The audited financial statements show the Province of British Columbia ended the fiscal year with a surplus of $4.1 billion. The surplus, along with a drawdown of cash balances, allowed the Province to reduce debt by $1 billion and finance a record $3.4-billion investment in building and upgrading schools, universities, colleges, hospitals, roads and bridges to improve services and meet the needs of a growing economy.
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Online System Fast-Tracks Student Loan Payment Relief
Low-income British Columbians who want a break from repaying their student loans will know if they qualify within hours of using a new online application, rather than waiting for weeks for an answer.
Eligibility for StudentAid BC’s interest relief program is determined by the student’s family income, the size of the family, and the amount of his or her loan payments. For example, a single mother of two with a combined Canada and B.C. student loan debt of $20,000 and $234 in monthly payments could be excused from paying her B.C. student loans for up to 54 months if her income is less than $43,164 a year.
The old paper application process took at least three weeks, provided the borrower’s information was complete. However, most applications were missing vital information, and by the time borrowers had provided all of it via mail, the process typically took up to nine weeks. With the introduction of the online application, processing time is reduced to 48 hours since all necessary data must be entered first before an application can be submitted.
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Sea-to-Sky Highway Upgrade Passes Halfway Mark
Improvements to the safety and efficiency of the Sea-to-Sky Highway are now more than 50 per cent complete.
With completion of a 10-km stretch between Furry Creek and Gonzales Creek, 59 km of the 100-km highway has now been upgraded. The $600-million project, which will increase public safety with gentler curves and longer sightlines, and improve reliability and shorten travel times with more passing lanes, is on time and on budget.
The Sea-to-Sky Highway is also part of the Hydrogen Highway, a planned network of hydrogen fuel stations that will stretch from Whistler to Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and, eventually, down the west coast of North America. B.C. has signed a memorandum of understanding with California that commits to join with other jurisdictions to build a hydrogen highway from British Columbia to Baja California.
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