The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Saskatchewan is in the red for the third year in a row with a deficit and increased provincial debt in 2011-12, says the opposition NDP. The deficit of $105 million was reported by this week's Public Accounts summary for the year. That is a deeper deficit than the $13-million shortfall posted last year. The Sask Party government took $298 million out of the Growth and Financial Security Fund _ also known as the 'rainy day fund' _ to pay off a shortfall in the General Revenue Fund, the NDP says. The province also took a last-minute emergency transfer of $125 million from SaskPower even though the Crown corporation has mounting debt, the opposition says. 'Draining the rainy day fund and stripping our Crowns during apparent good times is not a smart growth strategy,' said NDP finance critic Trent Wotherspoon, who added that unbudgeted flooding costs were covered, in large part, by the federal government. Wotherspoon further charged that revenue assumptions built into the current year's budget already appear to be overly optimistic. _ Compiled from a Saskatchewan NDP Caucus news release
