Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will table a deficit budget next month, citing economic uncertainty across the country as the reason for increased spending.

Turbulent trade relations between Canada and the United States, along with ongoing tariffs in China and India, are among the reasons Moe cites for the province’s revenue challenges.

“We are in a very challenging time financially, both nationally and at the provincial level. Provincial, sub-national, and national governments are faced with choices that they are going to have to make,” said Moe, speaking to reporters Tuesday following a luncheon speech held by North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA).

Moe points to British Columbia’s recently-tabled budget — one that projects a $13.3 billion deficit — as evidence of the economic pressures provinces are currently facing, but adds that Saskatchewan’s deficit won’t be as significant.

“I don’t think you’re going to see anything like that, whether it be in the existing budget or in next year’s budget,” he said.

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Raising taxes is not in the cards for the province, said Moe, adding that his government is taking an approach of protecting services instead.

“We are going to make the choice to protect Saskatchewan services, whether that’s health care, whether it’s community safety and investing in keeping our Saskatchewan communities and families safe, as well as education, highways and such,” he said.

A renewed focus on improving health care is also on the table, with Moe saying his government will look into innovations in how health care is provided rather than join the debate over whether it is delivered privately or publicly.

Moe said his government will look into virtual health care innovations so that “everyone in the province does have access to a primary health care provider.”

The province’s Opposition is blasting the government’s latest spending, saying the debt is growing uncontrollably.

“It’s difficult to say what to expect, because frankly I don’t trust this government’s ability to bring a real budget forward or to deliver the full financial picture of the province,” said Carla Beck, Saskatchewan Opposition leader.

Last year, the province budgeted for a $12-million surplus, but this spiralled into the red when the province reported a $427-million deficit in its mid-year budget update in November.

Earlier this month, the province approved $654.7 million in spending through executive orders. The Opposition criticized this spending last week, saying it pushes the province’s deficit close to $1 billion.

Moe would not say whether the budget is approaching a $1 billion deficit and defended these special warrants, saying they are widely used by governments and are not new.

“The province utilizes special warrants, the federal government utilizes special warrants, and then it’s accounted for each and every quarter,” he said.

“If it wasn’t accounted for in the quarter of the reports, then we’d have a problem, but it is each and every time.”

Saskatchewan’s spring legislative session kicks off on March 2, with the budget expected to be tabled on March 18.

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An immigration expert says a dip in Saskatchewan’s latest population numbers can be attributed to a decline in non-permanent residents, as the province’s official Opposition opens itself up to suggestions on how to keep young people in.

Last October, Saskatchewan’s population grew by 9,251 people compared to the same reporting period in 2024, bringing the total to 1,266,234.

But compared to the end of the second quarter in July 2025, the population dropped by 725 people.

At a Wednesday press conference, Saskatchewan’s opposition leader, Carla Beck, said the province’s population declined for the first time in 20 years. However, a slight drop in the province’s population was also recorded between January and October of 2020, when the population dropped from 1,169,426 to 1,165,963, according to the province’s population numbers.

“Let’s not assume that people don’t wanna stay here, but there are things that are keeping them from staying in this province,” Beck said.

The NDP says the population dip is due to young people leaving the province, and launched an online survey on Wednesday to gather their ideas for change.

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But according to an immigration expert, the reasons for the changing population numbers are more complex and also not unique to Saskatchewan.

“We’ve seen zero population growth throughout Canada. But in Saskatchewan, it has actually not been as precipitous as some of the other communities,” said Rupa Banerjee, Canada research chair in the economic inclusion of immigrants and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.

In a statement to Global News, the provincial government attributes the drop in population to a “necessary reset” in the number of immigrants to Canada.

“We continue to be supportive of carefully managed immigration that benefits Saskatchewan’s and Canada’s economy, and we expect Saskatchewan’s population to return to gradual, manageable growth in the future,” the statement read.

In 2024, the federal government introduced a cap on the number of temporary foreign workers and international students to address surging immigration levels.

This also led to the scaling back of the Provincial Nominee Program, which gives provinces an allowance for the number of skilled workers they can bring in each year. Banerjee says it is the reduction of the allowances in this program that has largely impacted Saskatchewan’s population.

Alongside the drop in skilled workers coming into the province, another issue leading to the lowered population numbers is that many who come to work in the province are choosing not to stay.

“Saskatchewan has done a really good job of putting preference on skilled workers, particularly in health care, in tech, and other areas like skilled trades where we really do have labour shortages,” said Banerjee.

“So people are coming in, but the question is, how long do they stay?”

According to Banerjee, newcomers who move to the province for a job often leave because they lack the services, community and support they feel they require to settle for the long term.

“I think the solution to that is providing more services for newcomers and building community. Resources so that people can build those communities,” said Banerjee, pointing to Halifax as a city that was not previously an immigrant centre but is making strides to support new communities.

“We don’t want people just to come here temporarily and then leave. We want them to settle, we want them to have children here, we want those children to do well and be prosperous and essentially allow Canada to grow and be prosperous,” said Banerjee.

In August, Saskatchewan was granted nearly 1,100 additional spots under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program, bringing the province’s total to 4,761.

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