Saskatchewan residents may have seen a van driving around the province last week with a graphic displaying Saskatchewan's current debt, put on by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. They drove that van to raise awareness for the province's current debt scenario, urging the provincial government to take action on getting the debt squared away.
Prarire Director Gage Haubrich talks about the debt clock and what they hope to achieve.
"We're going to show it to taxpayers, show it to politicians, and see how fast the provincial debt is going up every second. When we look at every minute, the debt goes up by more than $3,000, and it kind of shows a new perspective. We can actually see that happening in real time, as the clock ticks up, about why the debt in Saskatchewan is such a big issue and why it's costing taxpayers so much money in debt interest payments."
The province's current debt stands at $23.5 billion, breaking down to around $18,000 per Saskatchewanian. Debt interest payments for the amount accrued will total $878 million, or about $700 per Saskatchewanian.
"We're hoping to raise the alarm so that taxpayers across the province know how big a problem the debt is and demand action from their politicians," said Haubrich, "Because every dollar that Saskatchewan politicians rack up today in debt is a dollar plus interest that taxpayers will have to pay back tomorrow."
"It's not just a future problem, because as debt interest payments, as the government keeps borrowing more and more money, keep going up, that means less of the budget can be used for services, for tax relief, and it has to be wasted on these debt interest payments. And eventually that means tax hikes for taxpayers."
Haubrich says it's especially important to host a Saskatchewan-specific debt clock, as during Premier Scott Moe's seven-year term, the debt has doubled.
"When he came into the office of the premier in 2018, the debt was about $11 billion. Now it's going to be $23.5 billion by the end of the year. That means he's doubled it in seven years. So it's a perfect time to take out the debt clock and show taxpayers how big that number is and how much it's costing every single person in Saskatchewan to demand action."
The CTF is described by Haubrich as a nonprofit organization funded by voluntary donations looking to lower taxes, waste, and produce an accountable government.