MLA Buckley Belanger. Photo courtesy Facebook.
Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger has given the provincial government a failing grade when it comes to Wednesday’s budget.
When asked to grade the budget from a teacher’s standpoint, Belanger said “I would simply give it an F minus, simple as that.”
The provincial government tabled a budget with a $685 million deficit, which includes almost $900 million in new taxes comprised mainly of an increase in the provincial sales tax from five to six percent.
Belanger says it was tough to find anything good in budget to address.
“The people of Northern Saskatchewan will be adversely affected with the cut to the Saskatchewan Transportation Company and even with all of these measures, with increased taxation and cuts to health and education, they are still in deficit,” he added.
Belanger says that the current Sask. Party government inherited a booming economy with record resource revenue, but still it is the taxpayers of Saskatchewan that have to bear the brunt of massive debt and deficits.
He says residents should be angry for the government’s economic mismanagement and says the death of STC should be a warning of what might happen next to any of the Crown Corporations.
“Next on the hit list for the Sask Party is going to be SaskTel,” he said.