Provincial Deficit May Kill Northern Projects: MLA

Provincial Deficit May Kill Northern Projects: MLA

Friday, December 04, 2009 at 17:03

 

 

Northern Affairs Critic Buckley Belanger says a La Ronge elders’ care home won’t likely be built, thanks to the provincial deficit.

 

Belanger made that statement today as he looked back on the six-week fall session of the legislature, which ended Thursday.

 

Belanger, who is the MLA for Athabasca, says the northern half of the province was ignored.

 

He says instead, the government focused on stemming the bleeding from a $1-billion deficit.

 

Belanger says the north will be hit hard, as projects are cancelled in order to cut spending and balance the books.

 

He predicts that a care home for elders in the La Ronge area will be postponed or cancelled as part of the cost-cutting.

 

“I know that La Ronge has been advocating for that, and there’s a big push. There’s a lot of interest. There’s fundraising, there’s groups that are doing a lot of work now. I think they’re probably getting the message now that that’s not going to be a project that’s going to be immediately funded,” Belanger says.

 

Belanger also predicts that various highway projects throughout the north won’t go ahead either.