Liberals have shaved $100M in spending since taking office, says Cathy Bennett

Finance Minister Cathy Bennett dropped a few jaws during Question Period Wednesday when she announced that the new Liberal government has shaved $100 million in discretionary spending since taking office just three months ago.

She said public servants have "embraced" the need to do things differently because of the dire financial circumstances faced by the province.

"There's a huge amount of discretionary spending we've been able to identify and we're continuing to identify that through budget preparation for Budget '16," she later told reporters.

Bennett also clarified that amount is annualized, meaning the actual savings realized so far is roughly $25 million, which was immediately pounced upon by Opposition Leader Paul Davis, who accused Bennett of "misrepresenting the numbers and provided information that wasn't accurate."

Bennett plans to table a document in the House of Assembly on Thursday, detailing where the savings have been found.

She said the freeze on discretionary spending is "more comprehensive" than the one implemented by the former Progressive Conservative administration.

When asked for some specific examples, Bennett said the savings have come through reduced travel costs, and the cancellation of year-end purchases for items such as furniture.

"We need to spend our money on what we need, versus what we want," she said.

"We've been very pleased with the public service that they've [risen] to the challenge."

Fiscal situation dominates debate

As expected, Newfoundland and Labrador's unprecedented fiscal situation dominated the first-ever question period for the new Liberal government and Premier Dwight Ball.

Both opposition parties attacked the Liberals, accusing them of promoting a climate of fear in the province and failing to provide any real leadership.

PC Leader Paul Davis repeatedly asked the premier to spell out the government's plan to deal with a forecasted deficit of $2.4 billion for the 2016-17 fiscal year, while NDP House Leader Lorraine Michael called on the government to guarantee there will be no job cuts, as was promised by the Liberals in last fall's election campaign.

Ball said a lot has changed since his administration took office, and fired back at the PCs for withholding information in the lead-up to the election.

Ball said attrition remained his preferred option for reducing the size of the public service, and again pledged his commitment to negotiating with labour unions ahead of the budget, which is expected to be delivered after the federal budget, scheduled for March 22.

'Whole province' knew about bad finances

The responses from Ball didn't go over well with Michael, who claimed the lack of any details from the government is causing fear and uncertainty.

"We have public sector workers who are continually talking to us about are they or are they not going to lose their jobs," she said.

Michael blasted the Liberals for saying they were blindsided by the seriousness of the situation.

"They kept saying during the election campaign they weren't cutting jobs, and yet they knew the fiscal situation in November. We all did. The whole province did," she said.

"They kept saying, 'We're not cutting jobs,' and that built up hope in people. People elected them based on that. And then all of a sudden, overnight, as if they had no clue, it's OK, everything's on the table, including jobs, and that's what I'm upset about."