Premier Dwight Ball says he is “not worried at all” about making payroll and continuing to provide services to the province.

On March 20th, Premier Ball wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying the province is facing an “urgent financial crisis.”

He said the government’s recent attempts to finalize borrowing, both short and long term, were unsuccessful.

In a plea, Ball said the province had no other recourse to raise the necessary funds to maintain the operations of government, including the health care system, at this critical time.

On Wednesday, the Premier carried a much different tone. He says government is in a position to do both, and fortunately last Thursday they were able to get a provision in the House of Assembly to borrow $2-billion.

He says they’ve had some success in the markets this week, supported by the changes made by the Bank of Canada to help provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador with their borrowing requirements.

Further, Ball adds this is a health crisis and the priority is dealing with the pandemic.

Coming out of this, the Premier says the province will enter an economic crisis and will need the support of the federal government.

He repeated that the province is unique in comparison with others. Ball says all Premiers and the Prime Minister are aware of the province’s situation.

Province Committed to Supporting Public Sector Workers

The Premier says they have made the decision not to lay-off public sector workers or teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dwight Ball says if that was the case, the EI program would be applied to most public sector workers, which would mean a substantial decrease in pay.

He says many are still working from home.

Further, the Premier says not all of the federal programs out there apply the same. For example, the 75 per cent coverage of wage costs does not apply to government employees.

Ball wants to continue to support public sector workers, who he says do valuable work.

As for teachers, he reiterated that more information on the K-12 school system is coming soon.