Province faces 'difficult fiscal reality,' Cathy Bennett says

Cathy Bennett, the newly appointed minister of finance and president of the treasury board, says the Newfoundland and Labrador faces a "difficult fiscal reality" as it prepares to release a mid-year financial update by Dec. 22.

"I feel very accountable for the actions our department takes, and [that] the decisions we make are in the best interest of the province in consultation with them," Bennetttold CBC's St. John's Morning Show Tuesday.

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Bennett said an ongoingpartnership with the minister of heath will be crucial, especially considering that "every dollar that goes out in spending, I think that it's around 35 to 40 cents of that dollar is allocated to health."

"It's not just the situation of where we spend money, it's the situation of where we raise money and decisions around how we structure the debt that we have," she said.

"How we look at financing debt in the future, how fast we're going to be able to pay down the debt, how we'll make sure that expenses are in line it's a combination of things that will happen."

The former PC government projected a $1.1-billion deficit in its spring budget. But CBC News recently learned that the provincial treasury is in significantly worse shape, due to declining oil prices, with the deficit pegged earlier this month at $1.8 billion.

Economy first and foremost

Bennett echoed Premier Dwight Ball's sentiment that the economyis the province's top priority.

While she hadn't yet read the budget released by St. John's council Monday, Bennett said it's important to have as many people in the province working as possible.

That can only happen, she said, when the "environment for the economy is ripe."

That statementcomes on the heels of council's hard-hitting budget in whichresidents expectto see an average tax increase of about 12.7 per cent, and local businesses expect the same.

Bennett, a businesswoman who sought the provincial Liberal leadership two years ago, represents the St. John'sdistrict ofWindsor Lake is also responsible for the status of women, the Newfoundland Liquor Corporationand the human resources secretariat.