Emokhare Paul Anthony
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Daily Herald
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation Prairie Director Gage Haubrich was in Prince Albert as part of a tour to raise awareness about Saskatchewan’s debt.
Haubrich and the CTF’s Debt Clock arrived in the Prince Albert area on Wednesday, July 16. The CTF Prairie Director said every dollar Saskatchewan politicians rack up in debt today is a dollar plus interest that taxpayers will have to pay back tomorrow.
“When Premier Scott Moe became Premier in 2018, the provincial debt was about $11 billion. Now it’s over $22 billion and still going up,” Haubrich said during his stop in Prince Albert. “That means the premier has doubled the debt while being in office, so we’re hoping by taking the debt clock across the province and raising awareness, the taxpayers can push their politicians to get that debt number going down.”
Haubrich said Saskatchewan currently pays $878 million in interest payments due to its high debt. That works out to around $700 per resident.
The Debt Clock is a huge digital counter mounted on the side of a moving truck that shows the provincial debt going up in real time. Haubrich said the CTF is taking the Debt Clock around Saskatchewan to show the provincial debt increasing in real time.
“Debt interest charges are costing taxpayers more than $2.4 million every single day,” Haubrich said. “Moe needs to control spending and pay down the debt, so millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money aren’t being wasted to cover the government’s irresponsible borrowing.”
The CTF director said the biggest problem with provincial debt is that the government then has to spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on debt interest payments.
“That money doesn’t go to repay the principal, it doesn’t go to provide any sort of services, it’s just flushed down the drain to pay for all the money that the government is borrowing,” Haubrich said. “As the debt keeps going up, those debt interest payment numbers go up as well and then the government has to look for more money to spend on the things it needs to spend money on, and the first place it’s going to look is taxpayer pockets.”
Haubrich said the best thing the government can do is stop spending more money that it says it’s going to.
He said the government is spending about $1 billion more than it originally planned in the most recent budget. He said keeping spending in line would help pay back the debt or provide tax relief.
In response, the provincial government released a statement arguing Saskatchewan’s debt is being managed responsibly, citing the province’s credit rating and net debt-to-GDP ratio as evidence.
“As of March 31, 2025, Saskatchewan had the second-highest credit rating among the provinces when the ratings from the three major agencies – Moody’s Investors Service, Morningstar DBRS and S&P Global – were considered,” reads the statement.
“Currently, Saskatchewan’s net debt-to-GDP ratio is 13.7 per cent, which is second only to Alberta. Going forward, the province’s net debt-to-GDP is expected to remain among the lowest in the country. Crown corporations have industry benchmarked financial targets, such as debt ratios. Each commercial Crown is in line with those targets.”
In their statement, the government argued that the largest portion of the province’s debt is going towards capital projects like hospitals and roads.
“Borrowing is prudent when it is necessary to sustain programs during times of economic volatility and when investing in capital projects that will provide future benefit for the people of Saskatchewan,” reads the statement.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
