Budget Makes Life Better for Cape Breton Families

NOTE: A social media version of this release with a video clip is available at http://gov.ns.ca/news/smr/2011-04-05-Budget-2011/ . Photos and audio clips will be added soon.

Help for patients needing hip and knee surgery, changes to student assistance to make attending Cape Breton University more affordable, and highway improvements are some of the highlights for Cape Breton in the provincial budget today, April 5th.

"This budget builds on the province's plans to make life better for families in all regions, by investing in health care and growing the economy while living within our means," said Finance Minister Graham Steele, who tabled the 2011-12 budget at Province House.

Highlights for Cape Breton in today's budget include:

• hiring of a nurse practitioner to visit nursing homes in Cape Breton Health Authority and care for seniors where they live, saving them the stress and discomfort of a trip to hospital
• continuing nursing seats at Cape Breton University
• a new domestic violence court in Sydney, the first of its kind in Nova Scotia
• new nursing home beds in Sydney, North Sydney and Inverness
• $15.2 million for the Sydney Harbour dredging project
• helping Cape Breton's entrepreneurs by reducing the small business tax to four per cent from 4.5 per cent, the second consecutive year it has declined
• twinning a portion of Highway 125, improving the Cabot Trail and other road upgrade and paving projects
• bridge replacements in Meat Cove and area
• expanding the Schools Plus initiative into the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board
• continued and stable funding support for Eastern Counties Regional Library and Cape Breton Regional Library
• funds to renovate and improve Inverness Hospital
• funds for new and improve school facilities, including the new Ferrisview Elementary School in North Sydney, Oceanview Education Centre in Glace Bay
• better road maintenance through government chip-seal and asphalt-plant initiatives
• continued and stable funding support for local museums, such as Highland Village

Total revenues for 2011-12, including net income from government business enterprises, are estimated at $8.5 billion, a decrease of $133 million over the 2010-11 estimates.

The 2011 budget projects a deficit of $389.6 million. This is in line with the $370-million deficit anticipated in the province's four-year fiscal plan.

Total expenses for fiscal 2011-12 are budgeted at $9.3 billion, up $323.0 million from 2010-11, entirely because of reinstating university funding.

Today's budget also includes:

• investing $42.5 million to help make post-secondary education more affordable
• opening at least four new Collaborative Emergency Centres this year
• providing tax breaks, such as an increase in the basic personal amount by $250
• reducing departmental spending by $170 million
• investing $28 million to improve business productivity
• providing $7.9 million to low-income families to help make ends meet.

For more information on the 2011-12 provincial budget, visit www.gov.ns.ca