REGINA - On Monday, the new session of the Saskatchewan legislature officially begins with the Speech from the Throne.
Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty will deliver the address Monday afternoon in the Legislative Assembly. The speech will outline the priorities of Premier Scott Moe and the Sask Party government during the upcoming session.
Just prior to that at 10 a.m. in the morning, members of the Legislature will select the new Speaker of the House and a Deputy Speaker. That process promises to be a very short one, with both roles being filled by acclamation.
The only candidate to put his name forward by the Nov. 20 nomination deadline is Todd Goudy, MLA for Melfort. There is also only one candidate for Deputy Speaker, that being Blaine McLeod, MLA for Lumsden-Morse. Both Goudy and McLeod will be confirmed in their new roles Monday morning.
Following the afternoon’s Speech from the Throne will be a two-week-long fall sitting of the Legislature. Because the provincial election and writ period occupied most of the calendar in October, this particularly sitting will be far shorter than the usual six weeks that the Legislature sits in the fall. But the two weeks will provide enough time for the government to introduce key pieces of legislation before the MLAs break for the winter.
The bills will then come back for debate when the session resumes in the spring. At that time the new Finance Minister, Jim Reiter, is due to deliver his first budget.
It will take a scorecard to keep track of who's who in the new Legislature, not to mention who is in which role. The new Legislature will consist of 34 Sask Party members and a much larger Opposition caucus of 27 New Democrats, with no independents and no other parties represented. A grand total of 31 MLAs are brand new, including 16 Sask Party and 15 NDP members.
As well, the cabinet has undergone major changes, with several cabinet ministers from the previous House not returning due to retirement or election defeat. Except for the Premier, every member of the new Cabinet has been assigned a new portfolio.
The actual contents of the Speech from the Throne are still under wrap, but the government has already given broad hints about what their intentions are.
Shortly after appointing his new cabinet, Premier Moe posted on X: "Saskatchewan voters voted for a strong economy and a bright future, and they also voted for change. Our new cabinet will deliver both."
The immediate indication is that the government plans to introduce legislation to implement the affordability measures it had promised during the election campaign. Their election commitments include personal income tax reductions, increasing the Graduate Retention Program, doubling the Active Families Benefit, increasing the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit and reintroducing the Home Renovation Tax Credit, among others.
In speaking to reporters Thursday, Government House Leader Tim McLeod outlined what the government's priorities will be during the fall sitting.
“Well, through the election campaign we set out the priority commitments for our government being affordability, education, health care and community safety,” McLeod told reporters. “And so we'll be introducing legislation to follow through on exactly what we said we were going to do in the election campaign.”
He said that during this sitting they will be “introducing the legislation, the priority legislation, particularly on affordability, but we'll be introducing the bills that would ultimately then be debated in the spring as well.”
McLeod remained tight-lipped to reporters when pressed for more specifics about what is in the Throne Speech. ”You'll have to wait and see.”
NDP plans emergency motion on suspending gas tax
On Friday, Opposition Leader Carla Beck outlined her party’s plans for the return of the Legislature, during which she signalled that affordability will be a top priority in the coming two weeks.
A prime target for the Official Opposition will be suspending the 15-cent-a-litre gas tax for six months, which was an NDP campaign promise during the provincial election. The indication is they plan to revisit that campaign pledge during their first week back.
Beck said the NDP’s first order of business on Tuesday will be “to introduce an emergency motion to suspend the provincial gas tax. If this motion receives all-party support, Saskatchewan drivers will save big at the pumps by Wednesday.”
Beck, who was flanked at the announcement by Regina Douglas Park MLA Nicole Sarauer and by the newly-elected Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail, added that McPhail will introduce a motion to call for an all-party committee to launch a full investigation into northern grocery prices.
This motion would be in response to reports this past week of scurvy outbreaks in northern Saskatchewan. The NDP has attributed the outbreak to northern residents being unable to afford the inflated costs of groceries, to the point where they are going without essential items like food.
“Scurvy in Saskatchewan in 2024 is simply unacceptable. $18 for a jug of milk is crazy," said Beck. "We will propose an all-party investigation that will get to the bottom of skyrocketing grocery prices in this province and then we will expect real concrete measures that will address this crisis.”
McPhail spoke in more detail about the affordability issues facing northern Saskatchewan.
“Going into Northern Saskatchewan communities, you go into the grocery stores,” McPhail said. “I was in Wollaston Lake over the course of the campaign and $160 turkey was what you could find in the grocery store there. You know, seeing $20 jugs of milk, $20 for like 900 grams of grapes. The issues that we see in food security across Saskatchewan has a bit of a multiplication factor because of the distance that it has to travel from its local distribution centre to get up into those northern areas. You see that inflationary cost a little bit more than what you might see in other parts of Saskatchewan.”
He also pointed to the issues northern residents face in having to travel long distances to buy groceries. McPhail pointed to “a place like Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, another place that I stopped in in the course of the campaign, where their closest grocery store is an hour drive away.
“So you're spending money on gasoline just to get to the grocery store more than you would in any other community or in most communities in Saskatchewan. And so the cost of gas is a huge contributing factor. So that's why I'm really happy to see our team trying to take the leadership role right off the bat here, looking at suspending that gas tax to provide the people the affordability measures that they need to be able to access groceries and get to the grocery store and put those citrus items at those things.”
Beck also made it known she thought the Sask Party's pledges on affordability weren't good enough to address the issues seen right now.
"These are measures that will not take effect until after next tax season," Beck said. "People need relief now. That's what we're hearing from people."
