As the spring session of the Legislature wrapped up on Thursday, the Saskatchewan Party touted how theirs was the only balanced provincial budget in Canada, while the Opposition NDP vowed to fight on this summer, spreading out over the province to he
As the spring session of the Legislature wrapped up on Thursday, the Saskatchewan Party touted how theirs was the only balanced provincial budget in Canada, while the Opposition NDP vowed to fight on this summer, spreading out over the province to hear the views of Saskatchewan residents.
"The budget was a highlight of the spring session, especially considering we had Canada's only balanced provincial budget at a time when every other government is running a deficit," said Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA and Environment minister Dustin Duncan.
"We have sound finances in this province, with job growth. We are on the right track, and want to keep that momentum going," he added.
Premier Brad Wall noted that the province's employers have created more than 13,000 new jobs in the past year, and the population is growing at its fastest pace in 60 years.
The premier said the "Saskatchewan Advantage" will enable the province to keep virtually all of the promises they made in the 2011 election, while maintaining a balanced budget.
For NDP leader John Nilson, they don't have quite the rosy view of the province's political picture, noting that they are keeping tabs on the problems caused by the ruling administration.
"We don't let bad decisions pass in silence," said Nilson in a conference call and interview on Thursday, noting the NDP are receiving lots of texts and tweets about what the Wall government is up to.
Among the problems Nilson was concerned about was the Sask. Party adding three more MLAs to the Legislature, wiping out the film tax credit, and in relation to new immigrants, "New Canadians had a major promise broken, in that now they can't bring their families over as promised."
He added he is also concerned that Wall keeps bringing cuts in "out of the blue" that were never mentioned during the election campaign, such as the aforementioned film tax credit being removed in the recent provincial budget.
"They have 49 members to our nine, and they assume they can just run right over us. If we ask common-sense questions, they can't run and they can't hide," said Nilson.
"I said to him (the premier) that he should tend to Saskatchewan issues in a respectful and positive way," he added.
Asked what is now on the NDP's "to-do" list, Nilson said, "I want to make sure people understand we're available to listen and talk to them, and to prepare for the next session. We'll be talking to people to find out what their vision is for the province; you know, there are a lot of people being left out."
Another area of concern for the NDP, is the review of the province's labour laws being undertaken by the Saskatchewan Party.
"Their blundering entrance into the whole labour law discussion will come back and haunt them for a long time," said Nilson, adding that a party can't just go fooling around with standards that have been in place for generations.
He noted they have said they would not fool with such basic things as holidays, but said if one looks at the documents filed on the law review, some basic tenets of labour law will in fact come under review.
The film tax credit "fiasco" is another area that will cause the premier a problem, he said, suggesting that Premier Wall is personally driving this issue, and that minister Bill Hutchinson is "just following orders" on that issue.
"He doesn't understand how a small amount of money can generate all kinds of jobs all over the province," said Nilson.
Defending his government's balanced budget, MLA Duncan pointed out some of the many good things accomplished in this budget, including launching the STARS air ambulance service out of Regina, which will serve the residents of southern Saskatchewan; a new $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers; 500 new child care spaces; and forgiving up to $120,000 in student loans for new doctors, and up to $20,000 for new nurses and nurse practitioners.
On the latter point, Duncan pointed out this may play a role in helping fill the shortage of doctors in rural areas such as is currently the case in the Sun Country Health Region.
In addition, having the STARS helicopter service available "will provide some comfort to people that that option is available," said the MLA.
On the issue of adding three more MLAs, Duncan pointed out that by law, every 10 years the Legislature forms a boundary commission, who looked at the growing population in the province, and as it exceeded 10 per cent growth since the last time the electoral boundaries were looked at, therefore it was felt this was the correct response.
"This is a reflection of a growing population, and we felt it was appropriate," said Duncan, pointing out the number of MLAs was only increased five per cent, instead of the 10 per cent that they could have. He also noted at one time the Legislature had 66 MLAs, and with this increase the number will be brought up to 61, "even though we have a higher population than we had before. It's a way of balancing the growth of the population."
In regard to the film industry, MLA Duncan pointed out that what the government will now do is make available a non-refundable tax credit, as opposed to the previously-available refundable tax credit, which amounted to a grant "to businesses that don't even pay business taxes in Saskatchewan."
With the coming summer of fairs and community events, Duncan said, "The premier has asked us to get in touch with our constituents on how do we keep the momentum going."
