Last week, the government of Nova Scotia announced it’s Building Our Budget Together program. This puts Nova Scotians in the shoes of the provincial finance minister, making all the tough choices that a finance minister is supposed to make.
The idea behind this is that it would help drive conversations around next year’s budget after a disastrous the 2026-2027 budget. It’s essentially a method of public consultation, one that may or may not be considered when budget season rolls around again.
My questions are simple: does this work? Is this an effective tool for understanding the province’s budget choices? What are its limitations? Most importantly, what is its purpose?
In the video below, I go over all my thoughts, feelings and opinions on this new program from the provincial government while walking you through my own budget.
Hi Brendyn, The NB Conservative government during the Blane Higgs regieme tried this. I participated and realized quickly that this was a way for the government to be able to blame the citizens for the outcome and be able to say, “We didn’t do it!” This is what you wanted. They also did and it seems are not allowing space for citizens to say, Stop giving tax money to your corporate friends. And on the other hand, if people don’t participate, then the government can lay their decisions back on the citizens and say, you weren’t interested. The only option is to not fall into the trap of agreeing to any reduction of money to any services that benefit the citizens and environment and keep demonstrating because this should not be used to silence the public. And public “consultations” can, as they werfe in NB be an opportunity to remind the government that we don’t have to colour within the lines. We can simply be clear that the government’s six options (same as the 2016 “consultation in NB) didn’t give people the opportunity to make the cuts that would really count. BTW: Excellent video that I will definitely share.