Money going to out-of-province firms

Billboards asking “Where

Did The Money Go” are causing quite a stir with Saskatchewan Party MLAS. Unfortunately, MLA Greg Ottenbreit provided only a partial answer when he told media the money is going to Saskatchewan people. Has he forgotten how much of our money is going outside Saskatchewan?

An American consultant walked away with $40 million before the problem-laden LEAN program was scrapped early; a report showed more than $1,500 was spent for every dollar saved. A French multinational corporation got almost $2 billion to build a bypass near Regina, and we’re paying an Alberta company an undisclosed amount to sand and plow snow on that 60 kilometres of highway for 30 years.

Then there’s the contract with Alberta-based K-bro Linen for hospital laundry services, and a contract with U.k.-based multinational Compass Group for correctional food services. We can’t forget Sobeys, a Nova Scotia-based company run by billionaires, that won the right to operate highly profitable privatized liquor stores in Regina, Yorkton, Melville and Saskatoon.

More money went to Cenovus Energy — an Albertabased corporation — when Saskpower was forced to pay them almost $20 million in penalties after the

$1.5 billion-boundary Dam carbon capture project failed to capture enough carbon to sell to Cenovus.

Where else is the money going?

Too many times, the government hides behind confidentiality agreements and privacy legislation, refusing to say how much money is flowing out of Saskatchewan.

But one thing is clear:

This government handed billions of our taxpayer dollars to out-of-province corporations and consultants, instead of reinvesting that money in Saskatchewan people.

Sid Wonitowy, Yorkton