Sask Budget Not So Bad

It pains me to say it, but I do believe in giving credit when it is due, the NDP's budget wasn't so bad. Of course it wasn't without it faults, but I am definately a fan of the big ticket item: corporate tax cuts. Minister Thomson hinted at a corporate tax cut, but I must admit that this is more than expected (I've come to have low expectations of the NDP due to their track record). This is definitely a move in the right direction (no pun intended). We can now hope that the lower tax rate for businesses will lure investment and create jobs for our young people. If the corporate tax rate does indeed reach 12% by 2008, it will be a very good for Saskatchewan.

I am also a fan of the idea to lower the capital tax rate and eventually scrap it by 2008. As well, I'm glad that money is going to servicing our debt, but is it enough? Will the spending spree that the NDP is going on limiting the amount we could be paying? More money being thrown into the black hole that is public health care? Really?

It is also good to see a commitment to post-secondary education by committing to increasing seats in our institutions, particularly the technical colleges, which are in desperate need of more spaces. However, I am not a fan of a tuition freeze; the $18 million that is going towards keeping the freeze until 2008 is not the best use of money for post-secondary education. It is a band-aid solution to the problem of escalating tuition fees. By implementing a grants program or revamping the student loans program with that money, students would be better served.

Another point of criticism is the fact that amid a time of farm crisis not one red cent went towards greater farm aid. This is a slight to the people of rural Saskatchewan, who all suffer when the farming industry is in peril. But the NDP's disregard for rural Saskatchewan has come to be expected. It seems that they are no longer trying to hide their intentions to ruin rural Saskatchewan so that more power moves to the cities where they find their core support.

All in all, the budget wasn't bad. Perhaps with so much support showing for the Sask Party recently, the NDP has opted to swing to the right and recoup some support that they have lost in Saskatoon and Regina. How long this rightward swing will last is yet to be seen.