Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan government’s spending reached over $16,000 per person in 2021.. SK-premiers-and-provincial-government-spending-infographic .The Fraser Institute (FI), a public policy think-tank, published a new report entitled “Saskatchewan Premiers and Provincial Government Spending.”.In 2021, government spending per person was $16,843, which included COVID-related spending. The government spent $15,585, excluding COVID-related spending, still the highest on record..“An effective way of measuring a government’s fiscal policy is by reviewing per-person (inflation-adjusted) program spending by various Premiers,” said Tegan Hill, FI senior economist and co-author of the report..READ MORE Canada drops out of top 10 ‘freest’ countries.This annual study reviews per-person spending, adjusted for inflation, by the Saskatchewan premiers between 1965 and 2021..The study found “the highest single year of per-person spending on record was under Premier Scott Moe in 2021” even when COVID-related spending is excluded..The second highest year of per-person spending was in 2020, when Moe spent $14,904, including COVID-related spending. Moe still spent $13,541 when COVID-related spending is excluded..“In contrast, in 1996, then-premier Roy Romanow’s government spent $7,148 per person [adjusted for inflation] after a period of austerity to better control the province’s finances, which laid the foundation for debt elimination and tax relief, contributing to a period of prosperity in Saskatchewan,” said the news release. .“Holding the line on the growth of provincial spending, as the government achieved in the 1990s, is imperative to the long-term health of the province’s finances,” said Hill.
