Presentation to the Public Bills Committee on Budget 2026

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I believe we all share the goal of building a stronger, more sustainable, and resilient Nova Scotia. I am concerned some of the choices in the budget and Bill 198 risk doing the opposite.

My perspective is shaped by research on the impacts of income inequality, my doctoral research on managing in complexity and my time as Assistant Deputy Minister of Economic Development at the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, where I saw firsthand that economic development, disconnected from community wellbeing, often deepens vulnerability. 

Due to time limitations, I will not address how we arrived at the province’s current fiscal situation, nor other concerning areas of the budget. 

Instead, I will focus on reductions to arts, culture, heritage, and other community supports—and how choices within Bill 198 reinforce those reductions.

For example, Clause 62 waives the deed transfer tax for casinos, and Clause 64 dissolves the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission, both of which remove or redirect potential public revenue streams. At the same time, Clause 68 increases the Financial Institutions Capital Tax from 4 to 6 percent, which in Nova Scotia primarily affects League Savings and Mortgage, a subsidiary of Atlantic Central—a co-operative, community-focused lender, risking reducing its capacity to provide mortgages, with implications for housing affordability.

These measures highlight a broader concern: we are narrowing some revenue sources and placing pressure on others, while reducing investments in the very community supports that underpin long-term economic strength.

Strong communities are the foundation of strong economies.

Economic development is never purely economic; it is always socio-economic.

While investments in natural resource development, infrastructure and businesses are important, decades of research show that long-term prosperity depends on also investing in people including arts, culture, heritage and social supports. Failing to do so is likely to lead to communities where it is harder, not easier, for people to live, work, and raise families.

Growth without these investments tends to bypass the marginalized and those at the lower end of the economic scale, increasing income inequality and worsening social outcomes.

Community capacity, social connection, and cultural vitality are foundational to quality of life, health outcomes, and sustained economic success, strengthening social cohesion, supporting innovation, and making communities attractive to people and businesses alike.

The government maintains it is not cutting health care, but proposed reductions risk weakening the social conditions that support health, leading over time to poorer outcomes and higher system costs.

Arts and culture are economic infrastructure.

Arts, culture, heritage and community support are often treated as discretionary spending, but every dollar invested in the arts generates significant economic activity. In Nova Scotia, the sector contributed $2.6 billion to GDP in 2023, supporting about 22,000 jobs.

Yet this budget reduces funding to dozens of programs supporting community museums, festivals, youth arts initiatives, and local cultural institutions which in many communities, especially rural ones, are economic and social anchors keeping people connected and local economies active just like arenas, libraries, and community halls.

I have seen first-hand in Chester how traffic to stores, businesses and local restaurants increases when the Playhouse hosts an event.

Reduced funding means fewer events, less tourism, and fewer opportunities—particularly in the communities that can least afford it.

Building a truly resilient province.

The government frames this budget as building sustainability and resilience. But leading research shows that resilience depends on access to both social and physical resources when needed.

Despite minor restorations, the net effect of this budget is a reduction in such supports.

Budgets are statements of priorities—of choices.

Budgets show not only what a government values—but what it is prepared to weaken.

I leave you with a few questions:

If our goal is sustainability, why would we reduce investments in community supports and in arts, culture, and heritage despite clear evidence that they are foundational to long-term growth, health, and economic success?

If these sectors generate jobs, tourism, and economic activity, especially in rural Nova Scotia, why would we weaken them?

Why would we reduce or redirect public revenue streams on the one hand, while scaling back the very investments that make communities viable on the other?

And why would we place additional strain on community-based financial institutions that support housing, during an affordability crisis?

Conclusion

Nova Scotians deserve a government that invests in their long-term wellbeing, weighing the interests of future generations as carefully as current political priorities. Cuts that provide short-term savings yet cause long-term damage must be avoided.

A supermajority creates both an opportunity and a responsibility to model transparency, accountability, and foresight, as well as evidence-informed, long-term thinking for the benefit of all Nova Scotians. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case with Budget 2026.

Budgets are about choices and the ones we make now will determine whether Nova Scotia grows stronger or simply more unequal.

As it says in Luke 12:48: to whom much has been given, much will be required.

Nova Scotians have placed considerable trust in this government. With that trust comes the responsibility to ensure that today’s choices strengthen both the economy and communities for the long term.

Thank you.