P.E.I. budget corrected by finance minister

P.E.I. Finance Minister Darlene Compton tabled a page of corrections to the provincial budget Wednesday following inquiries by CBC News.

Compton said she had her staff review the entire budget for mistakes.

"Staff in my department have confirmed that a few values for revenues for the current fiscal year, 2021-22, on page 15, were misallocated and presented on the wrong lines," Compton told the legislature.

"This was due to an administrative issue with a spreadsheet that was not linked to the proper columns when they were re-sorted before printing."

She said the overall totals were correct, but the numbers in some of the columns had been misplaced. Those number corresponded to provincial tax revenues for things like the province's gas tax, liquor tax and carbon levy.

A government staffer later told CBC News the problem was based on the province's use of Excel to compile its budget.

That budget has still not been passed in the legislature.

The corrections were tabled the day after CBC News asked the Finance Department questions about some of the figures that were corrected.