It was a spring sitting Premier Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party government won鈥檛 soon forget, although one might assume that鈥檚 exactly what they would like to do.
Determined to deal with the $1.3-billion deficit in last year鈥檚 budget, the spring sitting that ended last week was highlighted by a 2017-18 budget with nearly a billion dollars in new taxes and service cutbacks including the shuttering of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC).
But firmly rooted in the history of the Grant Devine Progressive Conservatives of the 1980s, Wall has made it known he has no intention of leaving behind a legacy of debt and financial mismanagement.
The 2017-18 budget is the sixth deficit budget out of nine delivered by the Sask. Party government; this, despite great economic years for most of his mandate.
This has meant we are adding $3 billion more in debt in the budget. Public debt will be $16.1 billion by the end of this year, then 18.2 billion by the end of 2018 and $22.8 billion by 2021.
Presenting a budget in which the debt has more than doubled is another memory from this session that Brad Wall certainly wishes he hadn鈥檛 created.
However, the real frustration for Wall and the Sask. Party is the bad memories won鈥檛 go away a while.
The true difficulty with a bad budget is that it tends to linger with the government for some time.
This was certainly the case for former NDP premier Roy Romanow鈥檚 1993 budget that also raised taxes and closed 52 rural hospitals and the Plains Health Centre in Regina.
It would be silly at this point to equate Brad Wall鈥檚 2017 budget to what happen to the NDP in 1993.
Many are already giving Wall credit for the foresight in not allowing the fiscal situation to get out of hand, something that鈥檚 appeared to happen in NDP Alberta after latter-day Progressive Conservative governments set that province on a path towards big debt.
But Wall and company have to see this session for what it is: a brutal one, whose impact may linger.
And at least for the remainder of this year comes the difficult task of carrying out that brutal budget agenda.
Last month, the deputy minister in Ministry of Education served noticed that
locally elected school trustees need to achieve the provincial government's "expected reduction in total compensation costs by 3.5 per cent with no increase in the subsequent three years."
鈥淭he direction of the government, as the funder, is clear and it is expected that you engage in the direct negotiations with the bargaining agents of your various employee groups without delay," Education Ministry Julie MacRae wrote in her April 3 memo to all school division chairs.
"It is critical that this important work commence without delay and be undertaken with necessary urgency."
The memo goes on to state a "monitoring and reporting template has been developed, which will be used to measure progress towards meeting these objectives."聽
In other words, there will be an escaping the government directive to develop the equivalent of a 3.5-per-cent wage cut followed by a three-year wage freeze. But there just isn鈥檛 much chance for the Sask. Party to change the channel, as it is now committed to overseeing this massive wage cut.
Sure, budgets aren鈥檛 the only things government do.
But consider the Sask. Party鈥檚 legislative agenda this session: the Saskatchewan Grain Car Corporation (to sell cars); the Tobacco Tax Amendment Act (to increase tax); the Fuel Tax Amendment Act, 2017 (to increase tax), and聽the Provincial Sales Tax Amendment Act (to increase tax).
All are about the budget鈥檚 direction to cut services and increase taxes.
The 2017-18 budget won鈥檛 do away with this any time soon.聽
