Nova Scotia

We provide data from 1980/81.

These data represent what the government currently refers to as the General Revenue Fund. Prior to the 2011 budget, the government referred to this as the Consolidated Fund. The 2011 public accounts define the General Revenue Fund in the same way as the 2010 public accounts define the Consolidated Fund and a year of overlap confirms they measure the same budgets.

The GRF is the level at which the annual estimates are prepared in detail for approval by the provincial government. It is comprised of all departments and public service units of the Nova Scotia government but excludes the other governmental units (GUs) owned or controlled by the province and government partnership arrangements (GPAs).

The GRF, and before that the Consolidated Fund, treated the net income of government business enterprises (GBE) inconsistently over time. From 1980/81 to 1997/98, the public accounts indicate that the profits and losses of corporations and agencies owned or controlled by the province, except for the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, were not reflected in the revenues and expenditures of the province. From 1999/2000 onward, the accounts include the net incomes of all government business enterprises, including the Liquor Commission, and reports the amount as Net Income of GBE.

So that the net incomes of GBE are treated consistently over time, we remove these amounts from what we report as Total Revenue. What we report as the GRF therefore excludes the net income of GBE.¹

Prior to 1981/82, what we report as Retail Sales Tax revenue is identified as the sum of Health Service Tax, Reciprocal Tax and Gasoline Tax after which we report what is identified as simply Sales Tax in the public accounts. The public accounts of 1981/82 and 1982/83 provide a reporting overlap which confirms these two amounts are equal. Starting with 1998/99, what we report as Retail Sales Tax is the sum of what the public accounts identify as HST revenue plus Tobacco Tax and Motive Fuels tax. The 2000/01 public accounts provide a reporting overlap that confirms these are very nearly equal amounts. In this way we provide a measure of sales tax revenue that is defined more or less consistently over time.

What we report as Education spending excludes spending on advanced education. Spending on Advanced Education appears as a separate expenditure in the public accounts only since 2021/22. Prior to that year, spending on advanced education was reported as part of expenses associated with the department of Labour and Advanced Education and as a separate expense identified as Assistance to Universities. We have not attempted to identify that portion of Labour and Advanced Education spending that might be understood to reflect spending for universities and colleges for years prior to 2021/22. Thus, for Nova Scotia, our Education series should be understood to refer only to K12 and early childhood education. Researchers focussing on data since 2021/22 may wish to add expenditures by the department of Advanced Education to our Education series to obtain a more comprehensive definition of education spending. The table below provides those data:

Spending by Department of Advanced Education

(millions of dollars)

2020/21$687.216

2021/22$806.521

2022/23$841.734

2023/24$743.330

2024/25$739.066

Starting in 2021/22, responsibility for continuing care was moved from the department of Health to the department of Seniors and Long-Term Care. To remain consistent with what is reported for previous years, since 2021/22 what we report for Health spending is the sum of what is identified in the public accounts as spending on Seniors and Long-Term Care plus the amount recorded as spending on Health and Wellness.