We’re at about the halfway mark of the provincial election campaign, and if there has been one constant among the camps, it has been the theme song “Spend, Spend, Spend.”

It seems each announcement by the Liberals, PC’s and NDP has been a game of one-upmanship with the parties trying to outdo each other, promising the sky, all the while seemingly oblivious to the $20-billion debt and burgeoning deficit.

Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, says no matter who gets in, the first budget or two will be rough ones as Newfoundland and Labrador is in bad financial shape compared to other provinces.

“It is alarming how bad it is, it becomes whatever the leaders are saying about spending all sorts of money, I think Newfoundlanders and Labradorians should be saying, ‘how can

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