Photo Credit: NDP

Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck has crunched the numbers and is saying the average Saskatchewan family is paying over $1600 more a year in PST and utilities since 2016. Beck spoke alongside NDP candidates Noor Burki and Jared Clarke, saying that the people of the province are seeing growing tax and power bills, and seeing nothing to show for it. “Healthcare is in a crisis, classrooms are bursting at the seams. Families are working harder and harder to make ends meet, and are still falling behind,” Beck stated.

A Saskatchewan NDP news release stated that families are paying roughly $4284 in PST, power, and phone bills, an increase of $1608 from 2016. For example, Beck says, an annual phone bill in the province used to be $258, which has jumped to roughly $900 this year, an increase of 246.8 per cent.

Beck says in Premier Moe’s five years as leader, his party has collected $2.4 billion more in taxes. Elaine Dubord, a young mom and small business owner from Regina, says she is having trouble staying afloat. She finds enrolling her children in extracurriculars to be a burden, however, she wants to give them the best. She adds that when her family goes grocery shopping, they calculate the price per gram on almost every item, and even leave certain staples on the shelf, because food is hard to afford right now.