The Editor:
The Sask. Party is running a deficit budget, and racking up debt.
As they find themselves coming up short, they’re cutting education and health care instead of cutting their government’s waste on misplaced priorities.
Mr. Wall’s fallen out of touch with everyday families, and his cuts and waste just don’t match with Saskatchewan people’s priorities anymore.
The Sask. Party is running a $1 billion deficit — that’s at least a $262 million operating deficit, and $700 million in borrowing. After a decade of record revenues, it is concerning that the Sask. Party didn’t save anything for the long term — plus, they drained the rainy day fund and piled on debt.
Still, the Sask. Party continues to waste our money on their misplaced priorities. They spend over $120 million per year on private consultants (a 228 per cent increase), millions on the ongoing John Black Lean program, and billions on waste like the smart meter fiasco, cost overruns with the carbon capture boondoggle and massive cost overruns with
the privatized Regina bypass being built in a location that defies common-sense.
We see the Sask. Party becoming more entitled, instead of more cautious with money. For example, the premier spends as much as $40,000 per trip to send travel scouts to check out luxury hotels, the best restaurants and VIP lounges for him before he travels to other countries.
Saskatchewan is also missing a golden opportunity. We’re seeing billions of dollars leave our province because the Sask. Party keeps handing contracts to foreign corporations — like the Regina bypass to a European company, school maintenance to an American corporation and the construction and care of a hospital to a company from the United Kingdom. Saskatchewan people could do that work better, and more cost-effectively.
So, instead of cutting waste like Lean and contracting out, the Sask. Party is cutting millions of dollars from education programs, employment initiatives, universities and health care.
Hundreds of front-line health care staff are being cut. Thousands of surgeries this year are being cut. University scholarships are being taken back. Families are being told kids can’t stay at school because they can’t afford lunch-room supervisors anymore.
But waste, like Lean and travel scouts, goes on.
Trent Wotherspoon
NDP Deputy Leader
Regina
