Legislative Report

Not Much for Families in Latest NDP Budget

You’ll soon be getting a brochure from the NDP with a young woman on the front. The slogan beside her will read “Building a better future—Right Here”. This brochure will tell you how the latest NDP budget will improve job prospects for young people in our province. However, the budget won’t. Yes, the NDP has finally acted on reforming the corporate tax structure to make Saskatchewan more competitive as a place to invest and a place to create jobs. This is something the Saskatchewan Party has been advocating for years. And finally, the NDP has listened.

However, efforts to keep our young people here must go much farther. Providing tax relief for corporations to come here is but one part of a growth agenda. It’s a step in the right direction, but not the whole journey. Even by the NDP’s own estimates, this latest budget will actually result in fewer jobs being created in Saskatchewan—not more. In fact, the NDP is predicting the creation of 3,200 new jobs. That’s down a third from the prediction they may for job growth in 2006 just one year ago. This means at the end of the day, Saskatchewan will still be trailing all other western provinces in the area of job creation. We all know that’s not good enough.

What this province really needs is an over-all plan to increase growth—a plan that includes a competitive and fair labour legislative environment, limits on government intervention in the economy, and a long term strategic plan for improving our infrastructure.

So, in closing, people will have to take a close look at this budget and ask, “What’s in it for me?” and “How am I better off?” There is no personal tax cut, no PST cut, or anything else that gives tax relief to the general public. There is also projected job losses, decreased funding to agriculture, and no commitment to new nurses that are desperately needed across the province. How the NDP government can spend close to $8 billion and not give people a break or put in place a long-term plan is a question people of this constituency will need to ask this government.

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