Tag: Public Accounts

Budget surplus created by health care delays, and restraint

When the Liberals unveiled the latest Public Accounts yesterday showing an apparent budget surplus of $150 million for 2016-7, the opposition parties went straight to health care. Why, they asked, is the government running a surplus while Nova Scotians are unable to get the health services they need? And as NDP leader Gary Burrill said in a news release, a good chunk of the surplus is thanks to under-spending by the Department of Health and Wellness. As Burrill pointed out, despite the fact that many Nova Scotians can’t get a family doctor or timely access to specialists or surgical...

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Public Accounts contradict Liberal gloom and doom

When Nova Scotia Finance Minister Randy Delorey summoned public sector union leaders last month to tell them about the government’s austerity-driven “new approach to collective bargaining” he had a tough act to follow – himself. Less than three weeks before brow-beating union leaders with tales of impending fiscal doom, the very same Delorey had released the Public Accounts for 2014-15. Those audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2015 told quite a different yarn from the one spun to the unions. Highlights include: The deficit or the last fiscal year was $144 million, $135 million lower than...

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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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