Saskatchewan one of only two provinces to end 2017 with fewer jobs than the year before
According to numbers released today, at the end of 2017, Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate was, once again, well above the national average. In fact, while the rest of Canada saw significant job growth from December 2016 to December 2017, Saskatchewan lost 3,400 full-time, mortgage-paying jobs and joined Newfoundland and Labrador as the only two provinces to see job losses.
Tax and fee hikes in Swift Current, Moose Jaw and Regina are the most recent examples of tough decisions that municipalities throughout the province have been forced to make because of the Sask. Party’s deep cuts.
“In the wake of Sask. Party cuts, cities, towns, and villages across Saskatchewan are being forced to cut services and jobs, and raise property taxes. There’s no two ways about it, these municipal tax hikes are Sask. Party tax hikes,” said Municipal Affairs Critic Nicole Rancourt. “It was the Sask. Party’s own mismanagement, scandal, and waste but, instead of accepting responsibility and working to find solutions, they have cut funding to communities and it’s Saskatchewan people who are paying the price.”
Sask. Party cuts continue to hurt the education that Saskatchewan students and their families expect and deserve. The latest consequence of these damaging cuts is the elimination of 29 educational assistants from the Saskatoon Public School Division.
“The Sask. Party are underfunding education in this province, crucial classroom supports are being eliminated, and students – our children – are losing out,” said NDP Education Critic Carla Beck. “On top of it all, it’s heart-wrenching to think about the 29 people who get up every day to help teach our kids who are now heading into the holidays knowing their jobs are being cut.”
Months after the Sask. Party scrapped the Saskatchewan people’s crown corporation that tied the province together with essential bus and delivery service, they are still refusing to come clean about how much the rushed shut-down and sell-off of STC is costing Saskatchewan people.
Even while announcing today that the rest of the STC assets had been sold off, the Minister responsible refused to provide any details.
The Sask. Party’s own government numbers show that the wait times for specialists and surgeries in Saskatchewan are still getting longer. Not wanting the facts to get in the way of a good story, the Sask. Party chose to cite the Fraser Institute today in a government press release that contradicts what government experts know to be true.
Government staff is paid by Saskatchewan taxpayers to work for Saskatchewan people. But, it was revealed yesterday in the media that the Premier’s Chief of Operations asked government officials to use their work hours on the public dime to do some research for her so she could use her Office at the Legislature to help a candidate in the Sask. Party leadership race.