Minister Meets with National Counterparts

Fiscal imbalance, labour mobility, infrastructure and post-secondary education are among the topics at a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial finance ministers in Vancouver today, Dec. 15.

Finance Minister Michael Baker said the meeting is an opportunity to voice Nova Scotia's views on a number of important issues, including the need for the federal government to increase post-secondary education funding and strengthen the equalization program.

"In preparing for its upcoming budget, the federal government will be making decisions that can have a significant impact on the ability of provinces to meet the needs of their citizens," Mr. Baker said. "I want to make sure that the federal government addresses Nova Scotia's concerns with respect to the fiscal imbalance issue, and understands how proposed federal tax changes can seriously erode the province's revenues."

Mr. Baker said the province has been working to meet the needs of Nova Scotians and to pay down its debt.

"We've made good progress, but we still have far more demands than we have dollars," Mr. Baker said. "The decisions Ottawa makes in preparing its budget can make our job a little easier, or a whole lot harder."

He cited equalization as an example.

"Equalization still accounts for about 22 per cent of total revenues. Equalization, which was established to meet the federal government's constitutional commitment to provide all Canadians with roughly the same services at roughly the same level of taxation, must be adequately funded, and predictable over the long term."

Mr. Baker also said that the province will aggressively oppose any action that would claw back offshore accord revenues.

"Nova Scotia has a legally binding, bi-lateral agreement with the government of Canada that guarantees our offshore resources will be used to further the economic and social progress of our province. We will be insisting it honour that commitment."

The finance minister said he will also call on the federal government to begin negotiations on a host of cost-shared agreements that are about to expire.

"If the government of Canada suddenly withdraws its support for programs that it has historically helped fund, there could be a significant reduction in the level of services available to Nova Scotians," Mr. Bakers said. "I will be reminding my federal counterpart that the federal government made a commitment to address the fiscal imbalance issue, and that any increases in equalization that are financed by cutting federal support in other areas will essentially amount to a broken promise."