NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter said today the Wall governments unprecedented financial mismanagement has left the provinces finances in disarry, and has resulted in harmful budget cuts to a variety of rural Saskatchewan programs and services.

With the release of the mid-year financial report, the Wall government has admitted that it is running a $1 billion deficit, and that its run-away spending requires severe budget cuts to programs and services. In fact, the government has introduced $293 million in budget cuts in 19 different ministries and departments, Lingenfelter said.

Many of these budget cuts are directed at rural Saskatchewan, including a $40 million cut to agriculture and a $122 million cut to planned nursing home construction and repair. The great majority of the nursing home work was planned for rural communities across the province and would have seen some 450 nursing home beds repaired or replaced, Lingenfelter added.

At a time when Saskatchewans agriculture sector is facing international trade challenges, rising costs for feed and fertilizer and lower prices for commodities, the Wall government has added insult to injury by cutting a whopping $40 million from agricultural programs and services. Even worse, the Wall government has refused to answer questions in the Legislature about these cuts. Farm families and rural communities have the right to know how these cuts will affect their services. For example, will the cuts result in higher crop insurance premiums next spring? Farming families need to know that now so they can plan for their own budgets for next year, Lingenfelter said.

The cuts to rural nursing homes will drastically affect the quality of life for many rural families. These kinds of budget cuts have many people across the rural areas asking themselves what kind of commitment the Wall government really has to rural Saskatchewan. More and more people have been asking why the government that got elected with the support of so many rural voters now chooses to take rural Saskatchewan for granted, Lingenfelter concluded.