Everything old is new again \u2014 including the first budget tabled by the first New Democractic Party government in the history of Atlantic Canada.
Graham Steele, Nova Scotia\u2019s new finance minister (and its former finance critic), unveiled his government\u2019s fiscal thinking last month. It was remarkably reminiscent of what the former Tory government had introduced last spring. Indeed, the budget is a replica, according to the finance minister, who admitted that \u201cthis budget is substantially the same as the budget introduced last May 4.\u201d
What Steele failed to mention was that it was the same budget that ultimately brought Rodney MacDonald\u2019s minority Tory government to its knees. The NDP simply refused to support a budget that was not balanced, as required by law in Nova Scotia. The Tories were going to circumvent this legal thorn in their side by amending the Provincial Finance Act. Now, it appears the NDP will have to do the same.
Like the government before it, Premier Darrell Dexter\u2019s NDP government will, in essence, take from the black ink to appease the red. This will mean borrowing money previously used to pay down the provincial debt in the wake of the very generous Atlantic accord, a 2008 financial windfall from the federal government that saw more than $850 million in royalty payments for offshore oil and gas flow into local coffers.
\u201cWe know for sure we have to [change the balanced-budget legislation] for last year and this year,\u201d Steele says. \u201cWe have to change it, and we have to change it with a retroactive \u2018in force\u2019 date.\u201d
What a difference a few months make \u2014 and not only for the new, and no longer outraged, NDP government. Nova Scotians, indignant over the Tory plan to shift money from debt reduction to deficit management, supported the NDP\u2019s move to bring down the Tories and continued their support at the polls, at which the NDP won 31 of 52 seats.
Common sense would indicate similar anger would erupt in the wake of the NDP\u2019s dusted-off Tory budget. Not so. It appears the \u201cR\u201d words have taken their toll: recession and reality. Although the NDP is getting some grief for their obvious backpedalling, there is a weary acceptance that a balanced budget is unrealistic \u2014 at least, for now.
In fact, there was little surprise when the new government handed down its \u201cnew\u201d budget. The NDP has been savvy in keeping financial concerns at the forefront and making it clear the Tories had not been completely up front with respect to the financial lay of the land. Before the NDP budget was tabled at the end of September, supporters and critics alike were predicting a deficit budget, often endorsing the move.
Donald Savoie, one of four economic experts the NDP has named to a special advi-sory panel created to provide direction to the listing ledger, warned it would be \u201cunwise\u201d for the government to try to balance the budget in the midst of the current fiscal reality, which is bleak at best.
According to a report on the state of the province\u2019s finances prepared by Deloitte & Touche LLP<\/b>, Nova Scotia is facing steadily escalating costs. In the past, \u201cunique, short-term, revenue sources\u201d held these escalating expenses at bay. Now, however, the money from such sources, which includes lucrative offshore petroleum revenue, is drying up.
Steele says the path the province is on is simply not sustainable. Nova Scotians are accepting him at his word \u2014 for now.
There is an expectation, though, that the razzmatazz will come. It may be buried in expert panels and official reports, but Nova Scotians are clearly looking for more from their historic new government. \tIE<\/b>
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