Posted July 27, 2010
NDP Finance critic Trent Wotherspoon said recent bankruptcy statistics show families and businesses continue to struggle under the Wall government.
Wotherspoon noted that from April to May of this year, the total number of bankruptcies fell in every province except Saskatchewan where the number increased by 12.8 per cent. "These numbers are a further indication that families and businesses are feeling the pinch through higher costs and reduced buying power," Wotherspoon said. "Brad Wall's blind cheerleading stands in stark contrast to the reality that these numbers expose today."
Wotherspoon noted that both consumer and business bankruptcy rates rose in Saskatchewan - both numbers having declined as a national average - with consumer bankruptcies up by 8.6 per cent and businesses hit the hardest with what the Regina Leader-Post describes as a "whopping 120-per-cent increase" in bankruptcies from the previous month.
"When businesses in Saskatchewan are posting triple digit increases in the number of them going bankrupt, it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the government overseeing this dismal trend," Wotherspoon said. "Coming on the heels of a downgraded GDP forecast from one of Canada's largest banks and a shrinking economy under the Wall government, these bankruptcy numbers prove that Wall cannot be trusted to manage our finances or future economic growth."