Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The government giveth...

... and the government taketh away(eth)...

The Saskatchewan government brought down what they call an austerity budget with cuts and handouts...

Take a look at the highlights here

There is some good and some bad in the budget.  The good?  They are increasing the cost of prescriptions for seniors.  The bad?  They're giving seniors more money in the form of personal care home and income supplement benefits.

The good?  They're spending more capital to build schools and hospitals.  The bad?  They are throwing more money into the sinkhole that are health region budgets.

The good?  They are providing incentives to medical professionals to work in rural areas for a few years.  The bad?  Those medical professionals will still try to practice closer to the larger centers than not, leaving more distant rural areas out in the cold.

The good?  They are increasing nursing seats.  The bad?  They aren't increasing DOCTOR seats in post-secondary.

The good?  They are giving more benefits to the disabled and providing more support.  The bad?  They aren't paying down any debt.

All in all, not a necessarily bad budget, but there were some cuts (Enterprise Regions) that were absolutely unexpected.  This is actually a budget that I don't mind seeing - very small goodies for individuals and capital spending to bring schools and hospitals up to date.

No comments:

Post a Comment