Recently the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) met with Saskatchewan Finance Minister Ken Krawetz to discuss our recommendations for the upcoming budget. (Photo Saskatchewan Finance Minister Ken Krawetz (L) and Colin Craig (R))

Here are some of the ideas we put forward:

First, the Saskatchewan government needs to better plan for, and discuss, the demographic tsunami that is starting to hit the province. The first of the baby boom generation started to turn 65 years of age back in 2011. Thus, every day more and more of Saskatchewan’s population retires compared with those who are still working.

This is significant for two reasons. First, when people retire, they earn less money and pay less in taxes. Thus, the government will be facing a revenue squeeze over the long-term. Second, older people tend to require more expensive health procedures like hip replacements and 24-hour nursing care.

Both factors will have a significant financial impact on the provincial government, yet they haven’t conducted significant analysis on how things will look 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

The second major issue we highlighted concerns government employee pension problems. While pensions can be a complex topic, the impact on taxpayers is not. Several government employee pension funds in Saskatchewan ran into financial problems, so governments bailed them out with millions of extra dollars each year. For example, back in 2006 the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees Pension Plan (SHEPP) received $76 million from government, but as of 2013 it was receiving over $147 million each year.

That’s not right. Governments need to reform the plans to prevent taxpayers from footing the bill for such bailouts in the future.

In terms of health care, we expressed support for the premier’s recent musings about allowing private MRIs in the province. It just makes sense for Saskatchewan patients to be able to decide for themselves – go on a government waiting list for the service or pay out of pocket for faster care. Each year many Saskatchewan residents pay for faster care outside of Saskatchewan. Why not keep those dollars in Sask by allowing private MRI companies to operate alongside the public health care system? The province has both private schools and public schools and the sky hasn’t fallen. It’s time to give patients the same choice.

In terms of alcohol sales reform, we encouraged the government to pursue the Alberta model – only private businesses sell alcohol. Our recommendation came following a survey of CTF supporters across the province about the five options being floated by the government. A healthy majority of supporters felt it doesn’t make sense for the government to continue to spend money opening up new liquor stores to sell spirits and warm beer.

We also encouraged the Wall government to put pressure on organizations it funds (school boards, health regions, universities, municipalities) to deliver services more cost-effectively. Statistics Canada data shows that Saskatchewan leads the nation when it comes to the number of people working for either a municipal or provincial government (as a percentage of the province’s population, not including crown corporations).

It’s time for those organizations to follow the Wall government’s lead and trim the fat. (Recall, the Wall government has trimmed the number of Ministry employees by over 1,900 over the past several years).

If you like any of the aforementioned ideas, be sure to speak up. The more people pushing for change the more likely it is to happen when Budget 2015 come out.