While the 2021-22 provincial budget has been seen as a good budget, given the circumstances, there are some who feel it doesn’t go far enough to help the province as it works to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic impacts the pandemic brought about. One of those is Trent Wotherspoon, the finance critic for the opposition NDP.  

“Right now, we’re losing the battle with the COVID-19 variants, and in face of this historic challenge, and the thousands of jobs lost by Saskatchewan people, this budget really fails to the occasion,” Wotherspoon told Discover Weyburn.  

Wotherspoon pointed to the lack of economic measures to help guide the province out of the recession he said the province was entering before COVID-19 had even impacted Saskatchewan. There were a number of things that could have been included in the budget that would have helped, and could have even garnered support from the NDP.  

The first measures Wotherspoon said he wanted to see in the budget was more to bring COVID-19 under control, as variants of concern continue to climb across the province. The lack of control, according to Wotherspoon, is killing the Saskatchewan economy.  

“We see in other jurisdictions that have been able to control COVID, their economies are on track – people are working,” Wotherspoon said.  

The second option the NDP wanted to see was investments in people, including education, long-term care, mental health and addiction services. They also wanted to see a jobs plan, which would include the removal of the PST from construction labour and from restaurants, both of which were added a few years ago. Infrastructure investments were also high on the wish list for the NDP, with an emphasis on a SaskFirst approach to the work, with Saskatchewan workers and companies working on the jobs to maximize the economic returns.  

The provincial budget was released last Tuesday. It included a $2.6 billion dollar deficit, with the provincial government planning to have the deficit eliminated from the budget by 2026-27.