For Immediate Release
March 22, 2024
Complicated, Confounding, and Incomplete – SaskParty Government’s Provincial Budget
Saskatchewan—The Saskatchewan provincial budget that was handed down this week and reinforced that the priorities of this government is to hold the line on taxes, except for corporations. This SaskParty government’s budget talked about buildings and beds but not investing in the people who provide and receive the care, education, and services in this province.
“The budget was a repeat announcement of what this government has already announced over the last 6-8 months,” said Barbara Cape President of SEIU-West. “Time and time again we see this government commit dollars to build buildings, but they aren’t investing in the professional staff to work in those buildings and provide services.”
Preliminary analysis of the government’s budget numbers reveals that while the capital budget was increased by more than 20%, the operations budget (which mainly goes toward staff salaries) was increased by less than 8%. There are over $800 million in corporate tax breaks that were left untouched in this budget. That’s unacceptable, especially at a time when all our vital public services are desperately short-staffed.
The day the budget was released, a group of SEIU-West members were gathered in Saskatoon and went through an exercise of creating a provincial budget. Assigned to work in Ministries, they debated, calculated, and considered different lobbying interests to come up with a budget that matched the agreed upon values of their government.
“Our members used their mandate to invest in people and their communities by lifting up their values of improving the lives of the people we serve. We think the Government of Saskatchewan should recognize and apply these same values when developing budgets for the province,” added Cape. “We think this government can do better if the political will and values are there.”
Service Employees International Union West (SEIU-West) represents over 13,000 people across Saskatchewan. They include people who work in health care, education, municipalities, community-based organizations, retirement homes, and other sectors. They are joined by one colour—purple—and one union, SEIU-West. Visit PurpleWorks.ca to find out more about SEIU-West members.
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For more information and to speak with Barbara Cape, please contact:
Karman Kawchuk
Deputy Director of Political Action & Education, SEIU-West
306-652-1011 ext. 2232