Former Deputy to the Premier Alanna Koch is in the Saskatchewan Party leadership race, and in Swift Current yesterday she said the government didn't do a good job of consulting the public going into the last budget.

The government faced a lot of heat in a number of areas, and Koch said she thought the government surprised people with their cuts.

"It's that surprises are not the best way to run government, and I think we surprised people," she said.

Koch said tough decisions had to be made, but listening to public input would have helped immensely.

"Maybe we could have made more informed decisions, less-shocking decisions - no surprises for people," she said. "Still tough choices, but everybody would understand the contexture and why we've made them. And the government [would have] made more-informed decisions because they've had conversations before they made the final choice at budget time."