31 March 2015

The sky is falling. Or not. #nlpoli

First they claimed the budget consultation would be way later than usual.

So your humble e-scribbler worked it out. 

Turns out it wasn’t later than usual.

Then they said the budget would be way later than usual.

End of April or early May? 

Turns out that while the budget usually shows up around the end of March,  the Tories brought down two back-to-back budgets in April a few years ago.

Premier Paul Davis tied the provincial budget to the federal one and last week the feds started talking about a budget in May. 

Then there’s the Doom and Gloom forecasts of every public sector union in the province.  The Conservatives are going to sell everything,  cut the rest, and fire everyone else.

Maybe not, as SRBP put it last week.

If past behaviour is any indication,  the crowd currently running things at the Conflagration Building will talk tough but turn into giant creampuffs at the last minute.

Premier Paul Davis did two things on Monday.

He confirmed the budget would happen before the end of April, regardless of what the federal government does.

And he told all the wonderful people who run community groups that depend on provincial cash that they have nothing to fear in the upcoming budget.

That doesn’t mean the provincial budget won’t be a rough one.  it just means that the budget likely won;t be nearly as tough as people think it’s going to be.

Stand by.

There’ll be more days like these between now and the end of April. 

Watch for puffiness.

-srbp-