Anti-poverty advocates pan Sask. budget's affordability measures

Jeremy Warren · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

The Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry says the 2025-26 Saskatchewan fund doesn't bash capable to support those astir susceptible successful a turbulent system threatened by looming tariffs.

"Obviously this is going to person an interaction connected everybody, but our acquisition moving successful the low-income assemblage is that the radical that are ever wounded the astir by these types of changes are the radical who person the least," said Peter Gilmer with the anti-poverty ministry, who spoke to CBC astatine the Legislature aft the fund merchandise Wednesday.

"When we're going into a fund wherever folks are lone getting into an further 2 per cent astatine the lowest extremity of the spectrum … that's disturbing for us."

The Saskatchewan Party authorities made affordability a ample plank of its 2024 predetermination campaign. Many of the promises made are successful the budget: raising income taxation exemptions, expanding low-income supports and boosting the Active Families Benefit.

The fund includes a 2 per cent summation to the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) and the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability benefits. That works retired to monthly increases of astir $20 and $24 respectively, Gilmer said.

"Given the outgo of surviving situation that we've been dealing with and the information that these rates person been acold excessively debased for acold excessively long, that's obscurity adjacent enough," Gilmer said.

The Low-Income Tax Credit is expanding by 5 per cent annually for 4 years, benefiting much than 300,000 radical and families, according to the province. An summation to the Personal Care Home Benefit for low-income seniors successful licensed idiosyncratic attraction homes volition assistance astir 2,000 people, the state said.

The government's affordability measures volition delight immoderate people, but inactive autumn short, said Simon Enoch, elder researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"I'm definite radical successful the mediate people volition invited the taxation cuts," Enoch said. "I deliberation the low-income radical are the radical present that whitethorn beryllium sacrificed."

Enoch was amazed the fund didn't see a contingency money to assistance radical perchance affected by U.S. tariffs connected Canadian goods and fallout from an extended commercialized war.

"I had truly hoped that the authorities would've swung for the fences here, due to the fact that we are successful an highly precarious economical and fiscal situation, potentially," helium said. "This was an accidental to truly emergence to the occasion. And I conscionable don't spot thing present that shows the urgency of this concern we're in."

Enoch wanted the fund to see supports similar occupation re-training funds for laid-off workers oregon price-gouging extortion for consumers, and much section procurement programs similar the state conscionable established for steel.

Active families bump welcomed

Sask Sport, the non-profit advocating for amateur sports, welcomed increases to the Active Families Benefit, which reimburses parents for costs progressive with sports, arts and taste activities. The state doubled the benefit to $300 and doubled its income threshold to $120,000.

The alteration volition marque assemblage sports much accessible for immoderate families, said Rob Kennedy, sports part manager astatine Sask Sport.

"It's an accidental for much kids to get progressive with athletics and recreation activities," Kennedy said. "The caller amount, it's substantial. The threshold was rather debased successful the past and present it's going to beryllium a important fig of families that could entree this."

The fund besides keeps the tiny concern taxation complaint astatine 1 per cent and reduces acquisition spot taxation mill rates crossed each spot classes. For families, the babelike kid exemption increases to $7,704 this twelvemonth from $7,015 and the fund forecasts it volition deed $9,706 by 2028.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) expressed dismay that the budget adds $2.4 cardinal to the provincial debt. The state already spends astir $1 cardinal annually — astir $705 per idiosyncratic — to work debt, said Gage Haubrich, CTF's Prairie director.

"The authorities is continuing conscionable to walk and enactment that onto the backs of taxpayers," Haubrich said.

"A much liable fund would person seen the authorities get the indebtedness to commencement going down, not adding billions of dollars to it, with imaginable for billions of much to beryllium added if this tariff concern gets worse."