REGINA - Today, in response to the first quarter financial update, Official Opposition Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon condemned the timing and priorities of the Sask. Party’s affordability plan.
“We’ve been calling for affordability relief for months. The Sask. Party government has hidden and hoarded billions of windfall resource revenues since March, yet they still hiked taxes, fees and utility rates. Waiting until the eve of a byelection to buy votes - while families have struggled for months - is completely irresponsible,” said Wotherspoon.
As Saskatchewan people face crushing cost-of-living increases, the Sask. Party’s affordability payment is a fraction of the increases in household expenses since they tabled this budget.
Families are set to spend six per cent more on sports and entertainment, and some face $200 in lunchroom fees. Next year, they will have to pay hundreds more for utilities alone. The plan announced today does not recognize the cost burden families are facing, as a childless couple is set to receive more than a single parent of three.
Wotherspoon also noted that despite receiving nearly $62 million months ago in surgery funding from the federal government, none has been allocated to deliver these services.
“The Sask. Party is giving regular people a one-time payment of their own tax dollars, while pocketing federal cash once again,” said Wotherspoon. “Instead of acting quickly to help people when they needed it most, this government is dead-set on recklessly taxing regular working people into submission, with no end in sight.”
“At the same time the Finance Minister wasted eight grand on a single flight to North Battleford, families had to cancel road trips just to put food on the table. The people of Saskatchewan deserve a government that doesn’t buy their trust, but earns it.”
-30-
Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.