Well, some people liked it. Credit: NS Communications

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Yesterday, the Liberals capped off the worst winter in Nova Scotia’s recent history by dumping another load on the province that sure as shootin’ wasn’t snow.



The government unveiled this year’s budget, and Nova Scotia is expecting a $97-million deficit this year with total expenses topping out at a little over $10 billion.

Given that Snoop Dogg tweeted about it, there was maybe more interest than usual in this year’s budget. Certainly the apparent demise of the province’s film industry caused roars of outrage, but there’s plenty of other things to hate in yesterday’s announcement. University tuition caps are running wild, entire departments have been wiped out and a lot of Nova Scotians found themselves unemployed.

While crowds were packing into Province House to get a glimpse of Finance Minister Diane Whalen’s books, government employees a few blocks away at the World Trade and Convention Centre were being escorted out by security. Layoff notices were given to 163 full-time and seasonal government employees. More than 300 civil service positions were wiped out, though most of those workers were redeployed elsewhere.





The Liberals argued in yesterday’s presentation that wage increases for civil servants have outstripped real and nominal GDP growth from the last three years. The McNeil government has previously announced a three-year wage freeze on non-union civil service employees and a permanent freeze on public service awards. Yesterday’s job losses were a further effort in addressing what they call “unsustainable labour costs.”




Who else is pissed off? We’ve already explained the devastating changes to the film tax credit—changes which were not met with quiet words.

“This drives a stake through the heart of the film industry,” Marc Almon, chair of lobbying group Screen Nova Scotia told reporters after the budget presentation. “There is no tomorrow. This is it.”

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“I worry about what this will mean for jobs in Nova Scotia and keeping our bright young people here,” PC leader Jamie Baillie said in a release. “This approach is wrong. It won’t keep Nova Scotians here and it will not rebuild our economy.”

Speaking of bright young people leaving en masse, university students got screwed royal. The province has lifted the three percent university and NSCC tuition cap, allowing a “one-time market adjustment” that’s likely not going to be pleasant. It allows post-secondary institutions to charge similar fees for similar programs, and the schools have “carte blanche” to make that adjustment.

After the “one-time” change, universities can increase tuition for undergrads by three percent annually. The provincial tuition cap has been lifted entirely for all graduate students, and for anyone from another province studying in Nova Scotia. According to Students Nova Scotia, one-third of the province’s student population comes from away.

“Today’s announcement will further undercut Nova Scotia’s ability to retain youth and attract young people from elsewhere to settle here,” said Students NS vice-president Callie Lathem in a release. “The Ivany Report says we should make youth a top priority…What is this government doing?”




One of the bigger changes yesterday in Nova Scotia’s government came from the creation of the Department of Business. That Orwellian-named entity takes over from the now-extinct Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. You can get an idea of some of the other changes in departmental expenses below.




So is anyone happy? Well, no one’s complaining about the $700,000 in additional funds to expand the sexual assault nurse examiner program. That’s to curb troubling events like the time a woman had to wait three days after a sexual assault for a nurse to show up.

The province is also staying up-to-date on its shots, increasing meningitis vaccinations and giving HPV vaccine to Grade 7 boys. The Affordable Living Tax Credit—which offers HST rebates on kid’s clothing, shoes, diapers and other items—thankfully remained whole. Smokers saw a small increase on cigarettes, but it’s a filthy habit. Don’t smoke kids.

Ultimately, the McNeil government may be cutting today to spend tomorrow. The province can just bring back whatever wacky programs they want in a couple of years—no matter how ridiculous the enterprise. By then, Nova Scotians’ outrage may have cooled just enough to once again vote Liberal. Depending on who among us is left.

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This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2015.

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17 Comments

  1. NDP propaganda rag hard at work… You mad the populace booted your heroes out of office? Don’t worry, you’ll get to relive it Federally later this year.

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  2. my main problem is you did the cuts but the budget is still not balanced. I get it cuts were needed the NDP royally screwed things beyond belief but if you are making the cuts get us in the black ffs. Don’t do it half assed and still run a deficit

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  3. Suck it, Bubbles. Go back into the underage bar business.

    On a more serious note, why is it our government’s job to employ people?

    We have no money.

    Think about it, and have a suckie.

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  4. I understand and admire a government making hard decisions to balance a budget. Our province is so far in debt thanks to a seemingly endless amount of irresponsible Premiers and we’re basically given the option of paying more taxes (which nobody likes) or cutting spending (which nobody likes). If the government were just cutting spending, I could at least understand what they’re trying to accomplish without loving what programs had to go. The thing that really troubles me is that the McNeil government just gave RBC $22,000,000 to set up shop in Nova Scotia because it creates jobs. Well, what about the 400+ people are lost a job yesterday or the countless people who will lose a job from the NS Film Tax Credit being cut? If you want to cut spending, don’t give banks hand-outs. It’s honestly simple enough that a three-year-old could figure it out. I’ve honestly never been more embarrassed to be a Nova Scotian and to have voted Liberal in the last election.

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  5. we all know the province’s finances are in dismal shape thank to previous governments….McNeil said he was going to try and move it back into shape…not leave things on the backs of our children and grandchildren….as far as the tax credit goes…if your paying taxes in Nova Scotia, your still eligible….if your not paying taxes, why should I fund your venture ????

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  6. Running a deficit is fine as long as provincial GDP increases by more than the deficit. Spending cuts will lower the deficit relative to GDP, thereby lowering the debt/GDP ratio (in home finance parlance this is equivalent to the debt/income ratio), which is what you want to do. This isn’t economics; it’s basic arithmetic.

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  7. Outside the Film Tax credit and some tuition/s load issues, I think this is budget was a step in the right direction. Lots of people talking about leaving NS because of this, I really have no idea why, unless you’re in the film industry. Perhaps some of those 300+ who got laid off might need to relocate, which sucks. But the way they were let go may seem callous, but its a pretty standard procedure with layoffs like these. It’s a mistake to trust people you just hired to not fuck shit up if they have hours to do so. The optimist in me disagrees with that statement, but the realist wins this time.

    The child sports credit, or whatever, may have some shitty effects, but it’s not an excuse to raise an obese child (due to lack of exercise, I acknowledge that’s not the only factor). Mostly I’d be worried about kids being isolated from their peers because their parents can’t afford some sports or rec programs.

    We’ll have to see how the tuition stuff plays out. I’m not sure what they mean by fair market prices, as when I started school and engineering degree at Dal was ~$1,500 more a year than the school I went to in Ontario. It’s likely still similar today. The student load forgiveness doesn’t appear to be tied to grad retention. I’d have to see the details but it sounds expensive and not that applicable.

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  8. I don’t want to live up to my name too well: it does suck that a lot of people are out of work, or funding for their work may be in jeopardy. These are truly tough times and I feel for them (moreso for crew and post, not so much for career types whose entire career was made at the ceeb playpin, knowwhatImsayin?)

    A hole was dug and we need to get out of it.

    Everybody grab a shovel!

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  11. I was watching the debate at the Province House. During the debate, several students witnessed many Liberals going on facebook on their tablets. Thanks for taking this seriously.

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  12. To correct a few points:

    1) meant fired, not hired. You might not like the process, but it’s there for a reason.
    2) I’m all for helping out students and forgiving student loans. I’d just like to see that it’s a benefit to NS for doing so, rather than forgiving the loans and seeing people leave. Grad retention rebate was a good example of something that could help. Again tuition increases…we’ll have to see what happens.
    3) I’m sorry I actually put some thought into the budget presented and didn’t jump on the band wagon of “I’m leaving NS immediately” based on some changes in this budget. Really though, I’d like to see some actual reasons people are making this statement. Is it because you won’t be able to afford tuition when it goes up? Is it because you were laid off? Is it because you were employed in the film industry and may lose your job? There are many reasons why I can see people making this statement, but most of the ones I see aren’t really tied to any specific point in the budget.

    Based on twitter and this site, coast readers want to hear “Farewell to NS, I’m outta here” I guess.

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  13. Now that my meds have kicked in… with such a small expenditure for such obvious spinoff benefits, this seems awfully shortsighted on the part of the ruling party. Hopefully sober second thought will get it right.

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  14. We are one of 4 animation studios in Halifax that will be closing our doors and offering jobs to our NS crew to move to our Hamilton studio. 99% of our animators are under the age of 30.
    We make the shows your kids watch on treehouse like Bubble Guppies, Mike The Knight, Inspector Gadget, Super Why.

    Every one of our employees are tech savy computer technicians. From 3D modellers, 3D/2D animators, 3D riggers, technical directors, game developers / programmers. This is the youth you want to stay in province working. The “Cost” to the province last year was $5 million. I can guarantee you that the revenues generated from the local community outweigh the cost of $5 million.
    Tell me, on rent or mortgage payments alone.. 500 people paying rent/mortgage every month alone would cover that cost. Then consider the cars they buy, the transit they pay for, the food they buy. This will be a big loss to the province and I’m very sorry that we will have to move.

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  15. I can understand cut backs, belt tightening, and trying to get a balanced budget. Did we achieve a balanced budget? What does this budget achieve except piss people off. I can see a very short time in office for the liberals. I really wish we could hire people to run our province like you would hire for a CEO for a major company. Let’s have headhunters get the best of the best, the smartest people in finance, and top CEO’s to run our provinces and country. Make them accountable. They certainly aren’t now. They run amuck for four years pretending to know what is best, screw things up and piss people off. Let’s get real successfull people in these jobs for once.

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  16. Stephen McNeil went on camera yesterday to say that he had to take away $18M from the film industry because he has to pay for healthcare and education. That would be reasonable – except that he quietly gave $22M to RBC. RBC will create 150 jobs; the film industry generated over 2000 jobs in 2013, not to mention the $140M in economic activity was directly responsible for generating in 2014. Based on how the tax credit was used to leverage investment (which, under the new conditions, it no longer can), and that almost every province and state in North America now has a far more attractive tax credit package, this effectively ends the film industry in Nova Scotia. There is no “getting creative” as Diana Whalen put it – unless she means getting creative in where production companies choose to move. How is this even logic, let alone “economic growth”? All of the money poured into this province in the form of wages, rentals, cast and crew accommodations, food services, tourism, etc – all gone overnight. So much will be lost, while the government funds a bank and tries to convince us it’s all necessary.

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  17. We should have kept the NDP or vote for the Marianna party if we had one, Liberals just want more money and give us less (pay more for less) Goverment

    Reply
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