Thank you for that bit of fact checking. Very interesting indeed. I think the importance of the credit ratings are that they are very objective, it represents how the credit rating agency (an independant 3rd party) views our province in a financial light as well as the financial prospects.
remember too, that credit ratings affect the province's ability to borrow money at low interest rates. the lower the credit rating drops, the higher the interest that has to be paid on borrowed funds, and the less money there is to be spent on hospitals, schools, highways - you know, the REAL business of the provincial government
some past governments have caused the credit ratings to drop so low, and correspondingly the interest payments to rise so high, that they simply COULD NOT publish a balanced budget. when that happens the government HAS to call an election whether they want to or not, and are usually dumped because they are subject to too many internal scandals as everybody fights to become the party leader
but credit ratings are too ho-hum for most voters, who prefer more substantive issues, like running red traffic lights, making ambiguous public political statements, and some vaguely defined concept of 'scariness' :crazy: