Newfoundland and Labrador’s new $8.4 billion budget forecasts a $683-million deficit, escalating debt and a shakeup at the Crown corporation responsible for huge cost overruns at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
Expenses slightly rise as net debt for the province of about 529,000 people is expected to hit a historic high at $15.5 billion.
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Finance Minister Tom Osborne says the profitable oil and gas sector will be hived off from Nalcor Energy, which oversees the delayed and over-budget Muskrat Falls project in Labrador.
He says a new Crown corporation will focus on developing the offshore oil sector.
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The budget forecasts deficits in each of the next three fiscal years, returning to a modest surplus by 2023.
The province will spend almost $3.2 billion on health care this year – far higher per person than what’s spent elsewhere in Canada.
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