Working men and women will pay for Sask. Party mismanagement - SFL

The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour is unimpressed with the provincial government’s deficit budgeting and is questioning the government’s motives behind its fiscal strategy.

“It looks to us like the government has spent the entire surplus it inherited two years ago, and then some. And they want the people of Saskatchewan to pay for their financial mismanagement. They are engaged in aggressive cutbacks in our public service - they’ve decided on an arbitrary reduction of 15 per cent of the civil service. Where did that come from?” said SFL President Larry Hubich.  

“Where is the money to fix healthcare worker shortages?  We are also hearing that post-secondary students will now be facing a five per cent increase in tuition.  These decisions mean that students and public sector workers will have to pay the price for government squandering of taxpayer dollars,” added Hubich.

“Many of us are reminded of the days of the Grant Devine administration - it was a combination of bankrupting our province so there was no money for vital public services, and then using that as a justification for selling off valuable assets like some of our Crown Corporations and publicly-owned buildings and equipment. And guess who benefitted from those sweetheart deals? The government’s buddies in the private sector. It’s like the budget has been contracted out for design by a private sector consultant – designed by the very people who will benefit from it.” added Hubich.

“Labour is also disappointed that the Wall government brags about a growing workforce yet reduces funds allocated to the department of labour. They have given in to business pressure to open the door to 14 and 15 year old workers and to vulnerable temporary foreign workers. With these additions to the workforce, more resources, not less, are needed to enforce our labour standards and workplace safety laws and regulations,” added Hubich.