What to watch for as New Brunswick tables new budget
CBC
New Brunswick will table its latest budget Tuesday after months of warnings from Premier Susan Holt that spending in some areas will have to come down.
The budget will show how the government has chosen to make those cuts, which, according to Holt, is a necessary step to address a growing deficit.
It will also reveal what that deficit amounts to as of the end of the fiscal year, compared to the province's last estimate of $1.3 billion.
A deficit of $1.3 billion would be unprecedented for New Brunswick, and already more than double her government's projection as of last budget.
The budget will also tell us the province's net debt, and project how the deficit might look in the coming year.
How much interest the province is on the hook for as of year-end, and how much it might have to pay next year, will also be included in the budget.
Holt has asked departments to reduce their overall spending by 10 per cent — and no department is exempt.
She has also solicited public opinion on how those spending reductions should materialize.
While some of the options considered by the government were made public through an online consultation form, others — including a suggestion to close St. Thomas University and stop funding Mount Allison University — were not.
After those ideas were reported on, first by L’Acadie Nouvelle, it wasn’t long before Holt backtracked.
She promised, at first through social media messages to constituents, that the budget wouldn’t result in those post-secondary closures.
It remains to be seen whether Holt’s consultations have given the government any clarity on where it can cut with the least public impact.
It also remains to be seen whether Holt will be swayed by criticism of Tuesday’s budget, or hold fast to what the government has settled on.
The budget is a guide, and ultimately, the government can change course.
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