Speech from the throne to project direction of government will be delivered Tuesday.

British Columbia politicians return to the legislature tomorrow for a 12-week session highlighted by a budget that is the “envy” of all other Canadian provinces, said Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong.

NDP opposition is predicting a budget that will take from the taxpayer through hikes in premiums and fees.

De Jong states the February 17th budget includes a surplus higher than the $444 million he forecasted last fall, but the extra cash still doesn’t bring huge opportunities for spending.

While other Canadian governments are grappling just to cover costs, de Jong said the B.C. government intends to devote some of the surplus to paying down debt incurred during the global economic downturn dating back to 2008.

De Jong said B.C. is likely the only province in the Canada tabling a balanced budget this year, an accomplishment he attributed to economic diversity and spending discipline.

New Democrat House Leader Mike Farnworth said the Opposition will comb through the budget to find what it suspects will be increases in fees and premiums.

“You’re going to see higher Medical Services Plan premiums, higher ICBC rates, we’re already seeing higher fees for camping,” Farnworth said. “Apart from the budget bills, we don’t seem to get a sense of any real direction from the government”

Finance Minister de Jong states that improvements may include a change to the practice of deducting spousal child support payments from social assistance/disability payments to single parents.

“There are some areas where we believe there have been pressures on the programming side,” de Jong said. “We have a little more ability to deal with them and relieve some of that pressure, to assist people in greatest need.”

NDP house leader Mike Farnworth said he is hoping that the clawback policy will be changed after more than a year of protest by the opposition.