The NDP says the province needs to pause the whole budget process and go back to the drawing board.
After backlash from the public, the government brought some funding back for seniors, people with disabilities, African Nova Scotians and Indigenous students, but they kept a lot of the cuts to the arts, culture and tourism sectors.
NDP leader Claudia Chender says it is clear they did not do any economic analysis.
“But instead of a kind of piecemeal save our political skin approach, what we’re asking this government to do is to actually do the work to understand the impact,” says Chender.
The budget has not passed yet, and she says the government has made amendments to bills at the legislature before.
But she does not want them to make a quick change. The government should take time to properly understand what impact the cuts will have.
Chender voiced similar concerns to an economics professor and political science professor told our newsroom recently, including that it seems like many government cabinet ministers were not sure why certain cuts were made. For more on that story, click here.
She says tourism is a very important industry in Nova Scotia, and those cuts threaten jobs without replacing them.
One of her other proposed solutions would be to create a new Legislative Budget Officer, who would “assess all risks of government spending,” according to a news release from the party. They tabled a bill in the house for that, as well.
They also have a bill that would force the province to table at the legislature any spending that falls outside of the budget. Chender says that would bring more accountability to what the government does with public money.
The legislature resumes next week.
