Government faces financial challenges
Recently, union leaders have portrayed our government’s attempt to control spending as placing blame on public sector employees for our province’s deficit.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Public sector employees do outstanding, valuable work in our province; in our hospitals, in our schools, on our highways, supporting at-risk children and families — and in many, many more capacities.
But we are facing financial challenges in government. Since 2014, resource revenue has fallen by more than $1.2 billion and taxation revenue has declined as well.
Our government is looking at a number of options to address the challenges we face. Everything is on the table. And as with all budget considerations for the coming year, no specific decisions have yet been made.
Compensation costs are a significant part of our expense base and we are seeking options and ideas from our employers, employees and unions about how to contain these costs and potentially find savings.
The public sector is large and diverse and finding an avenue to get a dialogue going can be challenging. We needed a way to start these conversations and we are committed to due process of working through unions that represent various groups of our employees.
Letters were sent to employers earlier this month as a first step in the process of getting a dialogue started. I know that employer representatives have been speaking with union representatives at meetings or arranging times to work together.
This isn’t about blame. Nor is this the result of reckless spending. Our government has invested in infrastructure and vital services like health care, education and social assistance — investments Saskatchewan people value.
This is about working together through challenges and managing spending to ensure needed programs and services are sustainable. And I want to emphasize that those of us with the privilege of serving in elected positions will lead by example; whatever we ask of employees, we will do ourselves.
I have every confidence that together we will find solutions to keep Saskatchewan strong today and into the future. Kevin Doherty
Minister of Finance