The first Sask Party budget is the same as the last NDP one – a chicken in every pot.  The only difference is a little bigger chicken and a more expensive pot.
Leader Rick Swenson comments “The Sask Party government is spending 10% more than last year – something they always criticized the NDP for and yet this budget is without one new major capitol project, without reduction to personal income taxes, without significant revenue sharing for cities and municipalities, without expansion to irrigation development and value-added agriculture.  Instead, we see a commitment to studying things already studied, raising salaries and benefits of boards and commissions which are rapidly being populated by Sask Party stalwarts and the continued low balling of Saskatchewan resource prices so that the government can look good six months from now.  We have the continued commitment to buy Saskatchewan taxpayers’ votes with their own money by enhanced drug plans, dance lessons and new hockey equipment for their kids and poaching nurses from poor countries instead of educating our own”.
The monies received from the sale of the Co-op Upgrader (remember that awful PC investment), instead of being committed to bogus “green” initiatives by the NDP is now being spent by the Sask Party on filling holes in the roads in rural Saskatchewan to fulfill campaign promises instead of doing what it originally was designed for – to develop a Saskatchewan resource which would over the long-term contribute royalties, taxes and employment for Saskatchewan people.  That money should go to develop another long-term Saskatchewan opportunity with the same goals in mind.  For example, the proposed inland container port for Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Regina could be built in its entirety for less money and benefit all of Saskatchewan by offering container service to a booming economy.  An economy which needs to value-add its products and ship them to our customers worldwide. 
Swenson adds “I’m sure that there is a Saskatchewan resource with long-term benefits for Saskatchewan people that could be unlocked with the commitment of $350 million to help the project along.  That’s not picking winners and losers – that’s simply looking after 50 years of pent-up demand”.
Saskatchewan taxpayers need less taxes, more educational opportunities, affordable housing and less government.  This budget delivered none of the above in enough quantity to make a difference.