Bring on the Kids

There are a few topics that have always been central to the public policy conversations in this province and one of them is population.

Saskatchewan and to a lesser degree Manitoba have always wrestled with issues related to attracting and retaining people. Our relative success on this front has often dictated how our governments operate and what they can afford to accomplish.

A new report from The Fraser Institute focuses on population the two provinces and its impact on healthcare funding as we look 20 years into the future.

The report describes what it calls a primary balance….that is the state of government finances purely on operational basis….how much money comes in and how much is spent on programs. It takes debt service out of the equation to examine our capacity to deliver programming.

And it suggests Saskatchewan won’t see a surplus on this metric for two decades without substantial changes to tax levels or spending or significant growth of younger demographics as our current population ages and relies more heavily on health care services.