B.C.’s record-setting deficit ‘understated,’ Auditor-General says

British Columbia’s independent Auditor-General says the province’s record-setting deficit forecast for this year is understated, because Finance Ministry officials were slow to account for a multibillion-dollar settlement that the provinces reached in March with big tobacco companies over health damages.

This week, B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey tabled a fiscal update that shows the provincial deficit in the current fiscal year is forecast to hit $11.6-billion.