With the Saskatchewan NDP in the midst of a leadership race, Prince Albert Carlton MLA Darryl Hickie would like to know where they stand on the Dutch Disease issue.
Believing the Saskatchewan Party boasts the right combination of policies to encourage development, Hickie has criticized the NDP a few times in the legislative assembly debates since the fall session of legislature began on Oct. 25.
Saskatchewan NDP MLA and leadership hopeful Trent Wotherspoon has been singled out, lately, for not making known his stance on the Dutch Disease financial theory, which federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair has been espousing.
The theory surmises that there’s a link between natural resource development and a decline in the manufacturing sector -- in this case the west versus east.
On Nov. 7, Hickie was noted in the provincial Hansard for heckling Wotherspoon during the debates.
“We need to know, are they in support of Mr. Mulcair’s Dutch Disease or are they opposed to his statement,” Hickie said after the fact.
“When Mr. Wotherspoon makes comments to that effect, I’m just heckling across the floor asking him what his views are on Mr. Mulcair, because he has the floor so we’re allowed to heckle at certain times.”
Mulcair’s comments are divisive, Hickie said, and are harmful to the economies of the west.
So far, the only NDP leadership hopeful to have directly addressed the Dutch Disease financial theory was Erin Weir, who supported the notion.
