The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union are speaking out again the provincial government's idea to privatize liquor and cannabis sales, saying that revenues from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority are forecast to be $15 million lower this year compared to the last two years.

Saskatchewan is also the only province to make the private sector responsible for both wholesaling and retail of cannabis.

"We have known since 2016 that this government’s plan for liquor sales would result in lost revenue for the province, but they have just kept repeating an unsubstantiated claim that somehow this would all be revenue neutral," said Bob Stadnichuk, Chair of SGEU’s Retail/Regulatory BargainingCommittee."We see this was all just another one of the Sask Party’s many lies to suit their ideologically-driven model of privatization, which only benefits their friends in big business and not the people of Saskatchewan," Stadnichuk added.

New Brunswick - which has approximately 65% of the population of Saskatchewan - allows public ownership within the cannabis industry, and is expected to bring in $10 million in revenue from taxes and retail profits. Saskatchewan is expected to see only half of that - all from taxes.