The spring sitting of the Nova Scotia Legislature has wrapped.
The session ended Thursday afternoon after 27 days, it was the longest under Premier Tim Houston.
A controversial budget with millions in cuts to arts and culture programs caused protests outside and inside the House, leading to restrictions on public access.
Finance minister John Lohr says every budget contains difficult decisions.
“We are well aware that we’re nearly $1.3 billion in debt, and we still need to borrow money. We’re doing a massive infrastructure build of things that were deferred maintenance, and continuing to invest in affordability, healthcare and housing,” said Lohr.
Lohr says he doesn’t know what next year’s budget will look like.
He says the world is changing, and they’re meeting needs where they can.
Opposition say trust in Premier is low
Meanwhile, NDP leader Claudia Chender said trust in government is at an all-time low.
She criticized cuts and out of budget spending, and Premier Tim Houston for missing time in the House due to meetings in Texas and Alberta.
“By our calculations, he’s missed over 40 percent of this session. We’ve heard from Nova Scotians across this province that question what the Premier’s job is, and demanding that he come back and stand up for the decisions that he’s made,” said Chender.
Houston is currently in Calgary attending meetings on natural gas with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
Liberal MLA Derek Mombourquette says the public engagement during the session was encouraging to see.
He says it likely helped the cause on government walking back some of the planned cuts earlier in the session.
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