N.S. government tables $14.4B budget dominated by health-care spending

The Nova Scotia government's 2023-24 budget shows major increases in tax revenue and much of it is being spent on projects related to health care.

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster tabled his government's second budget on Thursday, a document aimed at meeting the Tories' ambitious promise of fixing health care while signalling that promise will take time.

"As a growing province, we have the capacity to make significant investments in health care to fix it," he told reporters.

"This budget provides faster access to health services, delivers solutions to build the health-care workforce, offers improvements for seniors and long-term care and advances our plan to build more health-care facilities sooner."

The budget shows $14.2 billion in revenue and $14.4 billion in expenses, with a deficit of $278.9 million, an improvement on last year's estimate of $506 million. The lion's share of expenses — $6.5 billion, or 45 per cent of all government spending — will go toward health-care projects.

Driving this new spending is an increase in tax revenue of $1.5 billion, about two thirds of which comes from provincial sources. The government is seeing increased personal tax revenue as a result of more people moving to the province, and a major increase in corporate taxes. The estimate for 2023-24 is $204 million higher than the previous fiscal year, a reflection of strong corporate profits, Finance Department officials said during a briefing.

Equalization funding from Ottawa is up by $344.5 million, accounting for the majority of the $562.7 million the province is scheduled to receive from the federal government.

Department expenses are up 11.5 per cent, or $1.4 billion compared to last year. As usual, the Health and Wellness Department leads the way at $4.85 billion.

The government pointed to a variety of spending initiatives, many of which have already been announced or are continuations of existing programs. They include:

The budget includes more details about major health-care infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of the Halifax Infirmary and projects in Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

In total, those efforts will cost $275.1 million this year.

That breakdown includes $130 million for the multi-year expansion project at the Halifax Infirmary and $20 million for the site's new MRI machine. There is $14 million for the design and renovation work at the hotel the government recently purchased in Bedford to convert into a transitional care unit.

In Cape Breton, major projects include $23 million toward the new cancer care unit and $35 million for the Northside Health Complex.

There is money to maintain and expand long-term care sites and $10.7 million to help more long-term care homes provide 4.1 hours of care per resident. And while staff challenges persist in the long-term care sector, the province is budgeting $15 million for travel nurses to help fill gaps.