“What balance? And at what cost to Saskatchewan people?,” NDP asks

2019 budget off-balance and out of touch

According to the Saskatchewan NDP, today’s provincial budget fails to live up to its only promise: balance. Meanwhile, it has nothing to offer the majority of Saskatchewan people, who are struggling, and leaves Saskatchewan students, families and seniors paying the price for the government’s cuts.

“Far too many people are paying far too much so this government can pat themselves on the back with false celebrations of balance,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili.

Meili points to the fact that the province’s debt will grow by $1.8 billion this year, tripling over the last decade, as one way that the budget is off-balance, and the continued underfunding of education as another.

Pointing out that a budget is supposed to be a blueprint for a government’s vision of what it seeks to achieve, Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon sees nothing of that here, and nothing for the majority of Saskatchewan people.

“They’ve tripled the debt, doubled the PST, flattened the economy, and left students without the supports they need,” Wotherspoon said.

“There’s nothing here for working families who are, frankly, more worried about balancing their own budgets than the province’s,” he added. “There is nothing here for children, nothing for young people and families, nothing for seniors, nothing for people who are worried about losing their job, nothing for the North, and nothing for First Nations & Métis people.

“This is an off-balance budget that’s out of touch with Saskatchewan.”

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