Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Saskatchewan 25e 2e Discours sur le budget 6 Avril 2006 Andrew Thompson Ministre des Finances Saskatchewan New Democratic Party Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure and an honour to deliver the budget in this historic Assembly today. This is the first budget of Saskatchewan’s second century. And as I begin today, I want to start by thanking my colleague, the Minister of Government Relations, the member for Regina Douglas Park, for his work and leadership in helping develop this budget. I am also particularly pleased to be joined in this Assembly today by Ed Tchorzewski, whose work as the minister of Finance in the early days of this government helped to ensure that Saskatchewan’s financial credibility was restored and that the tough decisions were taken early in order to allow this province to prosper. Mr. Speaker, this is a budget that will build on the strong foundations laid down by those who have one before me and those across this province of ours who have contributed so much to building a better future for Saskatchewan people. It is a budget that will build a better future by securing the prosperity that we enjoy today for a generation to come. It will build a better future by reinvesting in our social programs to ensure that no one is left behind on the path to opportunity. And it will build a better future by ensuring that Saskatchewan remains the best place in Canada to live, work, and raise a family. Mr. Speaker, the budget I am delivering today is the 13th consecutive balanced budget of this province. It is a budget that will be our largest ever at $7.7 billion. It will provide 8.4 per cent increase in program spending and will commit more than $7.1 billion to program support. This budget will contribute more than half a billion dollars to service the debt built up by the previous administration. It will establish $102 million surplus that will be used for debt reduction. I would note that we have been able to pay off nearly $450 million worth of debt in the past three years alone. Mr. Speaker, Saskatchewan was the first province in Canada to balance its books in the 1990s, and we are proud to have continued that tradition in every subsequent year. Government debt is now at its lowest point in 15 years. In fact today Saskatchewan has the third lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in Canada. Mr. Speaker, this budget is balanced not only on its bottom line but it is balanced in its priorities — priorities that invest in tax cuts in economic growth, social program spending, and debt reduction. We have been able to do this through the continued dedication of Saskatchewan people who share our prairie values of common sense financial management, of balanced taxation, and the desire to have an unbreakable social fabric that wraps around those most in need. Today’s budget is being delivered, as we enter our second century, at a time of significant opportunity and prosperity. Our economy is performing well. This year we expect to see economic growth of approximately 2.5 per cent. This builds on the economic success of Saskatchewan business that last year recorded the second highest growth in Canada for retail sales and manufacturing shipments. Last year we saw Saskatchewan businesses and consumers push wholesale trade, business permits and exports, international exports, to double digit increases. This growth reflects the fact that Saskatchewan businesses and consumers are confident that we are building a better future and that we’re seeing the benefit of being Canada’s third largest producer of natural gas, second largest producer of oil, and the single largest producer of potash and uranium in the world. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, the resources of our oil and gas fields, of our family farms and forests, of our mines are key to our continued prosperity. When our province first began, our economy was relatively labour intensive. A century later, we have an economy that today is relatively capital intensive. This change reflects a more mature economy and in so doing, it changes the dynamic of our labour force. We believe however that this capital can be employed not only to create growth but to create jobs for young people and working families right across this province. It’s worth noting that in the last five years alone, we have seen a 23 per cent increase in employment in the oil and gas industry. While the boom itself is not a secret, what is not well-known in this province is that Saskatchewan is emerging as a national economic leader and increasingly is receiving recognition as such from outside the province. Mr. Speaker, Saskatoon is quickly gaining the much deserved reputation as Canada’s science city. It’s an important economic engine in our province. It’s home to much of Canada’s agricultural biotechnology research, and it is home to the synchrotron. We’ve seen Saskatoon grow with the advanced, technology-clustered Innovation Place and significant new private sector investments in manufacturing processing facilities throughout the Saskatoon region. In Regina we’ve seen our economy transformed from its traditional role as a seat of government to its emergence as a national centre for culture, for environmental research, for information and petroleum technology, and film and video production. And indeed across Saskatchewan the strength of our manufacturing and processing facilities, mills, and factories, our forests and our farms continue to provide thousands of jobs and opportunities for Saskatchewan people. Mr. Speaker, we have accomplished much as a people and as a province. In 2002 Saskatchewan became a have province. Today’s budget will put Saskatchewan on the path to being a permanent have province. To do this, Mr. Speaker, we will implement the most ambitious program of business tax cuts in Saskatchewan history. These tax cuts will build on our previous measures to reduce oil and gas royalties, to encourage new investment in the mining sector, and to cut personal income taxes. These business tax cuts will help build a better future by making our economy more competitive and by encouraging business to invest more and to create new jobs right here at home. Mr. Speaker, we will implement the changes recommended by the business tax review committee by phasing out the general corporate capital tax by July 2008, by cutting the general corporate income tax by three points this year and lowering it to 12 per cent by July 2008. We will cut the resource surcharge rates for our oil, gas, potash, coal, and uranium in each of the next three years, and as of tonight, all new investment tax credits for manufacturing and processing will be fully refundable. I am also pleased to announce that all new capital investments will be completely exempt from the general corporate capital tax as of July 1 of this year. Mr. Speaker, these changes represent an investment of over $200 million in our economy during this term, and they go further than the recommendations made by the business tax review committee. Mr. Speaker, we also recognize that small-business owners create a large number of jobs here in Saskatchewan and that they too should enjoy the benefits of a prosperity that they have helped to create. As such, I’m announcing that we will raise the ceiling for small businesses by increasing the threshold to qualify for the small-business tax rate from 300,000 to 500,000 by July 2008. Mr. Speaker, this will provide the highest threshold in Canada, and we believe that these measures will build a better future for Saskatchewan people by helping business invest and grow and to create new jobs for young people right here at home. Mr. Speaker, while this budget makes historic changes to our approach for dealing with business taxes and will encourage new industries, new growth, and new jobs, we will continue to work with and support our traditional industries that continue to struggle. As indicated earlier we anticipate a 2.5 per cent growth in the GDP this year alone. While this is a solid rate of growth, it reflects the fact that our forestry sector is under pressure. The resources, jobs, and opportunities attached to our forests that rightfully belong to the people of Saskatchewan are needing to be protected. We remain confident that there is a better future for our forest sector that can be secured in areas like expanded OSB [oriented strand board] production, engineered wood products, dimensional lumber production, and other value-added industries in a reinvigorated pulp and paper sector. To this end, the changes in the capital taxes and the work of the new Forestry Secretariat are key to building a better future for the forestry industry. Mr. Speaker, this budget also recognizes the ongoing pressure that farmers and other agricultural producers feel as they continue to deal with the impact of low commodity prices. As such, this budget provides over $100 million in support for crop insurance and an additional 98.8 million for the base payment under CAIS. Mr. Speaker, while we remain concerned about the structure of CAIS, as in previous years we will look to providing additional top-up support in the third quarter as the 2006 final numbers become available. In fact, Mr. Speaker, this budget provides funding to ensure that we exceed the $1 billion payment over five years for the business risk management chapter committed under the APF [agricultural policy framework]. Mr. Speaker, this budget also provides very real and tangible support for farm families through a $67 million reduction in property taxes on agricultural land as announced by the Premier earlier this year. Mr. Speaker, we continue to be of the belief that agriculture is an important part of building the new economy through value-added products and initiatives like new approaches to organic agriculture, expanded meat processing opportunities afforded by the expansion of Maple Leaf Foods in Saskatoon, and new opportunities in grain-based ethanol production at facilities like those in Weyburn and Lloydminster that will benefit from the $17.7 million in price support for ethanol contained in this budget. Mr. Speaker, these investments show that we recognize that cutting business taxes is only one part of what we need to do to help transform Saskatchewan’s economy and to secure our prosperity. We know that we must also invest in people to ensure that working families and young people can participate fully in the economic benefits of this province. To this end I’m announcing today a series of initiatives that will support Saskatchewan people in participating more fully in our growing economy. Specifically this budget will provide a record $1.5 billion in support for education and skills training. This represents significant new funds to ensure that teacher’s salary costs are fully funded, that literacy skills are enhanced in our population, and that the differential funding for the basic per-pupil rates in our schools is fully eliminated in this budget. Mr. Speaker, this year more than 65,000 students will access Saskatchewan’s post-secondary education and skills training programs. During this term of office we will have increased the number of training opportunities by nearly 20 per cent and well exceed our commitment to fund 5,400 new training spaces. In so doing, this budget provides $196 million for the training system and almost $300 million for our universities. Mr. Speaker, we believe in the value of education, and we are committed to expanding access and assuring that cost is not a significant factor in determining whether one pursues post-secondary education and then joins the workforce. It is particularly important to help youth and students from farms and rural communities, northern communities, and students outside the major centres to attend our universities, colleges, and technical institutes. That is why our government will commit almost $100 million to student financial assistance this year, of which nearly 70 million will be in the form of non-repayable, income-support grants, scholarships, and bursaries. Approximately 22 million of this is targeted specifically for First Nations and Métis students. Mr. Speaker, this budget also increases the graduate tax credit to $850 this year thereby helping students to get their career started here at home. It helps them by sheltering more than $7,700 in income from taxation in the first year after graduation. Mr. Speaker, I am also very pleased today to announce that we will extend the tuition freeze on all undergraduate programs at our universities until the year 2008. Mr. Speaker, as a former student union president, I can assure these young people their time will come. Mr. Speaker, as we work to support students from across Saskatchewan get a high-quality education in order to start their careers, we recognize that for too many years First Nations and Métis youth have been left out of the halls of higher education. As a result they have been denied the ability to take their rightful places in our communities and in our labour force. This must change. As such, we have introduced new measures to encourage the participation of these young Aboriginal people in higher education through programs like the five-year, $20 million Gradworks program, Aboriginal bursary programs, mathematics and science enrichment programs, and student achievement programs. We will also provide in this budget for the first time, funding for First Nations students to attend the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. Mr. Speaker, in so doing we can recognize the important role the young Aboriginal people will play in helping secure the prosperity of this province for a generation to come. Mr. Speaker, this is a province founded by Aboriginal and immigrant people. As we start our second century, it’s fitting that this budget provides more than $6 million to establish an ambitious new program to open up Saskatchewan again by attracting 5,000 new immigrants a year to live, work, and raise their families here. Mr. Speaker, labour force and economic development require other investments as well. We recognize that today many employees make costly investments on their own to participate in our labour force. That is why I am pleased to announce, as a result of the work by the member for Regina Northeast, that we are introducing a new tax credit for tradespeople who, as employees, are required to provide their own tools to work in our growing industries. This new tax credit will have two components: an entry credit for tradespeople who are just starting out as employees, and an annual maintenance credit that recognizes the ongoing cost of supplying and replacing tools. Mr. Speaker, while provisions currently exist to allow self-employed tradespeople to write off the cost of tools, this measure is the first time that people employed in the trades will be recognized and provided with comparable benefit. Mr. Speaker, the prosperity that we enjoy today is allowing us to build a better future by creating a better climate for investment and job growth. It allows us to build a better future by investing in our labour force. It allows us to build a better future by investing in the social programs that have been established and supported by our government for generations. Today across Canada there is a grassroots campaign to make poverty history. This government will do its part to assist in this bold goal, to ensure that no one is left behind on the path to opportunity. We know that this will require new ideas, new thinking, and new investments. That is why I am announcing today that this budget will make the single largest increases to social assistance payments in a generation. Mr. Speaker, we will increase payments to the Saskatchewan Assistance Plan recipients living in long-term care facilities by $240 a year. Social assistance plan recipients living independently will see an increase of $480 a year. Transition employment allowance recipients living independently will receive $600 a year in increased support, and will share in an additional 1.5 million of support for increased utility allowances. And individuals receiving the provincial training allowance will see their benefits increase by $720 a year for a 12-month program. Furthermore, in the next year this government will undertake a comprehensive review of the static caseload on our social assistance rolls. We will do this to help us determine if these programs are in fact the best way to meet the needs of those who are dependent upon assistance because of disability, and if these programs best respect and meet the needs of these citizens. Mr. Speaker, this government has done much to advance and support the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities. It was this government that pioneered the National Child Benefit and helped forge new child care agreements with the national government. It was this government that created JobStart/Future Skills, KidsFirst, and the Building Independence initiative to help people break the cycle of poverty. Through Building Independence — through this program alone — we have helped 12,000 individuals and families, including 17,000 children, move from being in poverty to being full participants in our communities. Today, Mr. Speaker, we can and we will do more. To this end our government on behalf of citizens across Saskatchewan will undertake the following initiatives: we will commit $4.9 million for new child care and pre-kindergarten support that will continue despite the decision of the new federal government to break faith with us on these agreements. Mr. Speaker, this new funding will be used specifically to deepen the subsidies available to low-income families, to move forward our plan to create 1,600 new child care spaces during this term of office, and to expand pre-kindergarten programs for children in our most vulnerable neighbourhoods and communities. We will invest nearly $2 million in this budget to support literacy initiatives that will help people of all ages gain access to the skills they need to participate more fully in our communities and in our labour force. $17.1 million is committed to enhance wages for those who work in our community-based organizations so that those who assist in helping the most vulnerable in our communities are not forced into poverty themselves. Mr. Speaker, as a result of this budget, 670 new families will gain access to the KidsFirst program this year to help ensure that parents have the supports that they need to see their children get a healthy start in life. This budget supports the HomeFirst program that will provide $200 million over five years to ensure that 17,000 individuals and families benefit from better rental housing, home ownership, home maintenance, and home repair. For many families this support will give them for the first time the ability to enjoy the stability and the security that comes from home ownership. Mr. Speaker, this government has pioneered many programs to help people move from welfare to work, and we remain committed to building a better future for those who work at minimum wage. Our government will continue to support a minimum wage policy that reflects the strength of a growing economy that can afford to ensure that no one is left behind. During this term of office the minimum wage will have increased by $1.30 an hour or by 20 per cent. Together with our social supports in health care, these measures are among the most comprehensive in Canada today in ensuring that no one is left behind on the path to opportunity. Mr. Speaker, social programs and the benefits of government spending are enjoyed today by Saskatchewan people through universally accessible initiatives like medicare. As we begin Saskatchewan’s second century, it is fitting that the single biggest investments in this budget will go to support the single most important contribution Saskatchewan has made to Canada. Today I am pleased to announce that medicare and its related programs will receive nearly $300 million more. This represents a nearly 10 per cent increase in provincial funding. As such, the budget will provide a record $3.2 billion in support of our health care system this year alone. This funding will provide comprehensive, universal, publicly accessible, publicly funded access for more than 5.5 million visits to doctors and specialists, nearly 94,000 surgeries, and more than 106,000 advanced diagnostic procedures. Furthermore it allows us to employ the services of more than 37,000 doctors, specialists, and nurses; health care professionals; and support care workers. And for the first time, Mr. Speaker, this budget provides the funding to cover midwifery. Mr. Speaker, in the coming weeks, my colleague, the Minister of Health, will make a number of announcements on how this new investment in our health care system will help further our plan to ensure Saskatchewan has the best quality health care in Canada. Today I’m pleased to announce that this record health care budget includes a nearly 10 per cent increase in funding to our regional health authorities, half a million dollars for a new renal dialysis site in southeastern Saskatchewan, a quarter million dollars to begin planning for a diabetes centre on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. This budget also provides a 17 per cent increase to the cancer agency, $1 million in new money to improve mental health services for children, and $18.2 million to support the work of my colleague, the Minister of Healthy Living Services, in the provision of the Premier’s Project Hope by funding treatment, detox beds, outreach services, drug programs, and secure care. Mr. Speaker, this budget also provides 22 million to ensure that our hospitals have state-of-the-art technology and equipment available to them. This budget provides the single largest investment in health care in our province’s history. This budget also provides the single largest contribution to capital in the province’s history. This year we will spend well over $1 billion through this budget and our Crown corporations to maintain, renew, and build our provincial infrastructure. This will include new investments to support health care facilities, schools, laboratories, universities, highway and transportation corridors, telecommunication services, and other economic infrastructure. This year alone we will spend more than $340 million to build, maintain, and upgrade our highways and transportation networks. Funding in this budget will ensure the twinning of the Trans-Canada East and Yellowhead West will be complete by 2007 and that Highway 11 twinning expansion will continue. Mr. Speaker, this budget also breaks new ground with an $8.6 million investment in our northern roads program. This will include funding for the first time to ensure that paving projects and all-weather roads don’t end at the edge of the reserve. Mr. Speaker, we have decided that we can no longer wait for Ottawa to meet the needs of First Nations communities in this regard. I am also pleased to tell the Assembly that this budget contains a significant increase in funding for communities all across Saskatchewan. It includes more than $111 million this year for unconditional revenue sharing and other grants as well as almost 70 million in capital funding for projects in our urban, rural, and northern communities. Mr. Speaker, the continued economic growth and prosperity of our province depends on strategic investments in capital and in infrastructure. That prosperity depends in part on ensuring access to an affordable, secure, and stable supply of electricity. We believe that now is the time to begin to renew and rebalance our energy production profile through the use of renewable energy sources and green power. That is why the infrastructure program of this government commits $17.6 million to help build the largest wind generation project in Canada at the centennial wind power facility southeast of Swift Current. This is part of a quarter billion dollar investment that will see us generating 5 per cent of our electrical needs from this zero emission source and will make Saskatchewan the largest wind power producer in Canada. Mr. Speaker, our infrastructure program also recognizes that we have a 300-year supply of coal that provides one of the most stable and affordable means of power production in the world today. In order to help reduce the environmental footprint of this power source and thereby improve its sustainability, our infrastructure program will provide up to $10 million this year, to be matched by the federal government, to begin planning for a new clean coal plant that will seek to achieve near zero emissions. Mr. Speaker, the development of our economic infrastructure is not dependent upon government investment alone. As I present this budget, I am pleased to note the announcement by Husky Energy that they will undertake the engineering work for a $2.3 billion expansion of the upgrader at Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. I am also pleased to note that the private sector is prepared to co-fund a $10 million study into the development of a new polygeneration plant at Belle Plaine. This $3 billion plant would be one of the first of its kind in the world and would use the waste product from the tar sands as a feedstock for generating electricity, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and steam in support of enhanced oil recovery, potash mining, and fertilizer production. If proven viable, these industry-driven projects will have the potential to not only be the largest megaprojects in Saskatchewan history — creating thousands of new jobs — but they have the opportunity to further transform our economy by further establishing Saskatchewan as a world leader in the new generation of energy production and expertise. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let me say that today I have presented to this Assembly a budgetary policy that is balanced in its priorities and balanced on the bottom line. It is a budget that pays our bills and reduces our debt. It invests record amounts in infrastructure and secures our economic prosperity while protecting our social programs. This budget builds a better future right here. It builds a better future by investing a record amount in the education and training of our youth, a record amount in our medicare programs, and unprecedented new investments in those social programs that help ensure no one is left behind on the path to opportunity. Mr. Speaker, this budget builds a better future by providing new tax cuts to support farmers, businesses, and tradespeople, and creates a new investment climate to create jobs right here. This budget builds a better future for our youth, for students, for seniors, for business people, for farmers, for our communities, and for our families right here. This budget builds a better future right here, a future that ensures Saskatchewan is and will be the best place in Canada to live, work, and raise a family for generations to come. That, Mr. Speaker, is why I move, seconded by the Minister of Advanced Education and Employment: That the Assembly approve in general the budgetary policy of the government. Thank you very much.