Campaign pledge shrouded in uncertainty for Moe government

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he is uncertain when the province will be able to overcome the $2-billion deficit he had pledged to get rid of by 2024.

Moe spoke about the four-year fiscal outlook on Wednesday, citing “revenue uncertainty” as the leading cause for the doubts on erasing the current deficit in the next few years.

“Given the variability in revenue numbers that are around today, we won’t have a balance in that four-year projection,” Moe said. “Saskatchewan people can rest assured that the services that they expect to be provided in the way of health care, education and assisting our community’s most vulnerable will be in this budget.

“One of the focuses of a Saskatchewan Party government is to bring the fiscal house of this province back into order. We’ll do it as soon as we are able.”

The government is to deliver its budget April 6.

Moe said the length of COVID-19 pandemic along with the vaccine rollout’s initial delays have had an impact on the general economy in the province, impacting revenues in the process.

Despite the current state of the deficit, Moe says he won’t sacrifice services in the province in order to meet the timeline.

“With respect to the campaign promises that we’ve made, we have kept and delivered on a number of the campaign promises that we put forward,” Moe said. “It is still entirely possible that the budget is going to balance by 2024.

“You aren’t going to see that in the fiscal forecast, but we need to understand that the revenue variability that we will see over the course of the next three to four years is going to change and it’s going to change drastically.

“We’re not going to sacrifice the services that Saskatchewan people know and expect the provincial government to be providing in their communities.”

NDP weighs in

Opposition Leader Ryan Meili claims Moe misled people in his campaign promise surrounding the budget.

“Scott Moe told reporters that we won’t have a balance in our four-year projection but refused to give any concrete examples of what has changed between now and the last election,” Meili said in a release. “Scott Moe’s continued refusal to own his own words is incredibly disrespectful to the people of Saskatchewan.

“The fact is, a balanced budget by 2024 was a central Sask. Party campaign pledge that the premier repeated over and over. And the fact that he’s now breaking that promise with no reasonable explanation is only further proof he can’t be trusted with what matters most to Saskatchewan people.”

Meili added he is doubtful the Moe government will ever balance the budget and he called upon the premier to make a public apology.