The province of Saskatchewan needs taxpayer protection legislation desperately. If we want to put massive deficits behind us and eliminate the accumulated debt, this is the road Saskatchewan needs to go down. And it's the same road traveled varying distances by the governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

Taxpayer protection legislation, as proposed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), would do four things. It would make it illegal for the province to run deficits based on summary accounting methods. That means all of government (including crown corporations) would be taken into consideration when defining a "deficit."

The Calvert government has delivered three consecutive deficits, as the Provincial Auditor repeatedly points out. Balanced budget legislation would end once and for all our government's practice of deceiving us about the state of our provincial finances.

Taxpayer protection legislation requires governments to put tax increases and any new taxes to a binding referendum. Politicians should be required to justify tax increases to the taxpayer. We shouldn't have to go to the legislature on bent knee to justify keeping more of our own money.

Taxpayer protection legislation would also require a debt repayment schedule. Last year $891 million was spent just to service the provincial debt -- which is close to the amount we spend on education each year. We can't continue to burden future generations with government debt, and waste scarce tax dollars on servicing the debt with no return on that investment.

Taxpayer legislation would impose financial penalties on the Premier and Cabinet if they exceed their spending projections. That means no more mid-year crisis-of-the-week cash calls for government departments. It surprises a lot of people to learn that the NDP in Manitoba has a penalty provision in their legislation. In fact, if they run a deficit, the Premier and Cabinet Ministers face a 20 per cent pay-cut. It's tough medicine, but it works. Manitoba has, for the most part, run balanced budgets.

The question we continually ask is why departments like Saskatchewan Corrections exceeded their budget by $8 million last year Why did Culture Youth and Recreation exceed its budget by $600,000 Government Relations and Aboriginal Affairs were over budget by $3 million. Why, on Christmas Eve, did the Saskatchewan government hand failing filmmakers Mind's Eye another $2 million when the province is in the middle of a devastating drought

Had government departments simply met their spending projections, the cost of fighting last years forest fires would have been offset, as well as a portion of the last years' crop insurance payouts. It's one thing for governments to go over budget to address disasters like forest fires and droughts. Problems arise when government departments routinely, year in and year out, exceed their budgets as a way of doing business. If our politicians don't have the discipline and commitment to meet their budget projections, we need strong legislation that will do it for them.

The CTF has issued a challenge to the main political parties to sign a pledge promising to enact taxpayer protection legislation. Ask your candidates when they knock on your door if they support this initiative, and watch for politicians who are willing to move toward government accountability by signing the CTF pledge.

For too long Saskatchewan governments have disrespected taxpayers by failing to live up to their promises, deceiving us about how our dollars are spent, and ignoring our demands. Signing the CTF pledge would mean our politicians promise to respect taxpayers.