Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill is fully in support the provincial budget that was brought down in the legislature last week.
“I think it’s a challenging economic and really just a challenging time that we’re in on all fronts as a society right now,” Cockrill said in an interview with the News-Optimist.
“Saskatchewan is not immune from that.”
The budget includes a deficit that has ballooned up to $2.6 billion, with spending to deal with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You know, a deficit budget is not, I guess, the kind of budget that we ideally want to present,” said Cockrill, “but we felt that it was what we needed to present in this case to help protect and build and grow this province. And so... people will point to the deficit as a negative perhaps, but it’s something that supports the economy in this province, supports the healthcare in this province. It’s something that we needed to do this time, but there are some exciting economic times ahead in this province.”
What Cockrill liked in the budget was its focus on keeping a number of campaign promises made in the 2020 election.
He pointed to one of the promises made in an appearance in the Battlefords by Premier Scott Moe and the then-minister of rural and remote health Warren Kaeding to reduce ambulance fees for seniors and increasing the seniors income plan. “Those are two of the promises we kept in this budget.”
He also pointed to the active families benefit, the community rink grant, the hiring of community care aides.
“It’s always a good thing when you can make good on those promises in the budget right after the election,” said Cockrill. “The people of this province, they responded well to those promises back during the campaign, and that’s because these are good things for this province and important investments that we need to make.”
From a Battlefords standpoint a few things stood out for Cockrill.
One is the capital investments in schools, including the planned $12 million renovation to John Paul II Collegiate. “It’s going to significantly transform a big chunk of that building and really improve the offerings in that school for years to come.”
As well, he pointed to the extension of the community airport partnership program, which North Battleford “has seen a lot of funding from that over the years.”
Cockrill also points to small-business tax rate reductions over the next number of years.
“Effective back in October, the small business tax rate is down to zero percent, it’ll go back to one percent 2022 and then back to two percent in 2023. In the Battlefords we’ve got a lot of small businesses and having that tax relief on the provincial side it’s really going to help the small businesses keep more of their profits in the community and reinvest in their businesses.”
One more item Cockrill found important was the focus on opening international trade offices. Four international trade offices have already been opened and the province has committed to four more.
“The government has always been focused on building the export opportunities, we’re an exporting province for fuel, food, and fertilizer,” said Cockrill. “We talk a lot about developing new markets and that’s going to be key for us as we come out of COVID... That’s a really big deal for the agricultural producers around the Battlefords and area.”
With respect to the budget, Cockrill was asked to be the government’s seconder to the budget motion by minister of finance Donna Harpauer, and he delivered that seconding speech in the Legislature last week.
Cockrill sits on Treasury Board, and said that during his time there he had a chance to work closely with minister Harpauer. “That’s been a great experience,” he said.
“Having had a hand to build the budget, it was a great opportunity for me to stand up there and second that motion in the House.”
The feedback locally to the budget has been generally positive, said Cockrill. He said he spoke to Battleford mayor Ames Leslie and got positive feedback from him including on the vaping tax that is being brought in in September.
“I expect this is a budget that will set us up well in the Battlefords and Saskatchewan for years to come.”
