HALIFAX - Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald was on the defensive Tuesday over his government's handling of the economy, facing accusations from both opposition leaders that he has led the province into a deep deficit.
But in the first televised leaders debate of the provincial election, MacDonald blamed the NDP's Darrell Dexter and Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil for prolonging the economic hardship by failing to pass a budget that he says was balanced.
"We've put forward a budget that makes sense during these economic times," said MacDonald, who insisted the province is not in a deficit.
Dexter and McNeil say they couldn't back the minority government's budget in the legislature because MacDonald was trying to hide the true state of the province's finances.
McNeil said even Finance Minister Jamie Muir has conceded the province is in a deficit.
"As all Nova Scotians know, we are now running a deficit, we are in deep deficit," he said.
Dexter said the deficit will be "the great legacy" of MacDonald's government.
"The reality is that despite the fact they talked about balanced budgets, they produced a budget that ran the province deeply into deficit, added to the debt," he said.
"I know that a government, just like everyone's family, has to live within their means. That's why we will balance the budget in the first full-year of our government."
MacDonald's government was defeated on May 4 over an amendment to the Provincial Finance Act that would have allowed the government to suspend debt repayments, which the opposition parties argued hid the fact the province was in a deficit.
The Tories introduced a balanced budget that day on the assumption the act would be changed, but they were defeated before the budget ever got to a vote.
A precise figure on the size of the deficit hasn't been released. Officials in the Finance Department said when the Tories introduced their budget that without changes to the Provincial Finance Act, the deficit would have been about $260 million.
The squabble over the state of the province's finances and the economy were among the central issues in the first televised debate between the three party leaders.
The hour-long debate on CBC-TV is the first of three times the leaders will get together face-to-face before the June 9 election.
To date, the biggest issue of the election has been the economy and the fact the government still hasn't passed a budget to deal with the recession.
Recriminations have flown back and forth about who's to blame, with MacDonald slamming the opposition NDP and Liberals for forcing an election and holding up his minority government's three-year $1.9 billion stimulus package.
Both Dexter and McNeil have countered that the premier's accusation is an attempt to mislead voters.
All three leaders returned to those themes during the debate, with MacDonald defending last week's decision to exercise special spending powers to free $130 million for paving and building projects after saying they were in jeopardy.
Despite the government's move to issue a so-called special warrant, MacDonald said the bulk of the government's stimulus plan is on hold and the opposition parties are offering no alternative.
"We still have hundreds of millions of dollars left to move forward to see roads built in our province, to see infrastructure investments ... and that is what we will do immediately following June 9," said MacDonald.
McNeil replied that the premier had failed to respond to several Liberal overtures to work together on the economy and ultimately expected him to break provincial law in order to balance the spring budget.
"We should have responded to this crisis months ago, but instead the premier was playing politics with the job losses and the economy of this province."
Dexter said it was a matter of MacDonald putting "political expediency ahead of good governance."
"You knew right from the very beginning that these jobs were not at risk and you decided to delay these contracts," said Dexter.
The wide-ranging debate also touched on health care with all three leaders pledging to find ways to keep emergency rooms open in rural areas. The province's energy needs and the role of Nova Scotia Power were also prominent topics.
McNeil, who has been the most vocal critic of the utility during the campaign, said he would open up energy markets so that independent producers of alternative sources such as wind power could sell directly to customers.
Dexter said access to capital was the most pressing issue for the province's wind producers and an NDP government would look at ways to provide loan guarantees to make sure projects get off the ground.
MacDonald said his government was continuing to make "strategic investments" to promote the growth of independent producers, while working to develop projects such as tidal energy in the Bay of Fundy.
A second debate will be held June 2 in Baddeck and the leaders will take part in a roundtable discussion on CTV on June 4.
