The B.C. government released its 2016 budget and it is a balanced one.
In it are changes to MSP premiums that exempt children but couples who earn 45 thousand dollars a year or more will pay an extra 20 dollars a month.
Cowichan Valley NDP MLA Bill Routley says the province could have done better especially when it comes to putting money into a prosperity fund.
Routley says the fund was created to hold the profits from the LNG industry but those never transpired and neither did the employment……
Routley says changes to the property transfer tax were a good thing…..
The 46,000 member Hospital Employee’s Union says a growing crisis in seniors’ care had been largely ignored.
But the Association of Registered Nurses is applauding the government on several changes announced in the budget that, it says, will have a direct impact on the social determinants of health – including eliminating Medical Services Plan premiums for all children effective next January, expanding the supply of affordable housing and increasing income assistance rates for Persons with Disabilities.
CUPE says funding for K-12 education is scheduled to increase but only by very small amounts over the coming three years. In 2015/16 net funding will rise by just $28 million, because the province is cutting $24 million from “administration.”
The BC branch of the Canadian Federation of Students says it will be another year of missed opportunity to invest in post-secondary education and address growing problems with affordability.
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