The Provincial Budget was released on March 19. The most strikingly horrible thing about this budget was a pathetic 2% rise to SAID and SIS payments. This amounts to around $20 per month more for people on these programs. This is particularly galling considering the SaskParty made Affordability one of its main election platform points during the recent (fall 2024) election. Twenty dollars a month does nothing to lift recipients out of the constant cycle of clutching at scarce additional supports just to survive. This pretty much guarantees that the system self-perpetuates and no one ever gets off assistance. How can you apply for a job when being poor itself is a full-time job, going from the food bank to other services just to live at an absolute bare minimum level?

The USA is Saskatchewan’s largest trading partner ($27 billion in exports yearly) and yesterday’s budget did little to alleviate residents’ justifiable fears about the effects of the U.S. tariffs on our economy and our households. Other provinces announced contingency funds in their provincial budgets to alleviate tariff effects, but Saskatchewan did not. This very real threat is top of mind for Canadians, but Saskatchewan people saw little yesterday to reassure them.

Once again, all while living through the relentlessly deepening climate crisis, Saskatchewan continues to be the only province to fail to incentivize EVs. Instead, the Saskparty government makes us the only province charging EV purchasers an annual fee, raising it from the already unnecessary $150 to the insulting $300! 

Other concerning news includes that, instead of giving incentives for clean energy, the government announced a new incentive for the oil and gas industry. The Low Productivity and Reactive Well Program will look to encourage the industry to invest in low-producing and inactive horizontal wells, with the goal of increasing  production and revenue from existing wells:

“The 2025-26 budget ensures that strategic investments in geoscience, oil and gas, and critical minerals will continue to support industry and enhance the lives of Saskatchewan residents,” Minister of Energy and Resources Colleen Young said.

To end on a positive note, we are pleased to see some gains in restoring per-student funding in our education system. This is good news, but it will take a lot of work and investment to get our Saskatchewan Education system where it needs to be.

In Solidarity,
Naomi Hunter
Saskatchewan Green Party Leader

1-306-561-8880
[email protected]