There is no excuse for Saskatchewan’s reckless borrowing

Spending is rising, debt is growing and the government has no plan to control it

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Saskatchewan’s government is sending taxpayers a billion-dollar bill for debt interest and calling it a plan. That’s the real story in this year’s budget.

Finance Minister Jim Reiter says tariffs and global uncertainty forced a choice: raise taxes, cut services or protect Saskatchewan. He says the government chose to protect Saskatchewan. In this case, “protect Saskatchewan” means keep overspending and keep piling debt onto taxpayers.

This borrowing is not a one-off response to global pressures. It’s part of a pattern. Since 2017, the provincial government has more than doubled the debt. Now it plans to increase taxpayer-supported debt by another $3.4 billion this year, bringing total debt to $26.8 billion by year-end—more than $21,000 per Saskatchewanian.

That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because year after year, the government chose higher spending instead of finding savings. Saskatchewan families understand how this ends. Run up a credit card long enough and interest starts eating into your paycheque. The government is doing the same thing, and taxpayers are on the hook.

This year alone, the government will spend about $1 billion on debt interest, or roughly $821 for every person in Saskatchewan. And there is no plan to stop. The government projects debt will climb to $33 billion by 2029—a 23-per-cent increase in just three years.

The reason is straightforward. Spending keeps rising. The budget increases spending in all but one department. Overall spending is up $1.2 billion from last year, while revenue rises by just $361 million. When spending grows three times faster than revenue, debt follows. That’s not ideology. It’s arithmetic.

Saskatchewan is now spending about $17,565 per person, more than both Alberta and British Columbia. British Columbia’s NDP government is widely criticized for high spending and growing debt, yet Saskatchewan now spends more per person. That should raise serious questions.

Yet the budget offers no new tax relief. The Saskatchewan NDP has called for a cut to the gas tax to help offset rising fuel costs. The province currently charges a 15-cent-a-litre gas tax, costing families about $11 to fill a minivan and about $15 for a pickup. Saskatchewan also has the highest provincial gas tax in Western Canada, and a reduction would have provided immediate relief. Instead, taxpayers get higher spending and higher debt.

The Saskatchewan Party says one of its guiding principles is a “steady, gradual reduction in government spending and taxation while maintaining a firm commitment to balanced budgets.” This budget does none of that.

When households face pressure, they adjust. They cancel trips, delay purchases and find ways to cut back. The government did the opposite. It opened the chequebook and spent more.

There is no serious indication that every dollar is being scrutinized. No comprehensive spending review and no clear effort to identify waste. Are taxpayers supposed to believe there is nothing to cut in a government that spends this much?

The longer this continues, the harder it becomes to fix. Interest costs don’t just grow—they crowd out everything else. Every dollar spent on debt is a dollar that can’t go to tax relief or core services. That is the real cost of this budget.

Taxpayers can’t afford continued borrowing at this pace. The government needs to stop pretending the bill can be deferred indefinitely. It can’t. Spending must be brought under control. Debt must be stabilized and then reduced.

Otherwise, the billion-dollar interest bill won’t be the headline. It will be the baseline.

Gage Haubrich is the Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.