King's PCs plan a marathon midnight run to pass P.E.I. budget
CBC
P.E.I.'s Progressive Conservative government is planning to have MLAs sit as late as midnight each night for the rest of the week, in an effort to pass the provincial operating budget by 11:59 p.m. on Friday.
This would mark a significant change from the way budget debate in P.E.I. has been conducted in the past, made possible by a rule change put on the books three years ago.
The move had opposition leaders scratching their heads Tuesday.
"At first I was bewildered. Why would they do this?" said Opposition Leader Hal Perry. "And still I don't have any reasonable explanation."
"It seems to me like a very extreme measure. I have yet to have any sort of clear reason as to why this is needed," said Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.
"Like, what's the rush?"
The rush, according to government house leader Matthew MacKay, is to get government dollars flowing to organizations waiting for funding.
"Today being June 13, and realizing that we still don't have a budget passed, we're a quarter through the year and a lot of the programs and non-profits are waiting on their money," MacKay told reporters.
MacKay also said there are a number of cabinet ministers, including the premier, environment minister and transportation minister, who will be away for parts of next week on provincial business.
This year's budget was tabled later than usual because of the election campaign leading up to the April 3 provincial election.
P.E.I.'s fiscal year starts April 1 each year, but an annual budget has never been passed before that in modern times.
On Tuesday, Perry was able to list examples of when Island budgets weren't passed until July.
In 2019, another election year, the budget passed on July 12, and in 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic, the operating budget passed on July 14.
Until a new budget is passed by the legislature, spending is supposed to proceed on a status quo basis based on the approval MLAs provided for the previous year's budget.
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