REGINA — It is almost becoming a regular occurrence as the provincial government has again issued special warrants for spending prior to a provincial budget.
There were 12 Orders in Council issued Feb. 13 for special warrants covering a wide range of ministries, with spending totalling upwards of $654 million. The Orders in Council were published on the government’s website.
The largest amounts were $338 million to the Ministry of Health, with $103.8 million to Agriculture, $75 million to Social Services, $43,922,000 to Community Safety, $36.4 million to Education and $26,180,000 to Highways.
The special warrants were issued a month prior to the 2026-27 provincial budget, expected to be delivered March 19.
The news of the special warrants brought back memories of last February, when the government issued just short of $1 billion in special warrants spending. That prompted claims from the NDP of a ballooning deficit — only for Finance Minister Jim Reiter to report a narrow $12 million surplus in his budget address the following month.
It was a similar sense of deja vu on Wednesday morning at the Legislature, as Opposition Leader Carla Beck accused the government of a lack of accountability about its finances.
“We’ve seen Scott Moe rack up another $654 million in unbudgeted spending, this according to special warrants that were quietly published on the government’s website earlier this week,” Beck told reporters.
“Note, it is another long weekend, another quiet dump from the Sask Party. And it’s also clear that instead of a plan to dig us out from this mess, we see Scott Moe and the Sask Party wanting to hit the gas.”
She also lambasted the previous year’s budget projections that went from “a laughable narrow surplus to a massive $427 million deficit, that plus a cool extra billion dollars in debt. The latest $654 million of additional and unbudgeted spending could put the deficit at $1 billion, I don’t know, $2 (billion), it’s hard to tell, because they haven’t published the third quarter reports … It’s coming up on TeleMiracle weekend in Saskatchewan, and you can almost hear Bob McGrath shouting, and whether it’s an answer to where are we going on the TeleMiracle stage, or where are we going when it comes to provincial debt and deficit, the answer is most definitely higher.”
Beck demanded the government “open the books and release the third quarter financial statements immediately.”
When asked why she thought the province was resorting to issuing special warrants spending once again, Beck said, “it was because they’re terrible at budgeting, and they are, instead of trying to fix problems, they’re trying to put one over on the people of Saskatchewan.”
“I mean it’s clear as day. There was a time when you had to wait until at least the first quarter, maybe second quarter to realize oh these guys have really blown the budget. Now, it’s on budget day. People are laughing … When people in the gallery can’t keep a straight face when the government stands up and says, oh we’ve got a surplus, you’ve got a problem.”
The provincial government had a response ready even before the NDP held their news conference.
In a statement that same morning, they accused the NDP of having been “demanding that the government spend more in our health-care system and other important services, in addition to protecting Saskatchewan’s economy from the Trump tariffs.”
“Now, after the government has done exactly that, the NDP is demanding that we cut spending. This is exactly why no one takes the NDP seriously and why they continue to be an unserious opposition.”
The province also pointed to the B.C. NDP government having tabled a budget the previous day “with a massive budget deficit and tax increases.”
“This is just an example of how the NDP would manage the province’s finances if they were ever to form government here in Saskatchewan.”
The government also stated that in the upcoming budget, they will be moving forward with the second year of their personal income tax reduction plan. “Does the NDP want the government to cancel that tax cut?”
The government statement came as no surprise to Beck, who accused them of wanting “a gold star for washing the kitchen floor with orange juice.”
“I don’t know what to tell them. They’re predictable. They are in charge of the finances, the government in Saskatchewan. They have been for almost 20 years. They’re getting very, very predictable over there.”
