With a bunch of small promises to make life easier for many taxpayers, NDP Leader Alison Coffin acknowledges, this Liberal budget will make her campaign more difficult.

But the timeline of a rushed election call and a budget without debate has her questioning the Liberal government's motives.

"What's the rationale on the part of the Liberals?" she asked rhetorically. "Are they not confident in this budget? Do they not want us to be allowed to debate it?"

Her political adversary, Tory Leader Ches Crosbie, shares similar concerns.

PC Leader Ches Crosbie doesn't believe the Liberals' proposed budget will ever be passed. (CBC)

He's not wowed by the budget one way or the other, but he doesn't believe it will ever be voted into existence, whether the Liberals form the next government or not.

"I don't even think they're going to pass it after [a hypothetical win]," he said. "I think they'll pass a different budget with a bunch of tax increases in it just like they did four years ago."

For his part, Finance Minister Tom Osborne denied the possibility they'll swap out items in the budget if the Liberals are elected again.

"This is the budget we will be going to the people on. This is the budget we'll be debating in the house. This is the budget we'll be voting on," he said. "We won't be making changes to the budget."

Concerns about what's missing

Neither leader of the opposition parties was overwhelmed by the budget for good reasons or bad reasons. Coffin said some things, like repealing sales tax on car insurance or subsidising heat pumps, are welcome, but many things are still missing.

"A number of things that are very, very important, that go to the very fabric of our society, of our economy, that's just not there," she said.

She hoped to see gender-based analyses, additional spending on rent subsidies, more substantial increases to the provincial minimum wage and more to do with the environment.

"There's an utter lack of anything related to the environment at this point," he said.

Accounting 'magic' not a real surplus, leaders say

The provincial government has taken the $2.5 billion from the feds in the renegotiated Atlantic Accord and put it on the bottom line this year. The result is a $1.9-billion surplus for 2019.

But Crosbie was critical of that decision, saying it was simply a ploy to make the margins look fatter than what they actually are.

This is just a little bit of magic with numbers that we're seeing. - Alison Coffin

"That's not real money," he said. "That's 38 years' worth of payments that they're accounting for in this year's budget. So it's misleading, but they love to showcase stuff like that."

Crosbie said the budget is a "puff piece" to lead the Liberals into the election.

Coffin shared a similar sentiment, calling it an "artificial surplus."

"This is just a little bit of magic with numbers that we're seeing," she said.

Labour leaders content with budget

A little less than three years ago, Jerry Earle and the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees were running scathing commercials against Liberal budget measures.

The 2016 budget was a tough one for most people in the province, including the public sector workers that saw hundreds of job cuts.

NAPE leader Jerry Earle speaks to CBC during a live budget special on Tuesday. (CBC)

This time around, Earle said the outcome is a lot more positive.

"Overall, compared to a budget lockup I was in [three] years ago, [it's] quite a different mood and I'm relatively pleased with what I've seen in the budget," he said.

Some positives for NAPE are new snowplows being bought for the first time in years, Earle said, and an investment in social workers and correctional officers in Labrador.

Over the last two years, Earle said, the union has worked to repair relationships with several cabinet ministers — namely Andrew Parsons, Sherry Gambin-Walsh, Tom Osborne and Lisa Dempster — and this budget shows each of their departments helping NAPE workers in some way.

Earle did say there was some concern over stalled spending in health care, which will remain steady for 2019 if the budget passes.

During CBC's budget special, labour leader Mary Shortall said she would have liked to see the wage gap addressed in the proposed budget. (CBC)

Mary Shortall, head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, said it's a decent budget overall but is missing some key elements.

She hoped to see more about the gender pay gap — which is above the national average in Newfoundland and Labrador — and more money for child care.

But she finished by cautioning that none of this may matter after a 28-day campaign.

"I feel there will be an election before we even get to talk about a lot of stuff that's in there."

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