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The provincial budget has been delivered and my thoughts are that without a governmental vision and leadership this budget is just a rhetorical number game made more difficult to account for the establishment of the new created 'shock absorber' financial funds(1). That is for the budget for me, but what has caught my attention lately has been the pushing up of property taxes in Saskatoon because of the building of the Synchrotron(2) and the closure of the court houses in Weyburn, Humboldt and Assiniboia(3).

In the absence of a vision and leadership to guide us into the 21st century, this government continues undeterred with its policy directions on behalf of the few and privileged, and on saving fictitious money. In his budget, Honourable Eric Cline has hailed the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron being built in Saskatoon as a strong symbol of our growing reputation for excellence in research. In the meantime, the City of Saskatoon is increasing its property taxes not as a symbol of excellence for its services but as price to pay by all its citizens to see our future bottled up in a gigantic mausoleum(4) of 'brick and mortar'. The City of Saskatoon promised $2.4 million to help attract the building of the Synchrotron project in the city and Bernie Veltkamp, city manager, has stated that over half of the property tax increase "is a commitment to a very unusual project."

As the City of Saskatoon is increasing its property taxes for the benefit of the few and privileged, the government is closing the above mentioned court houses in rural Saskatchewan. Chris Axworthy, Minister of Justice, has said that the closing of these court houses will save the province half a million dollars a year, never mind that rural Saskatchewan is going to lose additional people and services, and never mind that more than half a million dollars will be externalized by this government and paid by consumers of these public services.

Greg Bobbit, a lawyer in Weyburn, is outraged by the closure of the court houses and has called these closures an attack on the judicial system and on rural Saskatchewan. Bobbit has stated "Now people will have to go to Estevan or Regina... and a matter that may take five minutes in court will require several hours of driving... It's a terrible inconvenience. It's a terrible disservice to the members of the public, and it will make... legal services more expensive."

So as Eric Cline, Minister of Finance, praises the budget as a solid plan for the future growth of our economy(5), we are experiencing today higher taxes and further actions against the economy of rural Saskatchewan.

Endnotes

Quote by Donella Meadows "challenging a paradigm is not a part-time job. It is not sufficient to make your point once and then blame the world for not getting it. The world has a vested interest in, a commitment to, not getting it. The point has to be made patiently and repeatedly, day after day after day" ftp://sysdyn.mit.edu/ftp/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4143-1.pdf http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/meadows/default.htm

1. Budget confusing, auditor says, by Gord Brock, The Leader-Post, March 30, 2000, Regina, Saskatchewan

2. Synchrotron pushes up Saskatoon property tax, CBC Saskatchewan, http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Mar 30 2000 4:45 PM

3. Weyburn, Humboldt, Assiniboia losing court houses, CBC Saskatchewan, http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Mar 30 2000 8:15 PM

4. The U of S Synchrotron: A Mausoleum for a Museum Mentality, by Mario deSantis, November 16, 1999

5. Budget Address: A Plan for Growth and Opportunity, Honourable Eric Cline, Minister of Finance, Government of Saskatchewan, March, 2000 http://www.gov.sk.ca/finance/budget/budget00/2000papers.htm