Good news from Canada’s easternmost province has been tough to come by lately. The effects of low world oil prices, combined with significant cost overruns on the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project, are profound: personal and business tax increases, a minimum $300 levy on all but the poorest residents, a two percentage point hike to the provincial sales tax, a tax on insurance, more taxes on fuel, a cluster of higher fees, the closing of more than half the province’s libraries and a tax on books.

But Newfoundland and Labrador Finance Minister Cathy Bennett isn’t done. The government promised to release Part 2 of its 2016-17 fiscal plan this autumn, and it is expected to focus on cost-cutting measures. These include public/private partnerships, the possible downloading of some services to municipalities and almost certain cuts in public-sector jobs.

Even this is not all. Construction of the Hebron offshore oil platform is scheduled to be finished next year and, at some point, the Muskrat Falls project will end, although delays at the latter are likely to push the termination point beyond 2018.

The gloom goes further. In prior years, laid-off workers often would head to Alberta’s oilpatch. This option is no longer available following the devastating fire in Fort McMurray, Alta. Indeed, that province is expected to lose 3,000 jobs in the next year.

Adding to the pain on The Rock is an average $3,000 in added taxes. And, despite all of this fiscal medicine, the government still anticipates a $1.8-billion deficit in the current fiscal year. Bennett has warned that budget pain could be even worse next year.

However, there are bright spots in the mining industry. St. John’s-based Canada Fluorspar Inc. will begin construction of a fluorspar mine this year in the town of St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula, with operations scheduled to begin in 2018.

Gold and copper prospects are also strong, with U.K.-based Rambler Metals and Mining PLC looking to extend the life of its Ming Mine on the Baie Verte Peninsula to the end of this year. This may be followed by the exploitation of a related reserve that could keep the mine open for another 30 years. And Vancouver-based Search Minerals Inc. is building a $1.9-million demonstration plant for processing rare earth minerals in the Port Hope Simpson area in Labrador. As well, Virginia-based ERP Compliant Fuels LLC has submitted a bid to buy the shuttered Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. iron ore mine in Wabush, with a view to reopening the mine in 2017.

Then there are offshore oil reserves, which still could make the province a truly significant world player in the oil and gas industry. Beyond existing producing fields, including Hibernia and Terra Nova, lie vast reserves located in the Flemish Pass.

Norway-based Statoil ASA disclosed in 2013 that its Bay du Nord property could hold up to 600 million barrels of recoverable oil. Should Statoil and other producers decide to move ahead and exploit these resources in the near future, Newfoundland and Labrador’s current economic woes may be a short-term blip.

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