The province’s Finance Minister is concerned with word that insolvencies in Newfoundland and Labrador reached an all-time high in 2018, but believes there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Tom Osborne says household incomes, the median wage and employment numbers are higher than they were in 2015, with eleven-consecutive months of year-over-year job growth in the province.

He says in the projections for 2015, government knew it was heading into a very difficult fiscal situation, and it is overcoming that. Osborne says the number of jobs is higher than projected, the consumer price index and consumer spending are out-pacing where the province thought it would be based on 2015 numbers.

He says things are getting better but there is still a considerable amount of work to do.

Osborne acknowledges the significant impact Fort McMurray had on the province. He says that is something that wasn’t projected or anticipated – unlike the impact of a number of mega projects coming to an end.