B.C. Finance Minister Carole James expects to lay out the extent of the COVID-19 impact on the province鈥檚 economy this week, but how she will deploy a $1.5 billion relief fund will likely have to wait until August.

James is preparing to provide an update on the coronavirus pandemic鈥檚 effects on B.C. July 14. It will set out the progress of the province鈥檚 relief efforts for individuals and businesses, and include a range of financial forecasts about what the future holds for the B.C. economy.

But the $1.5 billion in borrowed money held in reserve for a recovery plan will not be finalized until after a six-week public consultation that runs until July 21, with analysis after that.

鈥淵es, we will have additional measures that will come later, after our consultation occurs,鈥� James told reporters at the B.C. legislature July 13.

Many of the government鈥檚 measures are already in place, such as tax payment deferrals and reduced business school tax, plus the gradual lifting of pandemic restrictions on business and public activities. With the $1.5 billion recovery fund left from the $5 billion emergency appropriation voted by MLAs, the cost will be enormous.

鈥淚鈥檝e tabled legislation that says for the next three years we will not balance the budget. We will in fact have deficits,鈥� James said. 鈥淏ut each and every year that鈥檚 going to have to be looked at. We鈥檙e going to have to see where the economic recovery is occurring. I鈥檓 afraid it鈥檚 a challenging time, and you鈥檒l see that in some of the statistics tomorrow, when it comes to economic forecasters who have a wide range of what they anticipate could be coming, because of the uncertainty that鈥檚 there for, not British Columbia but in fact for Canada and the world.鈥�

B.C. Liberal MLAs have called for faster action, and leader Andrew Wilkinson has sent a series of letters to Premier John Horgan with possible ways to use the relief money. Among those was declaring a sales tax holiday for struggling businesses, rather than just allowing them to defer sending in the sales tax they collect on transactions.

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