REGINA – Reaction to the 2025 federal budget handed down last week has focused mainly on the investments the federal government is making — as well as a big deficit.
“$78 billion. That's a big number. We can all acknowledge that,” said Premier Scott Moe in speaking to reporters at the legislature Thursday.
Moe said there are reasons why it is so large, pointing to significant investments, multi-year investments that are there, and they don't change in one budget year. But he also noted it was a challenging time and said they would be looking closely at the revenue lines in all of the federal and provincial budgets that come out.
“We're in a very challenging time with respect to the Canadian economy. We have trade and market access tariffs all over the place. Our three largest markets, the United States, China, and India, all have some type of restrictions or tariff-related conversation going on or being charged. That's showing up in the immediate term in the Canadian economy, and it's showing up in the revenue lines of our federal and likely coming our provincial budgets across the nation.”
Two other items of interest for Moe was a commitment in the budget to infrastructure spending, something that has also been of interest to municipal leaders and organizations. The province had sent a delegation recently with ministers Eric Schmalz and Ken Cheveldayoff joined by eight municipalities and SARM and SUMA to make the case for cost-shared infrastructure funding.
“So we're happy to see that raised in the budget,” Moe said. “Again, there will be details on how much is available, what for, and those types of things. But I would say that that was a productive engagement session.”
Moe also spoke about language in the budget about consulting with the provinces with respect to environmental regulations.
“So that wasn't a surprise to us to see some of the language around consulting with provinces in the weeks ahead, because it's consultation that has already happened, and I would say that's a marked change from what we saw over the course of the majority of the last decade, was that consultation and that work with provincial levels of government, so we're appreciative of that, and we hope we'll be able to find a landing spot moving forward.”
Beck reaction
In her reaction to the budget this week Opposition Leader Carla Beck expressed her interest in the budget’s focus on trade-enabling infrastructure — pipelines, power lines, rail lines, and increasing port capacity and efficiency.
“I think that's my number one message. Some of this sounds really good. I think the next weeks, the next months, how quickly these things can actually be built, I think that's going to determine how well we weather the storm we're in right now,” said Beck, pointing to the continued concerns about tariffs.
Beck also spoke about the need to demand the province’s fair share.
“I think it's time for us to be loud,” said Beck. “As I said, demand that we have a fair share of those those infrastructure dollars, because I think we really have the potential to be the engine that's going to drive us into into the future in this province.”
Becky also again demanded Premier Moe make known the province’s list of major projects they want to see done.
“Again, I'll put on the table to the Premier, you know, if he needs to publish that list, we're happy to help in any way possible to to drive to actually making sure we're securing those infrastructure dollars and getting things built in this province. It's pretty clear what needs to be done, I think, on this front.”
Other reaction
There is other reaction to the budget from business organizations and advocates:
The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce took the view that the 2025 federal budget “takes a measured approach to balancing near-term cost-saving measures with long-term economic priorities.”
“While the projected $78.3 billion deficit highlights ongoing fiscal challenges, the government’s commitment to generational investments in infrastructure, productivity, and competitiveness represents a constructive focus on growth,” they said in a statement.
The Chamber liked the plans to identify $60 billion in savings over five years and streamline public sector spending, and to lower Canada’s marginal effective tax rate from 15.6 per cent to 13.2 per cent, making it the lowest in the G7.
The Chamber also liked the $115 billion over five years for national and local infrastructure projects, and $110 billion in productivity and competitiveness measures to support trade corridors and industrial development. They also pointed to investment incentives, SME Support and trade diversification, and funding to strengthen Canada’s export capacity and development of critical minerals.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, however, was frustrated by the budget. In a news release they said small business owners were looking to the budget to provide cost relief and improve Canada’s tax competitiveness to jumpstart the economy. Instead, most of the economic measures were reannouncements from last year, they said.
“Today was a missed opportunity to provide meaningful tax relief to Canada’s employers. The government could have taken the reins by reducing the small business corporate tax rate, freeing up millions of dollars for investment in employees, technology and operations,” said Dan Kelly, president of CFIB, in a statement.
He also voiced concern about the government finances, saying “small firms have learned the hard way that today’s deficits are tomorrow’s taxes.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was alarmed by what they characterized as the “ballooning spending and debt” in the budget. In their news release, they expressed concern there is no plan to balance the budget and stop borrowing money, and raises concern that debt interest charges will cost taxpayers $55.6 billion this year — more than what the federal government will send to provinces in health transfers or GST.
“Budget 2025 shows the debt continues to spiral out of control because spending continues to spiral out of control,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director, in a statement. “(Prime Minister Mark) Carney needs to reverse course to get debt and spending under control because every dollar Canadians pay in federal sales tax is already going to pay interest charges on the debt.”
