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The Saskatchewan government is using special warrants to spend an additional $178 million this fiscal year.
According to documents that appear among Orders in Council signed Feb. 16, the money is to be split between seven ministries.
Special warrants are issued when there isn’t enough money specifically budgeted to cover expenses considered to be “urgently required” for the public good. They’re issued when the Legislative Assembly isn’t sitting.
The Orders in Council don’t include much detail about the spending beyond general plans.
The government is to allocate an additional $92.7 million to the Ministry of Health. Of that, $78.6 million is destined for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, $7.7 million is for targeted programs, and $6.3 million is for what the order called “capital transfers.”
The Ministry of Government Relations is to get an additional $38.7 million, with $20.6 million for First Nations gaming agreements, $17.3 million for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, and $744,000 for the Métis Development Fund.
The government is allocating another $17.1 million to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety. That total includes $8.3 million for the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program, $7.8 million for custody services, and a further $1 million for the RCMP.
The Ministry of Advanced Education is to receive an additional $14.4 million. That includes $7 million for post-secondary capital transfers, $3 million for the Saskatchewan Student Aid Fund, $1.5 million for the province’s technical institutes, $1.5 million for scholarships, and $1.4 million for universities and federated and affiliated colleges.
There’s nearly $9.5 million for operating expenses in the K-12 education system, $3.2 million for the Firearms Secretariat, and $3 million for the Community Initiatives Fund in the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport.
In February of 2022, the government added $112.7 million through a special warrant to pay for COVID expenses. One year earlier, special warrants totalling $322.8 million were issued for six ministries.
