March 29, 2024

Premier makes huge spending announcements at UBCM speech

Premier Christy Clark has made several big announcements at an address to the UBCM, a gathering of B.C. mayors and councillors in Victoria.

The biggest is a tentative deal reached with B.C.’s largest public sector union..  

Clark says the two-year deal with the 26,000 members of the BCGEU includes modest wage increases, but the money for that has been found elsewhere within government.

The deal also includes the government cancelling the proposed privatization of the liquor distribution branch, with the request for proposals being nixed.  

Other news in the speech: Clark says the government is going to begin the long process of replacing the George Massey Tunnel.

She says that process may take 10 years, but the province is now going to local communities to talk about the best way to replace the tunnel, which is getting too congested and is near the end of its life.

The premier also announced half a billion dollars in new money over the next ten years to make the Trans Canada Highway between Kamloops and the Alberta border into four lanes.  

And another 200 million in expedited capital projects around the province this year to build new schools, roads and hospitals, and create jobs.

CKNW Vancouver News

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