By battlefordsNOW

NDP MLAs stop in the Battlefords to discuss budget cuts

Apr 4, 2017 | 6:00 PM

NDP representatives were in North Battleford yesterday to find out how big an impact the provincial budget is having on the city. The MLAs hope to take that information back to the legislature in Regina, and try to get the government to reconsider the cuts in the most recent budget.

Prince Albert Northcote MLA, Nicole Rancourt and Cumberland MLA, Doyle Vermette have been touring around the province recently. Yesterday, they met with officials at city hall, Lakeland Library Region, school boards and STC employees regarding cuts in the provincial budget.

“These are not budgets where there is a lot of room for trimming,” Rancourt said. “Speaking of the school division, these cuts will have effects in classrooms. In the library the cuts are devastating. About 60 per cent of funding has been lost and that is devastating… these are having impacts on service delivery, jobs and ultimately the quality of life for the people of North Battleford.”

Rancourt wouldn’t divulge what services or jobs may be cut by the organizations she talked to. The MLA said that is up to them to decide. Rancourt just wants to hear the concerns so she and the other MLA’s can bring them back to the ministers.

“We want to let them know that when they suggest these cuts can somehow be kept away from the frontline, it simply is not the case,” Rancourt said. “These are cuts that will have impacts in classrooms.”

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Rancourt said students and people who can’t afford access to services and programs will be impacted the most. The MLA hopes once the information is brought back to the government and it sees firsthand the impact cuts are having, they might reconsider.  

Rancourt hopes Sask Party members will come out and listen to how the cuts are impacting the people of the province.

“It is one thing to make cuts from the legislature and your ministry office but, I think they need to get out here and understand what impacts these cuts are having in the community,” Rancourt said.

The MLA added Friday’s announcement the grants in lieu of Sask Power and Sask Energy buildings being reinstated up to 30 per cent was encouraging. Rancourt said it shows the government’s willingness to listen and make changes.

When asked how the NDP would have handled the deficit if elected last year, Rancourt said it was a difficult position to formulate from the opposition. She said the NDP doesn’t have access to all the financial records and without them, she couldn’t say how the party would have handled it the financial defecit.

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins