REGINA - The Saskatchewan legislative session ended Thursday, with Premier Scott Moe pointing to several accomplishments during what was a tumultuous and eventful time.
“We've seen a lot of change and turmoil in the world around us, not only during this sitting, but over the course of the last number of months,” Moe said at a news conference Thursday morning. He pointed to U.S. and Chinese tariffs, as well as a federal election and new Prime Minister.
“Through it all, I would say that our beautiful province of Saskatchewan has remained very strong and steady throughout all of this time of quite uncertainty, quite uncertain times,” Moe said.
Premier Moe pointed to the Saskatchewan economy leading the nation with the strongest rate of job growth in Canada, with the lowest unemployment in Canada. He also pointed to a balanced budget and delivering on commitments in areas like health care and education.
But Moe had Ottawa squarely on his mind. This week, the Premier sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney outlining 10 key policy changes that the federal government needed to take.
Those include removing China tariffs on agri-food products, stop attempting to collect the carbon tax on home heating, repealing the Clean Electricity Regulations and Oil and Gas Emissions Cap, building trade and economic corridors and removing legislation that impacts the move,net of western Canadian goods, and strengthening the Criminal Code, among others.
“What this would signal is a new and a much more positive relationship, arguably not just with Saskatchewan, but with many provinces across Canada,” Moe said.
“A stronger Saskatchewan certainly means a stronger nation of Canada. We have always believed that, and we continue to believe that today. And any of these changes that would be made, and all of these changes made collectively, would be very positive for our province and thereby would be very positive for the nation of Canada.”
But Moe denied in speaking to reporters that this letter represented any sort of ultimatum to the federal government.
“I view it as an opportunity,” Moe said. “That's why there's not a date on it, do these things by this date or this will happen. This is an opportunity, and I would say that the conversations that we've had thus far not only with the Prime Minister, but with some of those ministers, and as we see there will be some varying opinions of those ministers, but ultimately the policy is going to be driven by the Prime Minister, I'd say they've been quite positive, refreshingly positive on each of these policies. And so we have to give this an opportunity to succeed. We have to ensure that we are providing every opportunity for Saskatchewan to succeed.”
The last days of the session saw a heightened focus on talk on Western alienation and separatism in the wake of the federal election results. There have also been accusations by the Opposition that the government was not doing enough to quell the separatism threat.
“I don't think it is unclear with respect to our position,” Moe told reporters. “I believe there are some that are attempting to make it unclear in the Opposition ranks and such, and we hear that discussion each and every day in this place.”
Moe acknowledged the province has “had ten challenging years with the relationship with our federal government.”
“So herein lies the opportunity. A new prime minister, largely a new cabinet. The opportunity for us to, and I think you've seen it mark a different tone coming from myself and our government the last number of weeks since the federal election, is that we truly do want to move forward in, yes, altering some of the policies that come from the federal government, but we will work on them with those policies as well to make them workable so that we have that attractive investment environment and can continue to grow and prosper in Saskatchewan within the nation of Canada.”
As for the feelings of western alienation, Moe repeated that he did not believe that “there's only two options, separation or the status quo. I believe there is another option.”
“I truly believe that the new prime minister, and I'm hopeful that he will act on it, but I believe that he feels there's another option as well. To alter some of the policies, to work alongside the provinces, maybe consult with them before new policies are put in place on what the impacts will be for our integrated economy in Saskatchewan, how that will impact the Canadian economy.”
When asked if he believed Western separation was a threat today, Moe said “not at all.”
“There's no referendum in front of any province. There's nothing of the sort, so it would not be a threat today.”
But he said the disenfranchisement many people in this province and others are feeling was real.
“It's real. And there is a different path, and we should be working alongside one another as Canadians to support the ways that we create wealth, which are very, very different in areas of the nation, and I'm hopeful that the new Prime Minister has a full understanding of that, because the last Prime Minister and the administration were not helpful in bringing Canadians together.”
With the end of the session came the end of the effort by Carla Beck to pass the Keep Saskatchewan in Canada Act, which would have increased the threshold required to hold a separation referendum from 15 to 30 per cent. Her private members' bill did not get the unanimous consent to get back to the floor of the Assembly in time for the end of the session, and will die on the order paper.
When asked if he would let Beck's bill go to the floor for a free vote, Moe said “no.”
Moe added that he didn’t understand where the guidance has come to double what is already a fairly onerous criteria” for a plebiscite.
“It certainly wasn't, I don't think, anyone in government. I don't believe it was an electoral officer that had provided that guidance.”
Moe said the government was “not looking to take Saskatchewan people's voice away by making the criteria for it. We're talking about this topic today, but it could be any topic in two years or three years, and people need to have a voice in between elections, or the opportunity to have a voice in between elections.”
The legislature now breaks for the summer months, with the new fall session set for Oct. 22.
