Nova Scotia’s NDP blames closed-door government spending for billion-dollar deficit

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Claudia Chender speaks to reporters at Province House, in Halifax, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s official Opposition leader is taking aim at the government’s $1.4-billion deficit that she says has been driven in part by spending that is not authorized by the legislature.

Claudia Chender said Friday the Progressive Conservative took power with a surplus, “and now, for the first time in 30 years, the PC government has driven us to an historic deficit which has resulted in the first credit rating downgrade since 1993.”

Earlier this month, credit rating agency S&P Global lowered its long-term and senior unsecured debt ratings on Nova Scotia from double-A-minus to A-plus, predicting deficits over the next two years will increase the need to borrow money.

The party leader said it’s irresponsible that the Progressive Conservative government has been spending about a billion dollars a year that isn’t included in annual budgets.

The province’s auditor general has said that Premier Tim Houston’s government has spent $6.7 billion outside the budget process since the 2020-21 fiscal year, including $1.6 billion in 2024-25.

“We have seen a number of untendered contracts and a number of (financial) decisions made seemingly behind closed doors, with less and less transparency when it comes to how spending is done,” Chender said.

The province is set to release its new budget during the sitting of the legislature that begins Feb. 23.

Finance Minister John Lohr acknowledged the province’s “large deficit” after a cabinet meeting Thursday, and said the recent credit downgrading is indicative of how global economic pressure over the past year has impacted the provincial economy.

“I think that this would probably apply to other Canadian provinces as well, that global economic downturn, global economic stress in the last year is having a negative impact,” he said.

Lohr added that in the meantime, the province has been continuing to invest “record amounts” in health care, housing and affordability measures.

“We’re addressing what I would call deferred maintenance, which just wasn’t done in those areas,” he said.

The minister was tight-lipped Thursday on the contents of the yet-to-be-table budget.

Chender said the government owes it to Nova Scotians to use this budget to address unmet needs in health-care access and making housing and heating more affordable.

“This budget has to deliver the results that Nova Scotians have been promised. Heat, health care and housing are not luxuries,” she said.

Chender would not say directly if there are any specific programs or services the province should cut in order to save money.

“I think we can ask questions about what are the nice-to-haves and what are the need-to-haves,” Chender said.

“This government is spending a lot of money on videos and glossy brochures to convince Nova Scotians of something that doesn’t actually impact their lives or improve our budget.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2026.