Saskatoon businesses grill finance minister on tariffs, immigration

WATCH: Saskatchewan's Minister of Finance, Jim Reiter, faced questions from businesses at a Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Friday.

Jim Reiter got his turn in the hot seat Friday afternoon.

The provincial minister of finance spoke at a Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce luncheon before taking questions and concerns from attendees.

Tariffs and the persistent trade war with the United States was top of mind as he once again defended the province’s decision not to build any tariff contingencies into Saskatchewan’s 2025-2026 budget, released Wednesday.

“It makes no sense to me that we would randomly set a number and then go borrow money and start paying interest on it,” Reiter said.

“We don’t even know the impact it’s going to have. I mean, nobody in this room would handle their personal finance that way. So why in the world do we handle our tax dollars that way?”

Reiter said the province’s plan all along has been to prepare, and to avoid spending money on an unpredictable scenario.

Saskatoon Chamber CEO Jason Aebig is ok with that. Saskatchewan has the second-best credit rating and second-best debt to GDP ratio in the country, and that positions the province well.

“I think it makes more sense to see what the impact is, go get what you need. If, in fact, you need to get money — and in that sense, your borrowing strategy is more efficient and it ultimately costs ratepayers less.”

Federal immigration policy causing concern  

Another question from Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO Prabha Ramaswamy wondered what the impact of recent federal immigration decisions will mean for the provincial economy.

The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) was paused on Feb. 18, in a direct response to the federal government after Ottawa made a 50 per cent reduction in nomination allocations.

The province previously had 7,200 nominations allotted for the year. Now, the province has 3,600. Furthermore, 75 per cent of the 3,600 nominations must come from temporary workers already in Canada.

“That effectively leaves about 900,” Reiter said. “So, the problem is that stream we use to recruit for healthcare and for other industries that need it. So, that pause right now is to try to decide which areas should be most directly targeted. It is going to cause a problem for sure.”

Over the last two years, the province has repeatedly spoke about recruiting nurses from the Philippines, or other healthcare specialists. Reiter isn’t sure how that work will proceed as roughly 200 applications are received every week.

Aebig says organizations at every level of the province need to get creative in recruitment.

“We’re going to have to sell our message a bit stronger,” Aebig said. “I think we have strong opportunities here, but we don’t do … as great a job as other provinces in selling ourselves.”

Reiter said the province would likely have an announcement on SINP by the end of the month.

As that work continues, Aebig says it’s time to get to work.

“It’s incumbent on us, in light of these constraints, to get our act together and tell our story,” Aebig said.