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Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is sounding the alarm on Saskatchewan’s growing debt ahead of the ahead of the provincial budget to be unveiled on Wednesday.
CTF — a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government — has brought its debt clock to the Saskatchewan legislature on Tuesday to call on Premier Scott Moe to stop wasting money.
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The debt clock is a massive digital counter placed on the side of a truck that shows the provincial government’s debt increasing in real time.
Saskatchewan’s debt is projected to be $21 billion by the end of March — an increase of $1.9 billion compared to last year.
Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director for CTF, said that the government needs to stop borrowing money and piling debt onto taxpayers.
“By the end of March the provincial debt will be $21 billion. That means every single Saskatchewanian in the province will be on the hook for more than $16,000 in provincial debt,” he said.
“That has happened because year after year the government is failing to be fiscally responsible and instead taking out taxpayer credit card after taxpayer credit card to spend money it doesn’t have — and all of that extra spending and debt has meant huge money wasted in interest payments that taxpayers have to pay for,” said Haubrich.
Interest charges on the debt will cost taxpayers about $728 million this year, or $587 per person, Haubrich said.
“In the last 10 years, $5 billion has been spent on interest payments on the provincial debt. That’s more money than the government is spending on education this year.
“That’s not just adults, that’s a newborn baby coming out having to pay $587 in those interest payments. It’s important to highlight that because that’s money that can’t be used for services. It can’t be used for tax relief. It’s simply paying interest on the loans because the government has continued to make poor financial decisions, and it’s costing taxpayers,” said Haubrich.
The Saskatchewan Party government said last November it was projecting a deficit more than double what it predicted in its 2024 budget, largely due to higher crop insurance payouts following a difficult farming season.
The budget will be released at around 2:15 pm on March 19.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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