Nova Scotia·NewIn the face of a projected record deficit, Finance Minister John Lohr has asked provincial government officials to look at the potential impacts of a 10 per cent cut to discretionary spending and program grants.Opposition MLAs say province’s financial woes due to government mismanagementMichael Gorman · CBC News · Posted: Nov 14, 2025 3:00 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Finance Minister John Lohr said the government must reduce spending, but it’s mindful of the potential impacts to vulnerable people. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)In the face of a projected record deficit, Finance Minister John Lohr has asked provincial government officials to look at the potential impacts of a 10 per cent cut to discretionary spending and program grants.Lohr confirmed the directive to deputy ministers during an interview Friday.“We will be looking at impacts to our most vulnerable Nova Scotians, we’ll be looking at the impacts to front-line services. That being said, we know we need to cut spending,” he said.Although Lohr said there are signs of positive GDP growth for the province, the minister said government officials “remain very concerned” about the projected deficit of $1.2 billion.Lohr said final decisions would only be known when the 2026-27 provincial budget is complete.NDP finance critic Lisa Lachance says the latest directive from the government is disappointing but not surprising. (Paul Poirier/CBC)It’s the second potential spending reduction measure Lohr announced this week, following word that departments have been told that for each job vacancy they fill, they must remove one from their budget.NDP finance critic Lisa Lachance said the latest news is disappointing but not surprising.“We’ve been really concerned about how the Houston government has been spending money.”Lachance pointed to increasing use of untendered contracts by the PCs along with annual out-of-budget spending that has topped $1 billion year over year.Although there were several years when the government was the beneficiary of record population growth and increased tax revenue that went along with that, Lachance said the government seemed to treat that money as though it would never dry up.“You don’t start expanding government spending based on tenuous growth.”Now that population growth has all but stalled, Lachance said the government finds itself in a problem of its own making, adding that it seems clear vulnerable people will be affected.“We’ve already seen that happen with the heating assistance rebate program where the amount went down, the qualifying income level went up and 40,000 people were cut off from that program this year.”Liberal MLA Iain Rankin says the government has repeatedly increased spending without reviewing whether programs being offered are sustainable and effective. (Paul Poirier/CBC)Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Liberal MLA Iain Rankin said the Progressive Conservatives appear to be in a structural deficit of their own making due to program spending that outstripped the province’s means.Rankin said it’s been years since there was an assessment of value for money.“It just seems that there’s no full analysis on what government is involved in, the value of program spending, and the auditor general, frankly, is the only office that’s really taken a close look at all those things.”Lohr said he does not expect any other measures aimed at reducing or slowing spending, but he also said he could not commit to that.“We’ll have to wait and see.”MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORMichael Gorman covers the Nova Scotia legislature for CBC, with additional focuses on health care and rural communities. Contact him with story ideas at michael.gorman@cbc.ca
N.S. government departments told to examine potential impact of 10% cut to program grants
