REGINA - The Saskatchewan Legislature begins the spring sitting Wednesday with the presentation of the 2025-26 Budget.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter is set to rise in the Assembly at around 2:15 p.m. this afternoon to present the budget. It is his first budget since taking on the finance portfolio following last fall’s provincial election.
The budget comes amid continued economic pressures on the Sask Party government, not the least of which is the looming threat of tariffs coming both from the United States and also China.
The most pressing threat is a 100 per cent tariff from China on canola oil and canola meal due to take effect Thursday. On Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe told reporters at Canada’s Farm Show that this was a tariff “that we are going to feel immediately here in this province in the next number of weeks.”
The other threat has been tariffs from President Donald Trump, including recent tariffs on steel and aluminum. On Tuesday the province responded to those tariffs by announcing at Evraz Steel that Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations would buy Saskatchewan steel for SaskPower and SaskEnergy infrastructure projects.
How the tariff threat will be addressed in the budget is a major storyline of Budget Day. Other provinces have responded by including a contingency fund, but that would require deficit financing.
Earlier this month, Premier Moe said at a news conference that Saskatchewan will be in “a strong financial situation, and in a position to support Saskatchewan people should they need it through a prolonged tariff.” When asked if there would be a contingency fund in that budget, Moe replied “you’ll find that out” on March 19.
The ever-changing tariff situation has also created challenges in crafting the budget. Finance Minister Reiter acknowledged earlier this month that it was very difficult, and “a work in progress.”
The theme of the budget is “Delivering for You,” with a focus expected to be on the province delivering on priorities of Saskatchewan people from the October 2024 campaign.
During that election, the Sask Party focused its campaign heavily on affordability measures. A storyline of Budget 2025 is expected to be how and whether those affordability measures, including the promised expanded income tax exemptions, will be reflected in the budget presented Wednesday.
It is expected the usual suspects, health care and education, will get a lion’s share of spending, but the question is whether it will be enough to address the pressures in the system. Public safety including the Marshals’ service is also expected to be a highlight, along with Social Services spending, the highways spend, and other areas.
Municipal spending is another prime focus, with Premier Moe announcing at the SARM convention in Saskatoon a record $340.2 million in municipal revenue sharing, up over $42 million from 2024.
The tabling of the provincial budget marks the start of what will be 30 days of a spring sitting of the legislature, with the sitting commencing some two and a half weeks later than usual in March. The session resumes following a 10 day fall sitting last year after the election.
The opposition New Democrats have hammered the government in recent weeks for not resuming the session earlier, and for not calling an emergency sitting to address the tariff threat. Opposition Leader Carla Beck has recently slammed Premier Moe for a slow tariff response, calling it “a day late and a dollar short.”
Meanwhile, government officials have been on trade missions to the USA and elsewhere in recent weeks, meeting and engaging with American officials in government and business. In the past few weeks Premier Moe has been on two trade missions to Washington D.C., and last week was in Houston at the CERAWeek 2025 energy conference.
The NDP has indicated it will make the tariff issue a top priority during the session. The party has indicated it plans to move an emergency motion Thursday calling to “condemn the Trump administration for proposing the annexation of Canada and for imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.”
When asked about the NDP motion Tuesday at the Farm Show, Premier Moe did not sound impressed.
“Listen, that's words,” said Moe. “And what we need, whether it be out of the NDP or any provincial government or the federal government, is a plan. So what I've asked for from Prime Minister Carney is, what's the plan when it comes to engaging with the China tariffs that are being imposed on Western Canadian farmers? That's what we've put forward, largely as well…
”… So words are words. What we need is a plan, and in the case of the Opposition that plan has been to put a billboard up in the Chicago subway and twin the No. 1 highway, which is twinned through all Saskatchewan and I would say even Alberta. In fact, I think in Western Canada the two provinces that don't have a twin number one highway are NDP provinces, and so there's that.”
