iN NUMBERS: Big provincial budget bucks headed for Kamloops, Okanagan

The provincial budget came out, and it has some big budget projects for Kelowna, Kamloops and Penticton, but Vernon didn’t get a mention.

Most of the big projects with provincial funding over the next few years are for education, housing and health care.

Here are the numbers for some big budget projects included in the 2026 budget:

• 101: Million dollars for the new 800 student Burtch Road Middle School in the Central Okanagan School District.
• 58: Million dollars. That’s the cost for the Centre for Food, Wine and Tourism at the Okanagan College Campus in Kelowna.
• 24: Million dollars are going to a 101-bed student housing building at Okanagan College in Penticton.
• 120: Million dollars. That’s how much is going to a 176 unit housing project on Bertram Street in Kelowna. It’s expected to be complete in 2029.
• 0: That’s how many times the provincial budget mentions Vernon.
• 386: Million dollars for the construction of the new cancer centre in Kamloops.
• 54: Million dollars for the controversial UBCO downtown tower project that displaced 84 residents from a neighbouring supportive housing building.
• 6: Million dollars is the cost to complete the Highway 1 Kicking Horse Canyon Project, but the project has already cost $595 million. A few million bucks more is chump change.