The Official Opposition is questioning new spending from the government to the tune of about $757 million, with just over a month left before the annual budget. Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon explains that earlier this week, Cabinet approved the new spending, but suggests it’s a huge amount of money without budget authorization or any clarity on how it is being spent. He says the provincial government didn’t advise the public about what appears to be a massive overspend and an increase in the provincial deficit.

Among the new expenses, Wotherspoon says, are millions of dollars in overseas travel by the Premier and ministers including a pavilion, a new provincial police administration instead of investments in front line policing and the RCMP, and software contracts like AIMS ballooning to hundreds of millions of dollars, but still not functioning properly.

The NDP is also calling for the third quarter financial report to be delivered in a more timely manner, stating that a few years ago, the government began delaying it until Budget Day at the end of March.

Government response: A written statement from Executive Council says Special Warrants are used when no appropriation for the necessary expenditure exists within the current fiscal year. They will all be reviewed by the Legislature at the next available sitting. The statement includes a list of new expenses which are below, along with the NDP’s list. The largest by far is for the Ministry of Health at $450.1 million for operating pressures at the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency and the contract agreement with the Saskatchewan Medical Association, and higher than budgeted fee-for-service and out-of-province utilization.

Official Opposition list:

• Software contracts like AIMS ballooning to hundreds of millions of dollars and not functioning
• A sole-source contract with a major Sask. Party donor to perform mammograms in Calgary for ten times the normal cost
• Inflated prices for social services clients staying at motels owned by a Sask Party MLA
• Travel nurses increasing healthcare operating costs by upwards of $100M
• Millions of dollars in overseas travel by the Premier and ministers including a pavilion and subway advertising in Dubai costing a million dollars
• A new provincial police administration instead of investments in frontline policing and the RCMP that represent much better value for money
• The inflated costs of building public assets through P3 agreements with companies outside of Saskatchewan, and gross mismanagement of projects like the Bypass and GTH
• A Saskatchewan Revenue Agency that will increase tax administration costs for taxpayers and compliance costs for businesses

Government list:

• $86.321M for the Ministry of Agriculture
  • Appropriation for AgriStability program payments to ensure the Province is meeting its obligations to cost share business risk management programming, in particular the AgriStability program. The increase in AgriStability program payments is based on the summer forecast prepared by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and estimates from Crop Insurance based on recent processing of claims. In 2023, the AgriStability compensation rate was increased from 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
• $8.968M for the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety
  • Appropriation for pressures due to staffing and overtime costs resulting from the operation of correctional facilities, services and programs.
• $94.500M for the Ministry of Energy and Resources
• • • Appropriation for the continued clean-up of the abandoned northern uranium mine sites of Gunnar, Lorado and associated satellite sites.
• $20.285M for the Ministry of Environment
  • Appropriation for an increase in contaminated sites liabilities as a result of a new cost estimate related to the design remediation work and to monitor and maintain the Anglo-Rouyn mine site.
• $17.688M for the Ministry of Government Relations
  • Appropriation for First Nation Gaming Agreements and the Métis Development Fund as a result of higher-than-budgeted casino profits forecasted in Q3.
• $450.100M for the Ministry of Health
  • Appropriation for operating pressures at the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, the contract agreement with the Saskatchewan Medical Association, and higher-than-budgeted fee-for-service and out-of-province utilization.
  • Some of the expenditures to be covered by this additional funding include:
    • $154.2 million for a new four-year contract between the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Medical Association.
    • $132 million for human resource compensation pressures. This includes funding for the Saskatoon and Regina Capacity Pressure Action Plans as they work to implement systemic changes to address capacity pressures not only in Saskatoon and Regina, but across the province. This work has already resulted in hundreds of additional positions across the province and over 116 additional hospital and community beds.
    • $73.6 million for medical and surgical supplies, mainly resulting from higher patient volumes, inflation and increased volume of surgical procedures. Saskatchewan’s surgical system achieved the highest volumes ever recorded in the first six months of the fiscal year from April 1 to September 30, and this work is continuing as the system continues to work towards eliminating a pandemic-related surgical backlog.
    • $22 million for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, primarily for drug expenditures due to higher-than-expected utilization and new oncology drugs.
    • $20 million dollars for the Family Physician Stabilization Program to support family doctors who provide primary care services in clinic settings that provide in-person patient visits.
• $23.400M for the Ministry of Highways
  • Appropriation for higher-than-budgeted activities in Winter Maintenance.
• $1.664M for the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General
  • Appropriation for the Legal Aid Commission due to the negotiated settlement on its collective bargaining agreement, increased private bar costs due to referrals, and escalated operational expenses; and the Saskatchewan Coroners Service due to operating pressures resulting from the increases in investigations and inquests.
• $1.824M for the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport
  • Appropriation for funding community-based programs and projects through the Community Initiatives Fund due to SaskGaming Casino profit forecasts being adjusted to reflect the projection of revenue to the end of the fiscal year.
• $5.000M for the Saskatchewan Research Council
  • Appropriation for the eVinci micro-Small Modular Reactor project.
• $8.995M for the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement
  • Appropriation for contaminated site liabilities, recording a transfer of assets to a municipality, and for IT capital asset acquisitions. Specifically, non-cash liabilities that must be booked when the provincial government becomes aware of an environmental liability in a public building. In this case, it is due to salt storage at a previously used government building in Regina and expenses related to the Whitespruce Landfill in Yorkton.
• $22.750M for the Ministry of Social Services
  • Appropriation for utilization pressures related to intensive third-party residential services required for the care of children and youth in the ministry’s care, and utilization pressures related to the Autism Spectrum Disorder Individualized Funding program.