The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) say the Saskatchewan government needs to control their spending after the province’s credit rating was downgraded.
CTF Prairie Director Todd MacKay says with the pandemic causing additional spending in areas like healthcare, the province needs to find ways to save money elsewhere.
“Spending is going up across the board, almost every line item in the Saskatchewan budget had increased spending this year,” said MacKay. “We were borrowing money in the good times, now we’re in tough times, we’ve got to be really, really careful with money. Just about everyone in Saskatchewan, every business, every family, have all found ways to save money, the government needs to do the same.”
The bond rating agency Moody’s downgraded Saskatchewan’s AAA credit rating to a AA1, citing a spending increase of seven percent.
MacKay says while the downgrade isn’t devastating, it’s important for the province to get ahead of it while they can. He adds there’s no need to panic as of yet.
“Just like your credit card, if you get on top of it, if you start doing smart things, if you get it under control, pretty soon you can start making things better,” said MacKay. “The problem is if you procrastinate, if you leave those letters from the credit card people unopened on your kitchen counter, things get out of hand in a real hurry.”
MacKay says procrastinating led to the massive spending cuts in the early 90s, resulting in tax hikes.
