Although the federal government is guaranteeing $11.7 billion in equalization payments for Canadians in 2007-08, the province of Saskatchewan will receive nothing.

“The federal government is guaranteeing these payments to help the provinces budget for the year,” Provincial Finance Minister Andrew Thomson said. “They are guaranteeing $11.7 billion in total, including $1.7 billion to Manitoba. They are hon-ouring the Atlantic Accords for Newfoundland Labrador and Nova Scotia, yet they will not guarantee that they will meet their commitment for $800 million to Saskatchewan.”

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has sent a letter to Thomson that talks about “restoring fiscal balance in Canada,” “facilitating budget planning,” and “providing certainty”. Payments to the various provinces range from $291 million to Prince Edward Island up to $6.5 billion to Quebec.

“There is no certainty for Saskatchewan here,” Thomson said. “Following our meeting in Vancouver last month, I asked Minister Flaherty to honour his government’s commitment to Saskatchewan. As recently as this morning (Wednesday), we heard members of his government reassure us that they would do just that. Yet the letter today has left the people of this province without any guarantee of retaining our natural resource revenues.”