Nova Scotia Headed For Bankruptcy

[pfezziwig]

re:'..Apparently the current government of NS is no exception with the budget expected to be balanced in four years...'

You have a lot of faith in a government that stated they were going to balance the budget and not raise taxes in the first year of office....the excuse of the Cons created the mess and they didn't know about it got old really quickly...for those of us with short memories, the NDP supported the Conservative budgets for years previously as they did not have the super majority enjoyed now by the NDP and required their support.

If they can't plan 6 months into the future how seriously should we take them on 4 year projections?

 

[Praxius]

Apparently you are unaware of the fact that the NDP in Saskatachewan from the time of Tommy Douglas on always ran on a balanced budget. Since Saskatchewan is the province where the NDP held power the longest perhaps it is a better measure of how the NDP governs. Historically conservative governments in Canada have run up the largest debts. Blaming a new government for what was already there is not only unfair it is rather shortsighted.

Especially since the Debt in question was created by Conservatives.... go figure ;-)

 

[Praxius]

re:'..Apparently the current government of NS is no exception with the budget expected to be balanced in four years...'

You have a lot of faith in a government that stated they were going to balance the budget and not raise taxes in the first year of office....the excuse of the Cons created the mess and they didn't know about it got old really quickly...for those of us with short memories, the NDP supported the Conservative budgets for years previously as they did not have the super majority enjoyed now by the NDP and required their support.

If they can't plan 6 months into the future how seriously should we take them on 4 year projections?

As stated elsewhere, when you're not leading the government, you don't have the full picture of what's really going on, especially when the leading party in question had a long history of doing back door deals and selling us out to the Federal Conservatives in ways that left us NS'ers in the dark until it was too late.

When you take over, you get a better view of just how screwed up things are. They promised to not raise taxes, but I'm willing to let them break that promise considering the situation at hand, what problems they were left with and the few options available for them to choose from.

It seems that some just like to focus on "They raised Taxes" rather then looking at the bigger picture:

CBC News - Nova Scotia - N.S. budget makes HST highest in Canada

..... Despite warnings from businesses, the NDP is raising the provincial portion by two percentage points as of July 1. The government expects this will mean $214.8 million in much-needed revenue this year.

This tax hike will apply to everything except children's clothing and footwear, diapers and feminine hygiene products.

That means a tax increase of around $412 for about 128,000 households in the province with incomes between $30,000 and $60,000, provided they don't make big purchases like houses or cars.

The rebate on home energy remains.

Tax breaks for seniors

Personal income tax is going up for anyone who earns more than $150,000 a year, to 21 per cent from 17.5 per cent, but seniors and low-income Nova Scotians are getting a break.

There's a new rebate for people making less than $30,000 — about one-quarter of Nova Scotians. Under the Nova Scotia affordable living tax credit, they'll get $240 a year in quarterly instalments, plus $57 for each child younger than 19 living at home.

In addition, about 15,000 will get a poverty-reduction tax credit of $200, and an estimated 18,000 seniors who receive the guaranteed income supplement will no longer have to pay provincial income tax.

The NDP also promises to keep costs under control. Program expenses are down $94 million — or about 1.2 per cent — from the last fiscal year, and the government plans to cut spending by $772 million by 2013.

One of the biggest changes this year will be the elimination of full indexing for pensions, which will affect 31,000 members of Nova Scotia's public sector pension plan.

Steele said this move will save the province about $100 million this year......

..... The NDP is also cutting the civil service by 10 per cent through attrition over four years. No layoffs are expected, but about 1,000 jobs left vacant by retirees won't be filled. The move is expected to save $65 million each year.

The budget also includes $710.6 million in capital spending for roads and buildings as the province continues to piggyback on federal infrastructure spending programs.

There's also a cut in the small business tax, from five per cent to 4.5 per cent, starting in January.

In the end, the NDP expects a deficit for 2010-11, even after promising during last year's election campaign to balance the books without raising taxes or cutting spending.....

One person on the above link commented:

LyndaEn - "I don't really understand why everyone is upset with this. They consulted with independent economists, and made sure that the low income families weren't hurt. They aren't even cutting jobs, as I heard one commenter complain. Raising taxes is never easy as it can be detrimental to the polls. They're sacrificing their popularity by trying to fix problems that previous governments made- and I think that's great."

And I agree.... it takes ballz to do what they're doing.

 

[VanIsle]

Does anyone believe NS will avoid bankruptcy? Currently our debt is over 13 billion and we spend $900 million a year just on interest.

The NDP are spending like drunken sailors on shore leave, giving unions everything they want and proposing tax increases to pay for union raises, new government jobs and servicing our debt ...and this will go on for another 4 years as the NDP have a majority.

Why would any business choose to set up in Nova Scotia with a crushing and growing debt crises? Without the private sector growing who's going to pay off the debt and support the growing public sector?

Begging Ottawa for handouts will only go so far...guess thats fine for all those in the public sector.

Does anyone seriously believe we will be in better shape 5 or 10 years from now?

I just read in the news that all businesses across Canada better get used to our strong dollar or they will end up closing their doors. This does not sound like good news for Nova Scotia then. Without looking it up, I certainly am un-familiar with the debt load for New Brunswick. Would they let NS become a part of them and become one province? I know that none of us like the idea of losing what we consider our "identity" but better that than nothing. Today's news also says we are pouring millions into Haiti and while I agree that they need help, charity begins at home. But sometimes charity is the wrong way to go and in either case can be abused. It seems like something should be done.
The news also stated that Canada is recovering faster than any other country from this latest recession. (depression?)

 

[TenPenny]

If NS goes bankrupt, we'll buy them, and sell off the good bits.

 

[Praxius]

If NS goes bankrupt, we'll buy them, and sell off the good bits.

I believe that was already done.

 

[Tonington]

NDP spend like drunken sailors? Every jurisdiction spent more during the recession...and now the NDP are doing what they said they would, cutting. And cutting deep.

CBC News - Nova Scotia - N.S. school board warns of 100s of jobs lost

When all is said and done, the number of teachers province-wide getting pink slips will likely be a four figure number. My mother is a teacher, her job is probably safe due to her number of years teaching, but it's going to be very hard for those who have just recently been hired, and even worse for those currently doing their B.Ed. And not just in Nova Scotia, all the Maritime provinces will be a hard place for teachers with no experience to get work.

 

[TenPenny]

You did notice, I hope, that among the whining by the NS school boards about how they can't face any cuts to their budgets, the little note that they have a surplus of $45 million.

 

[Tonington]

You did notice, I hope, that among the whining by the NS school boards about how they can't face any cuts to their budgets, the little note that they have a surplus of $45 million.

I did. In the case of the Halifax Board, their $12.6 million surplus breaks down as:

Breaking down the $12.6-million surplus reported by the Halifax board, Carvery said $5 million represented student fundraising for trips and other projects that was being held in the surplus account. Carvery said $3 million represented funds for capital amoritization — expenses carried over a number of years. He said the actual amount of the board's surplus was $4.2 million, accumulated over 10 years.

Read more: CBC News - Nova Scotia - N.S. school boards carrying surplus
​

Their budget is still decreasing by 22% over the next three years. I doubt the $4.2 million goes very far.

 

[Machjo]

Does anyone believe NS will avoid bankruptcy? Currently our debt is over 13 billion and we spend $900 million a year just on interest.

The NDP are spending like drunken sailors on shore leave, giving unions everything they want and proposing tax increases to pay for union raises, new government jobs and servicing our debt ...and this will go on for another 4 years as the NDP have a majority.

Why would any business choose to set up in Nova Scotia with a crushing and growing debt crises? Without the private sector growing who's going to pay off the debt and support the growing public sector?

Begging Ottawa for handouts will only go so far...guess thats fine for all those in the public sector.

Does anyone seriously believe we will be in better shape 5 or 10 years from now?

Sometimes a majority can be an advantage. You get to see the party's true colours, which leads to its total annihilation come next election. Looking at it that way, maybe a federal majority would be good too, giving the party in power the chance to show its true colours so as to be wiped off the map in the folowing election, rather than eternal stalemate.

But getting back to your debt, any responsible government come next election will raise taxes and slash spending, the so-called tax-and-axe policy.

 

[damngrumpy]

For decades there were successive Liberal and Conservative governments in Nova Scotia
that rang up huge deficits one after another. To outright blame the NDP at this point is a
little lame. That is not to say that the NDP are saints, they have continued some of the trend
that their predecessors started years ago. I was visiting in Nova Scotia last summer and I
heard from people I know,(family to be exact) that were not and never will be New Democrats.
They were all mad as hell at the NDP because they were curbing some spending and they
were talking about rate increases for services. Well the fact is if you have been artificially
keeping services low so as not to anger voters at some point they have to pay for themselves.
The NDP have met some of their targets and are not doing a good job in others it is also the
difficulties of being a first term government. Take BC for example, they have produced all
kinds of deficit budgets and not all of those were NDP either, the current Liberals are even
worse than the former NDP. As for good Conservative Governments, Remember Lyin'
Brian, huge deficits, the current Harper Government, way over running huge deficits.
In Harpers case, I personally don't like the man, but some of what he did he had little choice
or we would be in d full blown recession or worse. It is sometimes not the over spending, it is
what did they spend the money on and why?
In other words, what were the causes, what was the remedy and was it justified under the
circumstances. Reason has to prevail at some level here.

 

[Machjo]

For decades there were successive Liberal and Conservative governments in Nova Scotia
that rang up huge deficits one after another. To outright blame the NDP at this point is a
little lame. That is not to say that the NDP are saints, they have continued some of the trend
that their predecessors started years ago. I was visiting in Nova Scotia last summer and I
heard from people I know,(family to be exact) that were not and never will be New Democrats.
They were all mad as hell at the NDP because they were curbing some spending and they
were talking about rate increases for services. Well the fact is if you have been artificially
keeping services low so as not to anger voters at some point they have to pay for themselves.
The NDP have met some of their targets and are not doing a good job in others it is also the
difficulties of being a first term government. Take BC for example, they have produced all
kinds of deficit budgets and not all of those were NDP either, the current Liberals are even
worse than the former NDP. As for good Conservative Governments, Remember Lyin'
Brian, huge deficits, the current Harper Government, way over running huge deficits.
In Harpers case, I personally don't like the man, but some of what he did he had little choice
or we would be in d full blown recession or worse. It is sometimes not the over spending, it is
what did they spend the money on and why?
In other words, what were the causes, what was the remedy and was it justified under the
circumstances. Reason has to prevail at some level here.

Well now that changes the whole story. You can't complain about government budget deficits on the one hand, and then complain that they're talking about letting artifially low utility prices float and cutting government spending. If that is in fact what they are doing, then I take back my last post and give them a round of applause.

 

[Tonington]

Looks like Dexter proved the naysayers wrong:

N.S. ends year with $447M surplus: premier - Nova Scotia - CBC News

The NDP actually cut spending, and had higher than expected revenue, and as a result NS has only it's seventh budget surplus in over 60 years.

He sure did piss off a whole whack of people though,lol.

 

[PoliticalNick]

Well since most of the debt owed by the provinces or the feds is held by the banks we have given over $138 billion to in bail-out money and most of that debt is interest charged against govt bonds anyway the solutions are simple. The provinces and the country go belly-up and the banks get 2 cents on the dollar (if that) or the banks give back the money and we pay them with that. From that day forward we tell the banks to f--k off and start printing our own true FIAT currency that has no debt attached.

 

[damngrumpy]

The NDP has changed the focus of what is important in NS that is true. The fact is the
government workers and others in that province were not paid the same as the rest of
Canada. In BC for example we have seen the minimum wage go up after nearly ten
years remaining the same and the same worn out arguments we hear on this thread.
In addition the New Democrats are raising the taxes a bit because those in power for
years did not and services do cost money. It matters not whether there is a Conservative
Liberal or NDP government, we hear people screaming about tax increases while they
complain about a lack of services.
Another thing people are mad about in that province is the rise in heating fuels and power.
Again the other parties didn't do that for years and you can't continue to provide services
for people and not charge at least the going rate and when they have been artificially low,
the bite is harder when you raise the to the level of sanity.
yes the NDP have spent money in areas of justice, medicare, and social interest areas
and good on them. They have raised taxes to pay the bills neglected by past administrations
good policy, In this country we should be raising taxes to pay the true value of the services
we demand.
As for the debt ratio I don't know what the figures are, so I can't comment on that.
Over all, I don't think they have done that bad a job,, sure they have made some mistakes,
but then if they didn't nothing would be happening and people would complain about that too.
Most people understand, that when you elect a new government, especially one that has not
had power before, they usually allow a second term to determine whether the changes were
good or bad. If you change horse after one term it usually has worse consequences.
Third term governments are also the most vulnerable, as by then they have usually run out
of progressive ideas. Those are the ones that cost money and the reason we elected them
in the first place.

 

[cranky]

What exactly does it mean when you say Nova Scotia is headed for bankrupsty? The anual budget is greater than all cash inflows (including the equilization transfers) AND noone will lend them more money?

So what if this happens, and instead of giving up, the province cuts wasteful spending, are they still bankrupt, or do we need to wait until the province doesn't cut spending?

 

[petros]

Form a Provincial Bank and buy your debt back from private interests.

 

[cranky]

Form a Provincial Bank and buy your debt back from private interests.

I know....we could call it the Bank of Nova Scotia ....... the eventually we'll call it Scotia Bank.

 

[petros]

Private. Not public.

 

[cranky]

Private. Not public.

Aren't you the one yesterday that wanted me to admit that CPR was a government company?