Austerity will be a mistake for Saskatchewan

Can’t say I am surprised but running austerity budgets in a time of extreme economic collapse, like the Sask Party government is planning, is the most idiotic and short-sited thing any government can do. We’ve practically had austerity spending already for the past five years. Why? Because before the oil and potash boom ended (and likely forever), the Sask Party government lowered taxes on the rich and drained our savings, severely handicapping our ability to handle the inevitable economic downturn. This is exactly why you don’t lower taxes in boom times.

Before the pandemic, Saskatchewan was already facing a number of issues that needed to be addressed such as improving mental healthcare, lowering classroom sizes, and diversifying our commodity-based economy. Even more lives and futures are at stake now because of this pandemic, and our provincial government is more concerned with keeping their donors’ taxes low and lining up reasons to sell even more of our Crowns to enrich their friends.

Time and time again, it has been proven that economic downturns like this are the time for increased spending - not the opposite. We are in what is a depression now becauseof a lack of spending. Hell, federal deficit spending is the only thing keeping our economy going right now and we still have a long ways to go before we even begin recovering from this global crisis. There is absolutely no evidence that austerity would actually improve the lives of people in any meaningful way, unless you are already rich. What austerity will do is further increase socioeconomic inequality and destroy this province, like it did Kansas - mark my words. We must not let that happen.