Provincial budget to be released amid questions about health care

On Wednesday afternoon, the provincial government will release its spring budget, outlining its priorities and predictions for the year ahead.

And it appears the gravy train is still running for Saskatchewan. Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said Tuesday afternoon that there will be a “substantive” surplus, though she wouldn’t say exactly how much.

Last year, the provincial government issued $500 affordability cheques to everyone thanks to increased resource revenue.

“In this budget, you’ll see more targeted supports that aren’t necessarily for everyone. It’s going to be targeted supports,” Harpauer said.

Harpauer said the supports in this budget will be more for the most vulnerable in the province.

She did say there will be no new tax hikes in this budget, but also that there won’t be any new tax cuts.

In what was likely a hint as to where at least some of the province’s money will go, the minister said debt reduction is a priority for the government.

“The operating debt has always been a concern for me. We were able to write that down by $1 billion in the last budget and I hope that we can continue to write that down, in particular, because we accumulated more debt through COVID, as did each and every province,” she said.

Harpauer called the health budget this year “aggressive” to address the pressures coming up.

“It is definitely a place that we have heavily invested in this budget,” she explained.

In this budget, we also know a few things for sure after hints and announcements in the past few weeks.

Municipal revenue-sharing will jump to $297 million, as was announced to much fanfare by Premier Scott Moe at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention.

Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre announced on International Women’s Day that the province will be putting operational funding into second-stage shelters, though she didn’t say how much.

There will likely be more money on the books for child care, given the announcement that the province will have registered spaces down to $10 a day by April 1.

The Opposition NDP will be looking for money for health and classrooms, as well as measures to create good jobs that families can count on like removing the PST on construction labour. The party’s finance critic, Trent Wotherspoon, also wants to see measures on affordability to address the cost of living.

“It’s not fair for the province to enjoy record windfall revenues but for families to be struggling to keep their heads above water, or be forced into situations of being delinquent in their mortgage payments or losing their home. There needs to be some meaningful relief,” Wotherspoon said Tuesday.

As for what he doesn’t want to see, Wotherspoon said he doesn’t want to see wasteful spending and mismanagement in this budget, such as money for things like the Saskatchewan Revenue Agency that the province has been eyeing.

“Just because this government’s sitting on a lot of cash, it will never excuse mismanagement and wasteful spending like that,” said Wotherspoon.

The provincial budget is to be released around 2:15 p.m.