Lower taxes, health care and safe communities highlighted the provincial budget yesterday

A total of $5.4 billion will be spent for better health care.

Better health care, lower taxes and safer communities were all part of the platform that got the Progressive Conservatives elected and their budget yesterday highlighted their key commitments. Ringing in at just over $11B, it’s this government’s first budget and brings the deficit down to just over $688M . Finance Minister Craig Pardy says the core of the plan is a tax cut for every single taxpayer by increasing the basic personal amount exempt from income tax to $15,000, saving 285,000 taxpayers hundreds of dollars per year.

Budget 2026 also includes yearly reductions to the Small Business Tax Rate to 1 percent in 2028 to support over 6,000 small businesses. To help older residents, Pardy says 50,000 seniors will get more money through increasing the Newfoundland and Labrador Seniors’ Benefit by 20 per cent, effective July 1st. 

A total of $5.4 billion will be spent for better health care. This includes training and recruiting more nurses, a provincial nursing travel team, paid work-terms for students, 100 per cent coverage of eligible medical travel costs, and recruiting more doctors. Meanwhile, Pardy 45 new long term care beds will be added in Corner Brook and access to addictions treatment at Humberwood Treatment Centre will be expanded. Pardy says more prescriptions will be covered under the provincial plan.

Pardy says safer communities comes with more policing at a cost of $9M and the hiring of 21 RNC and 25 RCMP officers. 6 new crown attorneys, 8 support staff, and 7 new provincial judges will also be hired, along with investments for a unified bail court, including Stephenville.  

For safer roads $250M will be spent on paving, culverts and bridges, and $17M will go towards snow and brush clearing, signage, patching and moose fencing. The budget also includes $625M for teachers and resources.