Legislative Report, 10 November 2004

There were a lot of “no’s” uttered by the NDP Calvert government during the first week of the fall legislative session. When the Saskatchewan Party asked the NDP to fully fund the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program and support our farmers, the NDP said “no.” In fact, NDP Agriculture Minister Mark Wartman likened full support of our farmers through the CAIS program to throwing money away.

When the Saskatchewan Party called on the government to hold a public inquiry into the Spudco scandal and to get to the bottom of the $35 million NDP business disaster, the NDP again said “no.” And when the NDP announced it was swimming in almost one billion dollars in new found money, “no” was also what they told Saskatchewan people when asked if they would keep their promise to lower taxes by rolling back the PST. The NDP government was the one who asked for changes to the CAIS program and when the government obliged, the NDP refused to fully fund the program.

This, in a year when a perfect storm was unleashed on our producers. What they need right now is for Lorne Calvert to keep his word. They need him to stand up for farm families and ensure many of them make it through the winter. During this session, the NDP government also announced it would pay you, the taxpayer, $137 of your own money so they can keep a promise they made during the last provincial election. That’s right, they take your hard earned tax dollars and give them back to you in order to keep a political promise. Saskatchewan Crown Corporations already do a good job in providing the some of the lowest utility costs in Saskatchewan. If the NDP government wants to ensure Saskatchewan people enjoy the lowest utility bundle, perhaps they should allow the crowns to continue to focus on doing just that and not engaging in equity stripping of our Crowns which has led to the exorbitant Sask Power rate hike.

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