Spend, spend, spend or save, save, save?

Many people will be aware, and perhaps more should be aware, of the state of politics in Saskatchewan. While the right-wing opposition Saskatchewan Party is calling for tons of spending out of the government's current surplus, the NDP government is taking a cautious approach:

Finance Minister Harry Van Mulligen released the government's first-quarter financial report Thursday showing a projected $255-million in additional revenue for the year, with $201 million from oil alone...

That leaves another $116 million in extra cash -- for now being used to lower the draw-down on the rainy-day fiscal stabilization fund -- but Van Mulligen said the government will likely wait until its mid-term report is released in November before it makes further commitments of cash.

"In terms of surplus dollars and how we would allocate those, I think it's important to look at where we were in mid-term last year where we said 'okay, we have additional revenues, what is our plan?' Our plan was one, permanent debt reduction. Another part of our plan was permanent infrastructure -- both government-owned infrastructure and third-party capital needs ... we also looked at the question of tax reduction," he said in a press conference at the provincial legislature.

"And we always have pressures every fiscal year that we need to fund."

It's hard to come up with a more sensible approach than that, and the Sask Party isn't anywhere near up to the task - their current argument is that the government should have a long-term plan to deal with short-term revenue which is based on uncertain factors, while ignoring the fact that debt reduction is the most important long-term plan a government can have.

The current provincial situation aside, the Saskatchewan NDP's approach is one that the federal NDP should be taking strongly going into the next election. Rather than the 33%/33%/33% model for tax cuts, program spending and debt reduction that has been emphasized by both the provincial NDP circa Romanow and by the current federal Liberals, the federal NDP should follow Van Mulligen's lead and make debt reduction the first priority based on its obvious impact on the ability to deliver the other two. Spending can also be increased slightly, with enough targeted tax cuts to pursue likely voters.

Making the party's platform split something along the lines of 10%/40%/50% will allow the NDP to present itself as both the best provider of needed spending, and by far the best fiscal steward, leaving the Cons and Libs to fight over the CTF vote. It may be tough to get such a message through the media, but it's one that Canadians can understand given the opportunity.

If there's an issue that can make the NDP into the most viable federal fiscal manager, this is the one. Let's run with it.