Mr. Speaker, equalization tries to measure fiscal capacity among a variety of provinces so that reasonably comparable public services can be provided from province to province so that Canadians have some form of equal access.
The natural resource revenues for Saskatchewan are about 16% of Saskatchewan's revenues to be equalized and impact heavily on its level of entitlements. In recent years Saskatchewan's financial capacity has benefited in particular from the strong rise in energy prices. This has resulted in lower equalization entitlements even to no equalization in 2003-04 and hence has made Saskatchewan a have province.
In one of the annexes to the budget, the last time Saskatchewan was in a deficit was in 1993-94. Its deficit at that time was $272 million. When we became the government in 1993 the federal deficit was $42 billion. As I understand it, in 11 budgets in a row Saskatchewan has actually been in a positive frame. In the last one, which is 2004-05, the number is $289 million to the positive. Saskatchewan's turnaround has been quite substantial.
I should note that one of the features of the equalization program is a floor that protects the provinces from a large annual decline which has been a response by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to the very issue the member raises, which is the fluctuation in the amount. Sometimes it fluctuates up and sometimes it fluctuates down.
Effectively the Government of Canada has bought the risk for equalization receiving provinces so that going forward they can know that their equalization floor is assured and that they can reasonably anticipate something in the order of 3.5% on an annual basis going forward for the next 10 years. That is something that Saskatchewan, assuming that it possibly slips back into a have not status, will benefit from, but as I say Saskatchewan at this stage is a have province.
The new equalization framework has set out Saskatchewan's entitlements for 2004-05 and 2005-06. Let me point out that its revenues from natural resources keep increasing. According to the latest estimates, non-renewable resource revenue is forecast to reach $1.4 billion in 2004-05, nearly twice the $700 million figure projected in the 2004 budget.
At this point Saskatchewan has been compensated for its crown leases which is something in the order of $120 million. As well, under the new framework it has additional equalization funding for 2004-05 which will bring the overall level of entitlements up to $10 billion. Of that, Saskatchewan's share will be $652 million. Therefore, $652 million plus the $120 million will be a significant sum. It is a shot in the arm to the fiscal capacity of the province of Saskatchewan.