Something put off for far too long

We’ll consider ourselves warned. Nova Scotia’s finance minister says to expect some hard decisions in the provincial budget this spring.

To be honest, they should all be tough. If they are easy, either they’re wrong, the numbers are skewed, or perhaps it’s an election year.

Diana Whalen, who heads that portfolio, says the provincial Liberals hope to get the books back to surplus. That would come after shaving the deficit to $ 220.6 million for 2014-15 — down from $679 million the year before.

Hard decisions? That would be an understatement, and should be par for the course.

But a big part of this exercise is for residents of the province to realize we’re all in this together, balanced budgets don’t happen by magic, and the tough decisions will affect many.

Probably the best way to get the point across — and some politicians have used this to good effect — is to encourage people to get over the notion that the government has a lot of money, and when they don’t spend it on us, they’re being stingy.

That’s hogwash. The government, in reality, doesn’t have a cent. The money they manage, and spend, is the people’s money.

But when it comes to tough decisions, they also unfortunately elicit not- in- my- backyard reactions. If it comes down to trimming a provincially funded feature or service, if it happens at the other end of Nova Scotia, fine, but not here. The jobs it entails are too important — as if they aren’t everywhere.

Also adding to the challenge, eliminating something merely provides the opposition parties with ammunition for the next election campaign.

This exercise will likely include cutting services and offices that aren’t absolutely essential, reducing or consolidating others, trimming budgets across the board. It will be hard — the word painful even comes to mind — and one of the biggest hurdles is getting people used to the idea that it’s essential. Putting it off and assuming our children and grandchildren can pay our debt has to stop.

Editor’s note: This week’s editorial was first published in the New Glasgow News and involves a topic that affects all taxpayers.