Following the Sask. Party government’s 2017 budget announcement that has left many, including North Battleford council and administration, reeling.
Doyle Vermette, NDP MLA for Cumberland and critic for Northern Saskatchewan and STC, and Carla Beck, MLA for Regina Lakeview and critic for Education, Early Learning and Childcare, made a stop in North Battleford to get a sense of the initial impact on people, school divisions, cities, municipalities and the regional library system.
Beck indicated the response from those in the meetings has been one of frustration, with many people feeling blindsided by the government’s budget.
“They had no inkling, no prior warning, that the cuts were going to be as significant as they have been,” said Beck outside of Living Sky School Division office Monday, following a meeting with senior school division staff.
Impacts residents will bear that Beck referenced included the cutting of payments in lieu, resulting in a loss of $1.1. million in funding for North Battleford.
“The City noted that what has been lost would be equal to a 15 per cent property tax increase or a complete shut down of all of the recreation programs,” said Beck. “This is not a small amount of money.”
Beck indicated she was skeptical of the government’s messaging post-budget, saying, “I don’t think we’re getting the full picture.”
“To suggest that, somehow, these cuts are going to be kept from the frontline, or everyone has to shoulder a little bit of the burden – this is a huge burden.”
“I can’t help but note that a lot of the impact will be shouldered by children, by people who use community services and by people who can least afford to absorb that impact.”
As for what the NDP would have done differently, Beck shared that one of the major differences would have been through consultation with the public.
“One thing I know we would have done, when the minister was talking about transformational change, we went around the province to get an understanding what the local context was,” said Beck. “I’m afraid what I’m seeing with this budget and how it’s been rolled out, school boards were not consulted, libraries were certainly not consulted. All of these cuts came as such a surprise.”
Beck also said the NDP’s approach would have been through “having respect enough for these locally elected bodies that we would have had consultation with them ahead of time. That is something I can definitely say because we did it. We went around the province talking to people.”
Though the Sask. Party didn’t consult with the public before rolling out this budget, Beck added that both she and Vermette will be taking the stories they’ve heard during this process back to the legislature.
“I would hope that once [Finance Minister Kevin Doherty] understands just how devastating those cuts are that there might be some second thoughts given.”
“It’s one thing to cross something off a ledger sheet from a ministry office in Regina, but it’s another to get out here and see exactly what that means when you cut 3.5 million out of a library budget,” said Beck.
