MunicipalitiesFinance Minister Brenda Bailey told an annual gathering of local government representatives that it is not the deficit the people of B.C. need to worry about — it's the rapidly increasing provincial debt. But the provincial debt is projected to rise to more than $155 billion this year, then $185 billion next year and $212 billion in the 2027/28 fiscal year. "It's not unprecedented in relative terms," Lovely said of the provincial deficit. "It took us 12 years to double provincial debt from 2010 to 2022, and we're gonna double it again in four years," Williams said.