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VICTORIA — A top investment firm continues to sound alarm bells about B.C. Hydro‘s finances, saying the Crown electricity provider’s rising debt level is a risk to B.C.’s credit rating.

Moody’s Investors Service reconfirmed B.C.’s AAA credit rating Monday, in a report Premier Christy Clark and Jobs Minister Shirley Bond both quickly trumpeted as vindication of their jobs plan to diversify the economy.

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“It recognized British Columbia’s fiscal prudence and also its focus on diversifying our economy,” said Bond. “That’s exactly what the jobs plan was meant to do.”

Moody’s report noted: “The large and diverse economy provides the province with a large base on which to apply a productive tax base, ensuring that provincial revenues are not strongly impacted by a decline in one particular sector.”

Clark said her newly refocused jobs targets will include support for rural communities and “getting to yes on economic development projects” like the $9-billion Site C dam.