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MOVING FORWARD
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present today the first budget of this
administration led by Premier Roger Grimes. I am also pleased to
present my first budget as Minister of Finance.
Our government is committed to change. We must be willing to create
a greater level of trust, openness and accountability so that our
people can have confidence in the work plan we have put forward.
Our commitment to a new approach extends to the budget process.
Over the past several weeks, I have spoken to and heard from many
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians through the pre-budget consultation
process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank publicly all
those who participated. I received useful advice and many valuable
insights. We believe the strength of any government initiative depends
on public input and public understanding for the decisions we make on
behalf of our people.
Engaging in meaningful public consultation demonstrates that our
government is moving forward to deal decisively with important issues
in a more open manner. In this regard, funding is provided for the
Office of the Ombudsman and a Child Advocate.
In preparing this budget, we faced different economic and fiscal
realities than those of recent years. For several years, the strong
economy saw provincial tax revenues, as well as transfers from the
federal government, rise well beyond budget forecasts. These
additional revenues gave us the flexibility to invest in public
services, particularly health, and to reduce taxes, while recording
modest deficits.
However, with the national economy slowing, federal transfers will
not grow as strongly in the new fiscal year, if at all. Transfer
growth would be constrained in any case by a restrictive ceiling the
federal government has imposed that caps Equalization payments. A
slowing economy will also affect our own tax revenues. Yet, there are
great expenditure pressures pushing the cost of public services ever
higher. These factors require fiscal prudence and sound planning for
the new fiscal year to ensure commitments to program initiatives can
be sustained.
We have listened to the people of the province and have carefully
weighed our options, and our responsibilities. The decisions, outlined
today, have found the right balance between sound financial management
and the provision of appropriate, affordable public services. We are
moving forward to implement the work plan that our government has
outlined. We are undertaking other significant, but affordable,
initiatives to enhance the public services that reflect the priorities
of the people, which are the priorities of this government.
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