It was hard to find any numbers worth bragging about in Finance Minister Brenda Bailey’s latest economic update Tuesday.

The economy? Showing signs of weakness. Revenues? Down, with slumping taxes and natural resources. Expenses? Up, under ever-growing health-care pressures. Employment? Slowing. Population? Growing. Consumer spending? Stumbling. Housing starts? Stalled. Global trade? Risky. And on and on it went.

The bottom line: B.C.’s record deficit projection of $7.91 billion in the pre-election budget is $1.5 billion further into the red, putting the province on the path for a super-duper-record deficit this year of $9.4 billion.

“There are challenges, without question, ahead of us,” said Bailey, a month into her new portfolio. “And I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on those challenges.”

Challenges indeed. B.C.’s economic growth was revised downward to 0.9 per cent — which makes it the lowest in all of Canada, according to a TD Bank economic analysis released the same day.

Not quite what voters heard the BC NDP say during the election.

“We have, among big provinces, the fastest GDP growth in Canada,” Premier David Eby said in mid-October, while on the campaign trail.

“It doesn’t matter if you look at last year, since the........

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