Join us in calling on the BC government to make the wellbeing of all ages a priority in the 2026 Budget. 

BC’s 2025 budget reversed earlier signs of progress towards more generationally fair fiscal planning, growing deficits with promises of more spending and lower taxes. In 2026, it’s imperative for the province to wrestle with the fact that population aging is compounding fiscal pressures, dampening economic growth while driving up costs for medical care.

To this end, our top priority for the 2026 budget is for BC to launch a Better Late Than Never task force to fill the hole created by decades of poor planning for the predictable fiscal pressures of population aging. This is a necessary first step to put BC’s finances on firmer footing – and a precondition to meaningful action to achieve other important goals.

Here's our full list of 2026 budget recommendations. Keep reading for more details on each one.

1. Launch a Better Late Than Never task force to fill the hole created by decades of poor planning for the predictable fiscal pressures of population aging.

As the large baby boom generation ages and lives longer, medical care costs have risen steeply – without matching updates to provincial revenue systems. This mismatch is driving BC’s record deficits and crowding out investments on which younger British Columbians rely, even as they contribute more income taxes to finance healthy retirements.

Our new report show that medical spending rises steeply with age: roughly $3,000 per person under 50, about $10,000 by age 70, and close to $37,000 by age 90. Each British Columbian age 65 and older represents about four under-50 patients in terms of medical demand. In BC, medical costs linked to baby-boomer aging now exceed $8 billion annually.

If BC still had the same age structure it did in 1976, when boomers were young, the 2025 budget deficit would drop from ~$11 billion to $3 billion – without changing any spending or revenue policy. The implication is that BC’s deficit is primarily structural. Decades ago, successive governments understood that population aging would increase medical costs, but they failed to modernize revenue systems to keep pace.

Younger British Columbians now contribute 20-40% more of their income taxes toward seniors’ medical care and benefits than boomers did at the same age. Contemporary fiscal policy obliges Millennials and Gen Z to subsidize a larger share of their aging loved ones’ healthy retirements even as they face far higher housing costs and greater financial insecurity than earlier generations.

That’s why BC must convene a Better Late Than Never task force to design a generationally fair financing plan for medical care. Without a modernized approach to medical financing, the province will drift toward larger deficits, longer waits, and continued under-investment in other priorities. The province urgently requires a new revenue system that protects vulnerable seniors, stabilizes provincial finances, and lightens the load on younger generations whose wellbeing is deteriorating.

This recommendation tops our 2026 budget list because the economic impact of population aging shapes the fiscal room available to advance all other goals. Since boomers’ medical costs were never fully prepaid, most of the gains from economic growth now flow to priorities for older generations, leaving less for housing, child care, postsecondary education and climate action.

2.  Compensate young people for enduring high rents and home prices so that the housing wealth older homeowners have gained from rising prices remains protected.

BC’s rising home prices are a demographic double-edged sword. Good for (primarily older) homeowners who’ve gained enormous wealth that they now expect to use to fund their retirements. Bad for younger people who face sky-high costs out of touch with their earnings, crushing the dream of safe and secure housing.

The political bargain we’ve struck in Canada obliges younger people to sacrifice their standard of living to protect the housing wealth accumulated by homeowners who have come before them. It’s time to acknowledge this sacrifice – and to compensate young people for their profound expression of intergenerational solidarity.

The ripple effects of this sacrifice are clear. Young people report less satisfaction with their lives, and are less hopeful about the future – particularly those living in the poorest households. Younger demographics have higher levels of poverty, and a growing share don’t expect to be able to afford to start families.

3. Make life more affordable AND reduce pressures on our medical system by growing investments in the social conditions where health begins more urgently than investments in medical care.

Rising living costs and timely access to medical care are top concerns for many British Columbians. Get Well Canada reminds us that the solution to both problems is the same – rebalance how we invest in wellbeing.

We’re calling on governments to follow the evidence when it comes to the root causes of today’s affordability and medical care worries. Health science is clear that British Columbians ‘get well’ when we invest in affordable homes, living wages, quality child care and schools, and healthy environments – even more urgently than we invest in medical care.

Despite the scientific consensus, BC is allowing rising medical spending to crowd out investments in the social conditions where health begins. That’s why BC budgets must track the ratio of social and education spending relative to medical spending. This ratio is the north star to get our province back on course, and make sure we get the most bang for taxpayer funded health bucks.

4. Recommit to $10 a day child care to grow BC’s economy and support families.

BC was once a national leader on affordable child care, but now we’re lagging behind. Budget 2026 should double-down on restoring our track record, and not leave BC families to wait on federal action to gain access to the high quality and affordable care options they need, as Premier Eby implied in a recent interview.

$10 a day must be the maximum daily child care fee, with no fee for low-income households. Just like primary and secondary education and medical care, wealthier British Columbians should pay more via their taxes, not higher fees at the door. 

$10 a day roll out must include paying early child care educators pay equity salaries for the professional work they deliver. Adequate remuneration is critical to attracting and retaining the workers needed to make high quality care available to all BC families.

5. Reverse provincial backsliding on securing a safe and healthy climate for our kids and future generations.

BC’s latest climate report confirms that the province will fail to meet its legislated emissions reduction goals for 2025 and 2030. Despite legislation mandating a 16% cut in emissions by 2025, the province has seen less than a 3% decline. For 2030, BC is forecast to meet just half of its 40% goal. This is a profound betrayal of our kids and future generations, whose lives and livelihoods will depend on the planet we’re failing to protect today.

Budget 2026 must acknowledge that younger and future Canadians are being left to shoulder the growing risks and costs of climate inaction and commit to reclaiming a leadership role for the province on climate action and accountability. That includes renewing CleanBC, ensuring a stringent industrial carbon price, and implementing other policies that will keep ambitious climate targets within reach.

6. Hold the BC government accountable for supporting people of all ages to thrive by creating An Act to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Present and Future Generations.

Legislation will ensure future budgets – and future governments – act like good ancestors, guiding our province towards a future where all generations can thrive and prosper. The Act will:

• Empower governments to make policy and budget decisions that promote wellbeing for all generations.
• Establish a minister, commissioner and advisory body to keep BC accountable and on course.
• Embed the long-term thinking needed for effective solutions to the housing, medical care, climate and debt challenges we face today.