Aidan Jaeger
Regina Leader-Post
Saskatchewan faces a hefty deficit this year, instead of the surplus they’d projected earlier.
The province is starting the 2025-26 fiscal year with a forecasted $349 million deficit by this year’s end — $361 million more than the budget’s $12 million surplus.Safety
Total revenue is forecast at $20.9 billion, while total expenses are expected to reach $21.2 billion.
“While economic uncertainty is creating financial challenges both nationally and globally, Saskatchewan’s financial position remains stable. We will continue to protect and advocate for the province’s economic interests,” said Saskatchewan Finance Minister Jim Reiter.
Despite the deficit, Reiter points to Saskatchewan having the best credit rating in the country, with the second best GDP.
“Those are the two major factors everybody looks at. Other economic indicators are strong, like housing and construction. We have the lowest unemployment rate.
“Overall, we’re probably in the best financial situation of any province in the country,” Reiter added.
The net debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to improve to 14.5 per cent.
The Saskatchewan government is also negotiating with the federal government to remove industrial carbon pricing from electricity bills, while non-renewable resource revenue is expected to drop by $30 million due to lower oil prices and a stronger Canadian dollar.
“We’re going to sharpen our pencils and look for places to save money,” Reiter said. “But at the same time, we’re not going to do it at the expense of healthcare, education, or the other services that people in Saskatchewan expect.
“We’re trying to keep taxes low to a minimum to provide those services, and it’s about finding that right balance.”
The expense forecast is $189 million higher than budgeted, mainly from an $80 million increase for wildfire response and a $115 million rise in pension costs.
“A lot of it is to do with mortality rates, which is essentially people are living longer,” Reiter said. “So that’s a good thing, but these are only the defined benefit pension plans, not the defined contributions. So they’re the formula plans that people have for life, but with people living longer, there’s a higher cost of the plans.”
He alluded to it also being the worst wildfire season in history.
Meanwhile, the NDP says the Sask. Party continues to collect their provincial carbon tax after promising they axed it, noting they are collecting $35.4 million more than they had planned at budget time, according to Page 4 of the financial update.
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“The Sask. Party has also failed to account for the economic impacts of tariffs, and has no plan for Saskatchewan as we’re stuck in a trade war on two fronts,” said Finance Shadow Minister Trent Wotherspoon.
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“They don’t have a stitch of credibility when it comes to our public finances.”
Reiter said tariffs have not impacted the budget in the first quarter, but the threat is now looming.
“The issue becomes right now,” he said. “We’re very concerned, because there’s an impact in a lot of areas with the canola tariffs from the Chinese. You saw what’s happening today with the Americans sort of broadening the number of products that are being hit by tariffs under steel. How do you predict (the effects) when it’s changing literally by the hour?”
Reiter hopes a new U.S. trade deal is reached in the next few months, with Canada now dropping some of the counter-tariffs on juice, wine and clothing products.
“It is critically important that both the federal and provincial government work together and step up and lead and work to end the punitive and unfair tariffs and duties that have been placed on producers by China,” Wotherspoon said.
Wotherspoon said Moe has sat on the sidelines for too long, and has failed to prioritize the effect the Chinese canola tariffs have on Saskatchewan.
