Friday, March 23, 2007

2007-08 Nova Scotia Budget

The Nova Scotia Budget is out. "Balanced" though it's supposed to be, spending will out pace economic growth.

Schedule 15 shows that the programs expenditures forecast for 2006-2007 is $6.495 billion. The 2007-2008 programs expenditures estimate is $6.917 billion. That's an increase of 6.5%. Meanwhile, the Nova Scotia Real GDP Growth rate is forecast to be 2.2% for both 2007 and 2008 (on p. B8).

Yesterday, the Province embarked on a "sustainability" campaign. Given that Nova Scotia's population rate is stagnant and that retirees rate is increasing, one just has to wonder about the commitment to economic sustainability.

I guess sustainable means using money from Alberta and Ontario. Sustainable off the backs of others.

Nevertheless, budgets are political documents. The Tories are in a minority position (propped up by a Liberal shell) and this might just be all they could do. It's no doubt better than what the NDP would have done.