Bailey's budget must unite, not divide

An article by Anastasia French (Living Wage BC), Rowan Burdge (Poverty Reduction Coalition) and Véronique Sioufi (BC Policy Solutions)

Minister Bailey will deliver her first budget tomorrow. Her budget must balance the need to protect British Columbians from US tariffs by providing cost-of-living relief. This is no easy challenge. But it must also focus on uniting the province by lifting people out of poverty rather than deepening divisions through austerity.

We’ve seen south of the border what happens when poverty divides communities. It’s easy to scapegoat the already vulnerable and blame them for the systemic issues caused by those with more power and money.

The BC government has opened the new legislative session with a call for unity. With the promise to make a BC economy that “works for every person, in every community throughout the province,” people in poverty are left waiting to see if the upcoming provincial budget will meet their urgent needs.

We maintain that people in poverty need well-funded solutions, not just rhetoric. The BC Budget can and must fund those solutions now before divisions worsen.

Clues to BC Budget 2025

The throne speech and the ministerial mandate letters are critical signposts for gauging how the government will address the current political and economic situation in tomorrow’s budget.

So far, they speak to addressing the cost-of-living crisis by investing in local industries, addressing food affordability, accelerating affordable housing development, increasing affordable childcare spaces and afterschool care, expanding access to healthcare, improving public transit and creating more jobs. We hope all these commitments make their way into the budget and are appropriately funded at the levels needed to impact people’s lived material realities. A healthier population with equitable access to good jobs and childcare strengthens the economy, boosting productivity and long-term growth.

However, as we enter more economic uncertainty, there’s a palpable chill of austerity in the air. In response to the threat of tariffs, every minister has been tasked with “reviewing programs and initiatives to ensure programs remain relevant and efficient.”

The tension between investing in social programs and cutting costs is nothing new. BC is still recovering from the decades of service cuts in the early 2000s that left our province worse off. However, decades of research show that strong social supports, well-funded public services and investment in infrastructure are the building blocks of stable, resilient economies.

Building unity by funding key priorities

For people living in poverty, policy solutions must not be overshadowed by a shift to austerity.

BC Budget 2025 needs to fund:

• Investing in programs to help support a living wage: Currently, 1 in 3 workers in BC do not earn a living wage. There’s now a nearly $10 gap between the minimum wage ($17.40) and the Living Wage for Metro Vancouver ($27.05). Lowering the cost of living in the province by addressing the biggest cost pressures—such as housing, childcare, and public transit—and increasing social supports will go a long way to making life more affordable, and it could even lead to reductions in the living wage, which would take some pressure off employers.
• Raising income and disability assistance rates: Current income and disability assistance rates remain well below the poverty line—lifting them to meet that threshold is the bare minimum. Indexing these rates to inflation, just as the minimum wage is now set, would ensure that recipients are not continually left behind by rising costs.
• Protections for precarious workers: With more than a third of jobs in BC now precarious, the emphasis on “robust compliance” for safe workplaces should include sufficient funding for the Employment Standards Branch and WorkSafeBC to ensure all workers in BC are protected through proactive enforcement. When workers are protected from wage theft, unsafe conditions and exploitation, not only does their quality of life improve, but the economy benefits as well, with reduced pressure on social services and increased consumer spending.
• Upholding UNDRIP: Indigenous people are overrepresented in all statistics around poverty, unaffordable housing and food insecurity, and yet are often missing from discussions around the solutions. Any budget announcements around food security and housing construction should align with commitments to UNDRIP, Indigenous land rights and cultural histories, ensuring that First Nations and Indigenous Peoples play a leading role in shaping and benefiting from these programs.
• Supporting living wage jobs: The Government of BC is forecasting that over 120,000 jobs could be lost because of the tariffs. Times will be tough for many BC businesses. Any initiatives announced in the budget to protect jobs or improve procurement policies should also ensure these are jobs that pay their workers a living wage. This will help create a stronger circular local economy for everyone.
  
  

Avoiding a new austerity cycle

With the 2025 budget, British Columbia has a chance to demonstrate leadership by making a meaningful commitment to equity and long-term economic stability, but not through cuts and austerity. The rhetoric of a stronger and more united BC must be backed by concrete policies that ensure no one is left behind.

When our governments invest in social services, worker protections and public health care, the result has been communities that are more stable than those in the United States—where a weaker social safety net has created deeper inequality.

We know that reducing poverty benefits society as a whole. Targeted poverty reduction tools lead to improved health outcomes, lower crime rates and greater economic participation.

A well-funded anti-poverty strategy is not only a moral imperative but also a sound fiscal decision—it saves governments money in healthcare, emergency services and criminal justice costs. Poverty is extremely expensive, costing billions to our healthcare, criminal justice, and economic systems. Public investment in prevention now creates long-term benefits for everyone and costs us all less.

If the government truly wants to bring people together—whether in the face of US tariffs or the ongoing affordability crisis—it must prioritize bold investments in food security, housing, workers’ rights and protections, Indigenous sovereignty and social supports. That’s how we build solidarity rather than deepen divisions.

Tomorrow’s BC budget can—and should—reflect the government’s promised path forward: bridging divides by reducing inequality and supporting those who need it most. By funding the right policy solutions, we can push back the chill of austerity and bring genuine warmth to communities across BC.

AUTHORS
Anastasia French (she/her) has been managing the Living Wage Campaign since June 2020. She has a decade of experience managing campaigns and projects that have changed laws and policies in the UK and Canada and raised millions for good causes. In her spare time, she enjoys trying to visit every park, library and brewery in Vancouver.

Rowan Burdge (she/they) is the provincial director of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. They are a disabled, white settler living on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Burdge is a queer chronically ill advocate and organizer, working towards poverty eradication alongside marginalized communities across BC.

Véronique Sioufi (she/her) is the Racial Equity Researcher and Policy Analyst at the BC Society for Policy Solutions. She leads a community-driven research desk dedicated to applying an intersectional lens to socio-economic policy. This work is guided by advocates from community organizations, unions and academia. She comes to the BCSPS after working at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office since 2023.