Video by Denis Conroy
REGINA — Finance Minister Jim Reiter says the theme of the 2026 budget will be “Protecting Saskatchewan.”
Reiter announced the theme Tuesday morning, one day prior to his presentation of the budget in the Legislative Assembly on March 18.
In keeping with that theme, Reiter also revealed the shoes he plans to wear on budget day. They are the same shoes he wore last year, as “they are in good shape — they just needed a little touch up and a little protection.”
Reiter said the shoes had a spray and are what he will wear Wednesday during the budget address.
He acknowledged that the circumstances of the 2026 budget are somewhat different from last year, when the impacts of tariffs were on the minds of everyone. The shoes he is wearing were made in India — somewhat fitting given the recent trip to India by Premier Scott Moe and the Cameco announcement of a deal on uranium.
Much of the budget is still under wraps, although there have been signals from the government of a deficit budget being presented on March 18.
What “Protecting Saskatchewan” means, said Reiter, is that in the budget speech “you’re going to see measures that the government’s taking to help Saskatchewan citizens through geopolitical stresses around the world. There’s economic stresses, inflation’s high. Obviously we’ve been talking to Saskatchewan citizens, we’ve heard I would say on a lot of issues but the two kind of ones that everybody keeps coming back to is affordability issues and health-care issues, so you’re going to see that being a focus of the speech tomorrow.”
He said some of the measures are not going to be a secret. “We campaigned on it,” Reiter said, saying they are working to “continue to implement our campaign promises.”
As for the NDP’s call Tuesday to suspend the gas tax, given the current spiking oil prices, Reiter was less than impressed.
“Here is the issue. Yesterday, they were complaining about a high deficit. Today, they’re saying cut revenues. All the revenue from fuel taxes and then some goes towards highways maintenance. So they’re cutting fuel taxes, they are cutting highway construction projects and maintenance.”
Reiter acknowledged the difficulties in crafting a budget, given the world situation on resource prices.
“Everybody’s watching the WTI right now — the price of oil, right, because it’s exceptionally high because of what’s happened in the Middle East. It’s difficult to peg that, right? It’s been so volatile right now, and we’re going to deliver the budget tomorrow, and the fiscal year doesn’t even start until the first of next month. So those things are difficult. You take the best advice you can from folks in that particular industry, whatever it is — our finance officials are very good at that. A budget’s a snapshot in time and so you make the best call you can. So you’re going to be behind on some things, low on other things — we’re optimistic it’ll go okay.”
