VICTORIA — Premier Christy Clark will use Metro Vancouver’s two byelections to test-drive her newest promise to voters: That her governing Liberal party is ready to return untold financial “dividends” to starved government programs and services, after several years of austerity.

If it proves successful on Feb. 2, it’s likely to be a key message in the 2017 general election as well.

But as critics point out, government’s own budgetary figures show there’s little new money in the provincial treasury to pay for any “dividends,” and what annual surpluses the government does accumulate are already promised to pay down B.C.’s growing debt.

That hasn’t stopped the premier, though, from adding the idea of loosening the purse strings to the economic themes that helped her win the 2013 election.

“Today, B.C. is a leader in Canada, with a growing and diverse economy, a balanced budget, triple-A credit rating, and globally-recognized plan to fight climate change,” Clark said in a statement after calling the byelections on Tuesday.

“We have achieved this because of the hard work of British Columbians, and because we have a plan to control spending, create opportunity today and for future generations, and return dividends to British Columbians through investments in infrastructure, health care, education, and more.”

This from a government that has spent several years curtailing the growth of spending on health care, education and the like. After several high-profile deaths of children in care, some have accused her government of starving core services of funding, including the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

The premier is only now opening the chequebook to “inoculate against the problems she’s had over the past year,” said NDP leader John Horgan.

“As we go into the (69) weeks for the election campaign, the premier is softening the ground for some expenditures that should have been made over the whole life of her government — over the last 2½ years, not just the back end,” he said. “So is it politics at play? Absolutely.”

A December report by RBC Economics projected B.C’s gross domestic product would lead the country this year with 3.1 per cent growth. Internally, the government estimates two per cent.

That’s built partly on “unsustainable house price growth,” wrote RBC. Revenue from the property transfer tax — a fee charged by government on home sales — has jumped due to rising prices and sales in Metro Vancouver’s expensive real estate market.

But B.C. has twice revised downward this year’s budget forecast, most recently projecting a $265-million surplus on a $47-billion fiscal plan. Even if the surplus grows unexpectedly — as it did last year when $184 million turned to $1.7 billion by the end of the year — Finance Minister Mike de Jong has said the money goes first to paying off B.C.’s debt.

Economic experts predict B.C. could book a larger-than-expected surplus this year, but not by much, said Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the B.C. Business Council.

“I could see there’d be a little bit more flexibility over the next couple of years, if the overall economy performs as we’re forecasting and the province keeps a tight rein on the expenditure side,” he said. “But we’re not talking multiple billions of dollars.”

Clark’s move to reopen spending comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won last fall’s federal election with a plan to boost federal spending while running several years of deficits.

Clark has refused to entertain a deficit for B.C., but admitted Trudeau picked up votes based on his optimistic promises.

“It is a delicate tight rope that the premier is trying to walk,” said Carey Doberstein, assistant professor of political science at the University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus.

“She is clearly cognizant of the interest Canadians expressed in government making increased investments in infrastructure, education and health care through the election of the Trudeau government in the fall, but is also committed to restraining government spending and balanced budgets.”

rshaw@vancouversun.com

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the wrong date for the Feb. 2 byelections. The error was inserted during the editing process.

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