MLA who worked on provincial budget defends cuts
A Meadow Lake MLA and Minister of the Economy who put hundreds of hours into the creation of the provincial budget says cuts were justified.
Last week, Saskatchewan locals learned about a 58 per cent cut to library funding and the decision to shut down the Saskatchewan Transit Company (STC) which will leave 224 people out of work. While some are losing their jobs, Jeremy Harrison said it’s necessary in order to balance the $1.2 billion provincial deficit.
“There is a bit of a disconnect between government revenues and the economy as a whole,” Harrison said. “We have the strongest job creation record. Even last month we led all of Canada in job growth with 8,000 jobs created. The economy is continuing to perform well but, the impact on government revenues from the collapse in resource prices has had a huge impact on our revenue situation.”
According to Harrison, for every person who rode the STC it was costing taxpayers $100 in subsidies. The MLA added the company hasn’t profited since 1979 and the government couldn’t justify operating it anymore.