New Hikes in Saskatchewan

Effective August 31, 2014, 82 per cent of Saskatchewan vehicle owners will see a rate hike, with the average annual increase totalling $44.

While the government didn’t raise your education property taxes, SaskEnergy has been raising rates, SGI has applied to raise rates and SaskTel has raised Internet rates by $5 per month increase. Those increases will contribute to profits that in turn make their way into government coffers. The insurance and Internet rate hike have outstriped any income gains experienced by Saskatchewan ratepayers during the past year.

Make no mistake, this is nothing new in Saskatchewan. The raiding of crown profits has gone on for years and happened under the NDP as well. Ideally, the government would look at reforming the crowns and get away from this practice.

Colin Craig at CTF has called for the Saskatchewan Party government to further open the province’s insurance sector to private companies in a bid to keep prices more affordable, as the best way to keep costs competitive is to have a competitive system
so crown companies like SGI don’t have the monopoly power, pushing them to be more and more efficient.

(Colin Craig: Saskatchewan Budget Highs and Lows, Ottawa Business Journal, March 24, 2014; Marco Vigliotti: Update: Saskatchewan Vehicle Insurance Rates Driven Higher, Metro Regina, June 27, 2014)