The next Saskatchewan Legislative session will be underway in about a month and it could provide some interesting times for political watchers such as ourselves, as well as the participants.
The session will include rookies, who barely got their feet wet, like Estevan’s Lori Carr, before the last session adjourned.
With a cabinet shuffle now deemed necessary due to the misguided actions of veteran MLA Don McMorris, who stepped down from caucus and cabinet posts following his DUI charges, events will take on a new complexion.
The session will also see Premier Brad Wall waving bye-bye to Bill Boyd, at least from a senior cabinet perspective, thanks to the sundry misadventures he has undergone regarding Smart Meters, misinformation regarding the BD3 clean coal project, and a cloud hanging over the whole issue of dubious land deals associated with the infamous Regina by-pass file. These were all under his stewardship.
The only good news on the immediate horizon is the promise of another good crop year, especially in the southeast, where a good portion of the product is already in the bins.
So, the attention may settle on Carr who will be carrying the interests of this community and region into the next session. And, she might be feeling pressure points early on since the honeymoon period rural Saskatchewan usually gives Sask. Party MLAs, is coming to a conclusion.
For instance, our new MLA will have to keep Highways and Infrastructure officials’ feet to the fire with regards to the everlasting Highway 39 and 6 twinning project. A few kilometres between Bienfait junction and Estevan is about two per cent of what was promised. Uneasy feelings have to grip the motorist approaching Regina these days as they view a new strip of No. 6 highway being reconstructed to flange up correctly with the southern tip of the Regina bypass project. This new stretch of highway is inexplicably being built as an old-fashioned two-laner. Why is that happening if the master plan calls for this very busy stretch of road to be twinned in the near future? Why is it not being done now? If it were, we’d have a little faith restored in this government’s promise. As it sits now, we are left wondering what happened to the plan?
Our new MLA will also be pressured into taking some action on a new Estevan Regional Nursing Home file that has been left wandering in the wilderness for the past 10 months.
The nursing home committee is seeking alternative plans they can pursue to get something moving, since local obligations were met long ago. Carr may be able to do a little pushing and shoving of her counterpart, Dustin Duncan, who lives just down the road. Of course, everyone is anxiously waiting for the now well-known transformational change, to actually take place and mean something. Will it really be transformational change for health and education portfolios? Or will it be more like incremental changes taken over a period of time? So far, no clues have been dropped.
Then we know now that oil spills and how they are handled by government agencies are, to be polite, a work in progress, and not necessarily legislated laws written in stone. That too needs to be addressed by the likes of our new MLA since we have waterways and reservoirs around here that could be affected and so far, clear answers are being stonewalled by references to Acts and Articles associated with guidelines, regulations or laws by either the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Resources (an arm of the Economy) or the Environment Ministry. The fact Environment Minister Herb Cox is also stepping aside to tend to health issues, could further muddy the waters in that ministry when clarity is being sought.
Eventually some agency will need to be in charge and accountable.
This could be an interesting homework-driven legislative session.
