N.S. Tories accused of tabling piecemeal budget
Last Updated: Thursday, April 16, 2009 | 5:26 PM ET
The Canadian Press
The opposition on Thursday accused Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald of rolling out a piecemeal provincial budget by making pricey spending announcements in the run-up to an expected election call this spring.
Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said separate education and health funding measures announced earlier in the day amount to nothing more than political posturing before a trip to the polls.
The Tories should release a proper budget instead of merely rolling out funding plans to curry favour with voters, McNeil said.
"Doing it piecemeal is no way to be running this province," McNeil said to reporters. "This is a government that clearly does not have a plan to move forward."
MacDonald dismissed the accusation, saying that announcing the funding ahead of a full fiscal plan would allow health and education officials to plan their spending and set priorities.
"We have done this in the past — provided these numbers to our school boards," he said. "It provides for better decision-making and it's appropriate given some of the time constraints that they're under."
When asked why he wouldn't release a complete budget if hospitals and schools need financial figures, the premier said the budget was simply taking more time to prepare.
The opposition criticism has been levelled against the Tories repeatedly in recent weeks following a series of multimillion-dollar spending announcements on everything from school construction and renovation to infrastructure and road improvements.
NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said the moves smack of "election-style campaigning."
"I have never seen a government deliver a budget by press release," he said.
"This is what this government appears to be doing rather than simply coming to the House of Assembly and delivering a budget in a timely fashion so we can do a proper analysis and ask the appropriate questions."
The government announced Thursday that school boards across Nova Scotia would get a funding increase of almost $45 million this year, including $15.9 million for salary costs incurred by boards last year that's been added to their base funding.
An additional $28.9 million is for increased salary and operating costs in 2009-10.
Education Minister Judy Streatch defended the salary raises at a time of declining enrolments, crumbling school infrastructure and overall economic hardship.
"Teachers do a phenomenal job so I think we can all be appreciative and thankful that we've got the phenomenal resource we have," she said.
The Education Department said the additional money will allow the eight boards to maintain programming and pay their bills, but Ron Marks of the Nova Scotia School Boards Association said the boards will continue to be challenged to balance their budgets.
In health, all nine health authorities and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax will receive a four per cent increase to operational or non-wage budgets. They will also receive full funding for wage and benefit increases.
Health Minister Karen Casey said there will be another $10 million for medical equipment.
