The provincial government has set the date for MLAs to head back to the legislative assembly.
The spring sitting will begin March 19, which will be the same day the spring budget is released.
Usually, the spring sitting begins the first week of March, with the budget delivered about three weeks later.
This year will mark only the second time in at least the last 15 years both have happened on the same day. The last time was on Apr. 6, 2021, when the province was still in the thick of the pandemic and its restrictions.
A government spokesperson said it’s most often, but not always, the case that budget day is also the first day of the spring sitting after an election.
However, the only time that’s happened since the 2003 provincial election was in 2021 – the 2020 election was held in the midst of the pandemic on October 26.
Every other year had at least one week between the sitting and budget, including in 2016, when the election was held Apr. 4, the sitting started with a Speech from the Throne May 17, and the budget was delivered June 1.
In a news release, Premier Scott Moe said the sitting and the budget will focus on “delivering for Saskatchewan people” on things like health care, safer communities, and education.
He also said the government will continue working on the province’s trade relationships with the U.S. and other countries.
The Sask. NDP, meanwhile, accused the provincial government of hiding from the public. It said in a news release that government ignored calls for an emergency sitting over the potential U.S. tariffs and by the time government is sitting again, the tariffs could already be in place.