REGINA — The provincial budget debate and its eventual passage on Thursday dominated a highly charged political week at the legislature.
Budget debate concluded Thursday with speeches from the leaders: Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Premier Scott Moe. In her speech, Beck reiterated her contention that the Saskatchewan Party had delivered a “bad news budget” and went on the attack against its $819 million deficit budget.
Beck’s remarks as recorded in Hansard:
“Mr. Speaker, to the Premier: people in this province can see you. 43.5 billion is a bit of a pile to try to sweep under the rug. And the $1.22 billion going to those bankers down east, well, Mr. Speaker, people are going to notice.
“This province is vast. It is beautiful. In some ways there’s a lot of geography, but it’s one big small town in a lot of other ways. So many connections across this province, Mr. Speaker, and word travels fast. People talk.
“To the Premier, to the ministers, to the members opposite I would say, you’re not hiding what you think you’re hiding out there. They think they can hide behind this budget. You think it will protect you from the consequences and the reality that people are facing. Well people in this province, Mr. Speaker, they don’t like to get their boots wet and have these ministers tell them that it’s raining. They know what’s going on out there.”
Premier Moe defended the budget.
“I’m very proud that this budget is not only the best budget in the nation of Canada, but it’s a budget that definitely addresses what we’re seeing happening globally in protecting the very fabric of our province — our health care services — protecting our education system, Mr. Speaker, protecting the very safety and funding of our communities, and protecting our economy that only makes the rest of that possible, and protecting the ability for our province to remain the most affordable province in the nation of Canada, Mr. Speaker.
“This budget is very much, very much indicative of where Saskatchewan people are today — taking care of ourselves, controlling what we can control, and ensuring that our great province and every community within it is going to be better tomorrow than it is even today, Mr. Speaker. And I would just ask that God bless this great province and all of the residents in it.”
Finance Minister Jim Reiter closed debate, saying the government had heard the concerns of constituents.
“Mr. Speaker, the MLAs on this side of the House, my colleagues, had an opportunity over the last many months to be around the province in their home constituencies, other constituencies, talking to people in this great province, to see what their priorities should be. And that formed the basis for this budget, Mr. Speaker. And they heard repeatedly two key areas. They heard health care and they heard affordability.
“On health care, Mr. Speaker, the Premier and the Minister of Health a couple weeks ago delivered the patient-first initiative. I had an opportunity to go into great detail on that last week during the budget address, Mr. Speaker. Many members of this side have talked about it as well, including the Premier today. I’m not going to get into that. I’m mindful of the time, Mr. Speaker. Just to say this: health care is so important to this province. I believe we are on the right path and I commend both ministers, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Rural and Remote Health, for all the work they’ve done in this regard.
"On affordability, Mr. Speaker, I will just take a minute to talk about that. It’s been debated on the floor of this Assembly many times. I will remind the members opposite as often as they say it, there is no PST on groceries, Mr. Speaker. There is on prepared foods. There is on chips and pop, Mr. Speaker, and it’s going to stay on chips and pop.
"Mr. Speaker, on other affordability measures I would say this: two and a half billion dollars of every budget has been going towards affordability measures, Mr. Speaker. And we’ve taken the approach — we believe strongly on this side of the House — that who knows best on where their money should go are the people themselves, not the government, Mr. Speaker."
The vote on the budget carried 33-18 along party lines. As well, an amendment moved by the NDP calling for no confidence in the government failed by a 33-18 count.
The budget vote concluded a raucous week in which much of the focus was on the capital spending on education and a number of projects that were stuck on pause, including a renovation to Campbell Collegiate, school projects in the towns, and the Carlyle School.
Opposition critics characterized the projects as “cancelled” and also were openly critical of why the Shellbrook school consolidation was greenlighted in Premier Moe’s own riding. Moe pointed out to reporters this week that the local school division had listed a new school as a priority for over a decade. He also said it was needed as the current facility “rains inside.”
The NDP also pointed to over 100 current schools that they claimed were in worse shape than Shellbrook. In response to that, on Thursday in the Assembly, Education Minister Everett Hindley pointed to a mention of the Grayson school and noted that an individual on Facebook had “commented and said, actually, please take it off the list because they have a new playground, a new daycare, Mr. Speaker.”
