The fall sitting of the Legislature is now underway following the Speech from The Throne, delivered by Saskatchewan’s Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty. The speech laid out our government’s plan to continue to build and protect Saskatchewan over the next year.
Together with Saskatchewan people, our government will continue to build a strong province, a strong economy, strong communities and strong families. And we will protect what we have built together from the risks of global uncertainty and from a federal government that seems intent on shutting down important parts of our economy.
We will continue to build a strong economy and create new jobs by attracting people, talent and business investment to our province. During this session, our government will introduce a new Investment Attraction Strategy to create jobs by building opportunities in emerging sectors, growing existing industries and connecting the world to Saskatchewan.
To compliment the investment plan, we will release the Saskatchewan Jobs Plan to recruit, train and retain a highly skilled workforce. This plan will ensure growth in the province’s economy creates new job opportunities while addressing labour shortages in key sectors and public services.
To further support strong families, our government will introduce the Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program. The program will bolster the income of low-income working families with dependent children.
To promote new home construction and protect new homeowners from rising costs, the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) Rebate for New Home Construction will be reinstated and extended retroactive to April 1. This rebate returns 42 per cent of PST paid – about 2.5 per cent of the total house price, excluding the land value – for a new house.
Our government is also introducing a Secondary Suite Program. This program will help homeowners with the costs of building a rental suite within their primary residence and increase the availability of rentals.
As our government continues to work with Saskatchewan people to build a strong economy, one of the biggest threats to our province’s economy is our own federal government. Their Clean Electricity Standards, Clean Fuel Standard regulations, and proposed oil and gas emissions cap will kill thousands of jobs and devastate our resource sector.
That is why during this session our government will use the Saskatchewan First Act to refer these policies to the Economic Impact Assessment Tribunal, which will look into the economic harm caused by these destructive federal policies.
As our government continues to focus on building strong communities, we are investing in programs and services to protect those struggling with mental health and addictions. We will implement our recently announced Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions, investing $49.4 million when fully implemented in five years and adding 500 new addictions treatment spaces – more than doubling the number of treatment spaces in the province. Our government will also implement the new Provincial Approach to Homelessness, investing $40.2 million over the next two years to create 155 new supportive housing spaces, 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces, and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces.
During the Throne Speech, our government outlined the bills we will introduce this session to continue building Saskatchewan and protect all we have built. New legislation will expand presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters to include six additional types of cancer, giving Saskatchewan the broadest presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters in Canada. Our government will also introduce a bill designed to reduce smoking and vaping, including raising the legal consumption age from 18 to 19, consistent with the age for alcohol and cannabis consumption.
These new announcements come along with our government’s commitment to continue the work we’ve already begun. We will continue to build new hospitals and health facilities, while continuing work on the Health Human Resources Action Plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain health care workers. We will continue to build new schools, while expanding online learning opportunities through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation and adding more childcare spaces in communities across the province. We will continue to expand our government’s support for community-based organizations that enhance access to services, such as mental health services for children and youth and second stage housing.
Our government, together with the people of our great province, will keep building Saskatchewan and we will protect all we have built. As we continue this work, we look forward to hearing from you. If you have questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact my constituency office at 306-692-8884 or mjnorthmla@sasktel.net.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
