Wall: Sky Darkens for Sunshine Premier
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- Published on Sunday, 07 August 2016 22:15
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1290 .... August 8, 2016
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Wall: Sky Darkens for Sunshine Premier
J. F. Conway
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall had already broken one promise even before he called the election: "We didn't make a lot of election promises, but we made one significant one -- to keep Saskatchewan strong" (Regina Leader-Post, 18 June 2016) -- unless, of course, you embrace that old bromide, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." The post-election sky of the Sunshine Premier has darkened as the spectre of economic collapse haunts him. Despite his glorious history making third term (finally humbling the CCF/NDP, the former natural governing party of the province), Wall's fresh mandate in office has quickly become a nightmare. The next years look ugly and Wall will bear the responsibility, just as he eagerly... took credit for the boom times he squandered during his first two terms.
Wall knew the collapse was coming, hence his refusal to present a budget in the run-up to the election. But he remained in denial, clinging to the fantasy that the prices for oil and potash might rebound staving off disaster. Wall's fantasy is now in tatters. How bad is it? Though Wall hid it, his government racked up deficits in six of the last nine years while claiming balanced budgets. By 2017 the public debt (accumulated deficits and borrowing) will reach almost $15-billion; by 2020, almost $16-billion. To put it another way, about $13,000 of debt for every child, woman, and man in the province, will rise to $15,000 in 2020, rivalling the per capita debt left by former Conservative Premier Grant Devine upon defeat in 1991.