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Now, on top of this, cities and municipalities being blindsided by this budget are having to raise mill rates, cut services and find additional revenue streams (mainly because you decided not to raise income taxes directly but shove this burden off to the cities).

As well you are looking to cut services provided by organizations serving our most vulnerable. All Nations Hope, AIDS Program South Saskatchewan, Rainbow Youth Centre, North Central Family Centre and other community-needed organizations are worried about cuts to their budgets. These cuts are not cuts to save money, these are cuts that will affect the quality of life for many people.

Many of these organizations were the reason I got involved in politics, to be a voice in government for them and to support the good work they do. Good work for people who need a hand up, not corporations that need a tax break.

In 2015, it was no problem for this government to borrow $700 million to invest in infrastructure, but this year to borrow a bit and spread it around as a little compassion and care must have been impossible.

I know deficits and taxes are dirty words to most right-leaning governments, but what cost does compassion have? The cost of a burial for a loved one. The cost of pastoral care at the hospital. The cost of an elder to visit family at Thanksgiving in the city from his reservation home. The cost of a bus ride for a child going to kindergarten for the first school year. That is the Saskatchewan I love, a Saskatchewan that cares about those that need just a little bit of help.

This budget was supposed to be just enough to keep your base support happy, but I really hope the people of Saskatchewan have more compassion than you realize and demand better.

Finally, do you want to know what the final issue of contempt was? That tax cut to the corporations. Tax the hell out of me and my family but smile and say, ‘There you go’ to your corporate overlords.

I believe I speak for many people when I say, “I can no longer stand by this party.”