Sask. Premier Moe says next week's budget includes more money for health care and crime reduction

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Premier Scott Moe says adjacent week's provincial fund volition absorption connected wellness care, acquisition and crime, with much wealth targeted astatine reducing surgical hold times, giving everyone entree to a superior wellness attraction provider, improving pupil speechmaking skills and hiring constabulary officers.

Moe made the comments astatine the yearly Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) normal successful Saskatoon connected Wednesday.

He said the March 19 fund volition travel up connected the government's throne code promises, which focused connected health, acquisition and nationalist safety.

"We're utilizing each of the opportunities, each of the tools that we have," Moe told the crowd, saying that the state is paying for backstage surgeries with nationalist wealth to assistance spot distant astatine hold lists.

"We're going to guarantee that not lone bash you person entree to a health-care supplier wherever you unrecorded successful this province, we're going to guarantee you person entree to country close present successful Saskatchewan."

Moe's authorities has been nether occurrence precocious for burgeoning hold lists successful bosom imaging and diagnostics.

The state is presently paying a backstage Calgary session to execute mammograms and biopsies for urgent cases that would different beryllium waiting months successful Saskatchewan.

Moe said this year's fund volition person wealth dedicated to making definite everyone tin spot a household doctor or caregiver practitioner, and reiterated erstwhile promises to unfastened urgent attraction centres successful Saskatoon, North Battleford, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw. 

He besides said the state is mounting speech much wealth to absorption connected kindergarten to Grade 3 outcomes.

"If a kid tin read, constitute and adhd astatine a Grade 3 level … grades 4 done 12, occurrence becomes wholly much possible."

NDP says authorities has had years to enactment and failed

Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck besides attended the SARM normal and said the state has to marque definite everyone, careless of wherever they live, has entree to wellness attraction and education.

"We've seen a deficiency of willingness from the provincial authorities to marque investments. To enactment with those section voices. To marque definite wherever you unrecorded successful this state radical person entree to wellness care."

Moe said the authorities is besides focusing connected nationalist information successful the budget, with plans to adhd 500 further constabulary officers and 500 cause attraction beds to assistance combat the cause crisis.

"That didn't conscionable hap successful the past 3 months," Beck said, referring to accrued cause overdoses and related crimes.

"We've seen the overdose and addictions situation spell unchecked successful this state for implicit a decade."

Beck besides noted that portion it's important to woody with wellness and education, Saskatchewan needs to enactment wealth toward commercialized infrastructure including pipelines, obstruction lines and road twinning for semipermanent solutions to the existent commercialized crisis.

"We cannot beryllium overly babelike connected the United States. We request to get east-west commercialized moving."