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The Sask. Party Government has been dropping hints for the last couple of weeks about what will be in the provincial budget, which will be unveiled Wednesday afternoon.
At the SARM convention, Premier Scott Moe strongly hinted that funding for education and health care would be increased in the spring budget.
He said those are two of the focuses his government set out in the Speech from the Throne, all of which will be funded in the budget.
When it comes to health care, Moe talked about getting people better access to surgeries and primary health-care providers. In education, the premier said his government will invest in children’s future opportunities.
“Ensuring that when they complete Grade 3 they’re reading, writing and adding at a Grade 3 level – I think that’s paramount importance and priority for parents and for teachers,” said Moe.
Early this month, the recommendation from the arbitrator on the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement was released. It recommended a raise for teachers and stipulations around classroom size and complexity be included in their contract, and that will likely be reflected in this budget.
Also at SARM’s convention, Government Relations Minister Eric Schmalz said municipal revenue sharing will be going up in the spring budget, increasing to a record $361.8 million, $21.5 million more than the year before.
Schmalz also said the province will lower the mill rate for the education portion of property taxes, holding the line on how much property owners will pay and how much the provincial government will get from it. The change is expected to result in $100 million in property tax savings over the year.
Additional focuses for the budget, according to Moe, are affordability and community safety. Moe’s government has previously announced funding for more police officers and new, tighter, rules and punishments for drug crimes.
What effect tariffs from the United States and China might have on the budget will be a big question.
“They’ll impact the revenue line – positively or negatively – over the next while,” Moe said.
“We’ve seen so much unrest over the last number of years, and even more unrest over the last number of weeks and month or two.”
Moe said Saskatchewan residents will see his government keeping its election promises in the spring budget.
“We had a number of commitments in the campaign around affordability and ensuring that Saskatchewan is the most affordable place to live,” the premier said.
“I think you’ll see those commitments initiated in the budget.”
Budget shoes
On Tuesday afternoon, Finance Minister Jim Reiter showed off his new pair of budget shoes – a long-standing tradition among finance ministers.
Reiter said he wasn’t sure if he would continue with new shoes this year, until he heard a story about the premier and his previous finance minister Donna Harpauer. He said Moe picked Harpauer up from her office to go shoe shopping last year, even though she expressed doubts about buying new shoes.
“And (the premier) said ‘This isn’t about you; this is about the tradition,’” relayed Reiter.
Moe bought the shoes for Harpauer last year, which was her last budget as finance minister, and Reiter joked about sending the bill for these shoes to Moe as well.
The kind of shoes the finance minister buys is usually designed to indicate something about the budget. Reiter’s shoes were black dress shoes, though he wouldn’t elaborate on what that meant about the budget or the colour of ink it might be written in.
Premier Scott Moe bought the shoes for Donna Harpauer last year, and Jim Reiter joked about sending the bill for these shoes to Moe as well. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
He did explain how he chose the shoes, given the current geopolitical climate.
“It’s difficult in Saskatchewan to buy shoes that aren’t either manufactured in China and/or have a head office in the United States. These shoes are manufactured in India, we’re a major trading partner, and (the company’s) head office is in England,” said Reiter.
He said he made of point of highlighting the origin of the footwear in light of the current tariff situation.
“The world needs to get back to free trade, or as close to free trade as we can get. We’re an export-based economy. That’s to our advantage. Frankly, it’s to the whole world’s advantage,” he explained.
Reiter said when it comes time to deliver the budget speech on Wednesday afternoon, he’s going to talk about tariffs right out of the gate. He said it will also include some analysis from the Ministry of Finance.
This will be Reiter’s first budget as finance minister, and he said putting it together was exciting.
“I’m a numbers nerd, so I loved it. It was a great experience. I’m very happy. Very comfortable with where we landed,” he said.
Reiter is expected to rise around 2:15 on Wednesday afternoon to deliver the budget. 980 CJME and 650 CKOM will bring you full coverage of the budget both on-air and online.