Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is praising Prime Minister Mark Carney’s latest federal budget, calling it one of the best in recent years.
Speaking at a panel event on the province’s economic future in Saskatoon on Friday, Moe said he’s optimistic about several budget promises he believes will benefit businesses and communities.
“I would say it’s probably the best budget we’ve had in a decade, but that isn’t saying much,” Moe said, adding Canada likely has “the strongest prime minister” in the last decade or two.
“I’m not standing up here stumping for the Liberal Party or anything like that, but I do appreciate when good non-partisan work is being done.”
Moe has spoken openly about having a more collaborative relationship with Carney than with former prime minister Justin Trudeau, with whom he often clashed over policies such as the federal carbon tax.
Moe pointed to a new exemption for up to $15 million in capital gains from eligible investments in Canadian companies. He called Ottawa’s 10-year plan to end homelessness a “bold commitment” and said he plans to work with the federal government on that goal.
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Saskatchewan’s finance minister says the province will work with the federal government on the newly announced productivity mega deduction, which will allow companies to write off certain capital expenses upfront.
Jim Reiter says he expects it to cost Saskatchewan’s treasury around $400 million a year, but says it will be worth it.
“We’re happy to participate. We think it’s going to be a big incentive for business,” Reiter told reporters after the panel.
On the budget’s shortcomings, Moe said he had hoped for more infrastructure funding, particularly for municipalities, and plans to keep working with Ottawa on shared funding commitments.
“I met with a number of federal ministers on trying to work together to put together a long-term infrastructure funding program that might be a third federal, third provincial, third municipal. We don’t have that yet,” he said.
Saskatchewan resources in limelight
Another major Saskatchewan request, giving helium the same tax treatment as oil and gas, was addressed in the budget.
The province’s energy and resource minister said helium companies are looking to build Saskatchewan’s first liquefiers in the Swift Current, Sask., area in as little as two years.
Pam Schwann, president of the Saskatchewan Mining Association, said the budget is good news for mineral exploration and production. She noted that a five-year extension of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and the Critical Minerals Exploration Tax Credit gives junior exploration companies more long-term security as they seek financing.
Schwann said the budget also reaffirms Canada’s support for the province’s mineral industry, particularly as it advances its nuclear strategy.
“For Saskatchewan in particular, that’s very exciting. All the way from our upstream exploration and production into supplier opportunities, and then ultimately into supporting nuclear reactor development for our own power in Saskatchewan,” Schwann told Global News in an interview.
However, Schwann says the budget lacked other commitments, such as investment in trade-enabling infrastructure, reforms to the Impact Assessment Act to reduce red tape around project approvals and securing zinc as a federal critical mineral, which would significantly help the province’s McIlvenna Bay project, which is producing copper and zinc and listed as a project of national importance by the federal government last year.
“We were looking for federal recognition in terms of a more narrowed focus on critical minerals and we didn’t see that. So that was a little disappointing, not just for production in Saskatchewan, but also for refining of zinc elsewhere in Canada as well,” Schwann said.
