{"id":265019,"date":"2017-04-11T10:30:42","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T14:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/the-saskatchewan-budget-and-walls-fuzzy-principles\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T21:34:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:34:05","slug":"the-saskatchewan-budget-and-walls-fuzzy-principles","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2017\/04\/the-saskatchewan-budget-and-walls-fuzzy-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saskatchewan budget and Wall\u2019s fuzzy principles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the cuts to the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), to slashing public libraries, to hits to post-secondary institutions, to the sudden rethink of the tax roles of local governments, figuring out the policy rationale behind the Wall government\u2019s latest budget is no easy task.<\/p>\n<p>Is it meant to be pro-business? Anti-urban? Is it trying to appeal to a voter base that would help keep the Saskatchewan Party in office? For those trying to analyze the budget, the answer could very well be \u201cDarned if I know!\u201d In politics, having a reputation of being muddled never pays off, whether amongst other elected peers such as premiers, or amongst those who can enter a voter\u2019s booth. Here, the budget\u2019s negatives can also be measured in the loss of an elected official\u2019s social capital.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Premier Brad Wall, the losses might not be limited to the court of public opinion. The city of Saskatoon is considering an injunction against the budget, which will reduce the amount of grants the province pays to municipalities in lieu of taxes each year. Losing a portion of those grants means a potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/saskatoon\/grants-in-lieu-property-taxes-cut-crown-corporations-1.4037261\">budget shortfall for Saskatoon of $11.4 million dollars<\/a>. Like any legal position, Saskatoon\u2019s view is not necessarily guaranteed to succeed in the courts, but the publicity around the issues at play might be well worth the effort. The narrative from the municipalities will be clear, the province\u2019s less so.<\/p>\n<p>Wall could point to external factors that have made his fiscal choices more constrained. Think oil prices. Think potash markets. Maybe even think population shifts. But given that Saskatchewan\u2019s deficit is so huge, and that some commodity slumps are fairly recent, that <a href=\"https:\/\/cupe.ca\/sites\/cupe\/files\/brief_saskatchewan_back_on_track_2017_03_07.pdf\">can lead an economist to wonder<\/a> whether money was spent poorly during better times. The more that speculation grows, the weaker Wall\u2019s position could become.<\/p>\n<p>The motives behind Wall\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/news\/economy\/premier-brad-wall-kicks-tiff-with-alberta-up-a-notch-by-inviting-calgary-energy-companies-to-move-to-saskatchewan\">recent spat with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley<\/a> are equally mysterious. How to interpret his public courting of a Calgary-based company he would like to see relocate to Saskatchewan, in the face of regional trade rules? Again, Wall\u2019s behaviour seems wobbly and unpredictable.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes when we hear the word \u2018budget\u2019, we think it\u2019s about money. But economics is often best understood as being about value. It\u2019s about what is important to us, what we want to protect and at what maximum cost. Right now, Wall has us confused about what he values, and his vision of Saskatchewan. That\u2019s a politically dangerous place to be.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-caption\">Photo:\u00a0Premier Brad Wall reacts to Saskatchewan Finance Minister Kevin Doherty&#8217;s 2017 budget speech at the Legislative Building in Regina Wednesday, March 22, 2017. The Canadian Press\/Mark Taylor.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options<em>\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/article-submission\/\"><em>link<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0on how to do it. <\/em><em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em><em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0<em>et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/article-submission\/\"><em>directives<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the cuts to the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), to slashing public libraries, to hits to post-secondary institutions, to the sudden rethink of the tax roles of local governments, figuring out the policy rationale behind the Wall government\u2019s latest budget is no easy task. Is it meant to be pro-business? Anti-urban? Is it trying to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":253041,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-08-30T06:03:08Z","apple_news_api_id":"ee3c52a0-40e4-493c-9d7e-6e785d46869d","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-08-30T06:03:08Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A7jxSoEDkSTydfm54XUaGnQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9362,9358,9372],"tags":[8436],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4245,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7048],"class_list":["post-265019","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economie","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-saskatchewan","irpp-category-economie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-saskatchewan"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Saskatchewan budget and Wall\u2019s fuzzy principles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2017\/04\/the-saskatchewan-budget-and-walls-fuzzy-principles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Saskatchewan budget and Wall\u2019s fuzzy principles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the cuts to the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), to slashing public libraries, to hits to post-secondary institutions, to the sudden rethink of the tax roles of local governments, figuring out the policy rationale behind the Wall government\u2019s latest budget is no easy task. 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