REGINA - On the day after the presentation of the 2024 Saskatchewan provincial budget, it was the affordability issue that had opposition New Democrats fired up.
The NDP have led every Question Period off since the start of the spring sitting with questions on why the Sask Party wasn’t providing affordability relief or cutting the gas tax. That was the case again Thursday as Opposition Leader Carla Beck opened Question Period by roasting Premier Scott Moe on the budget, as recorded in Hansard.
Ms. Beck: — "The provincial budget is 92 pages long, 92 pages, Mr. Speaker, but not one single page contains any new relief measures for people in this province struggling with the cost of living. Not one. Mr. Speaker, why is this tired and out-of-touch government delivering nothing new to help Saskatchewan people who are struggling to make ends meet?…”
Hon. Mr. Moe: — “Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the Leader of the Opposition, maybe all members of the opposition to go back and actually have another look at the budget. The over $2 billion in affordability measures that are present and current in each and every budget were reaffirmed in the budget that was delivered by our Deputy Premier yesterday, continuing to ensure that 112,000 people in this province — low-income families, many of them — are not on our provincial tax rolls at all, Mr. Speaker.”
Beck was not satisfied by the response as she returned to her usual characterization of the Sask Party as a “tired and out-of-touch government.”
Ms. Beck: — “…Mr. Speaker, there’s nothing new at all, and the Premier and his whole tired and out-of-touch government must think that everything in this province, everyone in this province is doing just fine. And I think, Mr. Speaker, that tells you everything you need to know about how tired and out of touch this Sask Party government has become.”
Premier Moe responded by pointing out Saskatchewan continues “to be one of the most affordable places in Canada to live while we made a record operational investment in our education system, of which Saskatchewan people have asked for, Mr. Speaker.
“All the while we’ve been able to make a record investment, over 10 per cent, in our health care system, Mr. Speaker, in the operations of our health care system and building new hospitals, unlike the members opposite who closed over 50 of those facilities in our rural communities, up to and including Regina.”
Moe also pointed to the contrast to the NDP, “when they closed hospitals, closed schools, fired teachers, fired nurses, fired doctors, tried to nationalize any industry that they couldn’t tax into submission in this province. Mr. Speaker, what you have here as we enter an election year is a government that’s focused on classrooms, care, and communities versus an opposition that’s focused on closures, chaos, and crashing our Saskatchewan economy.”
Beck’s response: “Mr. Speaker, it is more than a little pathetic that on the day after a budget, that’s all you’ve got to defend.”
Opposition Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon also hammered away on the affordability issue.
Mr. Wotherspoon: — “Mr. Speaker, if that Premier was proud of his budget, he wouldn’t be up here the day after with that sort of blustery filibuster in question period. Best work of fiction, Mr. Speaker, is what this thing might get nominated for this year.
“Mr. Speaker, as I got this work of fiction yesterday, I went through page by page by page. I flipped all the way to the end. I was looking for what relief might finally be there for Saskatchewan people. I got to the end and there was nothing. And you know, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I wasn’t. Because Saskatchewan people have learned that they can’t expect much from this government but more costs, Mr. Speaker, a government so out of touch with that reality. Mr. Speaker, why is the Sask Party choosing not to help people who are struggling just to make ends meet?”
Minister of Finance Donna Harpauer responded.
Hon. Ms. Harpauer: — “I’m kind of curious, Mr. Speaker. He does a lot of criticism; the member opposite criticizes. They all do, quite frankly. And they want us to forgo the excise fuel tax. Mr. Speaker, so what is . . . How are they going to pay for that?
“Mr. Speaker, are they going to go back to the days of the NDP where they simply didn’t fix the highways? Because that money 100 per cent goes into fixing the highways. Or are they going to fix the highways and just reduce another budget like education or health care because they don’t agree with those increases? Or are they going to run up the deficit . . .”
The exchange between Wotherspoon and Harpauer ends up descending into a heckling match involving MLAs on both sides of the aisle.
Mr. Wotherspoon: — “Mr. Speaker, while that minister was providing a non-answer and spin — no answer to the challenge — I hear a heckle from a member, a politically tacky heckle about desperation. And the sad reality . . . You want to talk about desperation? It’s Saskatchewan people who are feeling desperate. Angus Reid indicates that 6 out of 10 people, 57 per cent of Saskatchewan people are saying that it’s difficult or very difficult to pay for food and groceries.
“Those cabinet ministers can heckle all they want while 6 out of 10 Saskatchewan people struggle to put food on the table for their families, Mr. Speaker. You want to talk about out of touch? Exhibit A. Again higher than the national average, among the highest of the provinces. We have one member bellowing from the back, Mr. Speaker, who’s said more in this question period than he has from his feet his entire time in office . . .”
Hon. Ms. Harpauer: — “It’s interesting that the member opposite that accuses us of blustering, blustered so long through his question, he never got to a question, Mr. Speaker. What he fails to say is that same Angus Reid poll, that says which party is to be most trusted to manage the cost of living. And guess what? It was this government; it was not the NDP. So I think his bluster is, you know, maybe ill placed, Mr. Speaker.”
After Question Period, Premier Moe responded to questions from reporters about why more affordability measures weren’t included.
“This is about balance,” Moe responded. “There’s some significant investments, which we discussed yesterday in this space of our classrooms, a record investment in our operating education budget, in healthcare, in transfers that are going to our municipalities, which are our communities. Really record investment across-the-board, and balancing that and ensuring that the affordability measures that we have in place today are there. There’s no new tax increases in this budget, this is unlike what we’re seeing in other levels of government, where we’re seeing carbon tax is increasing each and every year. There’s none in this budget that we have put forward.
“And as I said, when you look at the comparisons of Saskatchewan communities with other Canadian communities, we fare very well. Second lowest utility bundle. 112,000 people... removed from our tax roll. Those are low income families and we did that by raising the rate at where, for example, a family of four might start paying tax. I believe in Saskatchewan that taxable rate today is $59,000; it was $26,000 17 years ago.”
In speaking to reporters Wotherspoon doubled down on his concerns about affordability.
“The reality for Saskatchewan people is, they’re not getting action on the priorities that matter. When you look at the cost of living, and you look at the measurements that six out of 10 people in Saskatchewan are struggling to put put food on the table…. that should shake every last member in this Assembly. Those are the people we represent at every corner of Saskatchewan.
"...And this is a provincial government that, worse than doing nothing during this period of time, and dismissing the reality people are facing, has made things worse. Well, I think there’s consequences for that and people expect change. It’s disappointing and wrong. Sadly, not surprising that there wasn’t a cost of living measure in this budget. But we’re going to fight for it now, we’re going to fight to deliver that change for the people of this province.”
