The Saskatchewan government isn’t bothering to guess how much the legalization of pot will help - or hurt - the bottom line.

“We’re not sure when the federal government is going to get this passed and when it actually will be legalized, and the other thing - we’re in very uncharted territory here,” Finance Minister Donna Harpauer told Bolt FM.

The province will charge PST on retail sales of the drug - but on the other hand, the swabs used for roadside drug testing are costly, and the province will also face administrative expenses, Harpauer said.

So, like Manitoba, Saskatchewan is leaving that line item blank in this year’s budget.

“It’s just too volatile as to what we may gain or not gain,” Harpauer said.

Tax Shift

The budget also shows how the province is weaning itself off volatile resource revenue.

Ten per cent of the budget is reliant on such revenue down from as high as 32 per cent in previous years, Harpauer said.

“Ten per cent is obviously still very significant - our budget is a little over $14 billion - however we do feel we’re a lot more stable and we can keep our programming and services for people more sustainable by only relying on it for 10 per cent rather than 32,” she said.

The government was careful in how it went about raising taxes this year, as it didn’t want to harm the economy, Harpauer said.

The budget reinstates the PST on used car sales, with an exemption for private sales of less than $5,000.

“It still came with a difficult decision, however we felt that if investors are looking at our province, they're going to look at corporate tax, and personal income tax and PST and small business tax. I don’t think investors are going to look whether or not we have PST on used cars.”

The budget forecasts a $365 million deficit this year, with plans to balance next year.

Rural Crime

The budget includes $4.9 million from SGI to fight rural crime by hiring 30 more officers for the province’s Protection and Response Team.

That’s aimed at addressing concerns around response times and police visibility, Harpauer said.