N.L. voters could head to the polls before budget approved

Premier Dwight Ball won't say whether he will sendvoters to the polls before a budget is passed.

The budget will be tabledApril 16. Typically, budgets require just over three days of debate in the House of Assembly, and Ball has previously said a provincialelection would be held before the end of June.

Under the Elections Act, the election must be held at least 28 days after the writ is dropped, but not more than 35.

On Mondayjust over a week before the financial blueprint will be unveiled by the finance ministerBall wouldn't budge, or bite, when pressed by reporters about whether he would drop the election writ before the budget is approved.

"The budget will be dropped and we will give people, the commitment that we've made, is to give people a clear, a clear description of where the financial situation is in our province," Ball told reporters following question period.

Ball said people won't be in the dark about the province's finances, in part because the PCs did exactly that in 2015, despite requests for updates, Ball said.

"They never did answer that question, so it was a concern for us [back then]. We brought in amendments" to ensure there was afinancial status report of sorts before an election, Ball said.

For a situation that is right now a hypothetical one, Ball then went on to elaborate and explain why there shouldn't be concerns if a budget wasn't a done deal before theparties hit the campaign trail.

"People need not worry about having money to actually pay for services, payroll, and those sorts of things that people rightfully deserve. These are not the things that would be jeopardized at all. We have made provisions by some recent amendments that we have brought in 2016 or 2017," he said.

"I'm not going to jeopardize the financial structure of this province. We have not determined when an election date is."

'No chance to debate it'

PC Leader Ches Crosbie said calling an election before a budget would be passed is the opposite of transparency.

"That means there would be no chance to debate it, to question it, ask annoying questions of the government. There are a lot of places where there are loopholes and money being spent that shouldn't be spent," he told reporters on Monday.

"It would not be honest leadership."

NDP Leader Alison Coffin is also sounding the alarm on the potential situation.

"If we don't have an opportunity to have good solid debateon what's actually contained in the budget and actually gothrough the estimates process, we can easily miss an awful lot of things andthat's not the proper way to run government," Coffinsaid.

"What if we have a minority government? Maybe we might have a budget that's going to be hamstrung for awhile, that could create a whole other set of problems."

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