A mounting debt now at $46 million and no land sales at the Global Transportation Hub outside of Regina have drawn concerns from the opposition NDP.
Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon said on Thursday that he and the NDP are committed to a public inquiry into the land scandal. They are also calling for the Standing Committee on the Economy to examine the last two annual reports, something he said the government is no longer allowing.
The NDP noted in the hub’s annual report that a private company was paid $1.4 million to manage a budgeted $3.8 million in land sales, yet no land sales were reported. An increasing net debt of $1.3 million was reported last year along with a deficit of $2.2 million, three times more than the budgeted $738,000.
Wotherspoon said a lack of activity and land sales is a red flag for Saskatchewan residents.
“People deserve answers on those fronts but they also deserve value for their dollars. They haven’t gotten that and certainly lots of dollars have been wasted by the Sask. Party,” stated Wotherspoon on Thursday at the GTH.
“Saskatchewan people do deserve a plan to go forward that can get as much value as we can out of the dollars that have been placed out here.”
Wotherspoon said the NDP’s plan if elected would include a full value-for-money assessment and a strategy that allows residents to see value for what they have paid through taxes at the GTH.
He also believes the City of Regina should be fully engaged in conversations to get full value at the hub.
“Sadly, we are stuck with a tumbleweed museum that has been really expensive. But now we owe it to Saskatchewan people to do all we can to maximize value out of this project.”
