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For additional information relating to this article, please contact:

Thomas Storring	Director – Economics and Statistics
Tel: 902-424-2410	Email: thomas.storring@novascotia.ca

May 06, 2026
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR BUDGET 2026-27

The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador released its provincial budget for 2026-27 on April 29, 2026.  This was the final provincial budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.  

Newfoundland and Labrador's 2026-27 budget anticipates a deficit of $688 million, slightly smaller than the $729 million deficit now forecast for the 2025-26 fiscal year.  Newfoundland and Labrador expects to the deficit to rise in each fiscal year through 2029-30, peaking at $1.112 billion before declining to $835 million in 2030-31.  

Newfoundland and Labrador's provincial government revenues are projected to grow by 1.5% in 2026-27 while expenditures are projected to rise by 1.1%. Newfoundland and Labrador's revenues are expected to fall by 3.5% in 2027-28 before accelerating to 3.4% growth by 2030-31.  Newfoundland and Labrador's expenditures are projected to slow to 0.2% growth in 2027-28, accelerating to 2.5% growth by 2029-30 and slowing to 0.8% growth in 2030-31.

 

Measured as a share of GDP, the footprint of provincial government in Newfoundland and Labrador's economy amounts to 24.0% of GDP in 2026-27.  This is projected to shrink somewhat to 22.8% of GDP by 2030-31.  Newfoundland and Labrador's deficit for 2026-27 amounts to 1.4% of projected 2026 nominal GDP.   

Newfoundland and Labrador's net debt is expected to be $20.8 billion in 2026-27, approximately 43% of the province's estimated $48.0 billion in nominal GDP for 2026.

Newfoundland and Labrador's 2026-27 Budget expenditures amount to $20,960 per capita, funded by revenues of $19,709 per capita and a deficit of $1,251 per capita.  Expenditures per capita are projected to rise by $328 through 2030-31 while per capita revenues rise $106 and the per capita deficit increases by $222.

Compared with last year's fiscal plan, Newfoundland and Labrador now anticipates substantially higher expenditures along with weaker revenues.     

Newfoundland and Labrador's budget position has deteriorated compared to the previous fiscal plan. 

Newfoundland and Labrador's economic outlook is highly sensitive to commodity prices, investment and production.  The Newfoundland and Labrador Budget assumes an oil price (USD/bbl, Brent) of $81.10 in 2026.  The province's nominal GDP is projected to grow by 5.5% in 2026 due to oil and mining production gains and higher exports. Employment growth is projected to be limited to just 0.2% as the population remains stable.  Newfoundland and Labrador's capital investment is projected to decline as major projects are completed and enter production.  Medium term economic growth is expected to pick up again with initiation of new construction in wind energy and offshore oil projects.    

Key Measures and Initiatives

Newfoundland and Labrador's Budget identifies a number of priorities: health care, lower taxes, safer communities, jobs and infrastructure.  Key measures include: 

Health care

• $54.3 million to recruit and retain health care professionals and increase access to health care in rural and remote communities
• $6.5 million to implement a provincial nursing travel team to reduce reliance on agency nurses
• $6.3 million to implement the Nurse Practitioner Funding Model 
• $8.4 million to support 64 new acute care beds in St. John’s.
• Almost $8 million to train and recruit more local nurses and nurse practitioners
• $8 million to support foster families by increasing foster and kinship care rates
• $5 million to provide paid work terms for students pursuing health care careers in hard-to-fill areas
• $3.5 million to help recruit and retain more doctors
• $3.3 million to provide 24-hour care in Botwood
• $3 million to hire mental health professionals
• $1 million to train, recruit and deploy anesthesia assistants 
• $935,000 to expand mobile crisis response teams
• $400,000 in additional funding for the hospice in Grand Falls-Windsor
• $28.9 million to support the Prescription Drug Program and the Vaccine Program
• $1.8 million to increase fertility treatment subsidies
• $1.1 million for security updates to technology
• $12.7 million to increase self-managed care worker wages by $2 per hour
• $4.9 million increase in funding for the personal care home sector 
• Establishment of an independent Office of the Disability Advocate 
• Increasing funding for the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities from $34,000 to $50,000
• Approximately $19 million for 100 per cent coverage of eligible Labradoreans' medical travel costs

Lower taxes and affordability measures

• $200 million in targeted relief with no new taxes or fees
• $45 million to minimize the impact of Newfoundland Power’s rate increase
• Increasing the basic personal amount exempt from income tax to $15,000
• Permanently reducing the gas tax to 7.5 cents a litre on gasoline and 9.5 cents a litre on diesel
• Doubling the Volunteer Firefighter and Search and Rescue Tax Credits to $6,000
• Reducing the Small Business Tax Rate to 2 per cent as of January 1, 2026, 1.5 per cent on January 1, 2027, and 1 per cent on January 1, 2028
• Extending the reduction in vehicle registration fees by 50 per cent in 2026
• Over $40 million for a new Graduate Tuition Refund Program starting next fiscal year
• Increasing the Seniors’ Benefit by 20 per cent
• Extending the Home Heating Supplement Program for those with an adjusted family income of $150,000 or less that use furnace or stove oil
• Providing the Child Benefit to 3,000 additional children, and increasing support to the 3,000 children already receiving the benefit
• $8 million to increase foster care and kinship care rates
• $4 million to help approximately 500 more low-income families afford rent
• $7.3 million annualized to upgrade the homeowner support programs
• $10.4 million for transition houses
• $23 million for the emergency shelter system
• $36 million for the Oil to Electric Rebate Program
• $3.6 million for the implementation and improvement of waste management initiatives

Public safety

• $9 million to hire 46 additional police officers over the next two years
• More than $1 million to create 14 new positions and digital modernization in Public Prosecutions
• $2.4 million to create new court staff positions and $1.7 million to create seven additional Provincial Court Judge positions
• $162,000 to fund the Gladue Report Program
• $7 million to support court audio visual modernization
• $350,000 to implement a Unified Bail Court
• $14 million for brush clearing, road signage, culvert replacement, moose fencing and road patching
• $3 million for 24-hour snow clearing
• $1 million ongoing for a phased expansion of cellular coverage
• Doubling the Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy to $1.1 million for 870 kilometres of winter trails
• $8 million to advance violence prevention initiatives
• More than $7 million for volunteer firefighters to respond to floods, forest fires, medical calls and other emergencies
• $730,000 to hire 25 additional wildfire fighters
• An increase of $1.76 million in helicopter support for wildfire responses, wildlife management and resource enforcement
• $2.3 million (2 years) to produce flood risk maps with the Federal Government
• $100,000 to support improved community emergency response planning in rural and remote areas

Jobs and industrial development

• $90 million (3 years) to support the Offshore Exploration Fund
• $8.65 million for the Innovation and Business Development Fund
• $584,000 for a Natural Gas Feasibility and Investment Opportunity Study
• $1.3 million to advance critical mineral exploration
• $900,000 to support iron ore development in Labrador
• $400,000 to help identify new critical mineral exploration targets
• Funding dedicated to the development of a 10-year Agriculture Strategy
• $1 million annually to expand land available for farming
• $9 million to support new agriculture projects
• An additional $1.1 million to maintain forest access roads
• Annual investment of $3.3 million into the Provincial Silviculture Program
• $4.75 million (2 years) to assist with adding value to the products harvested
• $14.5 million for tourism marketing and air access
• $7 million to support cultural economic development and arts infrastructure
• $34 million to support economic development and innovation initiatives
• $13.5 million for broadband and cellular connectivity
• $7.75 million for the Green Transition Fund
• Establishment of a Red Tape Reduction Office

Infrastructure

• $21 million long-term care beds in the former Western Memorial Hospital 
• $12.1 million for redevelopment of the Janeway Children’s Hospital
• $7 million for new MRI machines in Grand Falls-Windsor and Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• $5 million a new long-term care home for Stephenville 
• $4 million the new Downtown Health and Well-Being Centre in St. John’s
• $4 million for new long-term care beds in Springdale and Labrador West
• $3.75 million for the Humberwood Addictions Centre in Corner Brook
• $2.9 million for 20 transitional and alternate level of care beds in Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• $2.5 million for 54 new long-term care beds in Clarenville
• $1.9 million for the new Urgent Care Centre in Conception Bay South
• $1.5 million for redevelopment of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital
• $1.5 million for additional acute care beds at the Health Sciences Centre
• $1.1 million to purchase six echocardiogram machines
• $800,000 for the expansion of the Health Sciences Centre Emergency Department 
• $479,000 for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy equipment
• $10.8 million to advance the new high school in Paradise
• $4 million for the expansion of École Boréale in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Pasadena Elementary, and St. Teresa’s in St. John’s
• $3.9 million to add more than 400 new early childhood learning spaces 
• $300,000 for replacement of Cabot Academy in Western Bay
• $31.1 million over three years to build new social housing
• $12.7 million over two years to repair NLHC homes
• $10.5 million to support construction of new seniors’ housing in Labrador West
• $250 million for paving, culverts and bridge construction
• $37 million for transportation equipment replacement
• $14 million for brush clearing, moose fencing, signage, and asphalt repair
• $128.8 million for operation of the intra-provincial ferry system
• $111 million to support towns and communities
• $142 million (federal funding) for the Canada Community-Building Fund 

Newfoundland and Labrador Budget 2026-27

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