Roger Melanson, Blaine Higgs spar over fiscal transparency bill

The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives continue to spar over the Gallant government's proposed law that would scrap several restrictions on government spending put in place by previous Tory governments.

Finance Minister Roger Melanson's proposed law would repeal the Taxpayer Protection Act, Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Act and Health Care Funding Guarantee Act.

The legislation would scrap the legal requirement for a referendum to raise the HST or impose highway tolls.

But it would also eliminate the requirement for quarterly budget updates, which give the public a regular forecast of whether the government is on track to meet its deficit target.

Melanson said the fiscal transparency provisions put in place by the former governments are not needed.

"If we need legislation to make good, sound and open and transparent decisions, from a fiscal point of view or any point of view, I think it's unfortunate,” he said.

The finance minister said his department will continue to issue the quarterly fiscal updates even after the law is repealed.

"We will respect that, but we don't need legislation to do that,” he said.

Melanson’s latest fiscal update revealed the projected deficit is $255 million, which is $136 million below the original $391.1 million.

Tory MLA Blaine Higgs, the former finance minister, said the provincial government could be tempted to drop the updates in the future without a legal guarantee.

And he said there are other good reasons to keep the law.

"In terms of consistency, the reporting structure is always the same. So you can't hide issues,” he said.

Higgs said the Liberals are killing the law to avoid the penalties it imposes on politicians who miss deficit targets because getting rid of the penalties alone would look bad.

The Gallant government has already announced a 10 per cent pay cut on ministerial salaries until the budget deficit is eliminated.