MOOSOMIN — Moosomin-Montmartre 小蓝视频 Kevin Weedmark shared some of the highlights of the provincial budget at the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting on March 28.
“I think it was a pretty phenomenal budget because it’s got record spending for health care, record spending for education, record spending for municipal revenue sharing, and lower taxes,” he said. Everyone’s personal basic deductions are going to go up $500 a year for the next four years on top of indexation. The education property tax is going to be reduced this year to keep the education property tax revenue neutral with the reassessment, and the small business tax rate is going to be kept at one per cent permanently.”
The budget is also balanced with a $12 million surplus.
Big boost to small business
Weedmark said he is excited about a 45 per cent non-refundable tax credit for individuals or corporations that invest in the equity of an eligible small-to-medium business. There’s an annual cap of $7 million worth of tax credits awarded, processed on a first come, first served basis.
Eligible businesses are defined as based in the province with between five and 49 employees, with a minimum of half of those workers living in Saskatchewan. One industry that will be included in the pilot project is food service, and Weedmark pointed out that businesses like TJ’s Pizza in Moosoimin, who are expanding into the frozen food business, are eligible for that credit.
“He’s (owner Roman Chernykh) actually expanding his frozen food business quite substantially,” Weedmark explained. “He’ll be closing the Ukrainian buffet to make more room for frozen pizza production. He’s got those in co-ops right across the region right now, and thinks he can expand that quite a bit more, and that particular segment is actually going to be eligible for this new tax credit.”
Another program the Moosomin Chamber will be exploring is the Saskatchewan Young Entrepreneur Bursary, an annual grant of $285,000 for a maximum of 57 bursaries that support young entrepreneurs across Saskatchewan.
“It’s great to see Moosomin leveraging that,” Weedmark said, noting that the local share would be $5,000.
Revenue sharing increase
Weedmark also spoke about the record municipal revenue sharing in this year’s budget.
“When you add up across the constituency how much revenue sharing we give to our communities, it adds up to about $8.8 million that comes into our constituency this year, more than ever before,” Weedmark said. “For Moosomin, there will be $819,751 this year, which is just no-strings-attached funding to the town.
“There’s lots of things we can do with it,” said Mayor Gray, who was at the meeting, adding he was surprised to learn this year’s allotment was $50,000 higher than anticipated. “It is appreciated, the revenue stream 小蓝视频 consistent, and we know that it’s there and you can plan and budget for it. There’s lots of infrastructure that we can use it for.”
Most surprising part of 小蓝视频 an 小蓝视频
Weedmark is a new 小蓝视频, elected for the first time in last fall’s election. When asked about the most surprising part of 小蓝视频 an 小蓝视频, he said he was surprised at how quickly problems could get solved.
“It’s surprising how easy it is when you can put people together with the right people, how easy it is to solve problems sometimes, how quickly you can solve them,” he said.
He said an example is the recent opening of Borderland Co-op’s new food store, which was facing a six-week delay on a vital piece of equipment. K-Line could hook it up, but an inspection from SaskPower was needed before getting the work done.
“ SaskPower told them, ‘we can’t book a time until it’s here,’ Weedmark explained. While the Crown corporation has a timeline of up to six weeks for an inspection, this set back the opening date of the new store significantly.
“Jason Schenn (Borderland Co-op CEO) was in a bit of a panic, because for six weeks they couldn’t do anything else,” Weedmark said. “In that time they were waiting on this one part, I called the office of the minister for SaskPower, and instead of it 小蓝视频 six weeks, they were out that Friday.”
Weedmark also said he’s surprised by how much he’s enjoying the political debate and back and forth between the Sask Party and NDP on the floor of the Legislature.
“When I made my speech in response to the budget and I sort of called out the NDP for saying they now support pipelines and they hadn’t supported them in the past. I talked a lot about the energy rally we held in Moosomin and how people had come from across the country to come and support pipelines in Moosomin, and who didn’t show up was the NDP,” he said. “I got some heckling during that.”
At the end of his speech in the Legislature, Weedmark cracked a joke.
“That’s where the NHL reference came in, where I said for them to say now that they’re in favour of pipelines is like me saying at this point in my life, that I should start training for a career in the NHL,” he said. “It’s a little bit late, right?”
Another round of heckling came when Weedmark made a member statement calling out the NDP as two of their members praised former Premier Allan Blakeney for nationalizing potash in the 1970s.
“The surprising thing is, I love it—I love 小蓝视频 heckled by the other side,” he explained. “I find it energizing. You know they’re listening, you know they’re paying attention.”
