{"id":11123,"date":"2025-11-21T01:20:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/p-e-i-liberals-accuse-government-of-fiscal-recklessness-and-ignoring-warnings-about-growing-debt\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T01:20:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:20:33","slug":"p-e-i-liberals-accuse-government-of-fiscal-recklessness-and-ignoring-warnings-about-growing-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/p-e-i-liberals-accuse-government-of-fiscal-recklessness-and-ignoring-warnings-about-growing-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"P.E.I. Liberals accuse government of \u2018fiscal recklessness\u2019 and ignoring warnings about growing debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>PEIThe P.E.I. Liberals are accusing the Lantz government of ignoring the auditor general\u2019s warnings about the province\u2019s growing debt and of having \u201clost control\u201d of Prince Edward Island\u2019s finances. Government needs to make investments now \u2018to stand up to pressures\u2026 in the future,\u2019 finance minister saysRyan McKellop  \u00b7 CBC News  \u00b7 Posted: Nov 20, 2025 1:45 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Opposition accuses Lantz government of ignoring debt warnings, finance minister promises planThe Official Opposition is accusing the Lantz government of ignoring the auditor general\u2019s warnings about the province\u2019s growing debt, which is now more than $3 billion. The finance minister told the legislature Thursday that a plan is coming to deal with it. CBC\u2019s Wayne Thibodeau reports.The P.E.I. Liberals are accusing the Lantz government of ignoring the auditor general\u2019s warnings about the province\u2019s growing debt and of having \u201clost control\u201d of Prince Edward Island\u2019s finances. The province\u2019s debt is currently more than $3 billion.\u201dWhy is your government ignoring calls from the auditor general and continuing down a path of fiscal recklessness?\u201d Opposition Leader Hal Perry asked during question period in the legislature Thursday. Finance Minister Jill Burridge said government is listening to the province\u2019s AG.\u201dOur fiscal anchor is net debt to GDP. It\u2019s 32.6 right now,\u201d she said.\u201dI\u2019m not trying to paint a rosy picture here. We have significant pressures on us as a government right now, and we are managing through that. We\u2019ll have a debt strategy coming here shortly.\u201d\u201dI never in my life would have imagined that a government could be so careless about the Island\u2019s future,\u201d Perry said.\u201dThis minister will go down as the most irresponsible and the least transparent financial minister in recent history.\u201dBut Burridge said that while government is doing everything it can to manage the fiscal pressures, there are programs and services that are needed \u2014 for Islanders now, and for future generations.P.E.I. Finance Minister Jill Burridge faced questions about the province\u2019s growing debt during question period Thursday. (Legislative Assembly of P.E.I.)\u201dWe\u2019re at a point that if we don\u2019t make these investments, we\u2019re actually sacrificing a huge piece of their futures. We need to make these investments now in order to stand up to the pressures that they\u2019re going to see in the future.\u201dSpeaking to reporters after question period, Burridge said there is a debt management plan  currently in place. \u201cBut I think what we\u2019re looking to do is enhance that, given our fiscal situation right now, we\u2019re taking on more debt than we have in the past, so I think it\u2019s reasonable to expect that we would make that more robust.\u201dBurridge did not provide a date for when Islanders can expect to see that debt strategy.Call for a Sunshine ListBurridge also faced questions from Green Party MLA Peter Bevan-Baker about the creation of a Sunshine List, an annual list of public sector employees who have high salaries. P.E.I.\u2019s auditor general has called for one.Most Canadian provinces, outside of P.E.I. and Quebec, have some sort of list. Ontario\u2019s Sunshine List requires the disclosure of any public sector employees with salaries of $100,000 or more. \u201cThe minister of finance has shown herself to be sometimes difficult to spend money to help everyday Islanders, but when an executive position opens up for $200,000, or $300,000 there seems to be no problem making the money flow,\u201d Bevan-Baker said during question period. \u201cIslanders deserve to see where their money is being spent. Will you commit to implementing a Sunshine List so that Islanders can see where their tax dollars are going?\u201dGreen Party MLA Peter Bevan-Baker says a Sunshine List for P.E.I. would increase government accountability. (Legislative Assembly of P.E.I.)Burridge said there has to be a balance between transparency and privacy.The province does publish a list of every position and salary range, but that list does not include specific names or salaries.\u201dIf we do a Sunshine List, you know, that could be your neighbour,\u201d Burridge told reporters after question period. \u201cI think it is prudent upon us to protect that privacy, given our population size.\u201dLISTEN | Auditor General wants to introduce a sunshine list on P.E.I.:Island Morning8:45Auditor General wants to introduce a Sunshine List on P.E.I.P.E.I.\u2019s Auditor General, Darren Noonan, thinks Islanders should know how much top public sector officials are bringing home every year. He tells us more about the purpose of a Sunshine List.Bevan-Baker told reporters a Sunshine List would be an important exercise in accountability. \u201cIt\u2019s not about shining a light on, you know, the folks who are earning $40,000, $50,000, $60,000. These are [for] the high earning folks.\u201d Bevan-Baker said he\u2019s not advocating for a specific salary to start at, though $100,000 would be a \u201cdecent\u201d place to start. The issue of a Sunshine List went to the P.E.I. Supreme Court\u2019s trial division in 2004, when the Eastern Graphic wanted to publish a list of the Workers Compensation Board\u2019s employees and salaries. The board refused. P.E.I.\u2019s privacy commissioner ruled that would be \u201can unreasonable invasion\u201d of the employee\u2019s privacy, and the courts sided with the privacy commissioner.ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College journalism program and is working as an Associate Producer and Web Writer.  Got a story idea? Email ryan.mckellop@cbc.caWith files from Wayne Thibodeau<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PEIThe P.E.I. Liberals are accusing the Lantz government of ignoring the auditor general\u2019s warnings about the province\u2019s growing debt and of having \u201clost control\u201d of Prince Edward Island\u2019s finances. Government needs to make investments now \u2018to stand up to pressures\u2026 in the future,\u2019 finance minister saysRyan McKellop \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: Nov 20, 2025 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,131,1],"tags":[116,130],"class_list":["post-11123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-prince-edward-island","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-prince-edward-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}