The First File Is the Books: Eby Leaves a Deficit Audit on Day One
The first-100-days agenda starts with an independent review of provincial finances because the NDP fiscal handoff is too large to accept on trust.
Global News’ new first-100-days report says premier-designate Lorne Doerkson is already sketching the early agenda for the incoming B.C. government. Cabinet, the legislature calendar and leadership mechanics all matter. But the first accountability file is simpler: an independent review of provincial finances.
That review is not a ceremonial transition exercise. Global reports that Doerkson announced the review on Sunday, and frames the inheritance starkly: David Eby took over from John Horgan with a $6-billion surplus; the current deficit is projected around $14 billion. That is the fiscal arc voters were asked to endorse when Eby called an early election. They did not.
B.C.’s own records show why the audit belongs at the front of the line. The September First Quarterly Report forecast a $13.8-billion deficit for 2026-27, which was $450 million higher than Budget 2026. The same update put real GDP growth at only 0.9 per cent for 2026. This was not a clean set of books waiting for routine handoff; it was a widening deficit paired with slow growth.
The February budget was already warning that the hole was structural. Budget 2026 projected deficits of $13.3 billion in 2026-27, $12.2 billion in 2027-28 and $11.4 billion in 2028-29. Even before the quarterly update worsened the first-year number, the government’s own plan did not show a quick return to balance.
That matters because the NDP’s political story relied on asking British Columbians to trust another round of spending, growth assumptions and future revenue measures. The official fiscal plan said taxpayer-supported debt was expected to rise to $189 billion over the plan period, while the debt-to-GDP ratio was forecast to climb from 30.6 per cent in 2026-27 to 37.4 per cent in 2028-29. Those are not opposition slogans. They are budget-table numbers.
Doerkson’s Sunday remarks, also reported by Global, promised a “full picture” before the next budget and tied the first 100 days to emergency-room pressure and affordability measures. Those promises will need scrutiny too. But scrutiny starts with the baseline. A government cannot credibly fix services, taxes or capital planning if the opening balance is accepted on partisan faith.
The legally careful conclusion is blunt: Eby’s government left B.C. with official deficit forecasts near $14 billion, no near-term balance path in Budget 2026, and a first-100-days agenda that begins with checking the books. The audit is not the new government’s talking point. It is the receipt for the NDP’s fiscal handoff.