British Columbia’s 2025 budget once again sees health care consuming the lion’s share of spending.
The Ministry of Health, which represents more than a third of spending in the provincial budget, is getting a boost of more than a billion dollars to more than $35 billion for 2025/2026, with $4.2 billion in new spending across the fiscal plan’s three-year window.
Over those three years, $443 million has been set aside to deal with the province’s primary care crisis, including connecting people with family doctors and nurse practitioners.
More than a fifth of the money, $870 million, is earmarked to support the opening and operation of new and renovated hospitals, including St. Paul’s Hospital, the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment, Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace.
The province has budgeted half a billion dollars over three years to support existing addiction treatment and recovery programs, such as Road to Recovery and Foundry.
Not included in the spending is a key NDP election promise: the delivery of a second Red Fish Healing Centre. During the 2024 campaign, Premier David Eby pledged to duplicate the specialized drug and mental health treatment centre, along with new “satellite” centres.
“We have seen the health care budget since 2017 more than double, health care has never been in such bad shape, we are seeing people to Washington state for cancer,” BC Conservative finance critic Peter Milobar said.
“By every measure, this government is throwing more money at things, it doesn’t mean they are getting a better result.”
The budget earmarks for than $5 billion per year in capital spending on the health-care system.
That money includes big ticket projects like the new St. Paul’s and Surrey hospitals, the redevelopments of Richmond, Burnaby, Royal Columbian and Cariboo Memorial hospitals, the replacement of the Cowichan District and Dawson Creek hospitals, cancer centres in Kamloops and Nanaimo, and long-term care facility redevelopments around the province.