Sask. NDP question budget timing and spending

The opposition NDP may be wondering if the SaskParty is in need of a watch, because it has several questions around the timing of the budget along with the so-called transformational changes.

Finance Critic Cathy Sproule wondered what took the government so long to introduce the document.

“There’s absolutely nothing in this budget that justifies a three month delay. There’s no excuse for the delay at all,” Sproule said.

She’s claiming the province is making cuts in health and education, along with cuts to protecting our air, water and soil quality.

READ MORE: Sask. budget at a glance

Sproule highlighted the increases on the table to our SaskPower rates. She also believes the Wall Government is hiding the real cost of the deficit from Saskatchewan residents, questioning how the SaskParty is spending and where it’s showing it, adding some costs are simply being shifted.

The NDP again reiterated how it believes the province has mismanaged its money.

“This government didn’t want people to know how badly they have squandered their decade-long ride through high commodity prices and through sheer luck some of the best economic years in our history.”

“The SaskParty needs to quit pointing fingers and instead look in the mirror,” she added.

The NDP has long questioned the SaskParty’s spending habits, wondering after years of resource boom wealth why no extra money was set aside for more challenging economic times like these. Finance Minister Kevin Doherty argued they paid down a portion of the public debt with that extra money. He also said spending helped spur the economy.

Now that the minister is musing about transformational changes, Sproule is questioning the timing of that as well.

“This is a government that’s been in power for nine years and they’re now saying ‘is this something we should be doing?’ These are basic elemental governing kinds of questions,” she said.

Sproule and the NDP believe the public is paying for the SaskParty’s mistakes and wants them to reconsider the budget, along with apologizing to residents.