B.C’.s Finance Minster says ICBC continues to be a major risk to the province’s finances after a lower than expected second quarter surplus.

Carole James says the impacts of BC losing a Supreme Court case to limit the use of medical experts is not reflected in her update.

She says ICBC is looking at all options to try and mitigate the impacts of that court decision.

“Until we get that information in and we take a look at what savings they may project, we won’t be able to account for how much that’s going to take out of the budget,” she said. “$400 million is the number that I’ve continued to utilize as an impact of the court case, but if we look at other savings, that’s obviously going to reduce down.”

She says that’s because that $400-million is loss and not additional revenue.

The province is forecasting a surplus of $148 million – $31 million lower than their first quarter projections. And James was asked if the province will use contingency funds to balance the books, if needed.

“That’s the worst case scenario, no question. It’s why we’ve continued to keep the forecast allowance at $500-million,” she added. “But I’m not going to second guess what kinds of directions the Attorney General will come forward with around whether it needs legislation or not.”

“That work is still being done and we’ll await that work.”

In addition to the $500-million forecast allowance, the province increased its contingency funding by $100-million to $550-million to mitigate against potential risks to the budget like ICBC and the forestry sector.

After over $1-billion in losses last year, ICBC was supposed to essentially break even with a $50 million loss this year. That loss is now pegged at $91 million.