Northern leaders react to 2026 provincial budget

Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail was more critical of the province’s debt going into the budget. Speaking at an NDP press event on Wednesday, McPhail said the budget’s deficit does not address the issues of the people in Saskatchewan, especially in the north.

“We are now spending more money as a province on servicing our debt, three times the amount of money on servicing our debt than what we are on our policing budget. When we hear from families and community members all across Saskatchewan, here in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, the North, they want this government to invest in the priorities that matter to them and not just fund the Bay Street bankers out of province.”

Hordyski also replied to a claim from McPhail that $36 million was cut out of the northern infrastructure dollars they use to maintain and operate highways and airports in Northern Saskatchewan. He said it is typical for those costs to fluctuate, noting the region recently received a $28 million highway upgrade from La Ronge to Sucker River and a new $15.8 million bridge in Air Ronge.

“There’s a lot of highways in the province and some years we will get our share and get major work done and in other years we won’t and it will shift to another area,” Hordyski added.

“I don’t get alarmed over one year. If the pattern continues, then I would be concerned about it.”

The province earmarked $22 million for the $100 million new long-term care facility in La Ronge. (Image Credit: Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

McPhail said that he does not see things the same way. With so many issues during last year’s wildfire season getting vehicles in and out of the area, McPhail is worried that not only is there not enough money in the budget for northern roadways, but that the money set aside for the north won’t actually help the them.

“When we look in the budget and they say that they’re going to be twinning part of the highway north of Prince Albert, one of the things that we often wonder in northern Saskatchewan is ‘where is the true north line for the Saskatchewan Party?’ Because usually where that line is, they completely forget that there’s people north of that line.”

In regards to wildfire supports, Hordyski is confident the province has a lot of internal work ongoing to address some of the shortfalls that were witnessed. He said there’s been a significant amount of snowfall in the area and nobody is sure yet on how dry spring will be.

Athabasca MLA Leroy Laliberte has also spoke at Wednesday’s press event, and he doesn’t believe enough has been done to address what happened last summer. Laliberte believes that too much of the province’s plan for the upcoming wildfire season relies too much on last year being an anomaly, and not enough on actual solutions.

“We didn’t have the resources that we needed to tackle these fires, we had people scrambling, people traveling to the south, evacuated from their homes, some lost their homes altogether. We presented a bill last year, the Wildfire Strategies Act, and hoping that it would have made the second sitting. I’d asked just (Wednesday) just before the budget was to see if they were going to support that bill, and it basically would force the government to be able to work with the locals, people that know the land, know the fires, know how to fight the fires, so that way we’d never go through this again in our province because the north is full of people that know that land, and I think that to have their input on what takes place as a part of this fire management strategy, I think it’s important to have their input in it.”

Hordyski himself was in Regina for the unveiling of the budget on Wednesday. He was there to lobby ministers about funding for the La Ronge Airport and support for a potential upcoming development on Bedford Drive.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com and nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by larongeNOW Staff

Northern leaders react to 2026 provincial budget

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