N.S. election call depends on opposition budget support: premier
Last Updated: Friday, April 24, 2009 | 9:55 AM ET
CBC News
Nova Scotia's opposition parties could get a chance to bring down the government before it tables a spring budget when the legislature resumes sitting next week.
If the Liberals and NDP vote against the budget, to be released May 1, Premier Rodney MacDonald warned that construction projects worth millions of dollars under the government's stimulus package would not proceed this year.
Voters would blame the opposition parties for the delay, said both MacDonald and Finance Minister Jamie Muir.
"If the oppositions both come out the day after we introduce the budget and suggest they they're not supporting it, that means the capital stimulis plan will not only be slowed down, it will be put on hold," said Muir. "That's going to have an impact on thousands of Nova Scotians, on their jobs. This is not the time to have an election."
Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said voters won't be swayed by that statement.
"This is, once again, this premier playing politics. What he is attempting to say is it is the fault of the opposition parties," said McNeil. "The problem here is this government has been unwilling or unable to respond in a timely manner to this crisis. It is our responsibility to review the budget when it comes into the house of assembly, and we will do that."
Opposition Leader Darrell Dexter won't commit to supporting a budget he said would have had more economic impact if it had been introduced earlier.
"The person who is responsible for the infrastrucure package and it's arrival, or non-arrival, is the premier of the province," said Dexter. "He is the one who is decided to have the last budget tabled in the country, so it's their government that has to take full responsibility."
If the opposition parties don't accept pass the budget, MacDonald said, he might decide to drop the writ himself so the Conservatives would have more control over the exact date of the next election.
The party is nearly three years into a minority government that's behind in the polls.
Change to budget definition in the works
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are working on separate legislation that would allow them to change the definition of a balanced budget, said Cecil Clarke, government house leader.
The move became necessary when the government failed to meet a $106-million debt payment for 2008-09 in order to use surplus funds for post-secondary education.
The so-called "enabling legislation" has to be introduced before the budget, as a matter of procedure, said Clarke. He added it will be "one of the first items of business" after the house opens.
Both the NDP and Liberals have already said they won't support a bill that changes the Finance Act to keep the government out of deficit.
