Tag: Fiscal austerity

Houston government sets sail without the fiscal albatross

Houston government sets sail without the fiscal albatross

Posted by | Oct 5, 2021 | , |

It’s interesting to consider how abruptly political fashions can change – how it’s all about balanced budgets until it isn’t. Take for example the recent debut of Nova Scotia’s new Progressive Conservative government. For the first time in more than two decades the new government isn’t putting on a show of recoiling in horror upon discovery of the true state of the province’s finances and issuing dire warnings of the need for urgent spending restraint. In that respect, the new PC government represents a sharp departure from the last Conservative administration that followed the shock and awe script when...

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Nova Scotia’s pre-election budget plan looks suspiciously like 2017 blueprint

Nova Scotia’s pre-election budget plan looks suspiciously like 2017 blueprint

Posted by | Apr 18, 2021 | |

Deliberation on what is likely to be Nova Scotia’s pre-election budget neared an end last week. The budget was filled with enough attractive promises to keep criticism at a low volume, but as Gary Burrill argued, what comes next is worrisome. In keeping with its pattern of departing as little as possible from the McNeil regime’s record, Ian Rankin’s government presented a budget predicting a return to operating balance in three years. But there’s a catch. It’s a plan predicated on reducing departmental expenses by over $200 million next year. And as the table shows, notional balancing of the...

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Labour bears brunt of McNeil’s eulogized tough decisions

Labour bears brunt of McNeil’s eulogized tough decisions

Posted by | Feb 15, 2021 | , |

There are lots of topics packed into the 15-minute eulogy for Stephen McNeil’s government featured in the virtual Liberal leadership convention package posted on You Tube last weekend. The video includes accolades to universal pre-primary, tax cuts, organ donation legislation as well as immigration and export growth. But relations with unionized public employees, the centrepiece of McNeil’s government, is the main theme of the propaganda piece. Ironically, the issue is never spelled out. Instead, viewers are asked to decipher – with help from a couple of still shots and superimposed text – the meaning behind a lot of talk...

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NS government has the capacity and the obligation to ‘Build Back Better’

NS government has the capacity and the obligation to ‘Build Back Better’

Posted by | Nov 29, 2020 | |

This week, in the midst of responding to an upsurge in COVID-19 infections and a housing crisis, the Nova Scotia government announced the launch of public pre-budget consultations. Unlike the previous NDP government and the feds, the McNeil Liberals have approached these consultations in recent years as pro-forma, ass-covering exercises. The process inaugurated this week looks like more of the same. According to the news release from the Finance Minister, Nova Scotians are “encouraged to submit their budget priorities by mail, email, on Twitter or by speaking with their MLA.” Whether anyone in government will pay attention to the...

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Fiscal Update wins bank’s praise but Liberals aren’t bragging

Fiscal Update wins bank’s praise but Liberals aren’t bragging

Posted by | Aug 3, 2020 | |

Well after the federal government and most other provinces reported on the impact of the pandemic on public finances the McNeil government finally got around to releasing a fiscal update last week. As will be recalled, the 2020-21 provincial budget was passed in early March but outdated within days as COVID-19 trashed all assumptions about revenues and expenditures. But although it was a long time coming, the update did not tell us a lot that is new about the state of Nova Scotia’s finances. The marquee number, a deficit of $853 million, was close to, but slightly below, the...

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Richard Starr, The man behind the Point

About Richard

RICHARD STARR has had careers as a journalist, public servant, broadcaster, political staffer and freelance policy adviser. He is author of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, a former radio and TV producer and weekly newspaper editor, and the author of three non-fiction books. Starr has lived in Dartmouth for more than 30 years.

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