SASK. SPENDS $1 BILLION MORE THAN PLANNED, FAILS TO BALANCE BUDGET AND FAILS TO BUILD SASKATCHEWAN’S FUTURE

Sask. Party Continues To Pile Taxes On Families Struggling To Pay Bills, Put Food On Kitchen Table

REGINA – The Sask. Party Government overspent by nearly $1 billion all the while failing to improve healthcare, make life more affordable, grow the economy or address other major issues in the province, such as the massive drug and homelessness crisis. Their claim of finishing the budget near budget forecasts is nothing but another misleading statement to Saskatchewan people.

On Monday, the Sask. Party released a fiscal update that showed, even with $400 million in surprise funding received through a national lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies, they still failed to balance the budget, reporting a deficit of $249 million. The funding from the settlement in future years will be much smaller, meaning the province is in worse fiscal shape than the government is reporting.

“The Sask. Party is failing to manage our finances and failing the people of this province on every front,” said Trent Wotherspoon, Saskatchewan NDP Finance Shadow Minister. “A billion dollars in additional spending and nothing to show for it — our healthcare is last in the country and families here report higher financial anxiety than anywhere else in Canada.

“In Saskatoon, we see a record number of drug overdose deaths and we’re facing a housing crisis in that city, here in Regina and right across much of Saskatchewan for that matter.

“Under Scott Moe our economic growth is among the lowest in the country and all the while this government has nearly doubled the debt while piling on an additional $16 billion.

“We need a government focused on building a bright future for Saskatchewan. Instead, we have the Sask. Party taking us backwards.”

Wotherspoon said clearly the Sask. Party’s budget isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. This year’s version was tabled on March 19; however, at the end of the fiscal year, just 12 days later, the government had missed its targets for revenue by $448 million and expenses by $505 million.

All of this comes, as the Sask. Party continues to pile taxes onto families already struggling to make ends meet — the Sask. Party collected $46 million more in personal income tax than last year, and $245 million more in provincial sales tax than last year.

“This government taxes food and children’s clothing and delivers nothing in return to Saskatchewan families,” Wotherspoon.

“We face so much uncertainty right now with threats of a Donald Trump-led trade war, a separatism movement that will undermine our economy and rising costs on every day goods.

“We need a government that recognizes these challenges and works to help the people of Saskatchewan through them, not a bunch of Sask. Party cronies working to pay off their friends and insiders.”

-30-

Latest posts

CARLA BECK’S TEAM LAUNCHES TOUR FOCUSED ON KEEPING RURAL EMERGENCY ROOMS OPEN, BEING TRANSPARENT WHEN THEY’RE NOT

Summer Tour Comes As Part Of Ongoing Your Care, Your Say Project
BALGONIE – Carla Beck's team will be hitting the road this summer to talk to people in dozens of rural Saskatchewan communities about the need to deliver big, bold change in healthcare to keep hospital emergency rooms open — and to, at least, provide lifesaving information when they’re closed.

MOE SHOULD EXPLAIN WHY HIS MINISTERS THINK $10,000 FLIGHTS ARE OK WHILE EVER DAY SASKATCHEWAN PEOPLE PILE ON DEBT, GO WITHOUT FOOD

SASKATOON – Perhaps, when he goes before the media this morning, Premier Scott Moe himself can explain to the people of Saskatchewan today why he believe his Ministers should be allowed to spend $10,000 per plane ticket to wine and dine at 30,000 feet while Saskatchewan people on the ground below stack on debt and scrape together pocket change to afford food.

CARLA BECK'S TEAM CALLS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ADVANCE CRITICAL NORTHERN ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Scott Moe, Sask. Party Getting Left Behind In Push For National, Game Changing Projects
REGINA – Carla Beck's team is calling on the federal government to help advance construction of a long-discussed all-season road connecting the Cigar Lake and McArthur River uranium mines, while criticizing the Sask. Party for failing to deliver critical infrastructure projects despite nearly two decades in government.

WELL-KNOWN CONTENT CREATOR SPARKS RUSH OF HORROR STORIES FROM OVERRUN SASKATCHEWAN HOSPITALS

Scott Moe, Jeremy Cockrill Can Hold All The Photo Ops They Want, Patients Know The Reality On Hospital Frontlines
REGINA – Carla Beck's team is shining a light on the reality facing patients after 20 years of Sask. Party failures after a flurry of social media posts emerged over the weekend in the wake of a well-known Saskatoon social media personality going public with her own dire experience at the long-overrun Royal University Hospital.

NDP Caucus Office