Wall Govt Scrambles To Cover Deficit
Billion-dollar shortfall
The Government of Saskatchewan is doing whatever it takes to maintain a balanced budget. And in this case- it means doing a whole lot of juggling to offset a $1.05 billion-dollar deficit.
Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer says the potash revenue forecast for this fiscal year was way off- $1.8 billion-dollars less than they thought, at $109 million. This loss has been partially offset by a projected increase in oil revenue and federal transfers, but the government is having to do even more.
To address the revenue shortfall, the government is having to defer hundreds of millions of dollars in capital funding from new long-term care facilities, along with money earmarked for Health, Agriculture, tourism and other sectors.
Continue listening to News Talk Radio throughout the day to hear details on exactly where this money is being cut from. The government is also having to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Growth and Financial Security Fund and the Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan.
The government is still looking on the bright side, though. Although real GDP is expected to decline by 2.9 per cent in 2009, private sector forecasts and the Ministry of Finance all forecast substantial growth next year.
Comments
I think maybe the "experts"
I think maybe the "experts" the government consults with should be fired, the Sask party should toss out their rose colored glasses, and ask someone with common sense about their finances. How could they possibly rationalize being out by a billion dollars? Even now it seems they refuse to admit that, when all your money comes from outside the province and country, what goes on there will affect us. Stop giving our future away so that a few people can get wildly rich.
Who got wildly rich?
Who got wildly rich?
hmmm....
Your post was interesting, but you lost me at "...Stop giving our future away so that a few people can get wildly rich...." What does that have to do with a budget deficit? Are you referring to all of the infrastructure spending?
Surprise!
I'm surprised that the public is up in arms over this. If it had been the NDP, there would be outcries and accusations of incompetence with calls for resignations. But the Sask Party makes a billion dollar mistake - I repeat, a billion dollar mistake - and people just seem to be shrugging their shoulders. If I, as an employee, had told my company they would have more money based on overly optimistic sales and the opposite happened, I'd probably be fired.
if it had been NDP, it was
"If it had been the NDP" ???? The NDP under Andrew Thomson, Harry Van Mulligan and Pat Atkinson seemed to make $1 billion disappear as "one-time surplus revenues" not once but three times in their last few budgets. Where did it all go? Not to the debt, not to my income tax reductions, not to my property tax reductions, it just disappeared ... but where ? And times were so great in 2004, they even bumped my PST up to 7% and raised every utility on me that year.
I could give you a list five pages long where it went, but most of you can think of a few of them on your own. The people are no longer mice in this Province, we can think for ourselves.
I was reviewing some
I was reviewing some government press releases from September 2007. There is a press release dated September 5, 2007 where Pat Atkinson, then Finance Minister indicated that $400 million was being placed on debt reduction on September 6th, 2007 when some of the province's long term debt came up for renewal. The NDP did reduce debt during their last term in office. Check the records. The Province also recieved several credit upgrades during that time as well.
Predictable anticipated responses
Whether it was Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin or now with Steven Harper federally, or Ross Thatcher, Allan Blakeney, Lorne Calvert, or Brad Wall (provincially), the predictable anticipated response by a minority of our citizens, many of whom choose not to take an active and positive role as a citizen, will always criticize those in power (offering no or negligible viable solutions), no matter who the political party is in power and no matter what the political stripes of the opposition are. Heck even in the Rider Nation there are those idiots (and yes I fully respect the Charter of Rights as it applies to idiotic free speech), who continue to be negative and criticize the Saskatchewan Roughriders (even with a season that has been nothing short of outstanding, no matter what happens from here on in). However, as long as the disease of negativism remains untreatable - the majority of us who are positive will continue to help collaborate and co-operate with those at the top (whether they be politicians, coaches, or quarterbacks), to help make our communities and institutions be the best that they can be. It may come as a surprise to some, but no this is not a perfect world! And like I have always said when I coached in minor sports, where some parents were always negative and critical of the coaches, if you think you can do a better job, please do so, and I would gladly step aside and support you to try to do a better job (but most of them that are negative just want to hear themselves talk - with no positive solutions or action.
You are doing the same thing
You are doing the same thing you're criticizing others for. You criticize them based on the fact that they don't agree with you and offer no solutions yourself. As for being positive, in my opinion that's being naive. I am a realist, and if that makes me sound pessimistic sometimes, then so be it. You don't have the power to shut my mouth, fool.
your credibility
Your credibility with me and most educated people in this province has gone down. Do you take us for idiots? This government made a big mistake. I would like to see if you make even a $1000.00 mistake where you work, how long would you have your job?
don't be a fool, vote NDP
A slice of reality, please!
Can we serve up a slice of reality, please? Do you really think the only people who should have a voice of dissent or complaint are those who are "positive" and "will continue to help collaborate and co-operate with those at the top"? Sorry, I don't have a seat at the Enterprise Sasskatchewan table, nor do I have the ear of the cabinet on a regular basis. I'm just a proud Saskatchewan citizen who works, pays taxes, votes regularly and wants the best for this province and for my kids' and grandkids' futures. Are you suggesting that I need to either somehow collaborate and cooperate with those in power or shut up?? Sorry, it's not my job to manage the finances of this province and I have the right to speak up and complain when I see a Billion Dollar mistake made.
Seems like something the NDP
Seems like something the NDP had been correct after all. Even sadder is that if the Saskatchewan party held the federal Conservative party to its election promise, Saskatchewan would be 800 million dollars wealthier!
Oppositon
The NDP weren't right about anything. They are the opposition. They get paid to disagree with the government. If they didn't, there would be no use for them. They said 1.9 billion estimate was too high. And if the government came out with the $100 million estimate that we are facing now, the NDP would have been up in arms saying they are being way to cautious and just want a future slush fund. (something the NDP did many times with oil estimates) And in regards to the 800 million from the feds, we would still be in litigation today and probably for years to come. And as much as one would hope that governments(feds) don't play favorites, we would not be seeing nearly as many projects receiving federal funding as we are today.
They were right about the
They were right about the government relying too heavily on potash revenues and that 800 million certainly would have helped with a 1 billion dollar deficit. Though getting things right has never been a strong point for guys like Devine or Wall.
Get off the Devine thing already
Like Lonre Calvert, it has outlived its purpose. You left wing nut jobs have nothing else to lean on. Stop living in the past.
"left-wing nut jobs"? Glad
"left-wing nut jobs"? Glad to see the people voting for the SaskParty have an educated non-biased look at the things that are happening in this province. Keep on listening to Gormley and drinking the kool-aid. Things are not good right now with the SaskParty and this budget SNAFU should help shed some light on that.
This seems to have hit a
This seems to have hit a nerve-perhaps because the Sask Party just gave the last Premier who ran our province into a massive deficit an order of merit just before their big announcement. The optics are not good...
You can't have it both ways
You can't have it both ways with the NDP: either maintain that they tend to support big spending OR small budgets. Tradition NDP criticism would have it more likely that the NDP would've suggested that revenues had the potential to be even higher and therefore permit greater expenditure on social programs. They didn't say that however, and so, they were actually...right on the own merit.
Did Brad Wall and the
Did Brad Wall and the Saskparty not read the newspapers? Any idiot knew the world was going into a recession and yet the SaskParty raised spending by 32% in the last 2 years. I would of much rather had my tax dollars going into a slush fund rather then the Saskparty spending billions they don't have. Let's take our time machine back to the Devine era where we sold of our government owned natural-gas reserves, reminiscent of what is being done with SaskFerco. From what I remember we still ended up billions of dollars in debt after Devine and many tory MLA's were charged with fraud for stealing our tax money to pad their income.
I aggree 100% what have the
I aggree 100% what have the fedral gov done for Sask. from what I see they just take
give it up NDP'ers.
Your time is done. How many years in a row did you 'balance' the budget with money taken from the rainy day account. And then pretend it was a balanced budget and have your friends in the media say it was so. Sask Party put unprecendented amounts of money down on the debt and into the fund. Now some is need because of a global downturn not of their doing. No defense of poor forecasting but nobody could every believe it was going to be that bad, a 20 year running average was 500M. So get real a bit. And trotting out the $800M number again is wasting our time. Its an NDP number repeated ad nauseum. Never would have happened for any party.
lets..
...build a stadium with all that extra cash...whooppss!!!!
Please let this shut down
Please let this shut down the idea of a new stadium.
Sask. Party Busted!
Gormley: How is "our" Sask. doing now? What idiotic excuses are you going to make for your buddies. Perhaps now the lid will be put on this doomed dome stadium once and for all and the government will fianlly tell Bruce Power to take a hike. These bunch of inept clowns went wild with spending and deluding themselves that there was a boom; while all the time over projecting revenues. They can't lay the entire blame at the falling price and demand for potash; they have to take responsibility for incompetent fiscal management. If the shoe was on the other foot and the NDP were in power, Wall would be shouting bloody murder and Gormley would not be able to contain himself. The Sask. Party lackeys would be having conniptions and calling for heads to roll. Well heads should roll and they should be those of the Sask. Party before they completely bankrupt this province as their hero Devine almost did.
joke of a govt
and we still haven't spent half a billion on the new stadium, half a billion on the isotope reactor, 300 million on the childrens hospital, and 8 billion on a couple of reactors! hahahahahaaa What a joke of a govt. Brad, the Wall-mart greeter learned well from Grant Devine. Brad, better get out there and start shaking some more hands. You, of all people, know that you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, shouldn't say Whoa in a mudhole, and of course, Bruce should give 'er snoose. Oh, wait...some of those sayings can be attributed to Grant Devine instead of Brad Wall. Ah, what the heck, six of one, half dozen of another! Wonder who made THAT catch-phrase up!
predictable comments
yes, Sask Party supporters are scarce to be found today. Predictably, though, they manage to blame others instead of their own incompetent govt. Somehow, according to them...this is somehow the NDP fault. Can't wait til Gormley gets back on the radio to somehow shift the blame. For a guy who is always espousing taking responsibility, it's amazing how he can find a way to shift blame over to the NDP, if something doesn't work out. Come on, Gormley, let's see a backbone and take on your pals in the govt for incompetence.
I am a Sask Party supporter
I am a Sask Party supporter and always will be. can mistakes happen when a government wants to move forward and progress, you bet they can,,its still better than a government who does nothing with the money and sits back being proud of doing nothing, we will get through this and continue to move forward with government, and that will always be better than any NDP government.
NDP?
Hope no one does blame the NDP....just as I hope the tiring references to Devine and the 1980s stop. This is a NOW problem...a Sask Party thing, not NDP....a lot of people misjudged revenues, which, in fairness, does happen during a recession. The big challenge is to cut some spending and get things going again.
There is no such thing as tiring references to Devine
As a quote frequently used in the month of November I suppose it could also apply to this opinion. I think it went something like “Those who forget history is condemned to repeat it." Tiring, I don't think so! A good friend voted for the Sask Party in the last election I did try to remind him that Devine was responsible for racking up billions of dollars of debt. I also projected Wall would start doing the same in his first term. In the 1980's many people were convinced that the solution was “to cut some spending and get things happening again." Here we go again! Some lessons are never tiring, particularly when it comes down to the same "old" mistakes which have no good excuses and in particular mortgage the future of our children and grand-children.
Yes there is.
History is not linear - and the Devine years are as important to remember now as they were 5 or 10 years ago. The problem is that the whole thing has become a cliché, i.e. : "Wall is the new Devine because they are both non-NDP, and Wall did work for Devine." Devine was in the 1980s, Wall is NOW. Remember that Wall’s government acknowledged revenue issues within 1 year of the start of the crisis; Devine waited 1 full term (started cutting in 1987).
"Those who forget history is condemned to repeat it" is also a cliché.
Financial mismanagement
The NDP predicted this! On March 19th, the NDP Finance Critic said: "Mr. Speaker, the Saskatchewan Party is projecting potash to generate almost $2 billion, one-fifth of the provincial revenue in the coming budget. This is an incredibly optimistic projection, considering that the Potash Corporation has just announced a further 1.5 million tonne cut in production ..."
But the Sask Party kept their rose-coloured glasses on and refused to listen!
I am absolutely disgusted that our province has gone from a $3 billion surplus when the Sask Party became government to a $1 billion deficit in just two years!
Lyle we didn't have a 3
Lyle we didn't have a 3 billion dollar suplus 2 years ago. We had one last year when the SAskparty was in power. Not 2 years ago.
Pom-Poms
Hey Gormley,
You had better get your Pom-Poms out and slip on that mini-skirt. Your team needs their cheerleading captain!
We are Rich
SASKABOOM....we are a have province, we are rich, we are rich, na na na na boo boo to Alberta and the other Provinces that have seen us for decades as a have not welfare Province....
Whats That??, We have a billion dollar deficit, na can't be as per above. Is the government lying to us, cause we are a have rich province....I is konfuzed.
And all the the NDP Boo Hoos
And all the the NDP Boo Hoos cried BOO HOO HOO "we're not in power so lets be negative" BOO HOO HOO
wall govt scrambles to cover deficit
At times like this the government should be looking for inter-departmental and inter-crown corporation spending to eliminate duplications and redundancies.
Crowns could consider refocus on there intended mandates and stopping expansion plans that exceed their core mandate, especially those that take them outside of the Province and out side of the country as this is ussually subsidized by Saskatchewan rate payers or the government. This would leave more funds at the crown level to provide dividends to the Province or alternatively reinvest in neglected asset replacement.
Also government bodies and crowns should refocus when possible with dealing with local business as oppossed to sending work that could be done here outside of the country. This would serve to develop and sitmulate the local economy while retaining some of the tax base here. This would help develope more buisness that can compete globally which would also expand the tax base and create more jobs locally. In short they should partner with Saskatchewan business. I think I heard that idea somewhere before.
Is it just me..???? I smell
Is it just me..???? I smell a tax hike.....
2.2 billion dollars in the
2.2 billion dollars in the rainy day fund when the NDP left power just two years ago. And now, after TWO SHORT YEARS of Saskatory mismanagment it's pretty well wiped out isn't it? (During BOOM TIMES shouldn't the government be adding to this, not drawing down.)
You Saskatory supporters can keep trying to defend this, but really, it's indefencable. This is a billion dollar screw up, and the finance minister has to take the fall for it.
(Funny how Gormley dissapeared for a few days just as this news was breaking. I am sure he is in a weekend retreat with all his Saskatory overlords trying to figure out how to spin this fiasco. Or maybe, how to blame the NDP. Hey John. Time to grow a set and take your buddies to task over this one. You know you would if the NDP had screwed up this bad. It's called being fair, and balanced.)
You are being fraudulent
You are caught deceiving people. The NDP did NOT leave 2.2 Billion in rainy day fund, they blew everything except $527 million trying to get re-elected. The SaskParty took half and paid off debt and started their rainy day fund with $263.5 million.
Source: Mid-year report 2007-2008, Nov 29th, 22 days after SaskParty was elected. There was no time whatsoever for SaskParty to do anything, these are the numbers NDP left them:
"One-half of the pre-transfer surplus
($263.5 million) will be transferred to the
Fiscal Stabilization Fund (FSF) and the
other half of the surplus – the $263.5
million GRF surplus – will be used to
reduce total debt."
Check it out yourself, it's a public document:
http://finance.gov.sk.ca/QuarterReports/MidYearREPORT07-08-%20final.pdf
The only people committing
The only people committing fraud are the Sask party govt ,and supporters, who are trying to spin this as something it is not. And what it is is a BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE! (Where have we heard that before?) Sorry. You cannot even begin to defend this. The finance minister has to go. Hopefully this (comment removed by moderator) govt. will follow. Grant Devine taught these boneheads well!!
As john would like to say!
As john would like to say! TIME TO GET RID OF THIS TIRED, OLD SASKPARTY GOVERNMENT!
I think the gormster will hope one of those cruse, he loves so much, soon!
NDP
NDP only seemed to be immune from this type of news. They were absolute masters at giving you a dollar, and then while you are sleeping take five out of your wallet, and balance the budget. At least with SP its up front in your face. I would rather have it this way than the NDP way.
Why are the NDP even being mentioned
I thought it was the Sask Party was in office. Why are some people concerned with the NDP. I don't think the NDP made the billion dollar blunder. I think it was the guy in power