Throne speech short on any real action to reverse harmful budget cuts, says CUPE

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TOM GRAHAM, President, CUPE Saskatchewan

REGINA – The provincial government’s throne speech lacks any real action to reverse the harmful cuts made in the cruelest, harshest Saskatchewan budget tabled earlier this year in March.

“Earlier this year, the Sask Party government delivered a budget that unfairly punished working families for their mismanagement with deep cuts to public services, rollbacks, and job losses for Saskatchewan people,” said Tom Graham, President of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Today’s throne speech does next to nothing to repair the damage and the mistrust caused by the government’s actions since the budget in March.”

While the provincial government has finally committed to repeal its controversial Crown privatization scheme through Bill 40 amid growing public opposition and pressure, it falls far short of the need to listen more closely to Saskatchewan people and reverse costly public-private partnership (P3) privatization plans and the decade of Sask Party broken promises on Crowns from the abrupt wind-down of Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) to the privatization of Information Services Corporation (ISC) in 2013 and Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN) in 2010, along with many subsidiaries of major Crowns, over the Sask Party’s terms in office.

“With the release of this lackluster throne speech, many are left to ask where is the reversal of cuts to education, universities, and health care? Where is the reversal of the sudden and deep cuts to municipal revenue sharing and grants-in-lieu that have caused services to be cut and taxes to go up in almost every city and town? Where is the walk-back of the long term care fee hikes the government stuck seniors with last budget?,” asked Graham. “With Premier’s Walls last throne speech before a new Sask Party leader is chosen, it is clear the government has a lot more listening to do.”

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