Prince Edward Island.

AuthorJohnston, Marian
PositionLegislative Reports

The Fourth Session of the Sixty-fourth General Assembly resumed on April 2, 2014. On April 9, 2014, Kathleen Casey (Charlottetown-Lewis Point) was elected Acting Deputy Speaker during the absence of Deputy Speaker Paula Biggar (Tyne Valley-Linkletter), who is expected to be away from the Legislative Assembly for a number of weeks.

Budget 2013

Wes Sheridan, Minister of Finance and Municipal Affairs, introduced his budget on April 8, 2014, which contained expenditures of $1,656 billion. Health continued to account for the largest share of provincial expenditure at over $583 million, followed by Education and Early Childhood Development at $232 million. The minister indicated revenues will grow in 2014-2015 by 3.3 per cent, while expenditures will be held to two per cent. The following year, revenues are expected to grow by 3.5 percent while expenditures grow by 1 percent. For the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the government improved on its budget target of a $58.9 million deficit, with a forecast deficit of $51.9 million. In the upcoming fiscal year, there will be a further reduction in the deficit to $39.7 million before achieving a small surplus in 2015-2016.

4-H Debate in the Legislative Chamber

As part of their annual conference on citizenship and parliamentary process, 4-H Canada held a debate in the Legislative Chamber of Province House on April 14, 2014. Youth from across Canada participated, debating the motion, "Be it resolved that an equal representation of both men and women should exist among government leaders." In addition to the proceedings at Province House, the program included visits to Lennox Island to view a Mi'kmaq cultural presentation, the Acadian Museum and a tour of the north shore of Prince Edward Island.

Significant Legislation

A number of pieces of significant legislation were introduced during the spring sitting :

* An Act to Amend the Election Act (Bill 34) provides for an exception to the current requirement to hold provincial general elections on the first Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following the last general election, thus avoiding the possibility of having two general elections-one federal and one provincial-in October 2015. If the federal general election is held in October...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT