The Saskatchewan NDP’s Moose Jaw-Wakamow Constituency Association plans to hold an event this weekend featuring leader Carla Beck and finance critic Trent Wotherspoon speaking about the provincial government’s 2023-24 budget.
The budget forum occurs Sunday, March 26, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the Union Centre’s main hall at 1402 Caribou Street West.
Wotherspoon, the MLA for Regina Rosemont, will go into detail about the provincial budget — to be released on March 22 — while he and Beck will answer questions from attendees afterward.
The constituency association has historically hosted this event every year after the budget but hasn’t held one during the past few years because of the pandemic, said constituency spokeswoman Stacey Landin. However, the organization is bringing back the forum because the pandemic is mostly over.
Wotherspoon and Beck will focus on the big changes in the budget, while they will also focus on smaller aspects that don’t receive as much attention — or are made public — in government news releases, she continued.
“Obviously, what they put into the media through the government is not always the stuff that hits home for folks and so we want to make sure they realize the entire effects of the provincial budget,” Landin said.
Specifically, she pointed to cost-of-living issues, which the government doesn’t usually mention in a “good news” speech on budget day. So, the NDP’s goal is to ensure people understand how their pocketbooks will be affected by the province’s budgetary decisions.
“We’re excited to have an in-person event. It’s open to everyone,” Landin added. “And it will be a nice time to talk about pocketbook issues because that’s what’s most important to the working people and the people on pensions.”
