Sask. legislature resumes with impending deficit budget and a focus on health care

Saskatchewan's upcoming budget will be a deficit. The only question now is how large the number will be.

Taxpayers may not get the answer until later this month when the budget is tabled, but the question will loom large over the provincial legislature as it resumes on Monday.

"We're in a challenging time across Canada and you're going to see that," Premier Scott Moe told media this past week.

Along with a deficit budget, Moe must contend with a backlog of legislation and a continued focus on the state of health care in the province.

Moe set the stage for the session earlier this week when he spoke at a luncheon in Saskatoon.

"You'll see a deficit in a couple weeks in this province," he said.

Moe has remained tight-lipped on the size of the potential deficit, refusing to provide a direct answer when asked by media multiple times this week.

The premier offered one more hint about the budget, saying it will not include a tax increase and services won't be cut.

One political expert says that combination can only mean one thing: debt financing.

Charles Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Saskatchewan, said he believes the decision will leave Moe vulnerable on both political flanks.

"Right-of-centre think tanks like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation find borrowing to be fundamentally wrong as a policy choice because they worry about the long-term consequences of floating government bonds," Smith said in an interview this week.

"That does provide an opening for the NDP to criticize on the increasing size of the budget deficit and of course the long-term debt," Smith said.

At news conferences this week, the Saskatchewan NDP Opposition has already begun to hit the provincial government on the subject of the province's debt.

NDP Leader Carla Beck said Moe's preview of the budget is not a good sign.