Voters have long memories

I finished reading the Sask. Party’s draconian budget appalled and angry.

The gutting of the “grants in lieu” to urban centres, leaving them with an unprecedented loss of essential revenue; the savaging of our provincial library system, until now the envy of other provinces; the cuts in funding to universities and technical institutions, assuredly necessitating layoffs and higher tuitions (already among the highest in the country); and the destruction of the STC, leaving untold numbers of rural citizens without the ability to access medical and other essential services in the larger centres: all with the goal of balancing the budget and having a surplus in a mere three years.

Reading all this, I found myself wondering: Why is it so necessary to achieve this dubious goal so quickly? Why not in five or 10 years?

And then it dawned on me: in three years, we will have another election.

I have also seen no mention by the government that these savage cuts, together with the taxes on liquor, tobacco, and most unconscionably, children’s clothing, will be rescinded once the deficit has been dealt with.

And if anyone really believes that the imagined surplus will be prudently spent, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I’d gladly sell them.

Brad Wall and his cynical colleagues, who spent money as if there were no tomorrow when the cash was coming in, are counting on the short memories of Saskatchewan voters. We’ll see about that. Terry Matheson, Saskatoon