N.S. NDP, Liberals urge government to introduce budgetary watchdog

The Nova Scotia opposition parties are calling for an independent budgetary officer.

The Nova Scotia legislature will reconvene next week. Top of mind for the NDP and Liberal parties are bills that would install an independent budgetary officer to monitor things like overspending and provide analysis regarding the government’s fiscal standing.

“The new budgetary finance officer would help create transparency and accountability needed over public finances at a time when this government is spending at historical levels and refusing to answer the questions Nova Scotians have about that spending,” said Nova Scotia opposition leader Claudia Chender.

The provincial NDP leader said their bill would give the budgetary officer the power to launch investigations and compel evidence and bring a greater level of financial accountability.

“Nova Scotians deserve a government that works as hard as they do,” said Chender. “And they deserve to know what is happening with their money, their laws, their services and their jobs.”

Both the NDP and Liberal parties said they would model the budgetary watchdog after the federal governments Parliamentary Budget Officer, whose tasks include determining whether tax payers are getting their full value from government spending.

“Nova Scotians deserve to know the real numbers,” said interim Liberal leader Iain Rankin. “When deficits and costs keep climbing, families are left wondering who is looking out for their tax dollars. An independent budget watchdog would bring transparency, accountability, and facts back into the budgeting process.”

The Houston government is preparing to release it’s fifth budget since taking power in 2021, with record spending commitments to fix what they called the ongoing “health-care crisis.”

Last month, Premier Tim Houston told reporters the province is facing a record $1.4 billion deficit.

The last auditor general report showed that since the 2020-21 budget the Houston government has spent $6.7 billion outside of spending commitments they originally budgeted for.

The province’s financial act doesn’t require the government to introduce or debate any spending that is over and above the original budget. Provincial Auditor General Kim Adair has recommended the province make a change that would require any additional spending be debated inside legislature first.

Given the province’s record deficit and negative fiscal outlook, the government’s credit rating was downgraded from AA- to A+ with a negative fiscal outlook by the international credit rating agency S&P Global.

The Houston government will table the 2026-27 budget early next week before the winter budget session begins Monday afternoon.

It’s expected cuts to programing and government jobs will be part of that budget, as government attempts to reign in spending said an official with the Nova Scotia General Employee’s Union, which represents more than 3,000 public servants across the province.

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