How would you spend Nova Scotia's money? The province wants to know

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeAtlantic CanadaNewsNova ScotiaHalifax How would you spend Nova Scotia's money? The province wants to know Public feedback from the online budget building tool will help inform the next budget, with some restrictions. Author of the article: By Ally Bowes Published Sep 11, 2026 4 minute read Premier Tim Houston said the feedback gathered with the new tool and other consultations could change the governments plans for spending. PHOTO BY TIM KROCHAK Article content The government has a new way for the public to share opinions on the province’s spending, launching a website for Nova Scotians to put together a budget themselves, with some restrictions.  Article content An online budget builder tool has been unveiled, in addition to in-person and virtual consultations with the public.  Article content Article content Building your own provincial budget Article content The site allows users to make a budget using numbers from the 2026-27 document.  Article content Article content People will be asked to share what they think the government’s top priority should be, as well as rank four priorities from a preset list: economic development, affordability, education and health care.  Article content Nova Scotia’s PC government has created an online “mybudget” exercise where people can build their own budget. Article content The website then lays out how the province makes money, how it is spent, differences between operating and capital spending, and other general budget information.  Article content Participants will then be asked to adjust spending for departments before heading into programs within departments and moving money between them.  Article content Once they are finished, users can see how their budget compares to the one most recently tabled by the Houston government.  Article content The restrictions Article content The site does have restrictions around how users can go about putting together budgets, with the intention of showing users what the process is really like.  Article content “You’ll probably notice when you go online and you have a look at the website that some of the choices that you can make are fixed and some are not,” said Kelliann Dean, executive deputy minister for the Finance Department.   Article content Article content “It really reflects the reality of building the budget; sometimes there are…