Could the BC Government’s “Action Man” be back? Finance Minister Kevin Falcon—tagged during last year’s BC Liberal leadership campaign as the “guy who gets it done”—is just one month out from his first-ever budget.  

Over the past few months, we’ve seen Falcon at press conferences, looking concerned as revenues dipped, quarterly deficits ballooned, and the reality of life-after-HST set in. But the Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Falcon thinks he is on track to balance the budget in 2013-14, as the BC Liberals promised through legislation passed two years ago. From the story:

“It’s going to be tough but I’m confident that we can do so,” he said in an interview. “I think it’s very important we do so.”

The final “game-day” decision won’t be made until this year’s budget, which will be tabled Feb. 21, is locked down later this month. But Mr. Falcon said he is seeing enough positive economic news that he now believes he can wipe out the $700-million deficit that is currently pencilled in for the 2013 fiscal year.

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Mr. Falcon said, however, there is no softening of the government’s commitment to eliminating the deficit. He said he was “very nervous” last November about the economic outlook in Canada and the U.S.

“The good news is, I’ve seen some encouraging signs, particularly out of the United States, which suggests we’re starting to see a turnaround,” he said. He plans to release an update this week from his panel of independent economic forecasters. The B.C. economy is still expected to grow by two per cent this year, he said.

This is incredibly good news for taxpayers, who want the BC Government to live within its means. It would also be a strong accomplishment—Saskatchewan is the only province presently in the black (for more on where individual provinces stand, check out this month’s Fraser Forum magazine). BC would become the second, a strong fiscal accomplishment which should help take the sting out of losing the HST when trying to attract investors.

Of course, the BC Teachers Federation is trying to blow that up by extracting more money for their members from taxpayers. While nearly two-thirds of public sector employees have settled their contracts under the government’s net-zero mandate, the BCTF is looking for a 15% pay raise over three years. Vancouver Province columnist Jon Ferry estimates the cost of such a deal at $1.3 billion. From his piece today:

Now, I'm no great financial whiz. Nor am I so naive as to think that, in these nasty labour disputes, the truth lies wholly with one side or the other.

But it sure looks as if the BCTF has been trying to pull a fast one or is simply not financially literate - both of which are extremely worrying, given the stranglehold the hard-left union has on our children's schooling.

Besides, one doesn't have to have an MBA to know it's economic suicide for Victoria, which faces huge budget deficits, to keep pouring taxpayers' money into already rich public-sector wage and benefit packages.

In their last five-year contract, B.C. teachers received a 16-per-cent hike in wages and benefits, plus a $4,000 signing bonus. Now, despite a provincial teacher surplus, they want annual increases far in excess of B.C.'s latest inflation rate of 1.7 per cent.

Have they learned nothing from the economic mess that the debt-addicted governments of Greece and other spendthrift European nations have gotten themselves into? So far, the BCTF's demands make no financial sense. And that has to change when bargaining resumes this week.

Hear, hear!