REGINA – Opposition New Democrats were back to hammering Premier Scott Moe on the size of the provincial debt on Tuesday.
At a media event at the Legislature, Opposition Finance critic Trent Wotherspoon pointed to graphs showing the performances of other previous Premiers on the debt. It was reminiscent of a NDP news conference last year in which they had pounded Moe for being the highest-spending premier of the last 60 years.
This time, Wotherspoon blasted Premier Moe for the worst debt performance of the last five Premiers. The NDP pointed to Moe having doubled the debt to $40 billion, double that of the Grant Devine era and way ahead of the $8 billion added on by Premier Brad Wall. Meanwhile, he pointed to NDP premiers Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert having paid down debt.
Wotherspoon also pointed to the debt going up by 100.5 percent and interest costs having increased by 90.5 percent under Moe as Premier. He pointed to each citizen’s per capita debt rising to $28,534, and said Saskatchewan was now paying over $1 billion in interest payments.
“That's money that's no longer available to cut costs and taxes for Saskatchewan families or to pay for critical things like health care and education,” said Wotherspoon. “It's Saskatchewan's people's money and it's going to pay bankers and Bay Street and Wall Street to cover the Sask Party's historic waste and mismanagement.”
The NDP finance critic also predicted it would get worse. He said projections show that “he's on track to be responsible for 65 per cent of all provincial debt by the time the next election rolls around in 2028.”
Wotherspoon blamed it all on government mismanagement.
“This is a runaway fiscal train wreck and the Premier's in the driver's seat, leading a government that simply can't be trusted with our finances and isn't getting it done on the things that matter most to the people of this province.”
When asked how this debt situation compared to other provincial governments in Canada, Wotherspoon did not have those numbers off hand, but instead he doubled down on criticism of Moe and the Sask Party, saying they are “squandering a historic opportunity for the people of this province.”
“They're compromising the bright strong future and economic foundation and fiscal foundation that the people of this province deserve and they're making the people of Saskatchewan pay the price for the cost of their many years of mismanagement and waste.”
When asked if inflation and infrastructure spending on roads, hospitals and schools might be a factor in the debt, Wotherspoon dismissed it, saying “there's no good excuse for it. It's inexcusable.”
In particular, Wotherspoon blasted the use of public-private partnership for major projects. He said the Sask Party “has chosen to procure with P3s that have cost billions of dollars more to the people of Saskatchewan and shut out workers and companies in this province.”
He pointed to the Regina Bypass having “ballooned to over two billion dollars, over a billion dollars of waste involved in that project, all while shutting out Saskatchewan workers and companies. And all that mismanagement shows up directly in our debt and our finances and it's Saskatchewan people that are still paying the price for that.”
The NDP news conference on the debt may have been an effort to take the steam out of Premier Moe’s own media event in Saskatoon. There, the Premier spoke about the outcome of the recent trip to China resulting in tariffs being lifted on canola.
As for their response to the latest jabs from the NDP, the Sask Party government dismissed the criticism about the debt.
“It is hard to take the NDP seriously when they mixed up revenue and expenses in their most recent election platform,” they stated.
They noted Saskatchewan has the “best credit rating and the second-lowest net-debt-to-GDP ratio among provinces which are important metrics used by private sector experts to assess the fiscal stability of a jurisdiction.” They also pointed to Saskatchewan’s population, employment and exports having grown significantly during their time in government, and that it required investment in public infrastructure including highways, waterworks, energy systems, hospitals, schools and long-term care facilities.
“Saskatchewan is the most affordable place to live in Canada, and our government is committed to keeping it that way while ensuring strong investments in critical areas like health care, education and capital infrastructure continue.”
