(File photo/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

Budget preview

Municipal leaders anticipate provincial budget promises

Mar 18, 2025 | 5:05 PM

On the eve of a provincial budget, built under the shadows of looming economic uncertainty, leaders from Prince Albert say they’re just hoping Premier Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party follow through on previous commitments.

The Chief of Police said he has concerns in a couple of different areas, but one of the most prevalent discussions in the community has to do with the need for a complex needs and emergency shelter.

“We recognize the need for that type of facility and we’re hoping to hear some positive news, some encouraging news with respect to some specific funding that may come in that direction,” Patrick Nogier said.

Another topic he said will have a profound impact on policing throughout the province is the continued funding and support for the Saskatchewan Ballistics Laboratory in Saskatoon. The facility, which helps to solve gun-related crimes, speeds up the investigations since police no longer have to send firearms, bullets or casings to the RCMP National Forensic Laboratory Services in Ottawa or Surrey for technical firearms lab analysis.

“Ensuring that lab has full operational capacity moving forward…with the amount of guns that we’ve been taking off the street in our community, we know that quick turnaround on those guns getting them categorized, doing tracing on guns and linking them to their crime scenes will be very important for the future of law enforcement,” he explained.

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Nogier also hopes to see some follow up and continued discussion regarding the 17 additional police officers that the Prince Albert Police Service was promised prior to the election last fall.

“Just to fulfill that commitment and see how that works with the Ministry and finding those resources and hoping, hoping that there is some funding that goes towards the police college so in the event that we’re capable of finding suitable, qualified candidates for police service that we have a place to send them and train them accordingly.”

Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier. (File photo/paNOW)

Nogier said he currently has seven recruits at police college but those seven are simply helping to maintain the status quo for staffing levels since the municipal service lost five officers to the new Saskatchewan Marshals Service, one officer to the RCMP and another retired.

“We’ve not been able to build…even with the most recent hirings, we have not been able to build into the program to increase our numbers,” he said. “If you looked and thought they’re taking advantage of those 17 positions…they have 10 left to fill…but in reality, that’s just keeping our head above water to make sure we don’t fall under 106.”

He explained the police service is not only competing for the initial resources, they’re also competing for available seats at the police college moving forward because the Marshals and other services were promised additional numbers as well.

“In that budget release, you know we want to make sure that that commitment is still there, that the money will be available, because if we are successful in finding suitable candidates and getting positions in college, then it is our intention to hire,” Nogier said.

The Mayor of Prince Albert expressed appreciation for provincial funding of projects already underway in the city including the expansion of the Victoria Hospital and the new recreation centre, but he agreed with Nogier that a priority he’d like to see funding for in Wednesday’s budget is a chronic needs facility.

“The other thing we certainly would like to see is some adjustments to the funding for the police budgets,” said Mayor Bill Powalinsky. “I know that the government is committed to 80 per cent of funding for these new positions, but that 20 per cent does put a lot of strain on municipalities.”

The CEO of the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce will be keeping a close eye on the provincial budget when it comes to small business. In particular, Patty Hughes referenced the small business tax.

“It was slated to go to 2 per cent on July 1, 2025 and the government had promised that they would hold that at 1 percent. So, we’re looking forward to that being continued,” she said. “They did make some other promises in regards to holding the threshold in which the small businesses are taxed at.”

Hughes said she’ll also be watching to ensure the province follows through on support for young entrepreneurs.

Speaking earlier in the day, Moe briefly addressed the upcoming budget saying revenue challenges are going to be just that across Canada and North America.

“But what we can control is the expense side of our budget, and we certainly are coming forward with that and we’ve made some commitments in the most recent campaign, the Speech from the Throne, and what you’re going to see in this budget is really delivering on those commitments in four specific areas: affordability, healthcare, education – in particular in K-3 outcomes – and keep our community safe through providing recovery opportunities,” Moe said in a radio interview.

He added the province will look to increase enforcement, tools that police officers have, and increasing the number of police officers as well.

Following routine proceedings in the legislature, the budget speech will be read around 2:15 Wednsday afternoon.

-With files from CKOM

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panews@pattisonmedia.com