B.C.to table budget that's expected to deal with COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

The British Columbia government is set to table a budget at 2 p.m. PT Tuesday that outlines its economic plan after feeling the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year.

B.C.'s last budget was tabled in February 2020, just as the province's first COVID-19 cases were being diagnosed.

It forecast modest surpluses for three years.

Finance Minister Selina Robinson says the pandemic has changed that outlook, but added in a recent interview that the budget will look beyond COVID-19 and lay the groundwork for future prosperity.

Robinson released a fiscal update last December that said the impact of the pandemic on B.C.'s economy was uncertain, and forecast a deficit for this fiscal year nearing $14 billion.

This is Robinson's first budget since the former housing minister was appointed finance minister last November following the B.C. NDP's election win last fall.

She says she has consulted with business groups, social advocates and families to provide her with the focus for a budget that aims to get everybody through the pandemic and looks toward economic recovery.