Thanks to higher oil and gas revenues, our provincial government has been blessed with a surprise budgetary surplus of $370 million. So how is the government handling this "windfall," especially with a leadership race (and maybe an election) in the offing

Well, you can't go too far wrong by promising to fix the roads. The Finance Minister in his annual Mid-Year Financial Report announced that the government would spend an additional $150 million on our crumbling roads and highways. The government hopes to get some traction with this promise, but we should wait until the rubber hits the road. We've heard these promises before only to see the roads torn up for gravel.

Taxpayers might forgive the government for the poor state of our roads if tax dollars had been spent on other important areas over the past few years. But spending has been unfocussed, rising in virtually EVERY area. And more government spending doesn't necessarily mean better outcomes. Without priorities, we could shovel hundreds of millions of additional tax dollars into public spending, but still have no assurance of better public services. The opposite is just as likely - maybe more so. And don't forget that spending restraint and debt repayment is necessary to keep tax rates reasonable.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't make important investments in healthcare, education, and highways. These are clearly priorities of the Saskatchewan people. But we must make tough decisions about spending on all government programs if we want to adequately fund key areas without overburdening taxpayers or bankrupting the province. It's all about focus and priorities - two things that most governments lack.

To this government's credit, it has finally realized that investment in vital infrastructure (i.e. roads) is one area where government can make a difference. But where has this priority been over the last decade while the pavement crumbled and government spending increased to over $6 billion per year What has higher across-the-board spending done for us

Has it served a growing population No - our population has been stuck at one million for decades. Has it improved the quality of government services in the past few years Most people would say no - especially in healthcare. Has inflation has driven up the cost of government Again the answer is no - inflation has been hovering around one or two percent. The answer seems to be that "government spending tends to expand in all areas," not just the areas that taxpayers believe are a priority. This seems to be a law of the political universe. But luckily, it is a law we can change.

Governments need to re-engineer the way they spend the resources that taxpayers provide them. We can't depend on oil windfalls to pay for vital spending, just like you and I can't depend on winning the lottery to pay the heating bill. We need to prioritize.

One priority area the provincial government should direct the surplus to is debt reduction. Of that $6 billion in spending mentioned earlier, $675 million per year goes to servicing our public debt. That's money that under other circumstances could have gone to health, education, highways, or tax relief. Before we get too excited about this year's $370 million "surplus", remember that we pay our creditors almost twice that much every year.

Ouch!