REGINA – The Saskatchewan Legislature is back in session and the first order of business was passing an emergency motion to fix the grain transportation backlog.
“From a statistical standpoint, there are at least five million tonnes of grain waiting to move out of this province,” said Premier Brad Wall.
Saskatchewan grain is not moving, causing Canada to lose out on trade deals and hurting Saskatchewan producers.
“We’re definitively saying that the federal government should look at all of its legislative options,” said Wall.
The opposition supported the motion to push for forcing negotiations between grain and rail companies, but only after criticizing the government for not acting sooner, a back and forth which raised the noise level in the chamber.
“I can tell the members are happy to be back in the assembly and that they’re enthusiastic and I would note that they’ve been exercising their vocal chords because they’re rested, but I hope that you don’t put too much of a strain on them during question period,” said Speaker Dan D’Autremont.
It’s a new sitting, but a lot of the debate during Monday’s Question Period centered around familiar issues, including a promise from the opposition leader to hold the government accountable on long-term care.
What we’ve seen from this government is a really dismissive approach forcing health regions to significantly scale back their requests for urgent needs,” said NDP Opposition leader Cam Broten.
“We only have roughly this amount for that health region so out of what you’ve already submitted, what would you consider to be your top priorities? rather than us making that decision for them,” countered Health Minister Dustin Duncan.
The Opposition says the core problem is simply not enough dollars. a problem that will possibly be solved in two weeks when the government announces the budget.
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