Sharon Milligan, a resident of Carrot River, is concerned about the direction the province is going.
She’s concerned about the GTH land deal, the amount spent on LEAN processes in the health system, the effectiveness of the $1.5 billion Boundary Dam carbon capture project, privatization of services on the Regina bypass and the provincial budget deficit.
“It’s the waste of our tax dollars that really bugs me and the people that worked hard in this province, what do they get? We just keep paying more and getting nothing, really,” she said. “The former government left them with a rainy day fund and money and it’s all gone and there’s nothing to show for it.”
That’s why Milligan will be hopping on a bus headed straight for a rally in Regina March 8. The rally is being organized by a coalition of Saskatchewan unions.
“I’ve always been in with the labour movement most of my life,” said Milligan, a former Service Employees International Union member. “I’m going in support of the workers.”
Mary Anne Harrison, a vice-chair for the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union’s negotiating committee, is one of the organizers of the rally.
“The rally is just to bring awareness and, really, show that we are concerned about the government’s erosion of public services. [It’s] to really send a message to government that we shouldn’t be taking rollbacks and cuts because of their fiscal mismanagement.”
To get people to the rally, the organizers are providing buses from different locations in the province, including Melfort. Those buses will then go to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum before people march to the Legislature.
“It’s not just a unionized worker’s rally; it’s for the people of Saskatchewan. These cutbacks will affect the province,” said Kim Wilson, the president of COPE 397, which is also involved.
Harrison said she wasn’t sure how many people were coming from the Northeast, but added all are welcome on the bus, as long as they register in advance by emailing rally3817@gmail.com.
“It doesn’t matter who goes on the bus, the point is Saskatchewan needs to be heard.”
Milligan said she was encouraging others to come.
“Yes, come on the bus. We need all of the people we can get.”
Union concerns
Harrison said her union in particular was concerned the provincial government was unfairly blaming public sector wages for the provincial deficit – and concerned about job cuts and unpaid vacation.
“They’re already overworked and understaffed. I can’t imagine more cuts or getting paid less to do more work.”
She’s also concerned about plans to contract cleaners, saying that doing that would simply switch the expense from the government’s wages line item to services while reducing workers’ pay.
Harrison said she’s been traveling across the province and her members are frustrated with the government.
Wilson’s union has been holding town halls across the province and is reporting similar sentiments. They are concerned about Bill 40, which defines privatization of a crown corporation as transferring all or most of its assets to the private sector. Under the legislation, selling 49 per cent of a crown corporation wouldn’t be privatizing it.
Wilson said that $297.2 million in dividends are generated from crown corporations each year.
“If Bill 40 were to successfully pass,” she said, “that’s going to cut those dividends back – and those dividends belong to the people of Saskatchewan, not private investors coming from other provinces.”
