SO THE CURRENT DEMOCRATIC TALKING POINT IS THAT THE TEA PARTY IS SOMEHOW RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEBT DOWNGRADE — because everyone knows that when you’re using your MasterCard to pay your Visa bill, it’s the person who doesn’t want the limit raised who’s the real source of the problem. But Canadian reader Kate MacMillan notes this story on how the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has gone from a “fiscal mess” to a debt upgrade by following Tea Party-like policies:

Rather than quickly spending its newly-earned wealth, the provincial government has put its tax revenue toward paying the bills. S&P gave special credit to Saskatchewan for its “low-and-declining debt burden.” As of March 31, the province’s fiscal year-end, Saskatchewan’s debt totalled $4.6-billion, representing 38 per cent of this year’s projected operating revenues and only 8 per cent of its gross domestic product. Canada’s federal debt-to-GDP ratio sits at around 35 per cent.

Low debt burden. She adds:

Saskatchewan is governed by the right-of-center “Saskatchewan Party”, with tax reduction, low resource royalty policies that encouraged potash development, and enticed energy industry investment away from neighboring Alberta.

So, I guess we can call that a “tea party upgrade”.

Heh.

UPDATE: Reader Sean-David Hubbard emails: “There were folks calling for us to follow Canada’s example during the healthcare debate. How come those same people aren’t calling for us to follow Canada’s example during the debt debate?” Because this example doesn’t lead to more political-class control.