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HALIFAX - Nova Scotia Liberals removed any lingering suspense around the Conservative government's budget Friday by coming out in support of the fiscal document.

The endorsement by the legislature's third-place party ensured the survival of Premier Rodney MacDonald's minority government ahead of next week's crucial budget vote.

Although Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil had expressed some doubts as late as last week, any pretense the budget would be defeated was quashed Wednesday when the government announced it had agreed to a Liberal demand to train more doctors as a way of battling chronic shortages.

Clearly pleased with the Liberal move, Finance Minister Michael Baker didn't deny Friday that the creation of 10 more seats at Dalhousie University medical school helped the budget's prospects.

"I don't think any particular thing in the budget on its own was the turning point," he told reporters. "I think obviously that was an important thing to the Liberal caucus and we believe that was the right thing to do."

Two days before the house sitting began recently, McNeil said his only demand going in was that the budget be balanced.

The Tories did that, bringing in their seventh consecutive balanced budget, although it contained a bitter pill for the opposition in the form of a revamped home heating rebate.

Both the New Democrats and Liberals voiced outrage over a government move that clawed back the eight per cent provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax.

On Friday, though, McNeil preferred to focus on other areas in a budget he characterized as "a balanced approach for Nova Scotia."

"We recognize everything in the entire wish list for everyone is not going to be satisfied in a budget. We've looked at it and said, 'Are there enough good things here that we can support?' ... We said, 'Yes,"' said McNeil.

The Liberal leader highlighted the additional medical school seats as being key to his party's support, but said other Liberal initiatives were also reflected in the budget.

His list included more support for low-income students and the re-instatement of the Keep the Heat program to assist low-income Nova Scotians with the rising cost of home heating.

McNeil was pressed on whether his support meant he was endorsing the government and its direction.

"We fought for certain things. ... It would be self-serving for me to analyze this and say, well, it might be better for me to pull the plug," he said.

McNeil added that his party didn't want to stand in the way of long-fought-for initiatives such as provincial funding of the cancer drug Avastin.

That was a bit too much to stomach for NDP Leader Darrell Dexter, who reminded reporters that the battle to get Avastin funding was begun by New Democrats.

He also questioned why an election would get in the way of good programs when a new government could choose to launch its own agenda within short order of coming to power.

"To say, somehow, that this is the only opportunity for these programs to go forward, that's just not the case. I mean this really amounted to a whimper rather than a bang," Dexter said.

The way is now clear for the New Democrats to vote against the budget, although it's something they haven't done during nearly two years of Conservative rule under MacDonald.

Dexter has dropped heavy hints that his party's support for the government is wavering, although he says a final decision won't be announced until early next week.

MacDonald, who was in Fredericton on Friday for the meeting of Atlantic premiers, called the Liberal support "welcome news."

"I thank the leader, Mr. McNeil, for that support and hopefully the NDP can do the same," said MacDonald.