Related to local government finance advocacy, legislation, policy, and relevant news.
The Ministry of Finance is clarifying plans for changes to the provincial sales tax (PST) that were announced in Budget 2026. As of effect on October 1, 2026, PST will be applied to certain professional services, but not necessarily at 100%. For architectural, engineering, and geoscience services, PST will only be charged on 30% of the total fee.
Panelists at the plenary session convened around the state of BC economics. Between the Minister of Finance, two economists and the CEO of the Vancouver airport, the bottom line was that there is no quick way out of this structural financial situation.
This didn’t happen in the last six months, and it didn’t happen because of Donald Trump, said David Williams, VP of Policy for the Business Council of BC. It’s a structural issue stemming from shrinking revenue and expenditures growing way too quickly.
In response to the trade war with the US, UBCM has engaged Oxford Economics to develop modelling on how escalating tariffs will affect GDP, employment and a host of other macroeconomic impacts in BC and Canada. Read the full report: Macroeconomic impacts of the US-Canada Trade War.
With a trade war now underway, the BC Government introduced a budget earlier today that continues to invest in provincial services while attempting to shore up the provincial economy. Incremental new spending has been targeted for local government priorities, including homelessness response, addiction treatment, street disorder and affordable housing. Longer-term challenges lay ahead, however, with a growing debt and still unknown impacts from tariffs to the provincial economy and government revenue.
UBCM is working with the provincial government to monitor the impacts of BC’s evolving economy on local government finance. The initiative is part of the work being undertaken by the Local Government Finance Review Working Group, which has been tasked with studying the cost pressures and risks facing local governments.
The Province has introduced legislation that will substantially change the framework used by local governments to pay for infrastructure and community amenities related to new development. The legislation is largely in alignment with UBCM resolutions and policy, but also creates a funding gap for affordable housing.