Premier Brad Wall has announced a 25-day fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly will begin on October 13.
This is expected to be the last sitting of the Assembly before the provincial election scheduled for April 4, 2016.
Wall said because this is the last sitting before the election, it will be a continuation of the current 2014-15 session of the Legislature. That means there will not be a Throne Speech, giving MLAs more time to debate new legislation introduced by the government.
“The normal process is to introduce bills in the fall sitting and pass them in the spring sitting,” Wall said. “However, there will be no spring sitting until after the election. There are a few pieces of legislation we want to pass before the election, so we are deviating from the normal calendar just a bit to provide more time to debate those bills.
“The fall sitting will still be its normal length of 25 sitting days, giving MLAs plenty of time to debate bills and ask questions.”
Wall said the government will be looking to pass a bill that was introduced in the spring to reduce magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) wait times by allowing private MRIs in Saskatchewan.
The government also plans to introduce amendments to the various municipal acts based on recommendations made as a result of an inquiry into conflict of interest in the RM of Sherwood, and amendments to the province’s essential services law to make it compliant with a recent Supreme Court ruling.
During the session, the government will also outline its future plans for farmland ownership rules in the province, based on the results of public consultations held in recent months.
“It’s a short list of bills but they deal with some pretty important matters so I expect a vigorous debate,” Wall said.
“Our government continues to put forward new ideas for Saskatchewan’s future.
I hope during this session, we start to hear some actual policy alternatives from the Opposition, instead of just criticism.”
