At a press conference, NDP Leader Carla Beck presented a novelty cheque worth over $1.067 billion, the amount of money she says that Saskatchewan taxpayers are paying to cover the interest of the province’s debt.

Beck says that the high amount in interest comes from the provincial government mismanaging their budgets and adding to Saskatchewan’s debt. She says the only people that benefit from the large amount of interest are billionaire bankers from outside of the province.

“This is a cheque that shows exactly how much money Saskatchewan taxpayers are forced to pay every year in interest on the debt in this province alone, $1.07 billion. That’s a pretty sizable gift for those bankers on Wall Street and on Bay Street.”

She adds that while the bankers will be getting more money as the interest grows, many taxpayers are struggling this holiday season.

“I think that they’re (bankers) going to have a very good Christmas. Because of this government’s mismanagement, unfortunately, I think that there are a lot of people in this province who are not going to have that same Christmas.”

Beck says that since Scott Moe became Premier of Saskatchewan, the debt has gone from $17.6 billion to $39.3 billion.