Murray Wood: Government nickel and dimes us in advance of Saskatchewan budget
We know the budget is going to include a deficit, and Murray Wood says it's probably not a good sign that the government...
Details about Saskatchewan’s provincial budget are under wraps until the document is tabled in the legislative assembly on Wednesday afternoon, but some information has already been made public.
For weeks, Premier Scott Moe and his finance minister, Jim Reiter, have been telling the public there will be a deficit in the 2026-27 budget. Moe first predicted a deficit at the end of February, but he’s been quiet about how high it will be. The premier has pointed to other provinces with large deficits, like B.C.’s $13.3 billion, saying Saskatchewan’s deficit won’t be that bad.
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On Tuesday, Moe confirmed health spending will be going up in Wednesday’s budget. His government unveiled its Patients First Healthcare Plan last week.
“We’ve talked about health-care services with our patients-first plan, and focusing on delivering the right care in the right place at the right time, and improving the outcomes for Saskatchewan families,” said Moe.
The premier described the health-care spending as preserving the investments already made, while also maintaining the trajectory of health care in Saskatchewan.
“Not only making the investment, but using innovation that’s available today to support our professional health-care providers so that they can deliver that patients-first level of care that people in this province expect,” said Moe.
At the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention last week, the government announced that municipal revenue sharing will be higher in the coming year.
“That is a formula, and we’re going to abide by that formula, because the same pressures that we’re feeling at the provincial level are being felt at the national level and I assume they’re also being felt at the municipal levels,” said Moe on Tuesday.
The premier said he felt a bit different ahead of this budget. He said there’s investment happening in the province, forecasting a bright future for Saskatchewan, but Moe also said there is also unrest around the world that’s affecting Saskatchewan, pointing to trade upsets and volatile oil prices.
“The global uncertainty really does cause me some pause, and it’s likely the last thing that’s on my mind when I go to bed any night – including the night before budget – and as I wake up in the morning, somewhat nervous about turning on the news to see what has happened over night,” said Moe.
He said Saskatchewan is in a good place to weather the challenges, but said those challenges will be evident in the budget numbers
New shoes
The geopolitical challenges were the basis for the finance minister’s take on a budget tradition this year.
Every year, finance ministers show off the new shoes they’ll wear for the budget speech, often tailored to the theme of the budget. This year, there were no new shoes for Reiter. Instead, he displayed a can of shoe-protecting spray.
“The shoes you see me wearing today are actually last year’s shoes, because they are in good shape. They just needed a little touch up, and they needed some protection,” said Jim Reiter.
The shoes were made in India – a major trading partner for Saskatchewan – and came from a company with a head office in U.K., which also has trading relationships with Canada.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter’s budget shoes for 2026-27 are the same as 2025-26, just with a little protecting spray added. Mar . 17, 2026 (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
Concerns from the Opposition
Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said she hopes Wednesday’s budget addresses what she says is the number-one issue in the province: affordability.
“What I fear is in this budget is more rate hikes, more tax increases for the people of this province.” said Beck.
Beck said the NDP wants the provincial government to use some of the extra revenue it’s getting from the high price of oil to give taxpayers a break.
The opposition leader said she’s skeptical about what she’s going to see in the budget documents and hear in Reiter’s budget speech.
She said in previous years there have been big gaps between the numbers presented at budget time and the reality a year later. Beck pointed to the $12 million surplus predicted in the 2025-26 budget, while Reiter has said there will be a substantial deficit evident in the province’s third-quarter update, which will also be presented on Wednesday.
Beck said she won’t necessarily trust the numbers in the budget document, saying the government works hard to spin things.
“There was a time when I had more confidence in what the government is bringing forward, even if I didn’t like it. What we’ve seen has been increasingly, more and more, this government retreating from transparency, from accountability,” said Beck.
