As part of my role as elected board chair for the Greater Victoria Public Library, I’ve been working with library leaders across the province advocating for increased provincial funding for public libraries.
The Province’s annual funding for public libraries has remained at approximately $14 million since 2010. While it has provided some one-time grants since then, its ongoing contribution has not increased. After 16 years of rising costs and population growth, that amounts to a significant cut in real terms, leaving local governments to cover more of the cost.
In 2009, provincial funding covered approximately 5.2% of GVPL’s budget. In 2026, it covered 2.7%.
I was recently interviewed on CBC Radio’s on the Coast about library funding from the province:
Minister Boyle was interviewed this morning to respond:
The provincial government has a long history of downloading costs on to Local Governments- most often by increasing requirements that municipalities must implement, but sometimes by reducing grants and direct transfers like this. I intend to work with colleagues across the province to push back on this- and to ask that when governments increase expectations on us, they match it with increased funding to support those asks.