SASK. PARTY STONEWALLS ON CROWN FINANCES AS DEBT SKYROCKETS, EVERYDAY PEOPLE PAY THE PRICE WITH POWER BILL HIKE

Auditor Sounds Alarm On 3 Years Of Failed Accountability
SASKATOON – As the Sask. Party runs the finances of provincial Crowns into the ground; the Provincial Auditor’s latest report raises major concerns that the government has hidden from critical financial oversight for three years — and now everyday Saskatchewan people are due to pay the price with hikes to rates for power and car insurance.

On Sunday, the Sask. Party went ahead with a hike to power rates that will cost families, businesses and farms $136 million more annually. The cowardly Minister responsible for SaskPower, Jeremy Harrison, has provided no credible explanation for the massive increase, and Premier Scott Moe went so far as to lie in the Legislature in December, claiming rates weren’t being increased.
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“Scott Moe and his Minister are running scared,” said Erika Ritchie, Saskatoon Nutana MLA and the Deputy Chair for the Standing Committee on Crown and Central Agencies. “They know they’re mismanaging the province’s finances and they’re doing everything they can to run from any sort of accountability for hiking everyone’s bills.”
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Last year, the Provincial Auditor of Saskatchewan released her 2025 Report, Volume 2, raising serious concerns about oversight at the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC). The Auditor found that neither CIC nor its subsidiaries, including SGI and SaskPower, had their annual reports reviewed by the Standing Committee on Crown and Central Agencies over the past three years — despite repeated attempts by the Official Opposition to bring those reports forward for review. The Auditor described these annual reports as “key accountability documents.”
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“The people of Saskatchewan deserve answers: where is their money going?’ asked Ritchie. “This Minister needs to answer for the Sask. Party’s reckless mismanagement.”
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That lack of oversight occurred as Crown debt rose by $2.8 billion over the three years covered by the annual reports. Now, 98 per cent of SGI customers are facing an increase in their auto insurance premiums.
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As well, organizations like the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) and the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) are warning that the Sask. Party isn’t being honest about the full scope and cost of their power bill increases.
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“If any person in the private sector were responsible for hundreds of millions in losses year after year, you bet they’d be forced to answer for it — frankly, they’d probably be fired,” Ritchie said. “Three years of no oversight is just another example of the corruption and chaos taking place under Scott Moe’s so-called leadership.
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“We need a government that’s accountable to Saskatchewan people. It’s time for change.”
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