Time and again situations arise in Saskatchewan and across Canada that show how essential organizations like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) are in a democratic society. The most recent report from Saskatchewan Provincial Auditor Fred Wendel is a case in point.

Organizations like the CTF are vital when our elected politicians fail it tell it like it is.

The auditor's latest report, Understanding the Finances of Government, provides an update on how the province is doing in terms debt, revenues and spending. And regardless of how our government interprets the report, for taxpayers it is a serious warning.

Our debt has increased by $1.3 billion since 2001. Over that same period, spending has increased by 17 per cent, while revenues have increased by just seven per cent.

Think about this in terms of your own household. Imagine that since 2001 your household income increased from $40,000 to $50,000. That's the good news.

Imagine further that over that same period of time you increased your annual spending by $25,000. If you ran your household like our government does, you'd also be carrying a credit card debt of $61,000 - without any assets that you can sell -- and paying $7,300 a year in interest alone.

That is the financial position of the Saskatchewan government as of the end of the last fiscal year, according to the auditor. But you wouldn't know that from the comments of elected leaders of both parties.

Finance Minister Harry Van Mulligen continues to insist that our increasing debt isn't as bad as it sounds. In fact, like flat-earthers continue to deny the curvature of the planet, Van Mulligen says the budget is balanced with "withdrawals" from the fiscal stabilization fund - a practice condemned by the provincial auditor as accounting trickery.

When questioned by reporters at the auditor's news conference, Saskatchewan Party finance critic Ken Krawetz said there was need for "program reviews."

Why won't someone just say it We need dramatic spending cuts to reduce our risk exposure that comes with fluctuating interest rates, the threat of more drought, BSE, or a downturn in the provincial economy.

The bottom line is that the government has increased spending by 17 per cent since 2001, and have squeaked by because the economy has grown, and oil and gas revenues continue to flow. At our current rate of spending and debt growth, we are not prepared for the eventuality that things won't be running as smoothly in coming years - a point underlined by the provincial auditor.

The position of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is that we need to roll government spending back by $500 million - or around six per cent. In order to do that, we're going to have to look at all expenditures. We'll need to look at government services to see if we can continue to afford all of them. We'll need to look at healthcare and find ways to do things more cheaply, or whether we should be doing some things at all under the public system. Come hell or high water, we need to get the situation under control because we cannot continue to increase the debt burden of future generations in Saskatchewan.

Based on the cold, hard facts laid out by the auditor, this is our reality. But you wouldn't know that from the way our politicians talk. In an age where we have two legitimate political parties pandering to lowest common denominator for votes, we can't rely on them to tell it like it is.

That's why the CTF, and organizations like ours, are an essential part of the democratic process.