Tough economic decisions coming soon says Steele

Stellarton - Pictou County's business community wants to see the province balance its books within the next three to five years, suggesting cost-saving measures like reducing the wages paid to public sector workers and putting an immediate spending freeze to help address the growing deficit.
Nova Scotia is projecting a $1.4 billion deficit within the next three years, but the province's revenue is nowhere near being able to offset that, Finance Minister Graham Steele told the 50 people gathered at a breakfast meeting hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Stellarton Friday.
Right now, $1 billion of Nova Scotia's $9 billion budget is spent on interest on the debt. The other areas that make up major chunks of the budget is healthcare at $3.5 billion; education and universities at $1.9 billion; community services at $0.9 billion; and transportation at $0.4 billion.
As a province, Nova Scotia is spending more than it's taking in and needs to look at alternative ways to eliminate the deficit - either by reducing spending, increasing revenue or growing the economy, Steele said, adding that it means "tough decisions" will be coming soon.
The county's business community suggested one way for Nova Scotians to give better suggestions on spending was the creation of a detailed website outlining exactly where all the money is currently going.
"It would provide meaningful options for cuts," suggested one person.
Pictou businessman Luke Young suggested taking a blunt approach.
"An across the board spending freeze," he suggested, adding that reorganizing Nova Scotia's university systems and looking at the option of a University of Nova Scotia might be a cost-saving measure.
However, that would have problems, Steele said. In healthcare alone, drug costs keep rising, so that type of spending freeze would have an immediate impact on Nova Scotians.
"One major cost that's escalating is drug costs, and they're going to continue to go up," he said. "We would have to say to patients that we're not paying for their drugs or not paying as much."
Others suggested that the province operate like a large corporation, which looks to save funds on its biggest expense - payroll - when it's time to cut costs, while others suggested that the province needs to work on a cooperative education model with the universities to get a skilled workforce to remain in the region.
Friday morning's session was among a cross-province trip Steele is making to get input from Nova Scotians on how to balance the budget. Anyone who would like to give feedback on the issues can also visit the website at www.gov.ns.ca/finance/ backtobalance.