B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen said he wants to increase the province's competitiveness and build on the momentum of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games as he announced the provincial budget Tuesday.

"We are enhancing support for B.C.'s families, meeting our financial targets, maintaining our commitments to health and education, and we are on track to return to balanced budgets in 2013," Hansen said.

While health and education get a funding boost, funding in other ministries will shrink. Resource ministry budgets, for instance, are being slashed by more than $300 million.

And at least 3,500 jobs will be eliminated over three years, primarily through attrition.

Some homeowners with children will be able to defer their property taxes, according to the budget. The province also announced additional funding for child-care programs and money to enhance sports and the arts.

The province is forecasting a deficit of $1.7 billion this year.

And the total provincial debt is forecast to be $47.8 billion.

Health and education

Hansen says the government will increase overall health spending by $2 billion by 2012, but people will have to pay more in Medical Service Premiums to help cover the costs.

Revenue from the harmonized sales tax, which takes effect this summer, will also go to support health care, the province said.

Education spending is going up by $140 million dollars.

The province is sticking with a plan to introduce voluntary full-day kindergarten for five-year-olds beginning in September.

It will be available to more than half of B.C.'s eligible students this September and to every five-year-old in B.C. by September 2011.

Families and youth

The property tax deferral program begins July 1 and applies to families with children under 18 and who have at least 15 per cent equity in their homes.

Those eligible will be able to defer all or part of the unpaid portion of their property taxes. Interest on deferred taxes will be charged the prime lending rate.

The budget provides an additional $26 million over three years to support child-care programs that assist low- and moderate-income families.

Sports and arts

In an effort to build on the momentum of the 2010 Winter Games, the province said it will spend $60 million over three years to support the arts and youth sports.

The money will go towards after-school programs, coach development, travel costs for school teams and the creation of new regional sport academies.

Job creation

The province said $5.3 billion has been committed to more than 850 accelerated capital projects that will generate and protect about 34,000 construction jobs over the life of the projects.

Over the next three years, capital spending on schools, hospitals, roads hydro-electric projects and other infrastructure projects is expected to total $20.7 billion.

Mixed reaction

The president of the Certified General Accountants of B.C., John Pankratz, calls it a good budget, while Bernard Magnan, an economist with the Vancouver Board of Trade, says the budget shows the province is prepared to take on the future.

Janice Roper with Deloitte and Touche says the budget is focused on keeping B.C. business competitive, and the harmonized sales tax is a big part of that because manufacturers and other industries will save money with the tax.

But BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair said it's a joke for Finance Minister Colin Hansen to try to dress up the HST as a good thing by saying the revenue will go to health care.

BC Teachers Federation president Irene Lanzinger said she's worried that school districts will see less money for special needs students because the funds are being rolled into one block instead of being separated out for specific needs.

Environmentalists and seniors are also unhappy with the budget.

Matt Horne of the Pembina Institute said the government's decision to invest in the oil and gas industry contradicts its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2020.

And Gudrun Langol of the Council of Senior Citizen Organizations of B.C. said seniors may have to sign up to be movie extras because tax breaks are going to that industry while seniors will see little help from the budget.

With files from The Canadian Press