PST, cannabis revenue among topics discussed at post-budget meeting

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“I know it’s kind of early because we don’t have all the retail outlets open across Saskatchewan,” added Bater, who asked if there is any forecast on what the potential taxation revenue would be for Saskatchewan.

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Harpauer said $5.39 million in revenue is forecasted in the province’s budget. From that amount, $1.97 million is PST and $3.42 million is the federal cannabis excise tax.

“It isn’t the big cash cow I think that it was first thought it might be,” Harpauer said.

She said it doesn’t appear cannabis legalization has been “the huge cost” that everyone thought it might initially be, however, the province has included funding to train officers in the budget, nonetheless.

Chamber Chair Dallan Oberg was concerned about expanded PST related to restaurants and construction impacting business as well as economic growth. He asked if the province would ever revisit the decision.

Harpauer said the expanded PST has brought in $400 million and that would need to be backfilled from somewhere else before it could be looked at.

“Where is the money going to come from?” she said. “Each and every year when we build a budget we take a look at all our revenue streams and make decisions for that budget depending on our fiscal situation at the time. The restricting didn’t come without difficulty.”

On the issue of the carbon tax, she said the province is still in the courts opposing the federal government’s tax.

Among some of the positive comments received were responses to the province’s balanced budget.

Bater said he appreciated the province listening to the municipalities concerns, adding he is thankful for changes to the province’s revenue sharing formula in particular.

“It’s nice to be heard and we really appreciate the new formula,” Bater said.

The mayor said the city appreciated the province’s newly announced joint provincial-federal funding for North Battleford’s planned wastewater system upgrade project as a boon to the municipality.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW