The Government of Saskatchewan’s economic stimulus announcement was a welcome one by the City of Regina.
The province announced Wednesday that $7.5 billion will be given to municipalities over the next two years, to fund different infrastructure projects.
Regina Mayor Michael Fougere says that the money comes at an opportune time, as the city is set to unveil their next budget soon, and now they can add projects that would’ve otherwise been scrapped.
“In general, this provides us with a couple of important things,” said Fougere. “Getting projects ready to go, get them started, and get them approved over the next two years, so those shelf-ready projects that are really important, we can begin to add to a list we’ve already approved for our capital budget for 2021.”
Fougere added that he is satisfied with how the province is going to spread out the money.
“I think that the province has done a good job, it’s per capita, and that’s fair,” said Fougere. “I think that’s fairly reasonable, that’s how the program was done in the past, and every municipality, at that time, was very pleased with that. I certainly think that’s a good way to inject money directly and quickly to get these jobs created and these projects off the ground.”
When asked if the provincial stimulus package is enough, the Mayor said that while the city could always use more, he is happy with the timing of the announcement.
“It comes at a time when we want to do some things locally, provincially, and nationally, which is to stimulate the economy to recover from COVID-19,” said Fougere. “To have those jobs created to stimulate the economy, this is the primary focus of governments generally, is to stimulate the economy, job creation, economic development happening so, we’re pleased with what we see today.”
Fougere added that the city is waiting to see what the federal government will do to help restart the economy.
