OTTAWA – Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville, commended the responsible balance in Thursday’s federal budget tabled in the House of Commons by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

“This budget brings a unity between responsible spending in areas of importance to Canadians, like health care,” said Breitkreuz, “and measures which will protect the interest of us all well into future generations.”

The budget, entitled Economic Action Plan 2012, has a focus on job creation, growth and long-term prosperity. Keeping taxes low and returning Canada to balanced budgets over the medium term is good news for Saskatchewan.

“I was particularly pleased to see our government’s continued commitment to health and social transfers to our provinces,” said Breitkreuz. “For Saskatchewan this will mean major transfers will total close to $1.3 billion in 2012-13.”

The long-term growing support made in the form of the federal transfer to the provinces helps ensure that Saskatchewan has the resources required to provide essential public services, and contributes to shared national objectives, including health care, post-secondary education and other key components of Canada’s social programs.

• $909 million through the Canada Health Transfer, an increase of $214 million since 2005-06.
• $365 million through the Canada Social Transfer, an increase of $64 million since 2005-06.

Saskatchewan will also benefit from continued direct targeted support in 2012-13, including:

• $14 million for labour market training as part of a commitment of $500 million a year in new funding to provinces and territories, beginning in 2008-09.
• $8 million for the Wait Times Reduction Fund as part of the 10-year Plan to Strengthen Health Care.

“Through Economic Action Plan 2012, we have laid out our vision for a continued strong, stable economy,” said Breitkreuz, “the kind of economy that keeps us emerging as a world leader through the global economic crisis. We are eliminating government waste, putting forward incentives and assistance for job creation and innovation, and we’re moving forward with a positive plan to bolster the long-term economic growth of Saskatchewan and all of Canada.”

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