If you thought 2016 wasn’t exactly the best year for rural Saskatchewan, hold on to your hats, folks.



It’s quite possible 2017 could be worse.



The thought crosses one’s mind not only because the start of the year is prime time to delve into such matters but also because we are already seeing signs that the austerity measures will hit rural Saskatchewan hard.



Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party government made a decision in November to suspend the Community Rink Affordability Grant — the $2,500 grants for the operation and improvement of hockey and curling rinks.



To be clear, this wasn’t a subsidy just for rural folks. City curling and hockey rinks were eligible for it as well.



But it surely can be argued that a larger base of hockey players and curlers in cities would mean a greater ability to offset the loss of grant money.



For that reason, the program was identified as on aimed at benefitting rural curling and/or hockey rinks that are the heartbeat of rural communities.



The numbers suggest that this is clearly the case.



Last year alone, the grant was doled out to 633 ice surfaces (meaning, that it cost taxpayers nearly $1.6 million) representing 373 communities.



Let that sink in for a moment.



The very notion that there are still 373 Saskatchewan communities that are viable enough to support a curling and/or hockey rink may come as a surprise to some.



But it speaks to the heart of a province that has produced some of the best curlers in the world (notwithstanding the fact that a Saskatchewan rink has not won the men’s briar since Rick Folk in 1980) and has produced more NHL players per capital than any place on the planet.



It is for that reason that Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Ken Cheveldayoff and his 29 rural colleagues in the Sask. Party caucus would not have taken this particular austerity measure lightly.



“Any kind of money we can get from elsewhere is very advantageous to operating recreational facilities in small towns,” Kinistino Mayor Leonard Margolis recently told CBC Radio. “We’ll have to increase our levies that we charge various groups to use the facility, increase our rental, and fund-raise more.”



Given that Sask. Party as recently as last September it served notice that the Community Rink Affordability Grant



Already would be renewed for a fifth year, going back on its word and cancelling this program would have been that much tougher.



But while this was tough one for Cheveldayoff and the rural MLAs in particular, it was very much the right decision.



Sadly, it might be the first of many tough decisions that will hit rural Saskatchewan in the coming year.



Consider Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson’s recommendation in the first



Volume of her 2016 report released last June.



In her report, Ferguson she questioned why we continue to provide ever larger farming operations with the same Farm Fuel Tax rebate that was introduced in 1987.



“It has not specifically been determined what the fuel exemption program is designed to achieve (other than reducing taxes for eligible individuals or corporations),” Ferguson said in her June report, referring to the $120.1-million farm fuel subsidy in 2016-17 budget.



A province now facing a billion-dollar 2016-17 budget decision will shell out approximately, $3.9 billion in tax exemptions.



On that list are provincial sales tax exemptions that include $83.8 million for farm machinery and repair parts and $163.4 million for fertilizer, pesticides and seed.



This is not to say that others in this province aren’t getting their share of tax breaks.



After all, we all enjoy tax exemptions on our electrical and heating bills, food and children’s clothing and prescription drugs.



Maybe some of these exemptions still make sense.



But the tough reality for all of us is government can no longer afford to be quite as generous as it once was.



Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.

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