The Saskatchewan government announced Tuesday afternoon they would not be releasing the full provincial budget on March 18, instead providing “scaled-back estimates.”
With the outbreak of COVID-19 sending many provinces into lockdown, and the tanking of oil prices, the projections “would not be worth the paper they are printed on” as Ryan Meili, leader of the opposition said last week.
Minister of Finance Donna Harpauer said in a media statement “the events of the past few weeks have resulted in our revenue forecasts no longer being accurate,” so she will not be tabling revenue forecasts on March 18.
Harpauer added given the rapidly changing situation, accurate revenue forecasts are not possible right now. She also said although accurate forecasts are not possible, they will continue with the “unusual” step of tabling spending estimates without revenue forecasts.
Premier Scott Moe said in a media scrum the scaled-back estimates are being presented to provide certainty for “those partners that we have that are offering services in our communities.”
Moe added the revenue line item in the budget they put together is hard to predict.
“It’s hard to predict in Saskatchewan where our revenues would be, it’s hard to predict in Canada or any other province across Canada what the revenue lines would be. But, it is important for us to move forward with our investment intentions in our spending plan so we can provide certainty,” Moe said.
The media statement also said if the estimates are not passed and the Legislative Assembly stops sitting, the government will still be able to fund government operations
Jordan Stricker is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based out of the Estevan Mercury.
