Sask. Premier Scott Moe expects ‘significant’ deficit in federal budget

Given the uncertain and tumultuous time Canada has recently experienced with trade, Premier Scott Moe said he expects a “significant” deficit to be unveiled in the Government of Canada’s 2025-26 budget.

“There’s been some significant deficit-fuelled expenses or investments over the last number of years that you can’t change in one year. Second to that, I would say that in the short term, the Canadian economy is really struggling in this uncertain time,” Moe told reporters last week.

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Moe said tariffs from markets like India, China and the United States, as well as general global uncertainty, will all play a hand in affecting the Canadian economy.

“Whether it be the construction industry, the auto industry, manufacturing industry, or even the lack of access that we have on some of our export products to countries around the world, Moe said.

“I would say you’re going to see the Canadian economy really start to sputter.”

Moe added that this weakness would affect provincial economies as well, though he said Saskatchewan could prove to be more resilient to these effects if it’s able to navigate some of these short-term challenges.

Saskatchewan’s premier stressed the importance of repairing and expanding Canada’s trade relationship with China, the U.S. and India, as they are three of the largest economies in the world.

Moe also praised Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts in attempting to raise Canada’s international profile and repair some of these relationships, signalled by his recent meeting with China’s president Xi Jinping.

“There are real opportunities for us in these large markets to expand our conversation in Canada,” he said.

Regulatory reform on Premier’s wishlist

Moe said that he would like to see “broad-based” regulatory reform to follow up on the announcement of Bill C5, which is the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act, which aims to remove federal barriers to interprovincial trade.

Moe said that deals like the recent Cameco-Westinghouse nuclear agreement can be repeated if allowed to do so by federal regulation.

“We can repeat that time and time again across Canada if we are able to have the regulatory system that is going to attract that investment into the mining space, into the oil and gas space, into the ag value-added space, even into the manufacturing space,” he said.

The second thing Moe wished for was for Carney’s government to continue to bolster Canada’s positive reputation as a trading partner, which Moe said had faltered over the last decade.

Moe said Canada has an opportunity to leverage its products and resources to ensure success over the medium and long-term.

“That’s likely the most important thing that we have before us as Canadians is to get those next 10 decisions right to ensure that we unleash the Canadian economy and actually provide the opportunity for all of our industries to create wealth,” Moe said.

— with files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie

Read more:

• Tariffs & Saskatchewan: What do tariffs mean for you?
• Sask. post-secondary education gets $250 million funding boost from province
• Finance minister says ‘no surprises’ in budget, promises ‘generational investments’