People in Saskatchewan are collectively holding their breath these days awaiting the big shoe in Regina to fall, that of course being this year’s provincial budget.
No one is expecting anything short of a document filled with austere measures, a vision certainly perpetrated by Premier Brad Wall and his government. They have been sending up trial balloon after trial balloon, all of them suggesting possibilities which will ultimately mean at least some in Saskatchewan having less dollars to work with.
The latest balloon was released by Finance Minister Kevin Doherty’s with a suggestion of what was almost immediately termed ‘Wallidays’ that would require them take one unpaid day off a month.
The forced days off would amount to a five-per-cent pay cut. Moreover, those working 12-hour, four-day-a-week shifts would actually face a 7.5-per-cent pay cut.
The idea is not one without problems, including existing contracts, and the simple idea of fairness.
Should employees suffer wage losses to help a government get back on track after a dismal showing in terms of hitting their 2016-17 budget? Remember a $1.2 billion deficit is a major miss in terms of budget targets.
And what would such cuts do to the economy? It’s a sure bet Crown corporations such as SaskPower won’t reduce their rates to help offset wage losses from forced days off, so those affected will have to tighten their spending to hit their own budgets, meaning less visits to restaurants, or movie theatre nights out, and that all has a ripple effect on our economy.
Small business and hard working families should be able to balance their budgets, but it is likely those efforts will be made more difficult by the soon to be released budget.
Of course the situation may be one taxpayers can only lament so far.
Recently Elections Saskatchewan released the Statement of Votes, the first of four volumes that assesses the provincial election held on April 4, 2016.
The document shows nearly half of Saskatchewan’s eligible voters have not been participating in our recent provincial elections. The number of eligible voters casting a ballot was just 53.5 per cent, an increase of only about 2.5 per cent over 2011.
In comparison, the participation of eligible voters in 1982 was nearly 80 per cent.
Apathy in terms of electing our governments, whether at the local municipal, provincial, or federal levels, is unfortunate. There are huge issues facing governments today from a questionable carbon tax at the federal level, to an aging infrastructure deficit at the municipal level, to a massive budget miscue and how best to deal with the $1.2 billion shortfall.
In all cases we as voters should care enough to be part of the process, and when we fail in that simple responsibility of casting votes, we may be left with questionable decisions by those who are voted in by seemingly ever smaller numbers of voters.
