The Saskatchewan government announced on Monday the distribution of $500 checks to all residents age 18 and older starting this fall.
In a social media post, Premier and ruling Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe said residents should take advantage as natural resource prices rise. Higher than expected oil prices led to a balanced government budget.
In a video message, Premier Moe said, “Rising resource prices are stimulating our economy and creating thousands of new jobs. This has significantly improved our fiscal position from a deficit to a surplus”.
Finance Minister Donna Harpauer predicted a deficit of nearly $500 million for the year when she tabled the government’s 2022-23 budget last March. However, the budget was based on lower natural resource revenues than they have been throughout the first part of the year.
Minister Harpauer is due to deliver her financial update on Tuesday that will explain how much money the province earned from natural resources earlier this year.
Since March, the NDP opposition in Saskatchewan has been calling on the government to provide financial assistance to residents as they face inflation and the rising cost of living.
Recently in Quebec…
Opposition finance critic Trent Wotherspoon says the government should have offered the aid months ago, as other provinces have. He also tied the announcement to an upcoming by-election that has yet to be called for the riding of Saskatoon-Meewasin to replace former New Democratic Party leader Ryan Meili.
In the Quebec government’s budget that he tabled last March, the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, announced the payment of a refundable tax credit allocating a one-time amount to deal with the increase in the cost of life. To be eligible, an individual had to have been 18 years of age or older since the previous December 31.
If his net income for the year 2021 had not exceeded $100,000, the amount of the tax credit was $500 per Quebecer, but if the net income had been greater than $100,000 but less than $105,000 , the $500 amount was reduced by 10% of the portion of the net income that exceeded $100,000.