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After five years of borrowing to pay for “groceries,” Finance Minister Mike de Jong says budget surpluses this year and in the coming years will largely be used to pay down operating debt. The provincial budget shows operating debt of $9.4 billion for the year ending in March, declining to $8.4 billion in 2015-16 and falling below $5 billion by 2018. Total provincial debt, including roads, hospitals and other capital projects as well as debt held by BC Hydro and other Crown...

B.C.’s natural resource revenue is forecast to decline 6.9 per cent in the coming year, mostly due to lower prices for natural gas, oil and electricity. After gas drilling boom years, the province’s revenue from Crown land tenures is expected to continue to decline slightly for two years. Excluding land tenures, natural resource revenue is expected to increase 7.6 per cent over the next two years due to increased forest stumpage rates and prices for coal and other commodities....

VICTORIA – Expecting budget surpluses for the next three years, the B.C. government is ending the deduction of spousal child support from social assistance payments and providing modest benefits for other low-income earners. A target of single parents and poverty advocacy organizations in recent years, the “clawback” of child support payments ends Sept. 1. That is expected to leave about $32 million more over the next three years in the pockets of the parents who receive child...

  The Saskatchewan ringette team competing at the Canada Winter Games took some time after their practice Monday to meet a local ringette player. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like for her,” captain Kirsten Wallin said of Lily Palmer, 9, who was born profoundly deaf in both ears. “Her being able to play ringette is incredible.” Lily’s mother, Andrea, says while Lily was born profoundly deaf, she can hear quite well now, thanks to cochlear implants. “Her first surgery was just after...

Just in time for the Canada Winter Games; BC Transit, the City of Prince George and New Flyer Industries Canada ULC are teaming up to test a new medium-duty bus in the Prince George Transit System. The 30-foot New Flyer MiDi demonstration bus will be in revenue service as of February 20, 2015. The bus will be operating in Prince George for a month, both during and after the Games, and will provide both New Flyer and BC Transit with information on the operating performance of the vehicle....

  Host British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Prince Edward Island earned their first victories on the opening day of wheelchair basketball competition at the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Team B.C. went 1-1 on the day, starting things off with a victory over Manitoba before falling in a thriller to Team P.E.I to close out the day. “We started off the day a bit shaky but we settled down and found our rhythm,” said Team B.C. head coach Marni Abbott-Peter. “We improved in our...