Premier Scott Moe says he has never talked with former Premier Brad Wall about the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. Text messages between Moe’s predecessor and Chris Barber, a truck driver from Wall’s former constituency, are a part of court records. Barber is charged with intimidation, obstruction of a peace officer and mischief in connection to the anti-mandate protest at Parliament Hill.
Premier Moe wouldn’t comment on the texts or their content, other than to say from what he saw, it was “pretty sound communication.” Moe added that the Saskatchewan government has asked and has been accepted to testify at hearings about the federal government enacting the Emergency Act. He says, “We don’t believe that the criteria was met to enact that Emergency Act and we don’t believe that law enforcement asked for it either.”
Moe spoke to reporters ahead of the Council of Federation meeting in Victoria next week, which is a gathering of all the provincial and territorial Premiers.
Moe says among the topics to be covered is energy security but stresses that it isn’t just about oil and gas, it also includes things like uranium and rare earth elements, which are all available in Saskatchewan. To do this, Moe says the federal government needs to make some changes to its policies. He suggests there are impediments that are preventing the production of some of the must sustainable energy in the world and he adds that Saskatchewan must engage with the other provinces and the United States on ways to make our resources more accessible to all of North America and globally.
Canada’s Health Transfer funding is also on the agenda, and the request is an increase from the federal government covering 22 per cent, to 35 per cent of health care costs.
He also touched on expanding provincial autonomy to help meet the Sask. Party’s growth agenda. Moe has tasked former Saskatchewan Party MLA Allan Kerpan and current Provincial Secretary Lyle Stewart with initiating private meeting across the province for input. He gives the example of Quebec’s complete autonomy over immigration, and Moe suggests that it should be extended to all the provinces. The Premier suggests that to grow the province, there needs to be more people with the right skills who can immigrate to this province, alongside also training and promoting local citizens.
