British Columbia business leaders call for PST expansion to be scrapped

VICTORIA — A coalition of business leaders says British Columbia’s government must scrap the planned expansion of provincial sales tax to a range of professional services, saying it will depress economic growth and send business to other provinces.

Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, says the business community is “vehemently opposed” to the PST expansion on services like engineering and geoscience services, because it raises costs and discourages investments as B.C. faces tariffs and other economic challenges.

Anderson, whose organization gave last week’s B.C. budget a D grading, says the government never discussed the expansion during pre-budget consultations.

She says the government doesn’t have a revenue problem, but a spending problem, in the face of a “skyrocketing deficit” forecast to reach more than $13 billion next fiscal year.

The proposed expansion of the PST is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1 and the government says it will align B.C. with other jurisdictions.

The demand to ditch the PST expansion came during the news conference in Vancouver that included the leaders of several industry associations, including Mining Association of B.C. president Michael Goehring, who says the tax change is “one step forward, two steps back” for his industry.

He says that while the government has rightly identified mining as a source of future economic growth, there is a disconnect between the rhetoric and actions like raising the PST, which will have “huge unintended consequences” on the industry.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 24, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press