This week the 28th session of the Saskatchewan legislature got under way.
The events of the week included the swearing-in of all legislative assembly members Monday, followed by the unveiling in the evening of the dome on the top of the legislature, after restoration work over the past number of months.
Tuesday morning saw the election of a new speaker, with Saskatchewan Party MLA Corey Tochor of Saskatoon Eastview winning that vote.
Tuesday afternoon, the 51 Saskatchewan Party MLAs and 10 New Democrats gathered in the legislature to hear the throne speech from Lt. Gov. Vaughn Solomon Schofield. The throne speech outlines the government’s objectives and priorities for the upcoming session.
The following are some of the highlights from the transcript. The speech began with a thank-you to all candidates and those who took part in the election, and then proceeded to remember those in Fort McMurray.
My government also wants to thank the people of Saskatchewan for their heartfelt responses to the horrific events in La Loche and in Fort McMurray.
Saskatchewan will continue to stand with those communities as they recover and heal from thes.
On April 4th, my government was re-elected based on a campaign that made few specific promises, but instead made one simple yet significant commitment – to keep Saskatchewan strong.
During this session, my government will keep its promises and it will honour its commitment to keep Saskatchewan strong in three key areas:
- My government will keep our economy strong;
- It will keep the province’s finances strong; and
- It will keep Saskatchewan’s position in Canada strong by always standing up for Saskatchewan’s interests.
During this session, my government will move forward on the campaign commitments it made to keep Saskatchewan strong and provide a better quality of life for all Saskatchewan people.
Over the past eight years, my government has made record investments in highways and infrastructure, repairing and rebuilding over 10,000 kilometres of Saskatchewan roads.
Still, there is more work to be done and more highways to be fixed.
Starting this year and over the next three years, my government will fix more highways through a $70 million surge in highway repair and maintenance.
This is part of a new Highways 2020 Plan to invest $2.7 billion in highways and transportation capital over the next four years.
In addition to making our highways safer for everyone, this important investment in highways will create economic activity and jobs in the short term and will strengthen our ability to move Saskatchewan goods to market in the long term.
My government will also continue to move forward on many other important infrastructure projects underway throughout the province – schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities, the Regina Bypass – using both traditional funding models and public-private partnerships or P3s to ensure Saskatchewan residents receive the best possible value for their tax dollars.
These important infrastructure investments by ministries and Crowns will total $3.6 billion this year - a record investment that will help meet the needs of a growing province, facilitate our growth plan and create jobs and opportunity that will keep Saskatchewan strong.
My government is committed to ensuring Saskatchewan never returns to those days of decline and that this new era of growth continues.
To that end, my government will consult with industry on the establishment of a new growth tax incentive.
It will be the first innovation tax rate of its kind established in North America.
This new “patent box” tax incentive is designed to create jobs and investment through an advantageous tax rate for the commercialization of patents and intellectual property right here in our province.
My government is also committed to helping small, home-based food businesses grow in Saskatchewan.
To that end, it will allow home-based food producers to sell high-quality, low-risk foods, prepared in the home, directly to consumers and retailers.
These new initiatives build on many steps my government has already taken to encourage economic growth and diversification, including:
- Lowering taxes for businesses, individuals, families, homeowners and farmers;
- Reducing the burden of unnecessary regulation and red tape;
- Working with Saskatchewan exporters to open and expand new markets for Saskatchewan products around the world;
- Actively promoting Saskatchewan’s tourism industry; and
- Investing in skills training to match Saskatchewan’s labour market needs, with a specific emphasis on First Nations and Metis education and skills training.
Saskatchewan farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses are also keeping our economy strong.
In 2015, Saskatchewan’s agri-food exports reached nearly $15.3 billion, surpassing my government’s Growth Plan target of $15 billion in exports by 2020.
The government also acknowledged a number of major projects going on in the province including one in Edam and Vawn:
- Husky Energy will invest more than $1 billion related to heavy oil thermal projects creating approximately 90 fulltime jobs and 500 construction jobs;
The government congratulated the companies for their ongoing confidence in Saskatchewan’s future by investing in new projects and creating new jobs.
The government also pledged to improve the Graduate Retention Program.
My government is now improving the Graduate Retention Program to allow recipients to use up to $10,000 of their GRP benefits toward the down payment on their first home in Saskatchewan.
In this session, my government will also introduce a legislative amendment to remove the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority from The Crown Corporations Public Ownership Act.
This change is part of a campaign commitment to convert 40 government-owned liquor stores to private stores, add 12 new private liquor stores and create a level playing field for liquor retailers in order to provide more choice, more convenience and more competitive pricing for Saskatchewan consumers.
The Speech from the Throne also outlined a pledge to expand the “two-for-one” model recently introduced for MRI scans to also include CT scans,to expand an innovative remote technology health care pilot project in Pelican Narrows to other northern communities and to amend The Saskatchewan Employment Act to ensure those caring for a family member in the final stages of life will be eligible for 28 weeks of leave per year.
My government will move forward on its campaign commitment to reduce health region administration by $7.5 million a year and re-direct that savings toward improving seniors’ care by hiring more registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and continuing care aides in long-term care facilities.
During this session, my government will also fulfill its commitment to help seniors remain in their own homes longer by allowing seniors with household incomes under $70,000 to defer the education portion of their property taxes, beginning in 2017.
The government also committed to extending the current net metering program for residential and commercial customers for another two years, as well as forging a new partnership with the First Nations Power Authority which will see First Nations develop 40 megawatts of clean energy generated from solar power and flare gas.
Despite the challenges in our resource sector, Saskatchewan’s finances remain strong.
Our budget deficit remains much smaller and more manageable than our neighboring provinces.
Our debt to GDP ratio is the second lowest in Canada and we continue to enjoy a triple-A credit rating.
In two weeks, my government will present a budget that will keep Saskatchewan strong by keeping our provincial finances strong and by ensuring that the budget returns to balance by
2017.
The upcoming budget will also mark the beginning of a government–wide exercise of transformational change to ensure the sustainability of high quality public services delivered in the most effective, efficient way possible.
My government believes in a strong Saskatchewan within a strong and united Canada.
But it is troubling that today, there are some in this country who, given the opportunity, would shut down major parts of Saskatchewan’s economy and put thousands of hard-working Saskatchewan people out of work, all in the name of some misguided dogma that has no basis in reality.
There are those who are not comfortable with and even oppose much of what we produce in Saskatchewan and how we produce it - oil and gas, coal and uranium, livestock and grains.
They would prefer that those sectors did not exist and that the thousands of jobs in those sectors did not exist.
They look at those jobs like they are somehow harming the country and the world.
To those people, my government has a message.
You are wrong.
You could not be more wrong.
Saskatchewan feeds Canada and the world.
Saskatchewan supplies energy to Canada and to the world.
What we do here makes Canada a better place.
What we do here makes the world a better place.
My government will take every occasion to stand up for this province, to defend those vital sectors and to stand up for every one of those jobs.
For many years, many different leaders have used a metaphor taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14 – the metaphor of the shining city on a hill.
Those who have invoked this imagery, from John Winthrop to John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, have used it to say that those of us who have been blessed by providence have the responsibility to serve as a beacon of hope, welcoming all to our shining city.
Now of course, this is Saskatchewan.
It’s hard to find a city on a hill.
But today we have the freshly clad copper dome of this Legislature to serve as our symbol of that shining city.
Let it be a reminder to all of us that we are blessed to live in the best province in the best country in the world.
And for those of us who are particularly blessed with the honour of serving under this beautiful, shining dome, let it serve as a reminder that to whom much is given, much is expected.
Let our new shining dome remind us of where we have been, where we are headed and that Saskatchewan should always be a beacon of hope whose best days are still ahead.
I now leave you to the business of the session, knowing that you will favourably discharge your duties and responsibilities.
