REGINA - The provincial debt clock is coming to a community near you this week, starting first with a visit to the Saskatchewan Legislature.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation launched its provincial debt clock tour Monday morning, with a truck located in front of the Legislature building.
On the sides of the truck were two screens of electronic digital counters showing the provincial debt as it goes up in real time.
“So that means that every single minute, the provincial debt is increasing by a little bit over $3,000,” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “And you see those numbers going up as fast as you think on the side of the truck.”
As of Monday morning, the debt clock was over $22 billion and climbing. Haubrich said that by the end of the year, the Saskatchewan provincial debt will be $23.5 billion.
With the debt climbing, the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation felt it was time to do a provincial tour, something they hadn’t done for a few years.
Haubrich said the plan is for the truck to hit the road from Regina to Saskatoon Monday night. On Tuesday, they head to Melfort and Humboldt, the and end the day in Prince Albert.
Then the plan is to work their way south down to Maple Creek, and end in Yorkton on Friday.
“So hopefully as many taxpayers as possible can come out and see the clock, realize how big of a problem the debt is, and then demand action from their local politicians as well as the Premier.”
This particular debt clock that people will see is relatively recent. Haubrich said it was acquired a couple of years ago because “Justin Trudeau broke our old debt clock.”
The old clock simply could not keep up with the amount of debt. “When you get up to a trillion, you had to get a new one.”
While they are still concerned about federal spending, this week's tour will focus on the provincial debt. Part of the reason they decided to do a provincial tour this year, Haubrich said, is because since Scott Moe has become Premier “by the end of this year, he will have doubled Saskatchewan's provincial debt."
Haubrich noted the increasing debt in Saskatchewan hits taxpayers a couple of ways.
“So this year, the government is wasting about $878 million on debt interest payments. That's about $700 per Saskatchewanian. And as the government borrows more money and takes out more loans, that number is going to eat up a bigger and bigger chunk of the budget. And as the government wants to spend more on services, they're going to have less money lying around to do that.
“And the next place they're going to look for more money is in taxpayer pockets. This is a long- term problem because you can end up with tax hikes for taxpayers, and it makes your life less affordable. So that's why the government needs to do its best to control spending now and get the debt going down until it's forced to hike taxes on taxpayers.”
Haubrich had this to say about the debt continually heading upwards.
”Well, in Saskatchewan, it's extremely outrageous because the government keeps blowing its own budget,” said Haubrich.
He pointed the most recent 2024 public accounts, where the government “spent almost a billion dollars more than it said it was going to at budget time.”
“If the government had just kept its spending within what it told taxpayers it was going to spend back in March last year, the government would have a billion dollars to use for tax relief to start paying down all this debt. But instead, they spent money faster than it came in, and it's extremely frustrating for taxpayers who look at the budget and say, you know, this maybe is an alright thing to spend, but then it gets to the end of the year, and they blow their budget as they do for the past couple of years.”
As for what policies he wants to see to put a stop to the debt increases, Haubrich said the main one was that “the government has to stick to its own budget.” He also said they need to “stop blowing their budget on everything.”
“Last year, we saw that the government spent $8.5 million more than budgeted in what it calls general government. I'm sure that taxpayers are getting their fill of general government without having to do a cost overrun…
“So really what the government needs to do is just take a couple extra minutes at budget time and actually find the savings to get the debt going down and save taxpayers money on those huge amount of interest payments they have to pay every year.”
People seeking more information about the debt clock can go to taxpayer.com. They also have set up a petition to sign, calling on the Saskatchewan government to get the debt going down instead of borrowing more money.
