Five highlights from Newfoundland and Labrador’s budget
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
ST. JOHN’S – Newfoundland and Labrador’s Progressive Conservative government tabled its financial plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year on Wednesday. The budget forecasts a deficit of $688.5 million and a $20.8 billion net debt by the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Here are five key points from Finance Minister Craig Pardy’s budget.
1. The province will spend $5.4 billion on health care — 42 per cent of its entire expenses — including more than $47 million to create 200 new long-term care beds.
2. It is also spending $6.5 million to create a team of 25 local nurses who can do the work of so-called “travel nurses,” who are contracted from private agencies to fill temporary vacancies in health-care facilities.
3. The government is hiking the basic personal amount exempt from income tax to $15,000, at a cost of $45 million in the current fiscal year and $91 million in the next year. Officials said the change would put more than $300 in the pockets of about 285,000 tax filers each year.
4. Newfoundland and Labrador’s real gross domestic product reached nearly $34 billion in the previous fiscal year, and it is expected to grow by 5.5 per cent, driven by an increase in mining and oil production. Officials said it was among the highest projected increases in the country.
5. Oil production is expected to hit 97.8 million barrels in 2026-27, an increase of 12 per cent over last year. Oil royalties are forecast to account for 19 per cent of the province’s revenues.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2026.
Note to readers:This is a corrected version of the story. A previous version said the provincial GDP was expected to reach nearly $34 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year. In fact, it reached nearly $34 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
