saskleginside


More funding for health care, highways and schools. No money at all for Enterprise Regions, prescription drugs are going to cost more and there will be no Film Tax Credit.

The 2012 Provincial Budget has been presented and Finance Minister Ken Krawetz kept his promise of a balanced budget, saying that being fiscally responsibility now is the way to grow Saskatchewan in the future.

This was the first budget of Premier Brad Wall's second term in office.

There are revenues of $11.29 billion and expenditures of $11.2 billion with increases for programs like a 4.5% budget increase in funding for highways that will include 320km of paving this summer, school operating funding will increase by $82 million this year and there's an increase of $217 million dollars to the health care budget.

As part of the budget, $2.5 million has been added to help those people living with diabetes by adding two forms of long acting insulin to the Drug Plan and by adding the Children's Insulin Pump Program to cover those patients up to 25 years of age.

The Saskatchewan Cancer Agency will get an extra $16.9 million to support cancer services in the province with a $4 million increase to expand colorectal screening.

The budget also allows for a $3.3 million increase to the Seniors Income Plan, taking the program to $24.2 million. As a result, starting July 1st benefits will be increase by $50 per month, followed by an increase of $10 per month in each of the next three years.

However, there were cut backs and alteration to some programs that will not go un-noticed such as a complete deletion of funding to Enterprise Regions. "We believe that the decisions about local economic developments and what should happen at the local level should be done there by representatives of municipalities that are involved." explained Minister Krawetz.

"As a result of the significant increases in Revenue Sharing, we're transferring that responsibility for that decision making and that responsibility for funding."

It was just three years ago that the province got rid of the Regional Economic Development Associations and unveiled the new Enterprise Regions but Minister Krawetz says they are not abandoning the idea, municipalities will just have to pay for it they want it to continue.

The government has also announced they are raising the cap on prescription drug fees from the $15 dollars that we pay now, to $20 in an effort to generate $10 million in savings for the budget. The increase is expected to cost the average senior $125 annually and $20 per year for children. At the same time, the cost for the Senior Citizen's Ambulance Assistance Plan is going up by $25 per trip to $275.

As we mentioned earlier, the province is axing the Film Tax Credit that has drawn countless motion picture companies to Saskatchewan, saving $3 million this year and $8 million in each subsequent year.

For a complete look at the 2012 Provincial Budget, click here.

The government delivers the budget:


The opposition responds: