About $778 million have been planned to be extracted from the Insurance Corp. of B. C. over the next three years for general revenue by the B. C. Government. Insurance companies have to keep enough money on hand so that they are able to deal with unforeseen events such as major losses from investments.

"What we are saying is that ICBC is overcapitalized on the optional insurance side, and we're saying that is funding that should be transferred to the shareholder", said Finance Minister Colin Hansen on Wednesday.

It was made public in the provincial budget on Tuesday that ICBC has to transfer $487 million to the province in 2010, $144 million in 2011 and in 2012 $147 million.

"If ICBC was a private company it would be quite appropriate for some of that profit to be returned to the shareholder, but ICBC is not a private company, it's a Crown corporation and it has historically been meant to run at a not-for-profit basis", said David Black, Vice-President of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Local 378.

Public Affairs Bureau has a $26.4million budget in service for the coming year, which is up from $25.8 million for this year.