It was a legislative sessions of firsts as Premier Scott Moe and Opposition Leader Ryan Meili took the lead of their respective parties. After 10 weeks, the spring sitting of the legislative assembly has concluded.
The government was outlined in Premier Brad Wall’s final Throne Speech last fall. Despite this, Moe felt he managed to put his own stamp on his first session at the helm.
“We were able to bring funding into our classrooms, $30 million directly into our classrooms. Make some minor adjustments with respect to the PST that the people of the province had spoken to me and others about,” Moe said.
These changes include popular choices like removing the PST on health, life and agriculture insurance, and less popular decisions like adding PST to used car sales in the spring budget.
Moe added he was happy to keep the budget on its three year path to balance.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan projecting $365M deficit in 2018-19 budget
The premier said he and his caucus will spend the summer consulting with members of their home communities about a wide variety of issues, in addition to other stakeholders.
One of those will be the education sector. Despite a $30 million funding boost to school divisions, there is still a gap left by the $54 million cut in the 2017/18 budget.
“There’s no doubt that we’re having challenging budgets, last year and this year,” Moe said.
In addition to these talks, Moe and his cabinet will be finalizing industry performance standards for Prairie Resilience, their climate change strategy. The federal government will begin reviewing strategies in September. Provinces that don’t meet performance standards are expected to have the federal imposed on them.
Across the aisle, NDP leader Ryan Meili and his team will also be out in communities over the summer talking with constituents. However, they will put an extra effort in the Regina-Northeast riding.
READ MORE: Former Finance Minister Kevin Doherty resigning
A date for the by-election to replace former Finance Minister Kevin Doherty has not been set, but Meili is keen to see the vacant seat turn orange.
“We’ve been out there on the doorstep quite a bit already and there seems to be a real appetite for change and for some ideas that can make a bigger difference in people’s lives,” Meili said.
When Meili became NDP leader he said he wanted to do politics in a different way, and maintain a respectful tone. He believes that was accomplished.
“I heard that from the speaker and others that they really did feel a real difference in the tone from this session to previous sessions,” Meili said.
“It’s not easy in that confrontational setting that is the Legislative Assembly.”
There were times the Opposition called for collaboration, such as on the domestic violence file. While debate still exists between the two parties, specifically around paid days off for people leaving an abusive relationship, new provisions became law.
Another thing Meili is happy to see is the full repeal of Bill 40, legislation that originally allowed for 49 per cent of a Crown corporation to be sold. That portion was axed last year, but the legislation still existed to wind down a Crown.
“Which was very much thanks to the pressure of this team and the folks around the province who really saw that as the wrong choice,” Meili said.
The Legislative Assembly will reconvene October 24 for the fall sitting.
Comments