| Mid-Year Update Confirms Unprecedented Financial Mismanagement |
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Reckless Sask Party budget results in $1 Billion summary deficit 19 November 2009 With the release of the Mid-Year Financial Report, NDP Finance critic Trent Wotherspoon said the Wall government has confirmed that it is responsible for the biggest example of fiscal incompetence in the history of Saskatchewan. He said the combination of grossly inflated potash revenue projections, equity stripping from Crown Corporations, and out-of-control government spending has left the province with a $1 Billion deficit on a summary financial basis and a financial blunder not seen in generations. “Private forecasters, industry representatives, and the NDP Opposition all cautioned against the fantasyland numbers the Wall government put forward in its budget,” Wotherspoon said. “But cheerleading and popular promises ruled the day with no thought as to whether or not the expert advice it received should have been taken into account.” Wotherspoon said the Wall government’s fiscal mismanagement isn’t just about numbers on a page; people are being asked to pay for its incompetence through cuts to healthcare, education, rural programs, and their quality of life in general. He noted that among the cuts was $122 million from the construction of long-term care facilities in rural Saskatchewan and $32 million from new school infrastructure. “The government may wish to characterize these cuts as deferrals but these are nothing more than financial IOUs,” Wotherspoon said. “With fiscal mismanagement of this magnitude, the future of Saskatchewan people becomes compromised. The Wall government has yet to understand that to properly fund the programs and services the people of Saskatchewan deserve, a strong fiscal house must be maintained.” Wotherspoon also noted that with well over $9 billion still flowing to government coffers, this is not a revenue problem but a fiscal management problem. “This isn’t a problem built on the lack of revenue, this is a problem of the Wall government’s own making,” Wotherspoon said. “Irresponsible revenue projections, equity stripping from the Crown sector and out-of-control government spending has caused the fiscal mess we’re currently in.” Additional examples of financial mismanagement can be found in:
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