
Tom Graham, President, CUPE Saskatchewan
Last year’s provincial budget introduced some of the most dramatic cuts to Saskatchewan’s public services and social safety net since the years of Grant Devine. Across the province, people spoke up for their communities. Everyday Saskatchewan people lobbied, petitioned, rallied, marched, and demonstrated in defense of libraries, K-12 education, universities, municipal services, health care, rural bus service, early childhood supports, funeral services for low-income people, and more.
As a result, the Saskatchewan Party government was forced to listen and walk back some of the cuts. But many of those devastating cuts remain in place.
“At the same time last year’s budget introduced sweeping cuts and proposed rollbacks, on the revenue side, the increase in sales and consumption taxes hit workers and everyday people the hardest,” says Tom Graham, President of CUPE Saskatchewan.
“What we would have liked to see in this year’s budget is a move toward fair taxation, where big corporations and the wealthiest residents pay their fair share. The reason consumption taxes are called ‘regressive’ is because they hit the people with the least money the hardest,” says Graham.
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