Even though Newfoundland and Labrador is in a similar position as at the turn of government in 2015, don’t expect a repeat of the 2016 budget which taxed, taxed again, then taxed some more.

Finance Minister Tom Osborne says his government’s plan to eliminate the deficit was working as this year we would have been about $800,000,000 in the red.

The pandemic, especially as it relates to oil revenue, has derailed all of that, and now we have to borrow $2.1-billion just to stay even on the current account. That does not include some other expenditures, such as federal-provincial COVID-19 relief-sharing programs.

Minister Osborne wouldn’t say exactly when this year’s budget will come down, as that will be a task for the new Premier, but he said it won’t resemble his first budget in 2016.

He explains that they may have very strategic choices to make, but he’s not looking for a repeat of budget 2016 and that they will find a way through this in a very balanced and methodical way.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ches Crosbie says the province needs a new revenue-sharing agreement with the federal government, but this Liberal government has been too soft on its Liberal friends in Ottawa.

Crosbie says that it was the PC governments of the past who fought for our rights and accomplished the building blocks of the economy that we rely on and enjoy today, in particular, the prosperity of the offshore industry. He says it is the Liberals in Ottawa that are attempting to undercut that prosperity.

The NDP blames the provincial government for not getting its fiscal house in order.

Leader Alison Coffin says the liberals claim Muskrat Falls is not their fault, but five years later, there is still no rate mitigation plan.

Coffin says it sounds like all talk and no action to her.