All sides were ready to propose and oppose as the spring sitting of the Saskatchewan Legislature began on Monday.
A few days prior to the start of the spring sitting on March 2, however, Doreen Eagles, Estevan MLA, who entered the last spring sitting of her political career, said she is expecting a lot of discussion surrounding Sask Party’s proposed budget outline for 2015.
“The premier has said that we’re going to come out with a balanced budget, and it’s going to be a very tight budget,” she said. “There’s been a lot of speculation with the oil prices and what its effect will be on the budget.”
She added senior care and health care will likely draw a lot of attention from the NDP opposition.
Municipalities across the province will have to wait until the budget is released on March 18 to know what to expect from the province’s revenue sharing model, and Eagles said everyone understood that “everything was on the table.”
In order to make the coming budget work without the oil revenue that was forecasted to be much lower in 2015, a cut to the one per cent of PST revenue distributed to cities and municipalities previously promised by the Sask. Party government, is a potential scenario cities across the province may have to endure.
“The premier and the minister of government relations said that would be the last choice that they would ever want to make,” Eagles said.
NDP opposition leader and MLA for Saskatoon Massey Place, Cam Broten, said it’s important for the province to keep its promise and provide municipalities with their share.
“Budgets have been set and municipal leaders have done their part,” he said. “There should not be the expectation that municipalities turn to local rate payers through increased taxes.
“It’s not fair for them to be asked to pay more for the spending priorities that have been misplaced by this government.”
Examples of misplaced resources, Broten said, included the millions of dollars spent on malfunctioning smart meters across the province and the John Black Lean project, which he described as “ridiculous,” and noted money should have instead been spent on front line workers.
“This government has had more of a fascination with its pet projects than addressing the needs of patients and residents in Saskatchewan,” Broten said.
Boundary Dam 3, which was retrofitted with carbon capture technology in 2014, will also be a prominent topic over the next several weeks.
Broten said he would like the government to be “up front” about the total cost of the project in order to give residents a clear picture of its economic impact on the province.
SaskParty pushed forward with the BD3 project in 2011 and after becoming operational in October 2014, has stood alongside SaskPower and praised the project’s success.
“For 1.5 billion bucks it better work. I mean it’s a joke to suggest that this is a crowning achievement because it works,” he said. “When you shell out that kind of money that’s the minimum you’d expect.”
Broten also said he hopes the government addresses the “massive” cut in climate change funding, and puts a greater emphasis on renewable sources.
Eagles said the government has done exactly what the NDP proposed during the last election, and that is build power plants that create smaller carbon footprints.
“When you build it, they’re against it, how do you win with these guys?
“I guess it’s the NDP’s job to oppose, and they do a lot of opposing but don’t do much proposing,” she said.
She added a lot of unexpected obstacles like asbestos attributed to the greater than expected project cost.
Eagles said coal plays a big part in the province, specifically in southeast Saskatchewan, and that renewable sources like wind simply wouldn’t sustain the base load power necessary to energize communities and would cost workers in the coal and drilling industries their jobs.
An item Eagles would like to strongly pursue during her final spring sitting is the new nursing home in Estevan. The fundraising campaign raised the $8 million that represents 20 per cent of the anticipated $40 million it would cost to build a new facility that would meet all provincial regulations.
“I promised the people at the Credit Union in Estevan during the celebration after the goal was reached that I would do whatever I could in terms of lobbying to make it happen,” she said.
The Hearthstone committee reached its $8 million goal for a new nursing home in December 2014.
