HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia's deputy finance minister says she doesn't know who made the ultimate decision to leave out a $27 million overstatement of revenue estimates in last spring's budget.
Liz Cody, who was not the deputy finance minister at the time of the decision, appeared before the legislature's public accounts committee today.
In a report released last month, auditor general Jacques Lapointe said the NDP government delivered a deficit forecast of $211 million when it was aware that the actual figure was $238 million.
Cody says new economic data came to the department after a March 1 cutoff date to include it in the budget.
She says after an analysis of the new data, Finance Department staff concluded that the discrepancy wasn't large enough to affect the budget's overall estimates.
Cody says that recommendation was brought to the Treasury Board by then-finance minister Graham Steele during a March 28 meeting, where it was decided the budget estimates wouldn't be changed.
