Saskatchewan's new budget has come out with provincial priorities being laid out for education, healthcare, and more for the year ahead. In total the budget is forecasting a $12 million surplus off of $21 billion in spending.
Estevan MLA and Deputy House Leader Lori Carr says that the province will work towards helping people out with affordability, healthcare, education, safer communities and fiscal responsibility.
She says that the new budget is aimed at widely helping people the government thinks need assistance.
"Under affordability, our government continues to take action to ensure the province remains the most affordable place in Canada to live, work, raise a family or start a business. This budget keeps all of our commitments made during the fall election campaign. The budget helps make life more affordable for seniors, families with children, persons with disabilities, caregivers, new graduates, first-time home buyers, and people renovating their homes."
For health care, the province is looking to invest money to increase surgeries and subsequently shorten the current wait list, while keeping their health human resource plan running to widen the healthcare worker base.
Education is also a priority in the budget, with an increase in funding for schools which the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation supported.
For Estevan, there are some items that'll help out the southeast city, including funding for the new Regional Nursing Home as that project moves to another stage.
Carr talks about some of the other projects locals can expect to be funded:
"Delivering specifically for Estevan and area, the investment for the design dollars for the nursing home in the amount of $2.5 million, funding in highways to complete highway eighteen from Estevan to Outram, there will be work done on Rafferty Road from Highway 18 to Highway 39, as well as rehabilitating the surface of the dam bed."
Power production is also on the docket as the province is looking to support and expand the Boundary Dam Power Station into the future.
One key part of the budget which has raised some concerns from the provincial NDP is that the province's budget does not include provisions for emergency measures regarding tariffs, with the surplus possible disappearing if growth is affected.
Carr says they'll keep growth going by expanding to new markets.
"When we look at the agriculture industry, it's important to note that Saskatchewan has actively set up 9 trade offices throughout the world to ensure that we have other markets. So having that ability and having some of those other markets open for us, not to say that there isn't going to be an effect, we've already seen prices come down on canola specifically, but just keeping a lens on that and ensuring that we're doing the most we can to open up markets for the producers in Saskatchewan."
Saskatchewan's budget says in the worst-case scenario, tariffs could cause exports to the U.S. to fall by $8.2 billion, provincial gross domestic product to decline by $4.9 billion and provincial revenues to decrease by $1.4 billion.