Dear Editor
When the NDP came to power in 1991 they inherited a $15 billion debt created by the Grant Devine Conservatives. During the NDP’s 16 years in office, when oil was below $50 a barrel, they managed to reduce the provincial debt to $10.3 billion. In 2007, the NDP left the new government $1.5 billion in the Fiscal Stabilization Fund and $1 billion at Crown Investments Corporation. Although the Sask. Party inherited a booming economy, they quickly blew through the cash at a time of record resource revenue. The provincial debt has since ballooned to around $23 billion due to mismanagement and vanity projects like the ill-conceived and scandalous Global Transportation Hub, a flawed carbon capture plant, LEAN, and the costly Regina Bypass ($1.88 Billion). Using out of province contractors for P3 construction means the out of province tax flow will continue for thirty years.
The 40 per cent increase in your power bill can be largely attributed to the flawed $1.5 billion carbon capture and storage plant. Taxpayers paid millions in penalties when the plant failed to produce enough carbon to meet the contract with Cenovus, but there were no consequences when Cenovus quit purchasing carbon. The Sask. Party made a “tails I lose, heads you win” deal with one of their large political donors ... leaving the people of Saskatchewan on the hook to pay up.
Poverty Free Saskatchewan had this to say about the 2017 Budget, “Corporations were gifted a half point tax reduction worth an estimated $67.5 million in two increments. Personal income tax of high income earners was reduced by two half point decreases. Taken in total the monetary value of these cuts would more than offset the funding reductions made to the social services and education sectors.”
While the Sask. Party lowered taxes for the wealthy and their corporate friends, they increased and expanded the PST from 5 per cent to 6 per cent, resulting in an extra $900 million revenue per year. Proceeds from the sale of STC, Information Service, a chunk of SaskTel, and the sale of crown land just disappeared into general revenue.
Saskatchewan has the lowest TOP marginal tax rate, which means personal income taxes in Saskatchewan are the least effective in Canada at redistributing income. According to the Child and Family Poverty in Saskatchewan: 2019 Report …child poverty in Saskatchewan is the third highest in Canada. For the past decade, 26 per cent of Saskatchewan’s children lived in poverty…..the majority are in families who are working for wages.
Saskatchewan’s minimum wage of $11.45 is the lowest in the country. Fifty-nine per cent of minimum wage earners are women and only 26 per cent are teenagers. A full 20 per cent of our workforce earns less than $15 an hour ….and they spend it right here in our province.
Since 2007, Scott Moe’s Sask. Party has accepted a whopping $19 million in donations from corporations, many of those based outside of Saskatchewan. We can assume they will continue to cater to their corporate friends instead of focusing on the needs of ordinary people.
Evelyn Johnson
Spiritwood
