New Brunswick Finance Minister Blaine Higgs has had almost two years to get his feet wet and deal with the huge budget deficit the province faces.

Now with Budget day fast approaching it is time for Mr Higgs to deliver a clear plan for how he will take New Brunswick back to balance and more importantly show how he will grow the province into the future. 

Since the Conservatives came to power and found an over $800 million deficit, the government has been mired in a debate over how to get the province out of this mess.

At times, Minister Higgs has mused about increasing taxes; at other times, the government has talked about making major budget cuts. The president of NB Liquor even hinted at privatizing crown corporation.

The government continues to warn of big budget cuts. But so far, the cuts have been minor -- none of the cuts have done much to improve the bottom line. Re-structuring government departments, dealing with MLA entitlements (i.e. pensions), and cutting the number of school boards were all good ideas and long overdue. But combined, they barely add up to $10 million a year in savings  –  a tiny bite out of the almost $500 million deficit projected by Finance Minister Higgs.

So in this year’s budget, it’s more critical than ever to begin the serious work of turning around the province’s finances.

While this may sound like bit of a cliché, this budget should be judged on two main areas: spending and taxes.

Since 2005-06 spending in New Brunswick has grown by $1.7 billion dollars. That means the government increased spending by almost $23,000 for every man, woman, child and baby in New Brunswick. In fact, spending grew more in real terms over this time than at any other point in the province’s history.

And what did we get for this money?

Well, hospital waiting lists remain long; parents continue to complain that schools are under funded. Heck, all this money even failed to satisfy the appetites of those voices like public sector unions that constantly demand that the government spend more.

It seems the only thing all this money got us was bigger government. A study by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation showed that in the last four years, the number public servants earning $100,000 or more doubled.

As for taxes…well, who can say what to expect, throughout the budget consultations Finance Minister Higgs assured people that tax increases were not on the table while Premier Alward said they are.

There could not be a worse time to raise taxes. New Brunswickers consistently over the last two-years have not seen their wages keep up to inflation. So as taxpayers shell out more for everything from milk to gasoline, their salaries have not kept up , that means any tax increase is going to hit the pocket book of the average taxpayer hard.

At a time when the world economy is so fragile, raising taxes, and hampering economic growth, could make the fiscal problems of this province worse before it gets better.

With all the discussion surrounding the fiscal crisis, it’s easy to forget that New Brunswick has some real opportunities and potential heading into 2012-13 – including Alward’s discussion of a west to east pipeline, the development of the province’s natural resources and the fact that  --for now -- New Brunswick has the most competitive tax regime in the Atlantic region.  

A successful budget means spending reductions, no tax increases, and a clear plan for growth -- the only question now is, will Minister Higgs deliver?