Official Opposition Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon says the First Quarter Report from the province shows the province is on track to collect $150 million more in PST revenue than was projected in the budget, and although the $1 billion budget surplus has been cut in half, it’s still just over $485.5 million, despite softening natural resource revenues. The NDP would like to see some cost-of-living relief for cash-strapped families.

Wotherspoon says, “Saskatchewan people have been taking the rising costs of gas, groceries, additional PST, and power bills square on the chin for months while government coffers were being filled with windfall revenues and higher PST.” He points to three power bill increases in eight months and higher taxes and fees and notes that 5,200 jobs have been lost since the start of the year.