The BC Government’s Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services has set out on their annual pre-budget consultation tour of B.C., hearing from stakeholder groups about what they want to see in the 2017-18 BC Budget. Spoiler alert: most groups want to see a lot more of your money spent.

Many of these causes and ideas are wonderful, but governing is about priorities. Fiscal restraint is absolutely vital. Over the next few weeks, we will post a running tab of the amount of requests this committee receives. Some cost estimates will come from the groups themselves; others will be guestimates.

Your CTF, by the way, is scheduled to present to this committee at 4:45 p.m., Thursday, October 6, at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn in Delta. Rest assured we WON’T be asking government to spend more money. 

• After 1 day, the grand total: $2.5+ BILLION  
• NEW! On Day 1, they received $2,523,900,000 in requests.

Here’s the Day 1 breakdown:

Day 1 - Monday, September 19, Vancouver 

• The Parent Advocacy Network for Public Education wants more funding for school boards, specifically to cover Vancouver’s $96 million in deficits and cuts. Cost: $96 million, just for Vancouver.
• The Canadian Mental Health Association wants government to double the money it spends on youth and child mental health, increase income assistance for people with disabilities, and improve addictions treatment. We’ll ballpark this cost at $30 million.
• The Public Education Network Society wants to scrap all public funding for independent schools. Doing so would send thousands of students into the public system – we’ll ballpark the cost at $100 million.
• The Vancouver Community College Faculty Association wants more money for adult basic education. Cost referenced: $6.9 million.
• The Pacific Salmon Foundation wants more for salmon projects. $5 million.
• The Downtown Eastside Adult Literacy Roundtable wants $2.5 million for its projects. $2.5 million.
• The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC wants $25 million for researchers, a $7.5 million provincial scholarship fund and university funding at 2013 levels. Grand total it at $232.5 million.
• Geoscience BC wants its $5 million annual funding to continue. $5 million.
• Families Against Cuts To Education wants “adequate funding” for schools. Let’s say a 10% bump for the education budget - $560 million.
• The Graduate Student Society of Simon Fraser University wants $15 million in scholarships, a $2 billion provincial investment in TransLink, and more money for capital funding at SFU (looks like another $6 million). Total: $2,021,000,000
• The AMS Student Society of UBC Vancouver wants more money for transit passes and lower student loan interest rates. Ballpark: $10 million.
• The Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres wants more funding for the BC Arts Council. $10 million.