With the final day of the fall sitting of the Legislature concluded, the Sask Party government highlights the progress that was made, including affordability relief with the $500 cheques for everyone 18 and over who filed their income taxes in the spring. Premier Scott Moe says because of extra resource revenue, they were also able to pay of $1-billion in operating debt. Health Minister Paul Merriman says the province is seeing success with the Health Human Resources action plan to recruit, train, incentivize and retain health care professionals, including a recent trip to the Philippines, where 161 job offers have been made to health care workers. The fall sitting also saw the introduction of the Saskatchewan First Act as the Sask Party government looks to confirm exclusive jurisdiction over natural resources and to defend provincial economic autonomy.
Premier Moe says,”I’d like to thank all members on both sides of the house for their unanimous support of government priorities this session. Specifically, the second reading of the Saskatchewan First Act, the motion in defence of law-abiding firearms owners and the affordability tax credit cheque legislation.
On the other side of the house, the Official Opposition says the session ended with no fix for the health system with long wait times and staff shortages and no fix for the affordability crisis. NDP Leader Carla Beck says, “Hospitals are closing, hard-working families are struggling to put food on the table and instead of fixing these issues, the Sask Party closed profitable liquor stores and poured taxpayer dollars into a redundant police force and a costly new tax system.”
Throughout the fall session, the NDP called on the government to expand the $500 affordability cheques for parents with children, create a consumer advocate for fair and reliable utilities, investigate grocery and meat prices, roll back the 8 per cent SaskPower and 23 per cent SaskEnergy increases, roll back the PST expansion and suspend the provincial gas tax.
Beck says right from day one when a Sask Party MLA invited convicted killer Colin Thatcher to the Throne Speech, it has been clear the Sask Party’s priorities were out of whack.
