Wotherspoon calls for transparency and immediate release of 3rd quarter financial report
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon called for transparency after the Moe government quietly authorized $757M in new spending a month before the budget, bypassing scrutiny. The spending blitz comes amid questions about ethics and serious financial mismanagement.
“Saskatchewan people work hard for their tax dollars and deserve to know where their money is going. This is a huge amount of money without budget authorization or any clarity on how it is being spent,” said Wotherspoon. “This government has not given people many reasons to accept their spending choices at face value. In fact, they’ve proven all too often that they can’t be trusted with our public finances.”
Earlier this week, Cabinet’s approval of over $757M in new spending was quietly posted on the government website under Orders in Council without the normal fanfare. The government did not advise the public, the media or the Opposition of what appears to be massive overspend and an increase in the provincial deficit.
The Cabinet money orders come as the Moe government faces unanswered questions about ethics and financial mismanagement, including:
- Software contracts like AIMS ballooning to hundreds of millions of dollars and not functioning
- A sole-source contract with a major Sask. Party donor to perform mammograms in Calgary for ten times the normal cost
- Inflated prices for social services clients staying at motels owned by a Sask. Party MLA
- Travel nurses increasing healthcare operating costs by upwards of $100M
- Millions of dollars in overseas travel by the Premier and ministers including a pavilion and subway advertising in Dubai costing a million dollars
- A new provincial police administration instead of investments in frontline policing and the RCMP that represent much better value for money
- The inflated costs of building public assets through P3 agreements with companies outside of Saskatchewan, and gross mismanagement of projects like the Bypass and GTH
- A Saskatchewan Revenue Agency that will increase tax administration costs for taxpayers and compliance costs for businesses
“This government needs to come clean about the true state of our finances,” said Wotherspoon. “That includes immediately releasing the third quarter financial report, as was once the custom. It’s simply not transparent or acceptable for this government to hide this.”
The Sask. Party scrapped delivering the third quarter financial report as a timely, stand-alone report a few years ago. They now delay its release until Budget Day when the focus is on the plan for the year ahead.
The Opposition NDP committed, if elected, to reinstating the practice of stand-alone, timely third quarter financial reports informing the people of Saskatchewan about the true state of our public finances.
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