High hopes for stimulus in B.C. throne speech, budget

All eyes are on Victoria this week as the B.C. government tables its throne speech Monday and a new budget Tuesday.

Both the throne speech and budget are expected to set the tone for the coming campaign as the Liberal government gears up for an election May 12.

The government announced last month it will table a deficit budget, which is expected to include billions of dollars in infrastructure spending.

Both the business and labour communities are looking for the government to spend money to stimulate the economy – but the two groups have very different priorities.

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, wants to see more social spending.

"I am looking for a fundamental commitment to solving the homeless crisis and spending the money necessary to do that," he said.

"I am looking for a major commitment to increasing postsecondary education, so that all of these people sitting around without a job can actually use the opportunity to skill ourselves up so we can build this province in the future."

Sinclair is also holding out hope the provincial government will do something he says he's been waiting eight years to see — increase the province's minimum wage to $10 an hour from $8.

On the other hand, the executive vice-president of the Business Council of British Columbia is looking for infrastructure spending and tax relief.

"There would be a lot of support in my community for … some property tax relief — temporary property tax relief for business and industry — if the province felt it was in a position to do that," said Jock Finlayson.

"We would recommend that the province not go ahead with the next round of the carbon tax increase …we recognize that's a priority for the government, but in the environment we're operating in these days any kind of cost increase is going to be tough to swallow.

B.C.'s carbon tax is now set at about $10 per tonne of carbon emissions — or just over 2.3 cents per litre of gasoline.

It's scheduled to increase by 50 per cent on July 1.

The B.C. budget will be tabled Tuesday afternoon. While it's already been announced the province will post a deficit budget, its size has not been revealed.