Laid-off library workers speak out about budget cuts

The fallout from the provincial budget continued at the Saskatchewan Legislature on Monday afternoon.

Six employees who have received layoff notices from the Palliser Regional Library came to the assembly to watch question period.

Melissa Silzer-Frank said she was the sole information technology worker with the library responsible for maintaining the computers.

Silzer-Frank says the public computers are used by a wide variety of people, from business owners to the unemployed.

"They use our printers, they use our fax, scanners, copiers," she said.

"The government has cut jobs and they're saying to people, 'Go down to your library and apply for E.I.,'" she noted. "But you cut us."

The provincial government cut the amount of spending it does on regional libraries by about half. 

• Education minister defends library cuts, cites declining use

Still, Education Minister Don Morgan said he was taken aback by how quickly the libraries made job cuts without first asking municipalities for more money.

"I was surprised that we were hearing from the regional libraries doing layoffs without them having looked at what options were available to them," Morgan said.

"None of them appear to have gone back to the municipalities."

Many municipal leaders are already complaining about the province downloading the cost of programs to local governments.