In the world of politics, there is nothing that receives more scrutiny than a budget.
As the document that sets the province's direction for the next year, the budget is something that affects everyone in the entire province so it's only natural that everyone has their say.
The budget delivered last Wednesday by the Sask. Party government has elicited a fairly wide range of opinions. Civic and municipal leaders as well as the business community seem pleased with it. Unions and educators in the province are less impressed with it. It should come as no surprise that those groups have taken the stance they have since it became obvious a long time ago where their loyalties lie.
However it is somewhat perplexing to see the blind support that Saskatchewan's cities, towns and municipalities have given the budget.
There were some items for them to be happy about, in particular the increase in revenue sharing. As the government has proudly proclaimed, the budget doled out a record amount of money through municipal operating grants. That, of course, is great news as a number of communities need the additional funds to deal with the growing pains they are experiencing.
Unfortunately for those same communities, the budget came up well short of expectations when it comes to infrastructure. The government is pouring millions into highways and for the umpteenth time included the Estevan truck bypass in the document, but they failed miserably in laying out a plan to help cities deal with the myriad infrastructure issues they face.
Some communities had been hoping to see a program that included a long-term plan with sustainable funding for at least a decade. They got nothing of the sort.
Although the federal government announced a massive infrastructure program in its budget one day later, the province was alarmingly quiet on the issue.
It's beginning to get a little sickening to hear the province talk of all this prosperity but do nothing to support the communities that are the engines of said prosperity.
As has been written in this space previously, the province cannot have it both ways. They cannot thump their chest and shout to the heavens about the Saskatchewan Advantage and then ignore the infrastructure needs of its communities.
In Estevan alone we have roads that are getting worse by the hour due in no small part to the increased traffic that comes with these boom times. Yet there was no mention of funding for the urban connector program, which would provide funds to repair Highway 47 through Estevan. And we are hardly the only community in Saskatchewan that has major infrastructure needs.
There is talk the province might piggyback on the new federal infrastructure plan, which begins in 2014. Hopefully that is indeed the case.
Otherwise civic and municipal governments throughout the province might have to take off the blinders and begin holding the Sask. Party accountable. And the Sask. Party themselves need to stop pointing the finger at the previous NDP government for their lack of support to cities. We all know they dropped the ball on that file, but there is a shelf life on how long you can ride that train.
The time for pointing the finger has long since passed. The time for action is now.
