Little to complain about in province

A few days ago, a leaflet published by the SGEU appeared in our mailbox. It bemoans the cuts made in the last provincial budget, claiming that the government is ruthlessly slashing services and that this is the result of “reckless” spending and financial mismanagement. So I did some research into how the money was spent when resource revenues were high.

Three new hospitals have been built, including the new children’s hospital; 15 new long-term care facilities opened, 40 new schools have been built and another 25 received major renovations.

More than 12,000 kilometres of highways have been rebuilt or repaired at a cost of $7.4 billion. Locally, the safety of the No. 10 highway from Fort Qu’Appelle to Balgonie has been improved by the construction of passing lanes. Overpasses at Balgonie, White City and Pilot Butte will save lives at three intersections with the TransCanada Highway.

Grants have been made available for renovations to community facilities, including in my own community. Eighty million dollars was allocated for the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina, with a further repayable loan of $100 million.

This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but we have all benefited from these projects.

We have also enjoyed low provincial personal income taxes, as we have the highest tax-free threshold in Canada.

I do not necessarily agree with some provisions of the budget, particularly the increased PST, but if we must now tighten our belts for a while, we don’t really have too much to complain about. Christine Whitaker, Edgeley