As the Rock get ready to vote, rising debt threatens to submerge Newfoundlanders

Newfoundland and Labrador is a wonderful place. But there’s a financial storm looming and taxpayers on the Rock are staring down the barrel of bankruptcy while the provincial government is twiddling its thumbs.

It’s not easy to deliver government services in a large, heavily rural province, but the provincial auditor general’s December 2018 report noted that the province’s per-capita spending was the highest in Canada. Meanwhile, job growth has been flat for a decade and a report from the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers Council found that the province’s taxpayers face the second-highest personal tax burden in Canada.

There’s a public inquiry into the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project, which is responsible for much of the debt. Ball called it “the biggest economic mistake in Newfoundland and Labrador’s history.” The project is virtually guaranteed to skyrocket electricity rates for cash-strapped taxpayers and businesses. The government announced that it will subsidize electricity rates to cushion the blow — essentially taking from taxpayers and giving to ratepayers, who in reality are the same people.

Three short years ago, Newfoundland’s government delivered a crisis budget, imposing significantly higher taxes and announcing spending reductions, many of which never materialized after protests spooked politicians. And so the government has gone from crisis to complacent. The government delivered its latest budget in April, and it reads more like an election platform; it was announced just before an election was called for May 16th.

1 more Liberal gone.

But when they elect a premier who promises to put the brakes on sending, he or she will be hounded by the press and the gimmes. How do we get across to the public that we are on the brink.

So all that oil revenue, from years past, went where? Probably the same place as the oil revenue in Alberta... Feast, famine, repeat

....another looming defeat for the liberals.

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Source: VancouverSun - 🏆 49. / 61 Read more »