The Saskatchewan Government has announced the budget for 2023-24 for the province. 

This budget will help govern spending, with this year being steered towards staying the debt. 

MLA for Swift Current, Everett Hindley, was in attendance with the rest of the caucus and is happy with how the year has been plotted out.

"What we're trying to do is strike a balance between making sure that we're fiscally responsible as a government," said Hindley. "We're in a fortunate position right now as a result of the strong growth that's happening in the economy, which is leading to some positive news when it comes to our provincial finances."

Some of the good news delivered yesterday by the Finance Minister, Donna Harpauer, was that they would have a $1 billion surplus for the year. 

The surplus has many driving factors, but many can be traced to the economic strength being exhibited in Saskatchewan's job growth. 

"The economic growth happening here in Saskatchewan that's leading the nation, creating the thousands of jobs in our province."

With all this extra economic weight, they have decided to invest in key sectors like health care, education, social services, highways and infrastructure in all of those previously mentioned. 

"Our provincial economy is expected to lead all provinces and grow," said Hindley. "And it continues that in the years ahead."

Harpauer said that they would be putting $1 billion down on debt reduction, which will lead to lower interest costs while helping to build investments and advancements in fields like healthcare.

A goal of this year's budget, outside of continued economic growth and reduced spending, was to put money into the right groups of people. Investing in new trade offices for more robust export and merchandise potential was just one of a few plans plotted in the budget. 

"A lot of the stuff that we're trying to do in this budget is to make sure that we're supporting people right across this province, and that includes people in southwest Saskatchewan."

Swift Current and other population centres in the southwest will benefit from the Rural EMS Stabilization program, which will be entering its second phase and second year.  

"We are announcing $8.8 million for round two, which will benefit 27 rural communities across this province," said Hindley. "One of those communities is Shaunavon. So now the community of Shaunavon will benefit from that Rural EMS Stabilization funding and will hopefully help improve EMS in that area."

Hindley will sit down with Swift Current Online to go into the budget at greater length later on. For now, click here to read a more in-depth look at this year's budget.