MLA Letnick on what the B.C. budget means for the Okanagan

B.C. residents are still digesting the 2017 provincial budget, which was released by the B.C. Government yesterday afternoon.

Finance Minister Michael De Jong said the 2017 budget is the fifth consecutive balanced one, but what does that mean for Kelowna residents?

In an interview with KelownaNow, MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country Norm Letnick said the Okanagan will see multiple benefits from this year's budget including better opportunities for first-time home buyers, tax breaks for families and post-secondary students as well as more support for youth dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues.

The big news that came with the 2017 provincial budget was that Medical Service Premiums (MSP) will be cut in half by 2018.

"This is a big one for me, I was elected eight years ago and have been advocating for MSP elimination since," said Kelowna-Lake Country Norm Letnick.

"Before I decided to run I was doing a PhD in Health Economics and everything told me that, if we could afford it, eliminating MSP would be a priority to get changed."

While the cuts will not eliminate MSP premiums entirely like in other provinces, the average family of four should be able to save up to $900 annually if they have a net income of under $120,000 on MSP premiums, which will be cut in half starting 2018.

The budget favors those looking to buy their first home as well. The threshold for first time home buyers in this budget has been increased from $475,000 to $500,000, which will save first time home buyers about $8,000 on property transfer tax.

"We estimate there will be about 42,000 first time home buyers over the next few years who will qualify for that," said Letnick.

In response to whether this rush of first time home buyers may cause inflation of housing prices, Letnick said:

"To help with rising housing prices we plan on increasing the supply, we want to continue to work with local government and continue to densify where appropriate"

2017's budget also has a record amount of $4.2 billion going into health care over the next three years.

This includes an additional $165 million for youth mental health, which includes more funding for counselling and treatment services offered by the Ministry of Children and Family Development, 28 specialized addiction treatment beds for youth provided by the Health Ministry, and startup costs for the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.

"We've committed in this budget $100 million funding to support enhancements for mental health and substance abuse with a youth focus, that includes $45 million to ministry of children and family development for more mental health counseling and $12 million for 28 additional specialized youth addiction treatment beds and $9 million expansions of youth service centres," said Letnick.

"We have also recently announced a one stop location for youth with mental health and substance issues in Kelowna, which were very happy Kelowna was chosen for this facility."

The provincial budget also has a large increase of $720 million in spending on education.

After seeing enrollment numbers decline in previous years, the province is now seeing more students in its classrooms, for which $228 million has been allocated for enrollment growth.

"I'm sure there will be new teachers being hired by the school district with these extra resources," said Letnick.

Along with this, $45 million has been used to eliminate school bus fees for regular students and $29 million for supplies and resources to reduce the cost for parents send their kids to school.

Financial breaks are included in the 2017 budget for post-secondary students as well.

"If you're a student and you have a loan, we will be reducing the student interest rate from prime +2.5 to just prime starting in august, that will put more money in post graduate pockets,"

Letnick is also the Minister of Agriculture in B.C., so he was happy to discuss improvements through the budget for that sector, which received a 4.5% increase in funding from last year's budget.

"Since I became the minister five years ago, I've seen almost a 30% increase in my budget, which goes to show the commitment the government has made towards agriculture to continue to grow the food that we value so highly," said Letnick.

The B.C. Liberals have held power in the province since 2001. The province's next election will be held on May 9th.