Resource person: Pam Petrie

Description:

This short six-hour course will explore the following topics:

The meaning of government deficits and public debt, why they matter, their advantages and disadvantages, and how they can be managed.
The role of the BC Government’s Treasury Board, its relationship to Cabinet and other Cabinet committees, how financial decisions are made, and the provincial budget process.
Understanding key provincial financial documents, including BC’s Annual Budget, the Estimates, Quarterly Reports, and the Public Accounts.
Significant time will also be devoted to participant questions, discussion, and related topics of interest identified during the course.

Instructor: Gord Enemark has a Masters in Economics from the University of Victoria and was an Executive Director at BC's Treasury Board Staff for over a decade and at the Ministry of Housing for almost five years. His main responsibilities were analyzing and managing complex financial decisions for presentation to the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board regarding operating program requests and capital project approvals, in addition to managing the expenditure component of the annual budget process and helping to write the budget document. He subsequently led the development of the government's current housing plan, "Homes for BC," as well as the new 2023 legislation governing Short Term Rentals in BC. He previously taught introductory economics at a community college for five years. Gord lives in Victoria and is now happily retired!

Mandatory membership(s):

• Volunteer Membership 2026-27
• Life Membership
• Individual Membership 2026-27

Available spots: 20 out of 20

Price: $33.00 Taxes not included

Notes: The instructor will distribute links the prior to the course to publicly available published documents of relevance, primarily from the BC Ministry of Finance website.

Prerequisites: None

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