NDP Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon addresses Legislature following the provincial budget. (Trent Wotherspoon/Facebook)

By Cam Lee

NDP Finance Critic pans budget

NDP Finance Critic Wotherspoon says budget doesn’t help affordability issues

Mar 21, 2024 | 3:00 PM

The provincial Finance Critic is giving the recent SaskParty budget a failing grade.

The NDP’s Trent Wotherspoon told northeastNOW the budget didn’t address what his party believes is the top issue people face in the province – the cost of living.

“We know that six out of 10 Saskatchewan families are finding it difficult or very difficult to just put food on the table right now,” said Wotherspoon.

The veteran MLA said the SaskParty government has not only not addressed affordability for most people in the province, but they have also made things worse.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that there’s nothing in here to make life affordable for Saskatchewan people.”

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Families are being challenged to be able to make ends meet, and Wotherspoon said it was incumbent on the government to address those issues.

The NDP has proposed scrapping the fuel tax to provide some relief, a move that would save 15 cents per litre. The governments of Manitoba and Alberta have both removed the provincial fuel tax, but thus far the Saskatchewan government has refused. Wotherspoon said he was disappointed not to see the removal in the budget.

The government also kept the PST at its current level. Wotherspoon said the SaskParty has hiked the PST during their time in power, and that means families are paying $1500 more each year in tax. He added that money hits people at a time when they can least afford it.

The provincial government not addressing affordability in the NDP’s eyes, according to Wotherspoon, “really tells you how out-of-touch this government has become.”

The budget revealed a $273 million debt for the upcoming fiscal year, and Wotherspoon believes that highlights the government’s mismanagement and wasteful spending. Wotherspoon said Scott Moe has delivered deficits in five of six years as premier.

“What we see is a premier that has doubled the debt during his time, and we see the cost and consequences of that,” Wotherspoon said. He added the debt servicing line of the budget shows that the province now pays over $900 million per year just to service its debt, up from $800 million last year. That money, according to Wotherspoon, would have been useful to tackle other major issues.

“Fixing our health care, investing in our classrooms that have been put into a breaking-point situation by the cuts and underfunding of this government.”

He cites ‘wasteful’ spending like a mammogram service that sends women out-of-province to a SaskParty donor for ten times the cost, a $200 million information technology (I.T.) system that isn’t properly working, and the Saskatchewan Marshals Service in which the province has spent $14 million with no boots on the ground. Wotherspoon said that money would have been better spent on policing and RCMP resources, with other dollars to address the root causes of crime.

“We really see a wasteful approach of this government, but sadly it’s people then that are left to pay the price,” said Wotherspoon.

The NDP Finance Critic also touched on the current state of education and the battle between the province and the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) when it comes to classroom size and complexity being in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“We’ve seen a decade where this government, through their cuts and underfunding, have taken education funding from number one in Canada per-student funding to number eight,” Wotherspoon explained. He said since 2017, there has been one new teacher added in Saskatchewan, and there have been 15,000 more students.

Wotherspoon said the government’s approach has been to spend money to demean teachers on billboards and not to bargain in good faith.

“I can understand why teachers want a firm commitment from this government and why they’re fighting for classrooms that will allow their students to thrive with the resources and supports they need,” said Wotherspoon. “They see the consequences of that decade of underfunding and cuts.”

The provincial election is being held this fall, and Wotherspoon said there is precedent in not believing an education promise from the SaskParty in an election year.

“In 2016 this government was making promises to fund education and make investments to only break their word and cut education by $57 million right after the budget, and to attack the autonomy of local school divisions across Saskatchewan.”

Wotherspoon said the government played a part in breaking the health care and education systems, and they simply cannot be trusted to fix them.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK