REGINA, SK: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is sounding the alarm over the provincial government’s rising debt and interest charges by driving the Debt Clock around Saskatchewan.

“Saskatchewan taxpayers’ money is being wasted on debt interest payments because the government is spending money faster than it comes in,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “Every dollar Saskatchewan politicians rack up in debt today is a dollar plus interest that taxpayers will have to pay back tomorrow.”

The Debt Clock is a huge digital counter mounted on the side of a moving truck that shows the provincial debt going up in real time. The CTF is taking the Debt Clock around Saskatchewan to show the provincial debt increasing in real time:

• Interest charges on the debt will cost about $878.4 million this year, or about $700 per Saskatchewanian.
• Saskatchewan’s debt will be about $23.5 billion by the end of the year, or $18,713 per Saskatchewanian.

Premier Scott Moe has more than doubled the provincial debt while in office. When Moe became premier the debt was about $11 billion. Since then, he has increased it by about 113 per cent.

“Debt interest charges are costing taxpayers more than $2.4 million every single day,” Haubrich said. “Moe needs to control spending and pay down the debt, so millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money aren’t being wasted to cover the government’s irresponsible borrowing.”

This week, the Debt Clock will be making stops across Saskatchewan to sound the alarm about the increasing provincial debt.