Nova Scotia’s reigning Liberal government is taking the road less travelled – but one much more popular with the public. Unlike the other three East Coast provinces, Nova Scotia is not raising taxes, cutting the civil service or increasing the debt load. Indeed, Finance Minister Randy Delorey is forecasting a $17-million surplus for this fiscal year and continued black ink for the entirety of the government’s four-year fiscal plan.

There’s more good news. The new budget targets investments to boost exports in the wine, culture, tourism and film industries, as well as a commitment to work hand in hand with business to support growth and jobs. There is even $6 million allocated to bringing high-speed Internet into more homes and offices.

While Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick are slashing civil service positions, Nova Scotia will be hiring more than 150 students for summer jobs across the province and 75 more for internships and co-op placements. Seniors also benefit under budget 2016-17. More than $14 million is being spent to increase home support and nursing, and the caregiver benefit and wheelchair programs. Seniors also will receive help to pay for their medications, with a $3-million cash influx into the province’s Pharmacare program.

With all this largesse, there should be dancing in the streets. The HST was not raised, as it was in every other province in Atlantic Canada. Health care was not compromised, as happened in budgets handed down by neighbouring provinces this year. And social programs were not scaled back, as elsewhere in the region. Yet, there is no jubilation. At best, there is a lighter lift in Nova Scotia’s collective step. While there may be relief that we didn’t get walloped like our Atlantic counterparts, there is also a hearty dose of skepticism.

Pundits and the public are wondering what sets Nova Scotia apart from its East Coast neighbours. (Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, is predicting a $12.2-billion deficit over the next five years.) The answer may lie in one word: election.

This is only Year 3 of Stephen McNeil’s tenure as the province’s top-ranking political official, but the timing may be opportune to head to the polls in the autumn.

The New Democratic Party has just elected a new leader, Gary Burrill, a relative unknown in the province who does not currently hold a seat in the legislature. And Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie is a seasoned politician, but he is not a popular one.

The Liberals are clearly reading the writing on the wall – and that has translated, at the very least, into a budget that buys them the popular vote, if not another mandate to steer the provincial ship for another term.

The Opposition is certainly raining all over the Liberal’s “good news” budget. Baillie called the surplus “bogus” (and, indeed, even the finance minister has admitted it is tenuous). The PC leader has also warned: “This budget is going to fall apart the moment it hits the real world.”

The Liberals, on the other hand, may well be hoping their budget can hold its own – at least until this autumn.

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