Policy
Playbook.

Set a fiscal anchor with a timetable to return to balance (e.g. cut the deficit in half in four years)

Commit to a clear path back to a balanced budget — for example, halving the operating deficit within four years and eliminating it within eight — with progress reported publicly each year.

Review every provincial program for value

Put every program through a six-question value test, modelled on the 1994–96 federal Program Review that helped balance Ottawa’s budget within three years. B.C.’s current review targets savings of less than 1%.

Direct unspent contingencies to reduce deficits and borrowing

B.C. has set aside $5 billion a year for unexpected costs — more than ten times the 2010–2019 average. Whatever goes unused should cut the deficit and borrowing.

Get better care from every health dollar through a patient-centred vision and more efficient delivery

Health care is about 41% of provincial spending. Cut clinicians’ paperwork, let pharmacists and other professionals do more, and shorten waits by sending patients to the next available specialist.

Exempt productive capital from PST and cancel the professional services expansion

Unlike the GST, businesses generally can’t recover the provincial sales tax (PST) they pay on equipment and software, which makes investing in B.C. more expensive. Remove it on productive capital, and permanently cancel the paused plan to apply PST to accounting, engineering and architecture.

Restore income tax indexation and lower the top rate so workers keep at least half of each extra dollar earned

Budget 2026 stops adjusting tax brackets for inflation from 2027 to 2030, so people pay more tax even when their buying power doesn’t grow. Restore those adjustments and bring the combined top rate (now 53.5%) to 50% or less.

Recalibrate industrial carbon pricing to improve export competitiveness

B.C.’s industrial carbon-pricing system sets emissions benchmarks for large facilities. Adjust them so exporters can compete with producers elsewhere that face no comparable cost — otherwise jobs and emissions simply move away.

Take action to unlock fibre access to the 45-million-cubic-metre harvest target (from 29 million)

More than 15,000 forestry jobs have been lost since 2022, with fibre shortages a key factor. Raise the annual harvest toward the province’s own accepted target, starting with wildfire salvage and cut blocks already awaiting approval.

Identify priority industrial sites and their zoning and infrastructure requirements with municipalities and industry

Industrial land is 4% of Metro Vancouver’s land base but supports more than a quarter of its jobs. Agree on priority sites with local governments, industry and First Nations, and plan the roads, water and power they need.

Remove the 50/50 processing rule on eligible Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) sites and expand land available for food processing

Food processors on protected farmland generally must source at least half their product from the farm itself, which keeps many from operating at a viable scale. Remove that rule on eligible sites and open more land to processing.

Cut the time needed to start industry-sponsored clinical trials in B.C. to under eight weeks by 2029

Clinical trials bring research jobs and give patients access to new treatments. Approvals here can take three to four times longer than in Ontario and Quebec; one application point, a shared ethics review and standard contracts would close the gap.

Allow industrial gas-fired generation where electricity constraints block projects

Some projects can’t proceed because grid power isn’t available when they need it. Create a clear approval path for gas-fired generation in those cases, with companies paying their own costs and meeting safety and emissions rules.

Work with municipalities to reduce housing fees, taxes and levies

Municipal charges can exceed $100,000 per new home in Vancouver and Burnaby. Work with local governments to publish and lower these costs so more housing projects can get built.

Establish a vision and guiding principles to advance prosperity-aligned reconciliation

Five proposed principles — opportunity for everyone, incentives that serve the public interest, secure land title, transparent decision-making and durable agreements — so reconciliation with Indigenous peoples builds shared prosperity and certainty.

Create an Office of Regulatory Excellence reporting to the Premier’s Office

A small team, using existing staff, to keep health, safety and environmental standards high while removing unnecessary red tape — including published timelines for permit decisions.

Seek withdrawal of WorkSafeBC’s proposed psychological health and safety regulation

The proposal would require employers to reduce psychological risks from workload and supervision without a clear standard for compliance. Practical guidance and the voluntary national standard would work better.

Expand interprovincial trade through mutual recognition, a narrow negative list and freer labour mobility

B.C.’s new Trade Recognition Act lets goods and services approved elsewhere in Canada be sold here. Keep exceptions few and public, fix barriers that remain in practice, and work toward automatic recognition of credentials from other provinces.

Increase practical financial and economic education in schools, including through an expanded Financial Literacy Day

Help students understand money, investment and how the economy works, building on Financial Literacy Day and partners such as JA British Columbia, with non-partisan classroom materials.

Restore secret-ballot certification and the pre-2024 definition of “strike”

Let workers decide on unionizing through a private secret-ballot vote rather than signed cards, and limit work stoppages at B.C. employers caused only by picketing in federal disputes they play no part in.

Pause low-carbon fuel increases pending a cost and supply review and make alternative jet-fuel participation voluntary within the program

B.C. is set to be the first in North America to require renewable content in jet fuel from 2028, yet no Canadian sustainable aviation fuel project has reached a final investment decision. Freeze requirements at 2026 levels while costs and supply are reviewed.

Repeal the EV sales mandate

Repeal the rule requiring a growing share of new vehicles sold in B.C. to be zero-emission, and leave vehicle choice to households and businesses.

Let evidence and land-use planning determine the pace of new land protection

B.C. has committed to protect 30% of its lands and fresh water by 2030; about 20% is counted today. Weigh conservation benefits and economic effects together, and let evidence and planning set the pace.

Simplify Heritage Conservation Act permitting

Make heritage permits simpler, faster and more predictable — one permit per project, approvals in parallel and requirements matched to risk — while still protecting heritage and meeting consultation duties.

Keep natural gas available as a primary home-heating option

Building rules and a proposed equipment standard would phase out gas as a main heat source in new homes and end sales of gas-only furnaces from 2030. Keep the choice with households; heat pumps remain an option.

Review Metro Vancouver’s governance and service delivery model

Commission an independent review of Metro Vancouver’s mandate, board structure and services to tackle rising costs and improve accountability and value for money.