P.E.I. budget passes despite opposition parties citing lack of spending details
CBC
The spring sitting of the P.E.I. legislature came to a close Wednesday evening with both opposition parties voting against the $3-billion-plus operating budget of Dennis King's Progressive Conservative government.
But even though six PC MLAs were away, including the premier, the governing party still had more than enough votes in the chamber to carry the day, thanks to a beefed-up majority won in the province's April 3 general election.
Four years ago, the PCs formed a minority government and had to make sure they had all members in the house for votes on matters of confidence, before picking up two more seats for a slim majority.
Both the Liberals and the Greens said they voted against this year's budget for the same reason: Cabinet ministers could not provide details about programs receiving millions of dollars in funding, because those details haven't been developed yet.
"They asked us to approve millions of dollars in the budget with no plans," said interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry, pointing to $1.1 million in the budget for a rent-to-own housing program and $5.2 million for a caregiver tax credit.
"We would not have arrived in government with no plan whatsoever for a $5-million expenditure," said Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker, accusing the PCs of "luring in thousands of Islanders' votes" with promises that had never been fleshed out.
Both parties also made reference to a move by the King government in the final days of the sitting to force the legislature to sit until midnight for three straight nights to make inroads on wrapping up debate on the budget.
Despite an extra 24 hours of debate time for that specific purpose, it took two more sitting days for budget debate to finally conclude this week.
Deputy Premier Bloyce Thompson said he was proud of the PCs' accomplishments this spring.
"It's a new government and it's an aggressive budget with a record amount of spending," he said. "Of course we have to prove ourselves here. I think it's a budget that's good for all Islanders."
King is away this week attending trade meetings in Atlanta. He also missed part of the sitting to attend a trade show in Boston.
While the PCs came into the sitting with a beefed-up number of MLAs — 22 out of 27 seats in the legislature to three for the Liberals and two for the Greens — that didn't seem to translate into an ambitious legislative agenda.
The government passed just eight pieces of legislation, including its budget bill and another routine spending bill. Another seven bills remain on the order paper and could be passed during the fall sitting.
Among the government bills that passed this spring was a change to the Climate Leadership Act to allow the federal carbon backstop program to kick in July 1. Government also passed a bill to reduce the basic personal amount Islanders don't pay income tax on, making it $12,750 for the 2023 tax year.
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