Utility Rates Soaring

Saskatchewan people have enjoyed the lowest utility rates in Canada for years but that is about to change.

Your NDP government ensured you paid less by giving a strong mandate to the Crowns to ensure that average Saskatchewan families paid less for utilities and when that was not the case they worked to put the difference back in your pocket.  When world events meant unexpected and short-term jumps in energy prices your NDP acted to shield consumers from the shocks.  

With the election of the Sask Party it is clear that Saskatchewan families can no longer count on their government to keep life more affordable.  

The Sask Party has announced they will not promise Saskatchewan people the lowest cost utility bundle and will not intervene when prices put additional strain on Saskatchewan families. Instead they are telling Saskatchewan people to brace for higher utility rates.

That’s a far cry from what they said in 2005.  In an October news release Brad Wall said he would offer rebates and introduce energy conservation measures in order to address rising utility rates but once again we see the Sask Party saying one thing to get elected and then doing something very different after the election.

In July 2007, eight months after the Sask Party was elected, Sask Energy announced they would seek to increase their rate by 40 per cent- a $35 per month increase for the average household.  

CIC Minister Ken Cheveldayoff didn’t even bother to attend the announcement.  Apparently the Minister doesn’t think Saskatchewan people being told to brace for one of the highest singe utility rates increases ever is worth his time.

The NDP has been clear.  The Sask Party Government should use some of its $3 Billion surplus to cushion Saskatchewan families from these dramatic increases- either through subsidization, rebates or by using government revenues to help people make their homes more energy efficient.  

It’s time for the Sask Party to get of their mountain of money and help keep Saskatchewan affordable.

 

Under the Wall government, Masters and PhD students do not qualify for benefits in the Graduate Retention Program?

"It's not the most fun in the world and I can't say it's been the stellar week of my career but life goes on. (Gantefoer, after comments on the harmonized sales tax (HST) and on health user fees raised both as issues for the NDP and the media)"

- Minister of Finance, Rod Gantefoer

NDP - not the Sask. Party - can deliver balanced budgets...
November 19, 2009
...the two-year Sask. Party spending spree and its aftermath reinforces the belief that the NDP - not the Sask Party - are the real fiscal conservatives who can best mind the shop, much as the Romanow NDP campaigned on in 1991. And who was Romanow's Number One? Dwain Lingenfelter. Remember, Grant Devine was all right too. Until the money ran out. -Stephen LaRose, Prairie Dog