Legislative Report

Biggest Budget Ever Misses the Mark

The biggest spending budget in the history of Saskatchewan was filed in the Legislature when the budget was brought down on March 22nd. Spending is up by $2 billion or over 32 per cent, there are 1,459 new government positions during a period when the population fell by more than 10,000 people, and spending in the Premier’s office is up by 17 per cent.

We were looking forward to seeing extra funding going to some areas that are in great need such as recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals. However, we saw no progress towards increasing the number of training seats for nurses and doctors and the number of nursing education positions will increase by only 18 in the next year. At this rate, it will take almost 20 years to train enough nurses to fill the nursing vacancies that exist today.  Although the program for seniors looks good on the surface, there are many concerns about the sustainability and universality of such a program.

Instead of taking advantage of an unprecedented economic boom and preparing the province for the next generation, the NDP spent its mountain of windfall money on growing government and increasing debt. This is frustrating when such great opportunities for growth are available to us.

In regards to agriculture, neither flooding in the northeast nor the drought in the southwest has been addressed in this budget. Meanwhile, many industries in this province are left shaking their heads.

With this budget, there was an opportunity to assist in the growth of the province. It’s true that more and more people are starting to look at Saskatchewan as a place they may call home, but this budget fell far short of making them welcome.

Past Legislative Reports