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Dr. Howard Leeson writes:

In a recent column I talked about the need to follow two principles when budgeting for tough times in the province. The first was to ensure that you didn’t do long-term damage to the infrastructure or the economy of the province, and the second was to protect the most vulnerable.

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The budget released by the provincial government last week violates both of those principles. Moreover, it violates the trust that the people of Saskatchewan put in this government when they re-elected them less than a year ago.

Where to begin? There are so many missteps that it is difficult in a short space to identify them all.

The elimination or massive reductions to basic infrastructures like parks, both urban and rural, libraries, STC services, pasture programs, as well as cuts to programs for students, health services, and education will all cause long-term damage to the basic infrastructure of the province. Decisions like these should only be undertaken in the most dire of emergencies such as in the period between 1991 and 1995 when the province of Saskatchewan faced bankruptcy again after years of overspending by the Devine government.