To the editor.
It’s time to set the facts straight about my government’s investment in the future of Nova Scotia.
Recently, the opposition parties and others have accused us of being financially irresponsible. That is simply not true.
We have delivered six balanced budgets in a row. We will have another one in a few weeks. This year we became the first government in many years to actually reduce the debt through the budget process. We are putting more than 136 million dollars on the debt. In addition to this, we have committed to putting a minimum of 70 percent of any crown share money on the debt. We don’t know how much this will be, but expect it will be significant. Again, we are paying attention to the debt.
Year end spending is not new. It’s done by all governments, every year. Much has been made of the fiscal policy of past conservative governments. You may be interested to know that since 1999, the Government of Nova Scotia’s supplemental appropriations have averaged about 230 million dollars a year. This year falls in that range. When putting together the budget, we use conservative estimates. If that means we have extra money at the end of the year, so be it. A much bigger problem would be to manage so that you ended with an unexpected deficit.
While the debt is a priority, it’s not the only priority for the people of Nova Scotia, or for my government.
Let’s look at where the majority of the revenue is going.
-165 million dollars is going to universities and students.
We signed a three year memorandum of understanding with the province’s universities. This will mean tuition is frozen for another three years.
We are also extending a bursary program that will see each Nova Scotia student attending a Nova Scotiatheir tuition. That number will rise to over 1200 dollars by the end of the agreement. university receive 761 dollars to be used towards reducing
Last fall in the legislature the NDP education critic asked government when it was going to invest in Nova Scotia students. Now we have made a firm commitment to those students, and the NDP leader is accusing us of squandering money. You can’t have it both ways.
-26 million dollars is going to infrastructure.
We have an infrastructure deficit of 8 billion dollars. While we have to pay down our debt, we have to address the needs of our roads and buildings.
Last fall in the legislature, MLAs from both opposition parties called for infrastructure improvements in various parts of the province. Now that we are making those improvements, the leaders of both parties call us irresponsible. Again, you can’t have it both ways.
-20 million dollars is going to economic development.
This creates jobs. For example some of this funding was invested in Minas Pulp and Power. This is a Nova Scotia company that employees 180 people. This commitment, along with a significant investment by the company will maintain those jobs, and help create even more work.
Last fall, one NDP MLA questioned our economic development minister about job creation in rural Nova Scotia. We are using this money to create and maintain jobs. Again, the NDP leader seems to have a different agenda that some of his MLAs.
-15 million dollars is going to Service Nova Scotia.
Much of this money is being used for a first responders program. This is money for our volunteer fire departments. Some of them will use the money to buy equipment that will save lives. Others will upgrade fire stations. We believe the people who put their time and effort into protecting Nova Scotians are worthy of this investment. Our critics apparently don’t agree with that.
-12 million is going to Health Promotion and Protection.
This money is going to help pay for the Canada Summer Games and an investment in the Mainland Common in Halifax. We have made safer, healthy communities a priority. This is an example of how serious we are about that commitment.
Our critics are apparently against these types of investments–and these are investments. They are investments in our future, and in our economy and in our people.
It’s also important to look at where this criticism is coming from. The last time the Liberals were in office, they had a deficit budget. Now they talk of fiscal responsibility.
Every time the New Democrats raise an issue, they suggest spending more money as a way of fixing it. Thankfully, they aren’t in charge of our finances. Make no mistake, given the promises they make, there is no way they could balance the budget. We’d be back in deficit and the debt would be growing.
Leadership is about making tough choices.
When our revenues went up in the last quarter of the year, and the numbers came in over the past couple of weeks, we had a choice to make. Confident in the fact that we are meeting our aggressive debt reduction strategy, we decided to invest in other important areas. I’m confident we made the right choice. It was thethe right choice for the people of Nova Scotia. right choice for government, but more importantly, it was
Rodney MacDonald
Nova Scotia Premier
