As B.C. businesses face tariff uncertainty, WorkSafeBC hoards a $2 billion surplus

VICTORIA, May 28, 2025 – Small businesses should receive a rebate on WorkSafeBC’s ballooning surplus, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). According to documents recently released by WorkSafeBC, the Crown corporation is sitting on a $2 billion surplus, entirely funded by B.C. businesses.

“Despite WorkSafeBC being 141 percent funded, well above the 130 percent target, B.C. is one of the few provinces that doesn’t have a policy to give that money back to employers,” said Ryan Mitton, CFIB’s Director of Legislative Affairs for B.C. “With small business confidence at pandemic-level lows, returning a portion of this surplus to WorkSafeBC ratepayers would help small businesses fight back against U.S. tariffs and make ends meet.”

CFIB estimates that returning these excess funds could provide a B.C. small business with five employees up to $3,810. While nine of the 12 provincial workers’ compensation boards have set policies to return surplus funds to employers, only British Columbia, Quebec, and Nova Scotia do not. By contrast, Manitoba just announced a $122 million rebate this month, while Ontario provided two rebates of $2 billion each in February and April of this year. The B.C. government has also implemented refund policies at ICBC and BC Hydro, which provided rebates in both 2024 and 2025.

“If BC Hydro and ICBC can return money to customers when they're overfunded, WorkSafeBC should do the same,” said Kalith Nanayakkara, Senior Policy Analyst with CFIB. “To help small businesses, we’re calling on the province to implement a clear refund policy that triggers automatic rebates when WorkSafeBC funding rises above the target funding threshold.”

WorkSafeBC’s Board maintains a target funding threshold of 130 percent. CFIB regularly reports on the funding levels of provincial workers’ compensation boards through its research series, Funding Fairness: State of Workers’ Compensation Funding.

For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Ryan Mitton, CFIB
236-638-8518
Ryan.Mitton@cfib.ca 

About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 100,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.