P.E.I. Finance Minister Jill Burridge breaks down the government's new capital plan

Welcome back. Well, the PEI government introduced its 2027-28 capital budget earlier this week. It outlines a five-year, $1.34 billion capital plan that is actually down from last year's $1.6 billion plan. So what's behind the numbers, and what does it mean for you at home? Finance Minister Jill Burridge joins us live tonight with a closer look. You had to be live because you just left the legislature just an hour and a half ago. I did so. I made my way up here. Thanks so much for coming in. No problem at all. Appreciate it. So nearly $300 million less. How challenging was it to come up? with that with those savings plans to save. Yeah it's I mean it's a combination of finding the savings but also we had big projects coming off the list like big years of a construction coming off so there was kind of it was kind of twofold in that way savings plus mental health campus is a big big project 271 million dollars that's coming we're in our final final year I think 69 million to it this year, and Stratford High School will be another big school that's coming off, so it's part of that as well. Yeah, I mean, some have been scaled back, some projects were scaled back, some have been sort of delayed a little bit, so are you just kicking the can down the road for the next government, which may or may not be yours? Yeah, I would say we're definitely not kicking the can down the road. I mean, we've made significant investments in those core buckets of health care, education, housing over the last few years. I would say. On top of all of that, I think what we're doing, I know what we're doing, is pacing a little bit better. Having that guardrail that we've set of the 40% net debt GDP, trying to stay within that, and pacing out projects so that we can kind of stay within those guardrails that we've set. The $418 million for health care, what will tangibly improve access to care within that spending, do you think? Well, I think a big part of that and a lot of it that's in there is things that people aren't necessarily going to see. It is equipment replacements, big equipment replacements. It's very expensive. It's heating systems. It's cooling systems. It's generators. It's all of those things that no one's going to notice unless. Something bad happens. Something doesn't work, yeah. So a lot of, there's big investments in, you know, the buildings and the equipment, but there's also what you'll find that's there that hasn't been there in the past is big capital repairs budgets for housing, for health care, for education, so that we're maintaining the assets that we have and trying to extend the life of what we have in our inventory right now. Of course, the Auditor General has raised concerns about capital spending repeatedly missing budget targets. So how will you ensure that actual spending stays on track and, well, on budget? Yeah, I think the Auditor General's report, the timeline that he had, the projects that they picked were in the timeline of 2020 to 2025. So That was a really difficult time during construction post-COVID. that's Supply chains were very hard to get construction materials. what Construction capacity was really hard. Everyone was competing for the same crews. I'm So it was an expensive time to build, I would say. trying Okay. And I think he makes really good points on the post-completion reports, to do. And I think, you know, message received and that's being done. I think other... Things that we're doing is, and a good example is the Sherwood School, you know, building that elementary, taking that design, taking everything we learned from that and just basically redoing it for Green Gables. So you're not starting from scratch. So we're not starting from scratch. You find efficiencies in building the same thing over again. If you went out to private industry and builders in private industry right now, they would say the exact same thing. We find a layout that we like, we can do, and we find efficiencies in it, we redo it. So, you know, lessons learned and doing better here moving forward. Will you reduce reliance on special warrants to authorize spending outside of the budget? Going forward, because I know that that has been a concern of his as well from the Auditor General. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Like we don't want to do special warrants. And when we sit down and we go through the special warrants in the House, like everyone can see that those extra spends are critical spends. We're not doing special warrants for frivolous spending. This is. Core services that need to run and be operational, a lot of times that's what the special warrants are for. They really are needed and required. So on operating expenses and debt management, I know you're now asking for input into the operational budget, so that's in the spring. PEI has one of the highest share of public sector employment in the country. Is that something you're willing to look at, reducing public sector? So what, like, yeah, so our goal in, in the public sector is basically aligning the proper amount of human service, human resources to the services and programs that we're delivering. What we've had, we've had after COVID, we've stood up a lot of services and programs to help people with affordability, helping seniors, housing programs, those kinds of things. So The right amount of people in the public service are exactly aligned with the services and programs that are in play. So, yeah, as programs and services fall off, you know, there might be a realignment. But that's how that is measured. So after the last operating budget, I believe you said there would be a comprehensive review of government programs. Has that happened? And are you willing to look sort of top to bottom and say, where can we make, maybe pull back on some programs so that we can actually. Chip away at that debt. Well, we kind of did. But like with energy, we had some we had some programs. We have paused programs for sure doing these difficult times. And I think they all came out in the spring operating budget passed. We kind of worked through all that. Thank But as far as the debt goes. Thank The majority of our debt is capital debt. We certainly have to tend to this deficit that we have, no question, and that's what the comprehensive review is all about and that work is being done. Especially on the health side. Like, that's our biggest pressure right now. you. We're advocating for funding on the health side as well. you. Both finance ministers across the country, along with health ministers across the country, are really putting a push on for increased health care funding because that is the pressure point. Thank The deficits have to be tended to. But, you know, what I will say on the debt being mostly capital debt, those are assets that we will have in our inventory for years. Thank you. Many students and patients will benefit from those assets. Thank you. And what I would also add is, you. we have $380 million in sinking funds, like ready to go against some of that debt. And we have created a general reserve as well that we are already putting money into to go against the debt as well. So we're keeping a really close eye on that And. and certainly making, You know, filling a pot to go against that debt every year. And if people want to have a say in the upcoming budget, as I mentioned, you're looking for public input. There's a survey that's live online now, and you can write in with some of your ideas. Yeah. Yeah. And we're, and the, the big, the big thing this year is we're going out and we're going back in person. I think there are some public, yeah. So they did this, uh, prior to COVID they, they did in person and they haven't really, so we're bringing it back this year. Um, given the fiscal challenges, I think that we need to go out there and hear. Right straight from Islanders, what are your priorities, where do you want your tax dollars spent, and that's really the purpose of doing that. I did the survey, and it does outline, you know, list your priorities, what do you want to see, I know debt was on there, cost of living, lots of different things. So I do encourage people to do that, because it is one way to have a voice in this process. Thanks so much for being with us tonight. Thanks for having me.