British Columbia’s Liberal government is set to deliver a fourth consecutive balanced budget Tuesday with sprinkles of relief expected for first-time home buyers trying to get into a red hot real estate market.

Tweaks were also signaled on medical services premiums and more cash promised for social service programs in a throne speech last week that said the government will “resist the temptation to spend our way into trouble.”

Incremental measures

Premier Christy Clark said the budget targets affordability on several fronts, but the measures will be incremental.

“The budget, what you’ll see, is relief across the board for people in all different sectors,” she told reporters last week in Vancouver.

Clark said the government has already moved to help single-parent families with cuts to their medical premiums, but a massive overhaul or elimination of the program — called for by the Opposition New Democrats and the Green party — is not in the cards, yet.

“It’s antiquated, it’s old, and the way people pay for it generally doesn’t make a whole ton of sense,” Clark said.  “I think in terms of wholesale change though, it’s going to take a little longer for us to work through some of that, but you will see some things in this budget.”

B.C.’s next provincial election is set for May 2017.

source: CBC