Like a twentysomething waking up after partying too hard the night before, the BC economy awoke this morning to some sobering second thought about the post-HST province.

Yesterday, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon announced a series of new fiscal projections, and they were bowling shoe ugly:

•    The $925 million deficit projected for this year has ballooned to $2.8 billion.
•    The $440 million deficit planned for 2012-13 is now $805 million.
•    The surplus of $175 million set for 2013-14 is now a $458 million deficit.
•    The provincial debt is expected to reach $62.3 billion by the end of 2013-14.

Ouch. Pass the aspirin, please.

Following the lines of your Canadian Taxpayers Federation, prominent media outlets are calling on the government to hold taxes in line, and instead cut spending to get out of this mess.

From Vaughn Palmer: “Falcon left little doubt that the current mandate — no net increase in the overall cost of wages and benefits for two years — will be extended for one additional year and maybe longer. The reason is strictly bottom line. Even a one-per-cent increase in public sector wages would add a $200-million annual charge to program spending at a time when government is struggling to eliminate the current deficit and meet the legislated target of a balanced budget two years from now. To get there, Falcon reckons the province will have to find $450 million in savings, that being the estimated shortfall in revenues as a result of the PST superseding the HST in the financial year commencing April 1, 2013. He’s looking for public suggestions on how to close what he calls ‘the deficit gap.’”

From the Vancouver Sun editorial board: “The only good news from Falcon as he delivered the quarterly report on the province's finances is that the government remains committed to balancing the budget by 2013/2014 and that it has heard the message implicit in the vote that British Columbians don't want to pay any more taxes… Falcon rightly recognizes that meeting that goal, while more difficult as a result of the costs associated with getting rid of the HST, it is also more important because of the consequences now being faced by governments around the world that have lived for too long beyond their means.”

From Don Cayo: “A month or so ago I wrote a column advising investors and citizens to hang tight in these times of turbulent markets, and to put what money they can scrounge into blue chip stocks or paying down debt. If you consider cost-effective growth-fostering policies (but not subsidies) to be the government equivalent of a blue chip investment, I advise exactly the same for Clark and company.”

From a Summerland, BC, letter writer: “The Clark government should immediately put a moratorium on increases and new spending. It should then reclaim control of all crown corporations where literally billions of dollars are being wasted. Civil servants pensions, bonuses, severance and retirement packages must be brought back into line with the real world. Use and abuse of overtime must be brought under control.”