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Canada’s secretary of state for finance is in Saskatchewan this week for pre-budget consultations to get a feel for what the province is looking at this coming fiscal year.
The budget serves as the annual blueprint for the government’s economic agenda. With the 2026/2027 plan set to be released this fall, Hannah Sangster sat down with the honourable Wayne Long to see why he believes the province will feel represented in the budget.
Long excitedly shared that so far he’s met with provincial stakeholders such as Canpotex and BASF Agricultural Solutions to gauge where investments should be tweaked for the coming year and had a roundtable with the small and medium business community.
“I call it the second chapter in our book,” he says. “Budget 2025 was the first chapter. It’s always a bit of a moving target, we think relatively we did course correct, we got it pretty much right. But again, we want to get feedback from Canadians, so a big part of our pre-budget consultation is to do roundtables, meet with sectors, industries and chambers of commerce.”
With disagreements on how the federal government spends money concerning the interests of western provinces being a continuous concern, we asked Long his thoughts on how that relationship has changed since Mark Carney became prime minister.
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“Oh, I think the prime minister fully recognizes the value of Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, our western provinces. I think not just in words but in actions,” he shared, adding that having a great working relationship with leaders such as Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is essential to the health and wellness and economic viability of Canada.
“I mean, look at the canola sector, let’s look at the importance of that to our country. Let’s look at the agriculture sector, let’s look at critical minerals … Saskatchewan has everything Canada wants, it has everything the world wants. So we need to make sure we’re working with Saskatchewan.”
As trading troubles continue to rise with the United States, Long argues working together is needed more now than ever. “We obviously have challenges with our friend and major trading partner to the south of us. So we need to invest in Canada. We need to trade east to west, not necessarily north to south.”
Long says the input he’s learning from locals in the province is vital in helping build a stronger Canada.
“That’s why I’m here. I’m listening to the agriculture sector. We heard about irrigation, we heard about research. We heard about other things that are vital to the growth and viability of the agriculture sector long term. We’re gonna make sure we invest, we’re gonna make sure we do the right things to make sure the industry grows healthy, expands, and is a part of a coast-to-coast economy.”
Hannah Sangster has more information in the video above.
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