A new fiscal update has bumped up the province’s projected surplus for the 2018-19 year from $1.4 million to $4.4 million.
Finance Minister Health MacDonald tabled the update in the legislature Friday morning. The surplus is partly due to higher than anticipated revenue from corporate income tax, sales tax and personal income tax. The province has estimated revenue will increase by $30.3 million more than projections.
The update follows an update to the province’s 2017-2018 operating budget, which increased the province’s surplus from $1.2 million to $75 million.
Expenditures in this year’s fiscal update, however, have also been increased in healthcare and education. Healthcare expenditures increased by $12.9 million over last year, largely due to increases of in-province and out-of-province medical services, hospital costs and pharmacy costs. Expenditures for the P.E.I. Agricultural Insurance Corporation are projected to increase by $13 million as a result of the difficult growing season for farmers. Family and Human Services also saw an increase in expenditures of $3.1 million related to new poverty issues.
“P.E.I.'s economy has seen solid economic growth over the last number of years. It has expanded every year since 2008 - the only jurisdiction to do so," MacDonald said in the legislature on Friday.
MacDonald said the economy has grown by 3.5 per cent in 2017, while labour income grew by 4.1 per cent.
“More people are employed now on P.E.I. than at any time in our history,” MacDonald said.
Opposition member Steven Myers criticized the update, arguing that a number of areas have been neglected by the MacLauchlan government despite the surging economy. Myers specifically raising the state of roads near Georgetown, the lack of passing lanes in Kings County, healthcare shortfalls and the shortage of skilled tradespeople.
“This Island deserves a government that knows how to govern during the good times and it’s not them,” Myers said.
Green MLA Hannah Bell said the tabling of the fiscal update contributed to openness and transparency. She expressed hope that the province’s practice of issuing special warrants for larger-than-expected expenditures could be avoided, and that estimates and the associated budgets be updated during the expenditure period.
The province’s practice of issuing special warrants was raised as a point of concern in the most recent auditor general’s report.
"We look forward to having a broader conversation on how the expenditures and surplus available will be spent," Bell said.
Fiscal update available here.
