Saskatchewan's finances are in need of a fix and, as a result, some tough spending decisions may lie ahead, Premier Brad Wall said Thursday morning.
"We are going to have to make some decisions to get things under control on the spending side," he told CBC News before a cabinet briefing by officials about the province's financial picture.
Wall, whose his cabinet was sworn in at Government House on Wednesday, said there was a hint that something was wrong in the spring budget, when the NDP government didn't release a four-year financial projection.
He's charged Finance Minister Rod Gantefoer with the job of fixing things.
"What the previous government has left behind financially is fairly stark and will need to be dealt with in the long term," he said after Wednesday's ceremony. "There's a reason why we didn't get a four-year projection on the budget this spring and we found that out early on in the transition."
Gantefoer said it appears the NDP government may have overextended itself, making long-term spending commitments based on short-term money.
"If the implication of that is that the long-term state of the affairs of the provincial economy are not very good, then that's a grave concern," he said. "We will then have to systematically and responsibly and professionally deal with the issues."
The new government says it won't raise taxes or run a deficit budget to deal with any shortfall.
If the government's current commitments, combined with election promises, aren't achievable, then adjustments will be made, Gantefoer said.
"They may get scaled back, they may have timing issues placed on them," he said. "We certainly have the intent to honour all of our commitments over the four year mandate."
Within a few weeks, the government will present a financial update to give Saskatchewan people a clear financial picture, Gantefoer said.
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