REGINA — With the legislative session set to start on Monday, much of the talk in politics this week has been about the challenges facing the province in balancing the budget.
This past week, Premier Scott Moe once more pointed to the challenges facing Saskatchewan and other provinces in creating a budget in 2026. At a luncheon in Saskatoon hosted by the North Saskatoon Business Association on Tuesday, Moe confirmed the upcoming budget would be a deficit budget.
In speaking to reporters in Saskatoon, Moe said they were in a “very challenging time financially,” both provincially and nationally.
He reiterated those sentiments in speaking to reporters in Regina on Wednesday, pointing to “a challenging time across Canada.”
Moe said there are “revenue challenges due to the trade uncertainty, market uncertainty around the world. In-year, we experienced, you know, a year of pretty significant agricultural tariffs on our second-largest market, being China. And that, I think, starts to show up definitely on the revenue line at the farm gate, and at the provincial government level as well.”
But Moe reiterated that Saskatchewan's economy “is as resilient, or likely more resilient, than many other provinces.” He pointed particularly to diversification of what is produced in the province as helping on the revenue side.
“We produce oil, but we're not dependent on oil. We produce many products through the mining investments that are made across the province, but we're not entirely dependent on one of those products. We have the most significant agricultural industry from a production perspective…
“So I would say that our economy from on the revenue line, from a revenue perspective, is as resilient or more resilient than most other provinces.”
Moe also emphasized the investments the province was making in health care, mental health and addiction. When asked whether the province might be looking to cut services, Moe said people in the province “expect their provincial government to be looking at, not just with investment, but opening up, you know, new and innovative ways to deliver those services.”
“And I would suggest that that is the conversation that we will focus on in the weeks and months ahead, is, for example, in health care. There are tools available and innovations available today that weren't available three and five years ago.
“And we should make sure that we are doing all we can to have that very open and public discussion about making those tools and that innovation available to our health-care workers, so that they can deliver that care, putting the patients first, which we know they want to do each and every day. And so that's an example of, you know, some of the discussion that we're having and the choices that we're making and other provinces are making.”
Moe's comments on the budget came just prior to his departure to lead a trade mission to India, expected to last from Feb. 28 to March 6.
Meanwhile, this past week the opposition New Democrats continued to criticize the government over issuing $654 million in special warrants spending earlier in February — an amount that has prompted heightened concerns from the NDP about the state of the province's finances heading into the budget.
The midyear financial update from the province in December had reported a $427 million deficit, after posting a $12 million surplus last March.
The speculation from the NDP was that the budget deficit could potentially go as high as $1 billion after the most recent spending.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck demanded the government report its third-quarter financials immediately to provide full details of what the financial picture actually is — something the government normally does not provide until budget time.
In speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Beck said she could not say what the 2026 budget financial situation would be like.
“At this point, as I said, we haven't even seen the third quarter financials, so it is difficult to say what to expect because, frankly, I don't trust this government's ability to bring a real budget forward or to deliver the full financial picture of the province,” Beck said.
“Perhaps that's cynical, but as I said, what I've come to expect from this government is not to take accountability, not to give us a true sense of what the finances are of the province, more likely to start pointing fingers or blaming others.”
