REGINA (Staff) – Private industry will have to contribute more to resource management costs in the wake of Saskatchewan budget cuts.
Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management lost $8 million and 125 employees in the March 28 provincial budget.
The forestry budget was slashed by $1.3 million and more than $1 million of that was from insect and disease control.
The province will no longer spray for spruce budworms, and the budget to fight Dutch elm disease was halved to $300,000.
“We looked across government at the return we were getting from all our resources,” Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon said. “The one area where it looks like we are not getting a fair enough return relative to what’s happening in our neighboring provinces is in forestry.
“We will be saying to the industry ‘we want you to begin to assume more of the costs of running the forestry industry.’ We’ve also said to them that we’re prepared to sit down and negotiate.”
