The provincial NDP considers the mid-year financial a report an example of the government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon says failure to react sooner to the fourth wave of the pandemic not only hurt Saskatchewan’s people and the health care system, but also the province’s public finances and Saskatchewan’s economy.

He believes if the government had contained COVID-19, the province would be in a better place when it comes to finances, the economy, and Saskatchewan people receiving their treatments and surgeries when they needed them.

Wotherspoon also suggests that more could have been done to help farmers affected by the drought, saying they pushed hard for programs like AgriStability to be fixed and the federal government was on board, but producers were left high and dry.

He adds that some producers don’t qualify for the Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program, because the income threshold is too high.

The Finance Critics says the NDP sees encouraging revenue strength from the resource sector, but notes that Saskatchewan is last for job creation. (CKRM)