the dexter government struggled for the first year of its mandate to control spending on public programs while increasing revenue. it paid off when dexter's minister of finance graham steele posted the provincial budget on april 4, 2011, showing a $447 million surplus – one of the largest in nova scotia's history and only the 7th time the debt was paid down since 1950. major factors in recording this surplus were a one-time adjustment from the federal government of almost $200 million as well as an increase to the hst by two percentage points. however, dexter's government also made several unpopular decisions, including removing the freeze on tuition fee hikes for nova scotia universities as well as budget cuts and freezes in public education and health care spending.