B.C. throne speech full of tough talk on tariffs, but what else?

The B.C. government is getting set to battle a brewing United States trade war, but what about previous provincial priorities like affordability and housing?

Tuesday’s throne speech kicked off the latest Legislative session in Victoria, focused on tariffs threatened by the Trump administration and filled with World War Two imagery and tough talk about protecting B.C.’s sovereignty.

“It set a tone that we are not dealing with politics as usual and the threats coming from our neighbour to the south have to be treated as a real risk to B.C.’s continued prosperity,” said UBC political scientist Stuart Prest.

“We saw that with the invocation of imagery and actions from World War Two and previous eras of high threat to the country. There’s a heightened awareness of the stakes involved.”

Prest says there will be more details in the NDP government’s upcoming provincial budget but there is a sense, even prior to the throne speech, of changing government priorities.

“We are in a period of flux and review where the government is considering what expenditures are necessary and what expenditures can perhaps be dispensed with — things that would be nice to have but are not need-to-have things, such as grocery rebates or middle-class tax cuts,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.

Prest feels Premier David Eby’s government will instead focus on funding that will help diversify the economy in ways that lessen British Columbia’s exposure to the United States while providing relief to industries that could be hit hard by tariffs.

But Prest would like to hear more about how the government plans to fund previous priorities.

“Concerns about affordability, daycare, and housing have not gone away. How much of that spending will stick around, and how much are we going to see a new kind of normal?” he questioned.

“Is the government considering implementing a kind of fiscal conservatism to try to fund the response efforts? More details on that would give a better sense of where the government’s priorities are.”

Prest says that should come on March 4 when the NDP government is set to release its provincial budget.

“We wait for the next piece to fall in a couple of weeks and we have that final indication of where the province is heading fiscally.”

With files from Anthony Atanasov.