Leader of the Official Opposition Ryan Meili said in a press conference Monday, June 15 that Saskatchewan’s provincial budget had missed the mark.
Meili said the budget is a “Placeholder pre-election budget” that presents no recovery plan for the people of Saskatchewan. “This is not a plan,” Meili restated.
“This budget shows that Premier Scott Moe has no idea how to bring about a recovery that works for the people. There is nothing here for seniors, nothing for childcare, no money for safely reopening and resourcing schools for a pandemic.”
Meili said the province’s budget also shows no commitment to hiring Saskatchewan workers and Saskatchewan companies to build infrastructure. He believed Moe and company were planning a snap election knowing the province was already in the midst of a recession.
“When COVID-19 came along, the last thing the Sask. Party wanted to do was face the public,” said Meili. “They wanted to coast through the summer, post no budget at all and go to the polls this fall without any legislative scrutiny of their spending choices.”
“We are seeing the worst economic downturn any of us have lived through. This situation demands a budget and it demands a government that invests in people. Instead, what we are seeing is a budget that shows Premier Moe has no idea about how to bring a recovery that works for people.”
Meili went on to say the government’s stimulus infrastructure spending is simply a plan to “Once again send Saskatchewan dollars to out of province companies and bring in out of province workers.”
“This is their pre-election budget. This is the budget where they are trying to convince people they have a plan and they wanted to hide this budget,” said Meili. “How much more will they want to hide what is yet to come?”
Meili referenced the government’s 2017 decision to increase the PST amid a smaller economic hardship.
“They cut health care services for seniors, they cut education for early childhood all the way through to post secondary. K-12 education still hasn’t caught up to per-student funding from before that time,” said Meili.
“This is very recent history. As a former premier used to love to say, the best predictor of future behaviour, is past behaviour,” the leader of the opposition maintained.
