Premier Andrew Furey doesn’t foresee every recommendation from the Greene report actually being put into practice.
Furey would not comment much on the specifics of the report, as he wants time to thoroughly review the document first.
The report outlines that the province’s fiscal situation must be brought under control now:
- Over the past decade the Provincial Government has continued to borrow money to meet its annual expenditures.
- Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest per capita revenues, expenditures, deficit, and net debt of any province in Canada.
- The province has the oldest population, highest unemployment, highest per capita healthcare spending and poorest health outcomes in the country.
“We have proposed a detailed, multi-year financial improvement plan. It is a balanced and measured approach, a combination of expenditure reduction, revenue increase and better use of our assets such that over the next five years, we will be out of this perilous situation,” said Dame Moya Greene, Chairperson of PERT.
However, the Premier did maintain an air of optimism when speaking of the document and its contents.
He says what has been presented is a document that includes many solutions. Will the government take all of what’s in there? Furey says no, noting that they were looking for “outside the box” ideas.
In response to public concern, he reminds that the recommendations are not government policy, and they will do consultations and do "what's needed to save the province from ultimate fiscal doom." @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/k9AxTewrHU
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) May 6, 2021
Furey says the province’s problems are bigger than any one party and any one government.
“You can hate on me all you want, but someone has to deal with this,” says Furey, who believes that the general public realizes that the province’s problems must be navigated together.
He says there will be a “little bit of pain” for everybody, but he believes there are some items in the report that will help “recreate and redefine” the province for the future.
