Gear stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the premier in September, when the province announced improved nurse-to-patient ratios, in an effort to attract more nurses to B.C. But, she said, the details are still being worked out. 'I'm very frustrated. … We still don't have that deal inked yet,' Gear said. 'I'm puzzled how that doesn't seem to be one of the very top priorities.' The Hospital Employees Union maintains there is also a desperate need to hire more of their members, especially care aides who are in high demand in care homes and hospitals as the population ages. 'More than 50 per cent of our members are working short (staffed) at least one day and sometimes twice a week. And so this is a really big part of the problem,' said Lynn Bueckert, the HEU's secretary-business manager. 'Retention and recruitment are such big issues in the health-care system. Period.' HEU members, including lab assistants, cleaners, and staff who deliver meals, play vital roles for patients in hospitals. But they are unlikely to be represented in the database's 122 per cent growth in health workers making at least $75,000, because 'the vast majority' of those jobs don't pay that much, Bueckert said. The membership of the HEU expanded from 49,000 members in 2017 to nearly 68,000 in 2025, an increase of 39 per cent. Some of that growth was due to recruiting care home staff to join the union, said Bueckert. The third sector analyzed for this story, K-12 education, had a 70 per cent surge in staff making more than $75,000 since 2017. During that time, though, the B.C. Teachers Federation said its membership numbers rose from 46,200 to 52,600 — a 14 per cent bump. BCTF president Clint Johnston said he doesn't know the source of the growth in school district numbers. Government is making efforts to hire more teachers, but there is still a serious shortage. 'How many teachers we need versus how many teachers we actually have? That gap is growing every year,' he said. 'You can verifiably see it by the number of uncertified teachers who are being used in the province.' Postmedia's database shows twice as many teachers making at least $75,000 compared to our 2017 version, but Johnston said the number of instructors hasn't risen by that much. The increase could be due to wage enhancements pushing some teachers above the $75,000 threshold, as well as more veteran teachers at the top of the salary grid postponing retirement. BCTF members have raised anecdotal concerns about a hike in non-classroom staff, such as district learning coordinators or assistant superintendents, who would typically fall into the $75,000-plus salary bracket, Johnston said. 'That is absolutely an issue that they frequently talk about, the disproportionate growth in district staff who aren't in a classroom teaching, directly supporting kids,' he said. B.C. is short more than 900 teachers and nearly 600 education assistants and other support staff, positions that are advertised on the government's education-related jobs page . Johnston said the provincial education budget is large but does not keep pace with demand, which has forced school districts to cancel special programs like band and to find alternative revenue for inclusive education programs. Interviews with Finance Minister Brenda Bailey, Health Minister Josie Osborne and Education Minister Lisa Beare were requested for this story. They all declined. In written answers to our questions about the 135 per cent increase in government ministry workers, the B.C. Public Service Agency said ministry workers have an average salary today of $67,819. In 2017, the agency said, public service workers, on average, made less than health and school employees, which may explain why ministry workers earning more than $75,000 today have grown at a disproportionately faster rate. 'Those other data sets may already have had a higher percentage over $75,000, which would reflect in (health and education's) lower growth rates over the term,' the agency said in a statement. The Public Sector Employers' Council said ministries have fewer workers than in health care and K-12 education, which means the hiring of a few new staff can boost the percentage of sector employees more quickly. While the B.C. Public Service Agency and Public Sector Employers' Council minimized the apparent surge of workers in ministries and service agencies making more than $75,000, the government's own budget documents chronicle the growth of ministry employees across all salary ranges. Budget documents show full-time-equivalent staff in ministries and service agencies grew significantly over eight years, to 48,386 in 2025-26 from 32,865 in 2017-18 . This includes all ministry workers, regardless of their salaries, and the total money spent on wages for this group grew by 63 per cent over those eight years. The Public Sector Employers' Council acknowledged there are still shortages of key workers in other sectors, including health and education. The government has launched initiatives such as a K-12 recruitment and retention drive to find more teachers, the statement said. 'In health care, many efforts have been initiated to make recruitment easier from out-of-province and international health workers, including a new, fast-tracked credential recognition for U.S. trained and certified nurses last month,' the council said in a statement. The council noted there are three unionized workers for every non-unionized employee, but didn't answer questions about that ratio previously being four-to-one. Of the 600,000 people employed by the province, 44 per cent work in health but, on average, have higher wages that account for 52 per cent of money spent on salaries; 17 per cent work in K-12 education but their lower-than-average salaries mean they take up just 15 per cent of the salary budget; and the eight per cent working in ministries collect nine per cent of the money spent on salaries, according to government figures. The Health Ministry, in an email, said the database's 122 per cent growth in health staff is largely attributable to collective agreements pushing some workers' salaries above $75,000 as well as the hiring of more in-demand staff 'to keep pace with an increasing population and corresponding demand for services.' It said the Provincial Health Services Authority, for example, has hired more paramedics, cancer specialists, and Indigenous health leaders. When asked about union allegations that the percentage of non-unionized staff has grown at a faster pace than that of front-line workers, the ministry said these 'non-contract positions' represent more than managers. They also include people who support quality improvements in labs or medical imaging, nurse practitioners and associate physicians, and human resources staff to help with recruiting health workers. The ministry said it has committed to new nurse-to-patient ratios and is fast-tracking credentials for nurses from places such as the U.S. and Australia in an effort to expand their ranks. The number of nurses in B.C. has grown by 27 per cent since 2018, based on statistics from the nurses' regulatory body, the email said. It is not clear why that number is different than the BCNU's 16 per cent increase since 2017. In addition to trying to hire more nurses, the ministry said a program to recruit additional workers for care homes has filled 10,000 positions since 2020. The ministry defended its hiring practices. It said the Canadian Institute of Health Information found B.C.'s ratio of spending on finance and human resources, compared to on front-line health workers, was the second best in Canada. The Education Ministry did not answer Postmedia's question about the database's finding of a 70 per cent growth in staff in K to 12, or explain what types of jobs had expanded the most. It referred all queries to the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, but later provided this statement. When asked about BCTF allegations of a disproportionate increase of non-union and management staff compared to teachers and others in classrooms, the ministry responded that those decisions are up to school districts. 'Decisions about hiring are made at the local level for what makes sense in their community.' The statement acknowledged, though, that 'one of the biggest challenges the K-12 sector faces is hiring enough qualified teaching and support staff,' a problem that exists across Canada. B.C. is trying to hire more teachers by reducing barriers for internationally trained educators to work here, by offering hiring incentives of $500,000 for people to work in rural and remote communities, by increasing flexibility in teacher training programs to allow students to remain in their community to study, and by working with Indigenous groups to recruit more Indigenous teachers, the ministry said. Premier David Eby campaigned last year on every K-3 class having an education assistant. The ministry says 75 per cent of those classrooms have an EA, and it is exploring 'ways to support hiring more.' In our database, remuneration includes salary, overtime, bonuses and other one-time payouts or benefits, such as unused vacation time. It does not include expenses. The figures come from publicly available compensation disclosure reports and freedom of information requests. Some of the names and positions in the database may be out of date if someone has retired or moved jobs, but it provides a recent snapshot in time of public sector payrolls in B.C. lculbert@ ngriffiths@
Vancouver Sun
3 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Pro-gas, anti-oil: B.C.'s NDP has monetary and environmental reasons for backing LNG
VICTORIA — The week ended with encouraging pipeline news from the B.C. government, as opposed to how the week started. The province's environmental assessment office announced approval on Thursday for continued construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, half-owned by the Nisga'a nation which plans a floating LNG export terminal on the coast. 'This is an important step — not just for PRGT, but for the Nisga'a Nation's vision of self-determination and long-term prosperity,' said Eva Clayton, elected president of the Nisga'a Lisims government. 'For too long, Indigenous Nations have watched resource development happen around us, instead of with us.' Stay on top of the latest real estate news and home design trends. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Westcoast Homes will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Contrast the NDP greenlighting of the Nisga'a-backed natural gas project with its reaction to the proposal, touted earlier in the week, for a pipeline to transport Alberta oil through B.C. to tidewater at Prince Rupert or Kitimat. 'That idea doesn't make sense to us,' said Energy Minister Adrian Dix, echoing similar comments from Deputy Premier Niki Sharma and Premier David Eby. A natural gas pipeline makes far more sense to the New Democrats because, for starters, the financial returns would be greater for the provincial treasury. B.C. has little oil to develop or export but vast reserves of natural gas. The New Democrats also promote natural gas as a 'transition fuel,' to help wean customers off reliance on oil and coal as energy sources. Plus, as former NDP Premier John Horgan used to say, natural gas pipelines are preferable over the oil variety, because when a line ruptures, natural gas vents into the atmosphere while oil inundates the landscape. The Eby government telegraphed support for the Nisga'a natural gas project in the runup to last month's critical vote on Bills 14 and 15. Most major Indigenous leaders in the province asked the government to hold off passage on the legislation that gave the cabinet sweeping powers to fast-track approval of energy (Bill 14) and infrastructure (Bill 15) projects. But on the day the New Democrats used their legislative majority to push through the bills, the premier's office circulated a letter of endorsement for those laws from Nisga'a president Clayton. The letter was intended to underscore a point made by a senior NDP staffer when asked why the NDP's own Indigenous MLAs were voting for the legislation: 'The Indigenous community is not a monolith.' Still, the news was barely out Thursday regarding environmental approval for the PRGT natural gas project, when opponents announced that the fight was not over. 'A reckless decision that prioritizes profits for foreign billionaires over Indigenous rights, environmental protection and community well-being,' said the news release from the Green party. Which is the kind of rhetoric one might have heard from David Eby in his previous incarnation as an NDP activist. Today, it is more likely to feed the exasperation Eby expressed in the legislature last week when interim Green leader Jeremy Valeriote accused him of failing to consult and cooperate on policy and legislation. 'For Pete's sake, we just issued a report together,' replied Eby, referring to the update from the New Democrats and Greens on their cooperation agreement. 'The executive summary says 'the cooperation and responsible government accord between the B.C. Green caucus and the B.C. New Democrat caucus reflects a shared commitment to working collaboratively on issues that matter to people.'' Valeriote's effort to have it both ways recalls former leader Andrew Weaver, who threatened to 'bring down' the John Horgan NDP government for providing tax and regulatory incentives to secure the LNG Canada project. Horgan enacted the incentives with the support of the then Liberal Opposition. Eby has the votes to proceed without opposition support, as he demonstrated last week on Bills 14 and 15. The 900-kilometre PRGT line runs in part through the territory of the Gitanyow people, whose hereditary chiefs oppose the project. 'This isn't the end of the story,' said Gitanyow Chief Watakhayetsxw, also known as Deborah Good, who took part in a blockade that stopped construction on the line last year. 'We'll continue to fight to protect our territory with all actions needed, in the courts and on the ground.' Also weighing in was Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who seldom misses an opportunity to blast the NDP government despite the fact his wife, Joan, is an NDP MLA. 'This is not a government that believes in reconciliation, and it could trigger a long, hot summer,' he said in a statement. The Prince Rupert pipeline and the LNG project are both subject to legal challenges. The LNG terminal also needs environmental approval. But it should be recalled that there was also ferocious opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, now serving the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat. Construction was blocked and, in one instance, sabotaged. The legislature itself was blockaded for a time. Still, the line was completed, the gas is already being delivered to the terminal site, and LNG shipments are imminent. Energy Minister Adrian Dix is planning to visit the project later this month. Perhaps Eby will join him in taking credit for a project that would not have happened without NDP support. vpalmer@
