{"id":175446,"date":"2026-08-20T11:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175446\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:35:13","slug":"senior-b-c-officials-get-raises-amid-unprecedented-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175446\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior B.C. officials get raises amid unprecedented deficit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amid a record deficit, senior provincial officials are getting a pay raise for what government calls a job well done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ranging from two to 2.5 per cent, the pay bumps are performance based, retroactive to July 1, 2025, coming at a time when the province was cutting jobs and axing critical services and programs in response to the largest deficit in B.C. history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watch the story below:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt just really does strike an out of touch tone,\u201d said Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson who had been the Conservative finance critic until he quit the party last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou have the government saying these are performing bonuses at a time when we have worsening health care, worsening economics, worsening crime and safety\u2026so what performance are we actually rewarding at this point at the same time when we\u2019re telling the public service we\u2019re going to have to scale back their jobs. I think it just sends a mixed message not just to their staff, but the public at large.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year was a record $7.7 billion, resulting in cuts to housing, long term care, services and jobs in an attempt to control costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/the-provincial-deficit-dropped-by-3-3-billion-to-7-7-billion-in-2025-26-bailey-1341173\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tighter spending, more revenue brings B.C. deficit down to $7.7B, minister says<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those in charge of the cuts, are now getting a pay raise, costing the province $23 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Executives, political staff and managers are getting a two to 2.5 per cent wage increase, with deputy ministers getting up to a 4.7 per cent pay bump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, unionized public sector staff had to fight a record setting eight weeks on strike to get a three per cent increase. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s an incredible amount of frustration in having to fight eight weeks for that deal. It\u2019s something Alberta got without a strike,\u201d said Paul Finch, president of BC General Employees Union that represents some government workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s just another indication that our asks were reasonable. They were in line with the prevailing wage increases across the province.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These executive\/managerial pay bumps are performance based, government says. The metrics however remain unclear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cExactly what has improved? What exactly are these bonuses for? Are we getting faster health care? Have we got a better budget situation?\u201d asked John Rustad, Conservative MLA and Treasury Board Critic. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey haven\u2019t sent any standards. So there\u2019s no way of knowing if they\u2019re out performing what they\u2019re supposed to be doing in order to be receiving a performance bonus. So this to me just looks like doling out money when the government doesn\u2019t have the money to spend on things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The budgetary crisis caused MLA\u2019s to freeze their annual pay increases last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the current 2026-27 fiscal year, B.C. is projecting a 13.3 billion deficit. Whether the MLA\u2019s freeze continues has not yet been determined. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It also remains unclear if executives, political staffers will continue to get bonuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/b-c-income-taxes-raising-for-lowest-bracket-and-pst-exemptions-removed-in-budget-2026-deficit-grows-to-13-3b-1306101\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">B.C. income taxes raising for lowest bracket and PST exemptions removed in Budget 2026; deficit grows to $13.3B<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">B.C.\u2019s Ministry of Finance was unable to send CHEK News a statement before deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With files from Rob Shaw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a record deficit, senior provincial officials are getting a pay raise for what government calls a job&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,784],"class_list":["post-175446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}