The minister of finance says a windfall from excess oil revenues will nearly eliminate the deficit, adding the government has received more than $600-million to date.
In April, the government projected a $688.5 million deficit for this fiscal year, but sky-high oil prices have continued to eat away at the debt.
That oil windfall is what government says allowed it to temporarily cut the provincial portion of the HST on diesel and gas at the pump starting December 1st.
The measure will remain in place until the end of March unless prices stay high.
Craig Pardy says they’re still crunching the numbers on the added revenue – 80 per cent of which will be used to knock down the provincial debt.
He says previous governments had some debts deferred to this year and next, which means he has to carefully plan his budget.
“What the deficit (cut) means is that we don’t have to borrow that money. The only thing being, some will say that, ‘What, you still are going to borrow money next year?’ But as part of the fiscal update, I’ll try my best to explain that any debt that’s out without sinking funds has not paid off, has a term whether it be 10 years, 20 years or 30 years,” he told reporters.
“That debt will come right back to you. Well b’y, we’ve got it coming next year and a year after. A lot of debt that was pushed out that is coming back.”
