Balanced Budget Within Reach: LeBlanc

Nova Scotia’s fiscal plan is on track and the province is positioned to balance its budget next year, Finance Minister Neil LeBlanc told a Halifax audience today.

The minister said the province will finish 2000-2001 "with a substantially lower deficit" than the $268 million projected last April.

"Financially, Nova Scotia is not out of the woods yet, but we can see the daylight," Mr. LeBlanc told a lunchtime meeting of the Metropolitan Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

The current year’s deficit will be lower, largely because the Nova Scotia economy performed well throughout 2000. Economic growth means 11,000 more Nova Scotians were working in 2000 than in 1999 and consumer spending was up by four per cent. Those factors had a positive impact on government’s revenues from income taxes and sales taxes.

As a result, Mr. LeBlanc said government is in a position, in the 2001-2002 budget, to make strategic investments in health care and in areas that benefit children.

The minister said these will further the province’s long-term objectives. The health investment will include information- technology systems that will help manage the future growth of health costs and support evidence-based decision-making.

Mr. LeBlanc ruled out cuts to health-care spending now and in the long-term, but reiterated the importance of managing the rate of growth in health costs.

"Our government and every clear-thinking government in Canada realizes that the objective is to manage the rate of growth of health spending down to an affordable level," said Mr. LeBlanc.

The minister said Nova Scotians can expect better financial accountability, not just from government itself, but also from the arms-length agencies boards and commissions that spend about half the government’s budget.

"We have already taken and, in the upcoming session of the legislature will take, more steps designed to make these organizations more accountable for the tax dollars they spend."