Premier Scott Moe told an annual gathering of Saskatchewan's town and city politicians he feared a federal budget with more carbon taxes but less money for their communities.At a noon hour address in Regina, the premier told the 2024 Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention he agreed with their stance that the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) needed more money and minimal restrictions."It needs to be reloaded with funds so that provinces and municipalities can co-invest in building the communities where each of us live," Moe said."ICIP and any other relevant transfers, investment transfers, like the gas tax return, they need to remain as flexible as possible, so that each community can continue to meet specific challenges that they may have."Moe said the federal carbon tax needed to be removed to provide economic "certainty" to communities, though he expected it to increase."It does nothing but create higher costs for Saskatchewan and Canadian families. It does nothing but create higher costs for Saskatchewan and Canadian businesses, thereby declining that investment attraction opportunity," he said."My suspicion and my fear is that the federal government is going to provide Canadians with no community infrastructure funding, and an increased carbon tax."Moe's read of recent federal announcements was that infrastructure funds and gas tax transfers would go to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, the political strongholds of the Liberal party."Those are going to be redirected to specific housing programs that are, let's call it 'directed', essentially at three of the largest communities in this nation. This is not the way for us to build a prosperous and affordable community in our province. And I would say largely across this nation, this is not the way forward in building prosperous and affordable communities for Canadians."And it's not the way to build a nation for that matter. If that's what we see in tomorrow's budget, you can expect our government to be very, very vocal in voicing our concerns and I would encourage SUMA and your municipality to be equal in that."The premier said last month's Saskatchewan budget, by contrast, was focused on growth. He reminded the audience that exports powered 70% of the economy and the value of these exports had grown 70% since 2018."Why is this important to you in this room? It's because growth indicates a strong and resilient economy. And it's through the strength of that economy that we're able to make investments."Moe announced Saskatchewan's latest population at 1,232,390. The province grew by more than 30,000 people in 2023, the most since 1914. Capital investment in 2023 rose 25% over the year before, second- best in Canada.Unlike BC, which recently formally allowed crack cocaine to be smoked in designated areas in hospitals, Moe said Saskatchewan had chosen recovery from addictions over of harm reduction and safe supply."We do not believe that government should help people continue to use illegal drugs. We believe that government's role is one that helps those very people move away from the use of illegal drugs, in particular, those illegal drugs that are available in our nation today. There is no such thing today as the safe use of illegal drugs."
Premier Scott Moe told an annual gathering of Saskatchewan's town and city politicians he feared a federal budget with more carbon taxes but less money for their communities.At a noon hour address in Regina, the premier told the 2024 Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention he agreed with their stance that the federal Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) needed more money and minimal restrictions."It needs to be reloaded with funds so that provinces and municipalities can co-invest in building the communities where each of us live," Moe said."ICIP and any other relevant transfers, investment transfers, like the gas tax return, they need to remain as flexible as possible, so that each community can continue to meet specific challenges that they may have."Moe said the federal carbon tax needed to be removed to provide economic "certainty" to communities, though he expected it to increase."It does nothing but create higher costs for Saskatchewan and Canadian families. It does nothing but create higher costs for Saskatchewan and Canadian businesses, thereby declining that investment attraction opportunity," he said."My suspicion and my fear is that the federal government is going to provide Canadians with no community infrastructure funding, and an increased carbon tax."Moe's read of recent federal announcements was that infrastructure funds and gas tax transfers would go to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, the political strongholds of the Liberal party."Those are going to be redirected to specific housing programs that are, let's call it 'directed', essentially at three of the largest communities in this nation. This is not the way for us to build a prosperous and affordable community in our province. And I would say largely across this nation, this is not the way forward in building prosperous and affordable communities for Canadians."And it's not the way to build a nation for that matter. If that's what we see in tomorrow's budget, you can expect our government to be very, very vocal in voicing our concerns and I would encourage SUMA and your municipality to be equal in that."The premier said last month's Saskatchewan budget, by contrast, was focused on growth. He reminded the audience that exports powered 70% of the economy and the value of these exports had grown 70% since 2018."Why is this important to you in this room? It's because growth indicates a strong and resilient economy. And it's through the strength of that economy that we're able to make investments."Moe announced Saskatchewan's latest population at 1,232,390. The province grew by more than 30,000 people in 2023, the most since 1914. Capital investment in 2023 rose 25% over the year before, second- best in Canada.Unlike BC, which recently formally allowed crack cocaine to be smoked in designated areas in hospitals, Moe said Saskatchewan had chosen recovery from addictions over of harm reduction and safe supply."We do not believe that government should help people continue to use illegal drugs. We believe that government's role is one that helps those very people move away from the use of illegal drugs, in particular, those illegal drugs that are available in our nation today. There is no such thing today as the safe use of illegal drugs."
