SASKATOON, SK: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Saskatchewan government to make municipal financial statements publicly available following a report by the provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner.

“Taxpayers have a right to know how local governments are spending their money and they shouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail for basic financial records,” said Gage Haubrich, CTF Prairie Director. “The Saskatchewan government has municipal financial statements and the province promised to publish them. Now the Information Commissioner is pointing out the obvious: the province should publish these documents.”

“What exactly is the hold up? Saskatchewan needs keep its promise and publish municipal financial documents like other provinces.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation submitted a freedom of information request to the Saskatchewan government for all the most recent provincial municipal financial statements to update the online database the CTF released in 2023.

In a report based on this request, the Information Commissioner noted that the government should be: “making financial statements and auditor’s reports it receives from municipalities available to the public.”

In 2021, the CTF released its first report on municipal spending. The CTF was only able to obtain 35 per cent of the documents from the municipalities themselves.

Municipalities are required by law to send their financial statements to the provincial government. In 2008, the government of Saskatchewan stopped publishing these statements online. In 2019, the government expected to have a new system in place by 2021, but as of 2024, that hasn’t happened.

The provincial governments of Alberta and Ontario have web portals where taxpayers can access municipal financial statements. First Nations communities in Saskatchewan and across Canada also routinely publish financial statements.

“Other provinces make it easy for taxpayers to see what’s happening with their money,” said Haubrich. “What possible reason could there be for the Saskatchewan government to withhold municipal financial documents? This is easy: put up the documents.”

The CTF’s current database of municipal financial statements can be viewed here.