Province's record capital budget doesn't do enough to help Islanders now, says Opposition

Opposition MLAs say they are concerned that the Prince Edward Islandgovernment is spending more in its 2025-26 capital budget than Islanders will be able to afford in the long term.

On Thursday, Dennis King's Progressive Conservative government delivered its new capital spending plan one that's heavy on bricks-and-mortar investments.

It includes a record $483 million for the coming fiscal year, more than 30 per cent higher than last year's capital budget.

Interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry said that despite all that spending, the plan does nothing to help Islanders struggling with the high cost of living today.

"If you can't fill or provide the services that go inside these structures, then why throw this money out there to make it appear like the government is actually doing something to help Islanders?" Perry said.

"Islanders are struggling and there is nothing in this budget to give immediate relief for Islanders."

Digging into what P.E.I.'s capital budget for 2025-26 will mean for Islanders

3 days ago

Duration 4:54

Finance Minister Jill Burridge delivered a record-setting capital budget Thursday. CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin speaks with legislative reporter Kerry Campbell for a look behind the raw numbers.

'We could've planned much better'

The focus of this year's budget is on education, with new elementary schools for the East Royalty and West Royalty areas ofCharlottetownand a replacement for Georgetown School, all projects the Public Schools Branch had called for.

The province also announced that construction on a new junior high school in Stratford will starttwo years earlier than previously planned.

The PCs have set aside $64.9 million over the next five years for the two new elementary schools, each of which will cost more than $60 million and have room for 650 students. Less money will be neededin that time frame to kickstart the new elementary school in West Royalty, since construction is not slated to start until 2028-2029.

There's also money to expand the number of public long-term care beds in Tyne Valley and Souris.

The province will also, for the first time, pay for new cellphone towers to try to improve sometimes-spotty service on the Island.

Green Party MLA Peter Bevan-Baker, however, said all of this spending is needed because the government failed to anticipate the effects of P.E.I.'s rapid population growth.

"They did not anticipate what needed to be done, and so we're playing catch-up here, and that's a terrible way to manage anything," he said.

"Yes there's a lot more money there and that's a good thing, but we could've planned much better which would've allowed government to bring forward some, perhaps, cost relief to Islanders when we get to the operational budget in the springtime."

Finance Minister Jill Burridge said the capital budget will keep P.E.I.'s debt-to-GDP ratio within acceptable levels, a basic indicator of the province's fiscal health.

But the spendingwill still push that ratio up, and erase gains the province had made in that regard since 2018.