Walk-backs, political exits: Remembering last spring's 'unprecedented' Sask. budget

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For the Saskatchewan Party government, a stroll down memory lane to last year's budget might be fraught with a few stumbling blocks, saytwo political scientists in Regina.

The release of the 2017-2018 spending plan saw the provincial sales tax rise and its scope expanded, eliminating exemptions on children's clothing and restaurant meals.

The budget brought cuts to spending on libraries, funerals for low-income people, community-based organizations and grants-in-lieu to municipalities, all of which have been at least partially walked back one year later.

The most recent budget reversal was in February, when Premier Scott Moe announced he wasreinstating the PST exemption on premiums for health, life and agriculture insurance expected to mean $185 million less going into government coffers.

Wall, Doherty exit politics

Jim Farney, associate professor in the University of Regina'sdepartment of politics and international studies, said the choice to backtrack onunpopular budget decisions rather than stick out the public scorn was a costly process for the governing Saskatchewan Party, amounting to an "awkward fumble."

• Social services minister says cutting funding for funeral services a 'mistake'

"It may have been part of why Wall himself left at the end of Augustthat it just wasn't fun anymore. And it's certainly why Kevin Doherty's leaving," he said.

"They took some real costs and at the end of the day can't point to it as a political victory. They can't look back in a couple of years and said, 'That was a really hard decision, but it was the right one to make at the time.' "

'Visceral' reaction to budget cuts

Tom McIntosh, head of the university's politics department, said this was the first budget he hasseen garner such a wide range of critics.

"The sustained nature of the protests and the objections to the budget was really almost unprecedented.

He said he believes it stems from a "visceral" reaction to some of the cuts that took people by surprise

"Nobody foresaw their going after libraries," he said.

• Sask. backtracks on plan to cut funding to community organizations

The unpopularity of the budget created a shadow over Wall, meaning he went out on not as high anote as some would have wanted, McIntoshsaid.

How last spring's budget is remembered depends on whether the government is able to balance the booksunder its three-year plan and can showits so-called hard choices have paid off, he said.

Another factor will be if last spring's budget was a one-off or the first in a series of bad-news budgets, which Moe has signalled it could be.

Moe says challenges loom

"This will be a challenging budget coming forward," the premier recently told reporters,

In prepping this upcoming spending plan, FinanceMinister DonnaHarpauer said theyhad a clear takeaway from last year.

"One of the biggest lessons is the consultation in advance and I've held a number of meetings as have, you know, the different ministers, and their affected stakeholders," shesaid.

"To give specifics quite frankly might give away some of the budget."