Finance Minister Graham Steele says he appreciates the options local residents have provided to help the province out of deficit.
Steele was in Stellarton last week for one of his series of consultations in communities around the province.
They featured table groups where ideas were discussed among residents last Thursday evening at the Museum of Industry, and among business people and professionals Friday morning at the Holiday Inn Express.
“The province is facing some challenges, and we just happen to be the chief stewards of your money,” Steele said. “We think it’s very important to engage the province in these challenges. There is not just one way forward. There are many ways forward.”
Pamphlets were distributed showing pie charts of the provincial spending devoted toward health, education, community services and transportation, and where its revenues come from to pay for it.
In recent years, the rise in spending has begun to outpace revenues in a way that has placed the province in a structural deficit, which means current trends show expenses exceeding revenues by $525 million in the current fiscal year and by $1.4 billion in three years.
Solutions given by a panel appointed by the province include cutting expenses, raising taxes, growing the economy or a combination of all three, Steele said.
“No one thing will close the gap,” he said. “We have to do all of them, but we’re asking people what combination will work.”
Ideas ranged from amalgamating Pictou County’s six municipalities to combining Nova Scotia’s 13 universities to form a University of Nova Scotia as part of a thrust to invest more in youth and entice more young people to come and stay in Nova Scotia.
There was also support for encouraging more young people from Nova Scotia and elsewhere to advance their skills level at universities and community colleges to build the critical mass of labour the province will need as more Baby Boomers retire.
“Nova Scotians have many ideas,” Steele said. “It’s not ideas we lack. It’s money. It’s no good to have good ideas. We need the best. We don’t have the money to make mistakes.”
During the Thursday session, table group participant Leo MacKenzie said the province needs to manage its departments better.
His remarks reflected participants’ comments the government needs to achieve in order to eliminate the duplication of services by ensuring that different parts of its bureaucracy work together.
“I don’t believe people are the problem; management is the problem,” he said. “This government has a chance to be a real change agent.”
The general consensus from both table group sessions called for the government to endure deficits for the next two years and balance its budget over the next three to five years.
One suggestion included establishing a web site posting meaningful options.
Steele was also asked why the Dexter government went along with the $340 million the previous government allocated to universities before introducing the 2009-2010 budget that preceded last spring’s election.
The money fulfilled a promise by the Tories under former Premier Rodney MacDonald.
He said it was money promised over time to the universities, but it made more sense to get the money off the province’s books in the 2010-11 fiscal year.