It should come as no surprise that Battlefords MLA Herb Cox was pleased with the provincial budget delivered March 19 in the legislature.
One highlight he sees as a priority, $2.5 million for the new Saskatchewan Hospital.
"I was very happy to see itemized in the budget $2.5 million for the continued planning of that new facility," said Cox.
The funding is earmarked for Saskatchewan Hospital and an "integrated corrections facility," but Cox notes the government is still looking into that latter project.
Another item he found important was $11 million, for a $1.6 million increase, to "qualified independent schools."
He notes the Sakewew High School falls into that category. "I think it's been a great school and it's great to see it receive some additional funding."
Cox also pointed to continued funding for municipal governments.
"In this budget, through Government Relations, Saskatchewan municipalities are receiving $395 million in direct provincial support. And that's up about $32.9 million from last year. Those are some of the things that cities and towns are going to be looking at, as well we are still doing the one per cent of the PST revenue sharing with municipalities as well."
He pointed to the budget being balanced as a positive, and "we've been able to avoid tax increases, which is important."
There had been some talk earlier in the year by Premier Brad Wall about possibly raising the Education Property Tax in order to pay for infrastructure projects.
However, the government did not have to go that route.
"We heard our finance minister say this was a tough budget," said Cox. "There was a lot of soul searching that went on and of course, as our premier said, raising taxes will be the absolute last resort of our government, and we were able to avoid that by very tough decisions that had to be made to control our spending."
Cox is also pleased with the move towards presenting a summary budget, saying the move was made upon the recommendation of the provincial auditor.
This budgeting should "eliminate the confusion and help not only us as legislators but the public better understand the government's finances," said Cox, quoting the auditor.
"I'm pretty excited about the budget," said Cox. "I think we've accomplished some things here that are going to be a benefit to all the citizens of Saskatchewan."
Cox said there were items in the budget that will benefit all people in the province including those in the Battlefords.
He pointed to road projects like the Regina bypass and various twinning projects to address areas where traffic is becoming a problem, as well as school and hospital projects.
It's all "part of a budget called the steady growth budget, and these are things we need, we know we need, for our steady growth. We need schools, we need hospitals, one of which will be our own Saskatchewan Hospital. Those are the kinds of things that will sustain the steady growth that we see."
