Local Reaction to Tuesday’s Sask. Budget

Reaction continues to pour into the Saskatchewan Budget released Tuesday afternoon.

Yorkton Chamber of Commerce

The Board of Directors of the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce considers the 2021-22 provincial budget released yesterday to be a good one for the business community.

Marty Sveinbjornson, President of the Chamber, said the theme of the Budget – “Protect, Build, Grow” – is overall favourable to businesses. “Investing in infrastructure helps to keep the economy rolling and indicates a positive outlook for the future,” he said.

The Chamber continues to be concerned about the possibility of a major, wide-spread lockdown of businesses. “While the Yorkton business community is very resilient, as has been demonstrated these past 13 months, another sweeping lockdown will spell the end for many of our small businesses,” said Sveinbjornson. “The Yorkton Chamber urges the provincial government to consider the ramifications should more businesses be forced to permanently close due to the restrictions imposed upon them.”

The Yorkton Chamber is hopeful that current restrictions will soon be lifted so that businesses and residents can resume their normal activities.

The Chamber commends the government for the speed with which its most vulnerable citizens have been vaccinated.

Local MLA’s

The 2021 Saskatchewan budget received the seal of approval from the Melville-Saltcoats MLA.

Warren Kaeding stated that building infrastructure in the constituency was a main point that stood out.

“The big thing would be the passing lanes on the 16 highway, which certainly intersects a fair bit of the constituency of Melville-Saltcoats,” he said.

Kaeding is also the Minister of Environment, and notes that the ministry received $450-thousand in hiring conservation officers.

“We’ve got $629-thousand we’ve devoted to increase the size of our Nuclear Secretariat to help develop Small Modular Nuclear Reactor technology and deployment in the province.” Kaeding added.

Kaeding adds the Prairie Resiliency Climate Change Strategy received a boost of $225-thousand to the Output-Based Performance Standards Program.

In a news release, the province says “this will assist with the development and implementation of Saskatchewan’s carbon offset program.”

Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit believes the Saskatchewan Budget provides a little bit of everything, especially during these times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He highlighted a few items that will have an impact on the Yorkton area.

“The (Yorkton) Regional High School is a $20-million investment when it comes to improvements to the roof and then the reno on the facility…..the Urban Highway Connector Program has got significant funding towards it, which is the program that will be funding the York Road redevelopment, in partnership with the City of Yorkton.” Ottenbreit listed.

Of the $2.6-billion deficit, Ottenbreit says while it is the largest the province has ever seen, the spending was needed in response to COVID-19.

“However in comparison, listening to other people in the province wanting us to respond and to help them out in time of need, it’s kind of required to do that,” he said, adding the province is in a good position to come out of this pandemic strong.

“We have the best debt-to-GDP ratio in Canada through this budget. Also we have the second-best credit rating in Canada,”

Local Reaction to Tuesday’s Sask. Budget

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