Public Finances

More needs to be done to rein in public spending in New Brunswick, concludes a new report on the province's debt and deficit that raising the possibility of rural hospital closures and school consolidations as ways to save money. The policy paper by the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies states the provincial government "has not adjusted to the reality of declining revenues and spending now significantly exceeds revenue, resulting in large deficits and growing debt."

Une voix de plus s’ajoute à la chorale qui demande au gouvernement provincial d’en faire plus pour équilibrer son budget. Cette fois, c’est au tour de l’Institut atlantique d’études de marché de s’impliquer dans le débat en proposant d’envisager la fermeture d’écoles et d’hôpitaux. L’Institut a publié mardi un rapport sur l’histoire des finances publiques néo-brunswickoises, écrit par l’un de ses analystes, Shaun Fantauzzo, et par le professeur d’économie à l’Université du Nouveau-Brunswick, David Murrell. Dans ce rapport, ils soulignent les efforts du gouvernement, mais affirment qu’ils sont insuffisants. Ils suggèrent notamment au gouvernement de réduire sa taille, comme il l’a fait en 2011 en abolissant le Conseil consultatif sur la condition de la femme.

AIMS President and CEO Marco Navarro-Genie participated in Radio-Canada's Budget 2014 discussions in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Municipal governments that have generously disclosed data have seen their rankings rise for the most part, while minimally informative governments have not been so fortunate. Ben Eisen, formerly of the Frontier Centre and now research director with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Nova Scotia, says, “I would certainly hope that those municipalities that had less information publicly available for this report would carefully examine practices in other cities and consider different strategies to make their governments as transparent as possible.”