The Sask Party is off-track in their latest budget, said NDP leader Ryan Meili and deputy leader Carla Beck, as they urged the Weyburn-Big Muddy NDP to get a candidate nominated for the next provincial election.
The two leaders were the guest speakers for the Weyburn-Big Muddy NDP’s spring banquet on Thursday evening at the Weyburn Legion Hall, with each sharing their own perpectives on the budget and on the government in general.
Beck began by recalling last year’s budget and the grassroots efforts of people to have the funding for libraries reinstated after the government initially slashed funding by 58 per cent.
She said this year’s budget was not as devastating as last year’s, but it certainly isn’t “on track” as the government likes to claim, as she pointed to high rates of child poverty and the continued under-funding of education. While some monies were returned to the Education budget, “it doesn’t replace the $54 million cut last year. Schools are growing by 2,500 students each year, they have to pay the same PST and the same power rates that keep going up and up.”
Beck added there wasn’t a word in the budget for seniors at all, noting she could tell many stories from seniors who have to decide between rent or prescriptions each month, with some telling her that they only take their meds every other day because they can’t afford them.
The Sask Party has built up the province’s debt so it will be $23 billion by the year 2021, and they still haven’t found the money to fund prescriptions for seniors or to properly fund classrooms for children.
Beck said the party has been enjoying working together as a team with their new leader, and added, “We intend to form government in 2020. I have no illusions about the road in front of us, but if we can have the best ideas, by golly I think we can do it.”
She noted that she and Meili paid a visit to the Southeast Cornerstone School Division earlier that day, and met with education director Lynn Little and board chair Audrey Trombley, and discussed education concerns.
Taking his turn at the podium, Meili noted he has put on some 50,000 km in the past year, and even just in the last week or two he’s visited places like Assiniboia, Canora and Nipawin as he has visited every corner of the province.
Directing his comments to the recent budget, Meili said the NDP’s values include the belief “that we are all in this together, and we need each other. That’s the heart of our values.”
He enjoyed his time as a family physician and helping people, but he said he was greatly frustrated after treating people and then sending them back into the situations which contributed to their poor health conditions.
“That’s why I made this shift,” he said, referring to his decision to run as party leader. “We have to attack income inequality, unemployment. We saw with this budget a year ago, it hurts the most vulnerable people. It’s exactly the opposite of what we need to do to build a healthy society. This year was the same approach, maybe not as dramatic — but they did very little to undo what was done last year. They are not on track, but are asleep at the switch.”
As an example, Meili pointed out the press release sent out by Social Service from the budget, boasting about the highest-ever budget for that department.
“That could be a good thing, to make sure people have enough to live on. Nobody who’s on social assistance is getting any more. They’re boasting about more people living in poverty in Saskatchewan,” he said. “This is entirely consistent with what they want us to believe, that we can’t expect a fair share of natural resources revenue, and this is as good as we can get.”
In his view, said Meili, “That is not true. The story of Saskatchewan is much different.”
He noted medicare wasn’t introduced when there were piles of money lying around, but first came after the Great Depression, and said the story of Saskatchewan “is one of possibilities, of leadership and of hope. We can do so much better.”
Meili said the local riding can help with the party’s bid to win the election coming up in 2020, by nominating a candidate “to get rid of Dustin Duncs, and get a new government in Regina that cares about the people of Saskatchewan. I’m so excited to see what we can achieve together.”
