Legislative Report, 12 January 2005

The New Year has started with a bang. We are celebrating our centennial year and communities throughout the province are banding together to make our centennial year memorable.

2005 will be memorable for our business community as well as the NDP seems intent on imposing government directed hours on employers. The outcry from both business owners and workers alike has been overwhelming. Both groups know this legislation is a job killer. We need to welcome business to this province, instead the NDP are proposing to implement legislation that insures new business will never come.

The people of Saskatchewan have a powerful voice. We were able to stop the NDP when they tried to jack up fees for long term care beds for seniors and that same power can be used to stop this job killing plan from being implemented.

The government has announced their plan for education property tax relief and it is simply inadequate. The amount of property tax relief is about one-quarter of relief recommended by the Boughen report. The increase in the PST will raise $260 million over the two years, while the NDP is providing $110 million in property tax relief. This would have been a way to provide meaningful assistance to a ravaged rural economy.

Changes to property taxes have been promised for years and now when something is finally coming, it is again too little and will be too late for many. With close to one billion dollars in new resources and equalization revenues, there is no reason for backing away from real and meaningful tax relief.

Past Legislative Reports