Kelvington-MLA Chris Beaudry (Image Credit: Government of Saskatchewan)

By Cam Lee

'Some positives'

Kelvington-MLA Chris Beaudry discusses provincial budget

Mar 18, 2026 | 5:01 PM

A local MLA is weighing in on the provincial budget tabled Wednesday afternoon. 

Chris Beaudry is the MLA for Kelvington-Wadena and also serves as the Minister of Energy and Resources. 

He believes the plan will help protect the province.

“We could have taken steps to raise taxes or to cut services, and we didn’t,” Beaudry said. “We decided to protect the services and to protect the people of Saskatchewan.” 

Beaudry said the budget supports the largest nurse practitioner expansion in the province’s history, and that will help rural areas across Saskatchewan, including those in the Kelvington-Wadena constituency. 

'Some positives'

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“I really think this is going to revolutionize rural health care.” 

Regarding his portfolio, Beaudry said there were several highlights, including the reworking of the timber royalties so that their forestry partners could stay competitive. Changes to their target price is something that industry has asked for, according to Beaudry. The budget also saw the high-cut water well incentive extended. The Geoscience incentive and Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive were also extended in the budget.

Beaudry said having a deficit budget is an irritant to a fiscal conservative like him, but he believes the province is on track to be back in the black by 2030. He said the per capita deficit of the budget is the lowest in the nation, and some of the issues leading to the unbalanced budget are out of the province’s control. 

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com