Battling a continuing COVID deficit, the reconfigured Liberal government delivered its first budget under Premier Iain Rankin on Tuesday, forecasting spending of $12.47 billion.
Coupled with an estimated $11.78 billion in revenue, $4.6 billion of which will come from federal transfers and payments, the government is forecasting a deficit of $584.9 million.
“Nova Scotians rose to the challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kousoulis said in introducing his budget.
Kousoulis said the budget is the first step toward a fair and prosperous future.
The province estimates that it will have spent a billion dollars on COVID-related measures by the time 2021-22 budget cycle comes to a close, $349.6 million of which has been included in this budget. Of that amount, $275.6 million will be spent in the health department, including $53.4 million for personal protection equipment and $44 million for federal safe start expenses.
Overall, the health department budget is $5.33 billion, 10.6 per cent higher than the 2020-21 budgeted amount. The government has earmarked $76.1 million for the Nova Scotia Health Authority for incremental operating expenses and $24.2 million to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine that is being provided by the federal government.
The government unwrapped a $336.5-million investment in mental health, the largest in the province’s history. That includes $1.5 million to establish the Office of Mental Health and Addictions.
“They missed an opportunity,” said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston. “Spending money is only good if you are getting results out of the money you spend. What we are saying in mental health and addictions, the biggest problem … is access to care. The people who need the programs can’t get into them, the wait lists are too long. This budget talks about new programs, new ideas when people can’t even get into the existing programs.”
Houston said the office of mental health is simply “a plan to come up with a plan.”
“That doesn’t help people,” Houston said. “There are people who need help today.”
The budget invests $1.02 billion in long-term care and home care, including $22.6 million more to act on findings of the long-term care expert panel and $8.6-million to begin a multi-year plan to replace or renovate seven nursing homes and add more than 230 beds across the province by 2025.
Not nearly good enough for NDP Leader Gary Burrill.
“There are 2,900 and some people living in shared accommodations who are waiting for new nursing homes to be opened so they can get into a place with one resident, one room, one washroom,” Burrill said. “There are 1,500 people waiting on the list to get into long-term care at all, so that is over 4,000 people and what the government has provided is a plan to build 230 and some new nursing home beds.
“This is mighty small, disappointing potatoes,” Burrill said, noting none of the 230 beds are scheduled to be available this calendar year.
Premier Rankin made climate change mitigation a major plank in his Liberal leadership campaign and championed it in the throne speech. In the budget, the Rankin government provided $26 million for new Green Fund programs, $16.4 million for infrastructure projects to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and $7.6 million for active transportation and public transit.
Marla MacLeod, program director at Ecology Action Centre, said there are signs in the budget that the government is taking the climate crisis seriously.
“However, the devil is in the details,” MacLeod said. “We are seeing investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, but we’re still seeing spending on offshore petroleum exploration and natural gas investments. There’s funding for active transportation and public transit, but it’s a mere 1.5 per cent of the spending on roads. The question we should be asking ourselves is not ‘are we spending more on green initiatives than last year?’ but rather ‘is this level of budget spending going to support the level of action needed to respond to the climate emergency, to build resilient communities, to support the well being of all residents.’ ”
The government says the budget will invest in a connected, affordable, inclusive Nova Scotia and provide support for people who need it most, including the largest single additional investment in income assistance in the province's history at $35.2 million. That amount will increase the standard household rate by $100 a month per adult.
The budget sets aside $29.1 million to provide more safe, suitable and affordable housing, $46.7 million more for programs that support adults and children with disabilities and a $15-million increase to support a more inclusive education system for all students.
“We have our own housing stock, which we are making significant investments in over the next decade to the tune of $500 million plus,” Kousoulis said in defending the housing expenditure.
Burrill said the budget demonstrates how the government is out of touch with the practical realities of people’s daily lives.
“What we have here in this budget is kind of finger foods on a napkin in areas where we really need to see the meal on the plate,” Burrill said. “Affordable housing is very much a case. We have 5,000 people on that … waiting list, and over 500 people homeless in two cities of the province and the budget today is providing for the government to open up 150 units.”
As promised, there will be no new taxes or fees and no increases in existing taxes and fees.
The $584.9-million deficit this time around comes on the heels of a $705.5-million deficit from 2020-21 but Kousoulis said the government has a plan to bring the budget back to the balance it had achieved for four consecutive years before COVID reared its pandemic head.
“In four years, Nova Scotia’s books will be balanced -- the result of strong fiscal management, prudent spending, which will allow us to invest in what is important to Nova Scotians,” said Kousoulis, the son of Greek immigrant parents and the province’s first Greek financial minister who was appropriately presenting the budget on the day celebrated as Greek Independence Day.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation praised the government for its plan to get the budget back to balance within four years.
“While the prospect of Nova Scotia’s debt hitting $21 billion is daunting, the government is taking the right steps by putting forward a plan to get back to balance,” said interim Atlantic director Renaud Brossard. “Having a concrete plan is even more important in uncertain times and it’s good to see Nova Scotia has a plan to get back on track.”
Houston said the Liberal history of balancing budgets came at a price.
“They balance the budget by withholding access to health care, they balance the budget by withholding access to addictions and mental health care,” Houston said. “Today we see more of the same, we see glossing over the problems of this province, glossing over with nice sound bites and nice words but no substance toward solving problems.”
Houston said the problem with the budget is neither over-spending or under-spending.
“I have a smart spending problem with this budget,” he said. “Taxpayer dollars are sacred and we should treat them as such.”
The budget is expected to launch the province into an election but Rankin was holding his cards close to the chest on an election call.
“We will see if we can get support from the opposition on this budget and where their priorities lie,” the premier said, adding he is just over a month into his mandate and is working on fulfilling the promises made during the Liberal leadership campaign.
