The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador receives
Silver Piggy Bank Award for second place finish  

[HALIFAX]—Prince Edward Island has been the best managed province in the region from the point of view of public finances over the past five years. This performance has earned the province the coveted AIMS Golden Piggy Bank Award, which will be presented today to Hon. Pat Binns, Premier of Prince Edward Island at a ceremony at 3.30 p.m. in the Pope Room of the Coles Building in Charlottetown.  

The Golden Piggy Bank will be presented to Premier Binns by AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley and AIMS Fellow in Public Finance, Roland T. Martin. Martin is the author of a new study, Debtors’ Prison II: Reducing the Sentence (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader – see link at bottom of page). In Debtors’ Prison II, Martin finds that PEI earned the highest mark in the region because of its financial results, by demonstrating good management practices, and by improving its sustainability and financial flexibility while not increasing its financial vulnerability.  

While it received the best mark relative to the three other provinces in the region, however, that mark was only a “B”, leaving no room for complacency in the future. On the contrary, while the Island’s economy has grown strongly, and the province has wisely managed to reduce its unfunded pension liabilities, danger signals are flashing. Spending on health and education is rising, and this threatens the province’s ability to reverse its small increase in total accumulated debt in the past two years.  

Newfoundland and Labrador won second place in the Debtors’ Prison ranking because it has, over the past decade, become one of the best managed provinces financially in the country. It has significantly reduced unfunded pension liabilities, and managed a crushing reduction in federal transfers while achieving two credit rating increases. The province has the best economic growth rate in Canada. This strong performance continues to be overshadowed by a significant population outflow, however, which means that fewer taxpayers are left to produce the wealth necessary to service the region’s highest per capita debt and highest debt to GDP. This performance has won Premier Brian Tobin the Institute’s Silver Piggy Bank Award.  

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View Debtors’ Prison II: Shortening the Sentence