Taylor says budget is a gamble; you can’t trust these gamblers
Posted by: Len Taylor in Legislative SpeechesLen Taylor, MLA The Battlefords speaks in the Legislative Assembly to the budget motion; Monday, March 23, 2009
SPECIAL ORDER ADJOURNED DEBATES MOTION FOR APPROVAL OF BUDGETARY POLICY (BUDGET DEBATE) [The Assembly resumed the adjourned debate on the proposed motion by the Hon. Mr. Gantefoer that the Assembly approves in general the budgetary policy of the government, and the proposed amendment to the main motion moved by Mr. Van Mulligen.]
The Speaker: — I recognize the member from The Battlefords.
Mr. Taylor: — Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased today to rise to speak to the motion and the amendment concerning the 2009-2010 budget of the government. And, Mr. Speaker, I’m very pleased to follow my colleagues from the two Regina constituencies who spoke so eloquently last week. And in fact, Mr. Speaker, I may, before I conclude my remarks today, quote from the speeches that were raised by the members from Regina Douglas Park and Regina Coronation Park who, as I said, put some very eloquent comments on the record, Mr. Speaker — comments that mean as much in The Battlefords and across this province as they do to the constituents who live within the city of Regina. Mr. Speaker, it’s my intention to divide my comments today into a couple of categories: number one, to address issues related specifically to The Battlefords; and, Mr. Speaker, number two, to take a look at the budget as a whole, and how the impact of what is in or what is not in the budget, Mr. Speaker, affects people throughout the province of Saskatchewan.
But first and foremost, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of things that people in The Battlefords are most interested in, and to a certain extent, Mr. Speaker, are most concerned about and in fact disappointed in this government in this budget. Mr. Speaker, I was home this weekend as I am all weekends, Mr. Speaker, and I attended a number of events — events that are held by community organizations that attract people from all sectors in the economy that is The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker. One of those events was a chamber of commerce event on Friday, and another was a United Church event on Saturday, Mr. Speaker. And even though I had no specific role to play in either meeting, Mr. Speaker, I was approached by numerous, and I think the word dozens would easily describe the approaches that people made to me, Mr. Speaker. And those approaches were almost universal in their subject matter of concern. I think that the members in the Chamber will not be surprised to know that people were approaching me at those meetings and phoned me at home on a couple of occasions, Mr. Speaker, to talk about their disappointment in this government in not addressing the need for a new Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford. Mr. Speaker, you know, the members opposite have on a couple of occasions mentioned that — I know that the people at home can’t hear the members opposite — but they talk about why wasn’t this addressed when I was minister of Health, Mr. Speaker. But the fact of the matter is, every single North Battleford, Battleford, and surrounding area resident knows, Mr. Speaker, that this issue was addressed when I was the minister, Mr. Speaker. We provided the commitment to proceed with the project and more importantly, Mr. Speaker, we provided the regional health authority with the money necessary to advance this project through the most significant part of the planning process. And that, Mr. Speaker, is site selection, concept identification, and more importantly, Mr. Speaker, the facilities review. Now, Mr. Speaker, the next step, which was to occur after the election, was the approval of funding for the specific design work, Mr. Speaker. And for a year and a half now, this government has sat on the approval for funding for specific design. Everybody in the health field knows, Mr. Speaker, you go through these steps. I was responsible for the first two steps, Mr. Speaker. This government is responsible now, because of the election, for all subsequent steps, Mr. Speaker. So the responsibility is now for this government to recommit funding — funding that was committed previously — but recommit funding, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that this project continues along the lines that Prairie North Regional Health Authority had started, and actually as far as concept and facility and program review, Mr. Speaker, had completed.
So, Mr. Speaker, what is taking place now in The Battlefords . . . And I think the members should realize, should recognize, Mr. Speaker, that actually even though I spend a great deal of time promoting and supporting the development of the new Saskatchewan Hospital, members opposite might be surprised to know that the hospital is not in The Battlefords constituency, Mr. Speaker. The hospital is in Cut Knife-Turtleford constituency, Mr. Speaker. And I would think that the member from that constituency would be as interested as the member from the neighbouring constituency, Mr. Speaker, in this particular project. So, Mr. Speaker, I certainly hope, I certainly hope that this government will do what it needs to do with regards to this project. Now, Mr. Speaker, it was universal in the people who talked to me about their disappointment that this project did not proceed in this budget. But, Mr. Speaker, I did what members of the government could have been and should have been doing, Mr. Speaker, and that is quite simply explaining the next steps in this process. So, Mr. Speaker, what I said to the people in The Battlefords this weekend was quite simply, you know, let’s not take the government . . . our disappointment too seriously, Mr. Speaker, because the process of determining long-term capital, health capital, has not yet been concluded by this government, Mr. Speaker. I explained that prior to the election in 2007, the New Democratic Party government initiated a facilities review of all facilities in the . . .
The Speaker: — There’s a lot of conversation and debate going on on my right, making it difficult to really hear, for the member to present his speech. I’d ask members to respect the rights of members to speak. Member from The Battlefords.
Mr. Taylor: — Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m sure that members opposite will be glad to hear what response they should be giving to the Saskatchewan people in regards to health facility review. But I will continue, Mr. Speaker, in the hopes that they are listening and learn something here. So New Democrats commissioned the study of all health facilities in the province, Mr. Speaker. And we recognize that the government will at some point release a list, whether it’s a three-year or a five-year or a ten-year program, to address acute care and provincial facilities to be funded, whether it’s design approval or construction approval. We anticipate, Mr. Speaker, that this government will release a list, as I say, three years, five years, ten years, within the next two months or four months or eight months, Mr. Speaker, but certainly before the next budget a year from now. So, Mr. Speaker, the circumstances we find ourselves in The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker, is we are simply waiting for the release of the three-, five-, or ten-year plan with regards to the future funding of acute or provincial care facilities within the province.
Mr. Speaker, the government has to recognize of course that because this study was done, well two years ago now, Mr. Speaker, that they have an obligation soon, not only to the people of The Battlefords, but to the people in Moose Jaw and the people in Beauval and others across this province, to know where funding, where funding is going with regards to acute and provincial care. The overall expansion of the hospitals in Prince Albert, Mr. Speaker, the expansion of the hospital in Lloydminster, the new Saskatchewan Hospital, Mr. Speaker, the new hospital or renovations in Moose Jaw — Mr. Speaker, there are a number of acute or provincial care facilities that this government has not yet identified on their priority list for funding in the future. Mr. Speaker, they’ve known about the list for a while. They have a good idea of what their long-term funding projections are and what their potential for revenue is, Mr. Speaker, so they have no excuse really about releasing this information in the near future. Mr. Speaker, in The Battlefords we know that a project like the development of Saskatchewan Hospital is, for all intents and purposes, Mr. Speaker, this is a shovel-ready project. It needs the design work completed, the tenders put out. And, Mr. Speaker, then we’ll see our hotel rooms filled, our gas stations active, our . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . Mr. Speaker,. the new Minister of Health says something that I’m saying here is absolutely false, Mr. Speaker. I have no idea what he’s talking about as what is being false here. Certainly, Mr. Speaker, he will have a chance to speak. And I hope when he speaks he will address the issue of Saskatchewan Hospital, because when he visited the Saskatchewan Hospital, he recognized the conditions that exist there, Mr. Speaker. And he said, Mr. Speaker, that this facility certainly needs replacing. Mr. Speaker, there’s no doubt at all that people with psychiatric needs in this province . . . And they’re not just in The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker; their families are in every one of our constituencies across this province, Mr. Speaker. This is a provincial facility that requires provincial interest and provincial attention. And, Mr. Speaker, I will be interested to find out what it is that I’m so wrong about that the Minister of Health has expressed here. Mr. Speaker, we need this facility addressed by this government. Mr. Speaker, the other things, of course, that the people in The Battlefords are interested in are housing issues, Mr. Speaker. We have a growing population. Mr. Speaker, we have new programs at the North West Regional College. Students can’t take full advantage of them because there are few places that they find accessible for accommodation. Mr. Speaker, we have one of the largest components of immigrants in the province coming to The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker. Accessible, affordable housing for an immigrant taking an entry-level job position in The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker — hard to come by. Mr. Speaker, we also have a lot of people from First Nations communities. And there are 22 of them within about a four-hour drive of The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker. We have young First Nations people coming into The Battlefords for school, for jobs, Mr. Speaker, to be closer to families. And there are few, very few affordable accommodations for them, Mr. Speaker. Rents are rising, the number of rental units are decreasing, but the need and the desire, Mr. Speaker, has increased.
We’ve had commitments from this government to address some of those issues in The Battlefords, Mr. Speaker, but we have not seen in a year and a half any concrete provision for new rental accommodation, affordable accommodation, in The Battlefords. Mr. Speaker, there was nothing in this budget to address that or give us reason to be hopeful, Mr. Speaker. That’s another message from the people of The Battlefords with regards to that this government should be concentrating on for priorities. Now let’s take a look at this budget, Mr. Speaker. Because in addition to our disappointment over some of the commitments that we felt had been made, need to be made, and should be made in this budget, Mr. Speaker, to the people of The Battlefords, what are the abilities, Mr. Speaker, of the members opposite, particularly those in cabinet, to manage this budget so that what they are saying will be of benefit to us, Mr. Speaker, are actually able to come true? They have said, Mr. Speaker, quite a number of things about the outcome of this budget, Mr. Speaker. But they have failed to actually address their management capacity in order to achieve those things. We, Mr. Speaker, throughout The Battlefords and throughout Saskatchewan, do want to see a government that is able to do what it says it can do. Confidence, Mr. Speaker, is what is going to ensure new investment in this province, and confidence comes from trust. So, Mr. Speaker, can you trust a government that has its assumptions for developing a balanced budget out of whack, Mr. Speaker, with the assumptions that have been developed by everyone else other than this government, who is looking at the provincial economy? Really what I’m getting at here, Mr. Speaker, is when you build a budget, you build that budget based on certain assumptions. Now the private sector forecasters, those people who are employed by the banks and the bond rating agencies and others, Mr. Speaker, they are always engaged in the business of forecasting — what do you think is going to happen in the next six months, the next twelve months, the next two years, Mr. Speaker? Those forecasters universally, Mr. Speaker, across Canada and North America, have looked at the Saskatchewan economy and they have said that the GDP [gross domestic product] growth in this province should be around point six one per cent — let’s make sure we get that clear, Mr. Speaker — point six one per cent, less than 1 per cent growth over the course of the next year, Mr. Speaker. So one would think that a prudent manager, taking a look at revenues generated by that economy, Mr. Speaker, should fall in line with the projections of those whose business it is to project. So, Mr. Speaker, when one is looking at this budget, one thinks that the revenue should be projected at around point six one per cent, less than 1 per cent, Mr. Speaker. But lo and behold, in order to ensure that not only is this budget balanced, Mr. Speaker, but that it produces a surplus, what do we see the assumptions based on, Mr. Speaker? That revenues will grow based on a GDP increase of 2.1 per cent, Mr. Speaker, 2.1 per cent. To trust this government, to have confidence in this government, one must trust that the economists who sit on those benches opposite, Mr. Speaker, are able to project revenues by three times what the private sector is projecting, Mr. Speaker. This is a very, very troubling circumstance, Mr. Speaker, because this government has promised balanced budgets, it’s promised surpluses, and it’s promised to apply surpluses against the debt, Mr. Speaker.
But if, if, Mr. Speaker . . . And at this point in time we’re all talking about ifs. This government has set up a circumstance, Mr. Speaker, in which they are gambling with the future of Saskatchewan taxpayers? money. They are saying that if the economy gets to 2.1 per cent, Mr. Speaker — grows by 2.1 per cent — if it does that, then we have a balanced budget, we have a surplus, we’ll pay down debt. But if they are wrong, Mr. Speaker, and the private sector forecasters are correct, then at the end of the year we look back and we find out, Mr. Speaker, that the budget was not balanced, that there is no surplus, and that the debt has increased. So this is all a question of, when the budget comes forward, Mr. Speaker, where is the trust? And frankly, Mr. Speaker, I would prefer to trust the private sector forecasters than I would trust the members opposite to manage this economy in these very volatile times. Mr. Speaker, the other piece that is interesting when we look at our projections is that the government is saying to us that they are going to take approximately $2 billion out of a $10 billion budget from the potash sector. That indeed, for this budget — again, Mr. Speaker, to balance, to produce a surplus, and to help pay down debt, Mr. Speaker — that the potash sector has to produce almost one-fifth the revenues that are going to be received in the course of the next 12 months. Well, Mr. Speaker, this is based on the sale of potash and, by and large, the sale of potash last year was extraordinary. In fact this government had windfall revenues in the last year that were substantial, thanks to the sale of potash. But, Mr. Speaker, they are saying that those windfall profits from potash last year are not only going to be substantial, they’re going to increase this year over what was taken in last year. Interesting. When we look at potash last year at this time in the budget, Mr. Speaker, potash revenues were projected last year, by this government, as being less than $400 million. Very conservative estimate, Mr. Speaker — 400 million. They actually brought in about $1.5 million now forecast to the end of the year. But, Mr. Speaker, in this budget, potash is expected to bring in more than 1.9 billion, close to $2 billion in revenue, Mr. Speaker. So when you consider budget projections year over year, last year’s projection, Mr. Speaker, was less than 400,000. This year’s projection is 1.9 billion, Mr. Speaker. What we do is . . . Are we trusting this government, Mr. Speaker, to have made the right decisions? Bottom line, bottom line, the gamble is, the gamble is at this point in time, Mr. Speaker, balanced budget, surplus revenues, and paying down debt. If the government is wrong on either of these two points, Mr. Speaker, this is not a balanced budget. There will be no surplus and the debt will increase. Simple matter, Mr. Speaker. So when you are projecting, do you not want to project, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that you can meet your goals with some certainty? Or do you want to project to meet your goals with uncertainty? Bottom line, Mr. Speaker, this budget, this budget is based on too much uncertainty. The circumstances are completely out of whack, Mr. Speaker.
One last point before I conclude, Mr. Speaker, and I realize my time is almost up. Members of the public should be fully aware when they look at the budget documents, the total amount of money received in taxes in this budget, Mr. Speaker — corporate income tax, fuel tax, individual income tax, provincial sales, tobacco, and others, Mr. Speaker — the total amount of money taken in or expected to take in in taxes, Mr. Speaker, is $4.4 billion. Remember this government is saying they’re going to bring in 10.6 billion in revenues in taxes, less than half of that 4.4 billion. But on the other hand, spending, Mr. Speaker, we’re going to have spending in education and health care at 6.1 billion. So, Mr. Speaker, we know that this government needs to take in almost 60 per cent of its revenue from sources other than taxes in order to balance. But, Mr. Speaker, this budget needs to ensure that there is considerable amount of money taken in just to pay for education and health care commitments because the tax base of this province doesn’t even cover education and health care costs. So, Mr. Speaker, it is so important that Saskatchewan people trust and have confidence in their government to ensure that they are comfortable with the outcomes that are in this budget. So regardless of what you think, Mr. Speaker, about the programming that’s being supported in this budget, if at the end of the day programs have to get cut, jobs have to be lost in order to provide a balance because the assumptions are wrong, Mr. Speaker, then this government is telling us they can no longer be trusted. So I conclude, Mr. Speaker, by simply saying that I believe that this budget has failed the people of The Battlefords. It has failed the people of Saskatchewan. These are uncertain times — a lot of volatility in the system. We need certainty in our budgeting process. We need to trust our government, and you can’t trust the gambling side of this budget, Mr. Speaker. You can’t trust this government to ensure that the people of Saskatchewan will be well served. Mr. Speaker, I see my time is up. I thank you very much for the opportunity to say a few words today.
Some Hon. Members: — Hear, hear!
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