The forecast (III)

Finance Minister Whoever It Is This Year makes a confession. CP's Sue Bailey reports:

Newfoundland and Labrador's fiscal update is an eye-popping revision that projects a surplus of almost $756 million — up from $59.1 million forecast in April's provincial budget.

But Finance Minister Tom Marshall deflected any suggestion of low-balling, citing rising oil prices and higher than expected offshore production.

...

"We're trying to guess what the average price of oil's going to be, per barrel, for 12 months. Well, I'm no good at it. And you're no good at it," he told reporters.

On the other hand, we can confidently predict the price of oil for decades to come:

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for her question, which is a very important one.

Our government believes very strongly that we want to keep hydro rates for the people of this Province down. We do not want them to rise; we want them to go down.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MARSHALL: If we do not get off oil, if we do not get off Holyrood, which produces electricity based on oil, which is going higher and higher and higher, people in this Province are going to have to pay higher electricity. The way to stop that is to get off Holyrood and to go to the Lower Churchill River. When we are ready to go we are going to get the guarantee from the federal Government of Canada, which is going to reduce our costs by 2 per cent on the debt.