The NDP have a credibility issue. They were in government since June and knew the state of provincial finances by the time two by-elections were held in the fall. Yet they ran campaigns with basically the same literature and promises. They knew by then that they could not keep those promises. The credibility gap goes much further than that. The financial review by Deloitte in the summer of 2009 suggested the provincial deficit stood at around $51 million. Yet the first NDP budget in the fall brought in a whopping deficit of $521 million. This budget has another $222 million deficit.
While a small portion of the deficit belongs to the Tories and the recession, the overwhelming majority lands right at the feet of the NDP. They also project the debt to rise to almost $15 billion. This means Nova Scotians will be repaying the debt for generations - a debt dramatically increased by the NDP. Graham Steele has often asked us in debate to offer alternatives.
Liberals have presented many bills and resolutions which would point the way to cost savings yet the NDP ignore them. Even in Health we've presented ideas which get ignored.
Today I asked a question about acquired brain injury support presenting alternatives that could save the Health department millions. Yet there is again no interest from government in moving quickly on better delivered health for these Nova Scotians - even though it would result in substantial budget savings.
