Better uses for resource windfall
The recent announcement by the Saskatchewan Party government to share resource revenue is suspicious. If you recall, Saskatchewan experienced a record resource revenue boom from 2011 to 2014 and no one saw either cheques in the mail or an improvement of public services. We saw squandering.
The decision to dish out a ‘share-the-wealth’ $500 payment this fall won’t even cover the increases for many that the Saskatchewan Party government has quietly imposed, such as a new school fee to make up for a shortfall in funding for our education system, provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and used cars and transportation costs to find health care out of province.
A simple injection of much-needed dollars would go a long way to clear the backlog of surgeries that health care is experiencing right now. An investment in education is investing in the future of this province.
Finance Minister Harpauer insists that investments in our public services are not sustainable, but I argue that if it was a priority, it would be sustainable.
The Saskatchewan Party tells us that they are keeping Saskatchewan strong and on the right track. It appears we are on the track for a two-tiered health-care and education system, much like the United States.