An analyst with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council told a conference in St. John’s that the provincial government “has to get its fiscal house in order” before it makes an investment in any version of the Lower Churchill energy megaproject.
Fred Bergman said the province’s net debt to gross domestic product ratio remains among the highest in Canada at 41%.
Bergman is quoted by the Telegram [page four story, Wednesday November 3, not on line] as saying:
“Get your fiscal house in order, get your debt-to-GDP ratio down, get your budget balanced and then you can afford to tackle something like that.”
The Williams administration ran a half billion cash deficit in 2009 and budgeted for a $900 million cash shortfall in 2010. Budget projections released in spring 2010 do not include any forecast for balanced budgets.
Finance minister Tom Marshall has previously consistently rejected balanced budget legislation.
In its various configurations, the Lower Churchill project could cost anywhere from $6.0 billion to $14 billion.
The following charts show the provincial government’s liabilities and net debt. The vertical axis is in millions of Canadian dollars.
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Related: “The Fragile Economy: staying the course”
