The BC Government’s Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services has set out on their annual pre-budget consultation tour of B.C., hearing from stakeholder groups about what they want to see in the 2016-17 BC Budget. Spoiler alert: most groups want to see a lot more of your money spent.

Many of these causes and ideas are wonderful, but governing is about priorities. Fiscal restraint is absolutely vital. Over the next few weeks, we will post a running tab of the amount of requests this committee receives. Some cost estimates will come from the groups themselves; others will be guestimates.

Your CTF, by the way, is scheduled to present to this committee at 11:50 a.m., Tuesday, October 13, at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel in Surrey. Rest assured we WON’T be asking government to spend more money.

• After 5 days, the grand total: $9,939,425,000
• NEW! On Day 5, they received $70,200,000 in requests.
• On Day 4, they received $6,288,000,000 in requests.
• In the second half of their meetings on Day 3, they received $719,425,000 in requests.
• In the first half of their meetings on Day 3, they received $384,500,000 in requests.
• In the second half of their meetings on Day 2, they received $937,500,000 in requests.
• In the first half of their meetings on Day 2, they received $1,234,800,000 in requests.
• On Day 1, the committee had already received $305,000,000 in funding requests.

Here’s the Day 5 breakdown:

Day 5 - Monday, Sept. 28, Delta

• YouthCo wants mandatory HPV vaccinations for boys. Cost mentioned $4 million.
• The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC wants $10 a day daycare. Already included this request in a previous meeting.
• ViaSport BC wants their funding restored. Amount mentioned: $1.7 million.
• Clean Energy Canada wants increases to the carbon tax, a clean economy fund, and a clean vehicle fund. The carbon tax was previously costed, but we’ll add $5 million for vehicles.
• Prospera Credit Union wants to keep the credit union tax break. Already costed.
• The BC Lung Association wants more anti-smoking programs. Let’s ballpark $5 million.
• Decoda Literacy Solutions wants more money for community literacy -  $2.5 million.
• The BC Principals and Vice-Principals Association wants more funding for education. Already costed.
• The Richmond School Board wants more funding for education. Already costed.
• The Rick Hansen Institute wants more integration of care for people with injuries. Let’s put a pricetag at $2 million.
• The Walk-In Clinics of BC want to remove the cap on their services and hundreds more nurse practitioners. Let’s peg this at $50 million.