Sask. throne speech unveils Moe government’s agenda for 2023-24

While Premier Scott Moe maintained the Speech from the Throne delivered Wednesday held significant supports for some, he also said the reason there wasn’t more in the document laying out his government’s priorities was because inflation is hitting the government as well.

“We need to be prudent with the dollars because fiscal accountability and balancing the books here in the province of Saskatchewan is, most certainly, a priority for this government as well,” Moe said when asked about why more affordability measures weren’t included.

The premier said government finances are tightening at the same time as those of families and individuals.

“What we’re trying to do within the confines that we have fiscally from the provincial perspective is, in a way, augment what the federal government has already announced, with their GST rebate on rental housing, to ensure that we’re addressing, through consultation, what are viewed as the largest needs here in the province in the best way that we can without entirely upsetting the fiscal balance,” said Moe.

Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty delivered the throne speech in the Legislative Assembly. In what’s expected to be the last throne speech before the 2024 provincial election, Moe’s government didn’t offer many splashy items for voters.

What’s not in the speech

After teasing his government may be helping residents deal with rising costs and inflationary pressures in the coming sitting, Moe’s throne speech didn’t mention anything like affordability cheques.

As expected, the speech doesn’t include any plans to remove the PST from construction labour.

But Moe said the throne speech isn’t the last word in what government can do to help people, and signalled there’s still time for incentives and rebates that one might expect ahead of an election.

“The Speech from the Throne doesn’t end the conversation about how government can best support families and individuals when it comes to the affordability challenges that we understand families are facing.,” said Moe.

When it comes to the issue of addictions, the government stressed it will not be providing illicit drugs to users through the health-care system. That approach is followed by other jurisdictions.

What’s new

In a move aimed at helping people pay the bills, the government will introduce its new Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program during the sitting.

The speech said the program’s aim is to “bolster the income of low-income working families with dependent children by providing financial incentives for individuals to obtain and maintain employment.”

Moe declined to give more detail on that, saying more would come out as the plan moved forward.

The new Saskatchewan Jobs Plan also will be introduced to create new job opportunities, to address the labour shortage in areas like health care, and to expand opportunities for Indigenous people and young people.

A new Investment Attraction Strategy will be implemented in hopes of making Saskatchewan more appealing to companies and creating employment opportunities across the province.

New laws

Among the bills to be introduced during the sitting is one that will raise the legal age for smoking and vaping.

The Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Amendment Act will raise the age from 18 to 19. That’s consistent with the legal age for alcohol and cannabis consumption.

Moe said that came about through continued lobbying from the cancer society. He also pointed to previous moves made by his government around the issue, including laws around flavoured tobacco.

“These are the steps that have been recommended, not only by the cancer society but, I would say, a number of youth that have visited the building as well and engage with not only our health ministers but other MLAs as well,” the premier said.

The Workers’ Compensation (Extending Firefighter Coverage) Amendment Act will expand presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters to include six additional types of cancer — primary site pancreatic, thyroid, penile, soft tissue sarcoma, mesothelioma and laryngeal cancer. The act currently covers 16 cancers.

The Protection from Human Trafficking (Coerced Debts) Amendment Act will assist victims of human trafficking, giving them relief from negative credit factors that were incurred through coercion.

The Saskatchewan Remembrance Day Observance Act will allow people to wear a poppy in all Saskatchewan workplaces.

Moe said the government has had reports of people not being able to wear poppies at work, including in some government organizations, though he declined to say which.

“The broader recognition is this: What our poppies symbolize in honouring our veterans and what they have done in giving us the opportunity to (a) have a democracy and (b) the opportunity to wear any other pin on our lapel at all. That should be recognized and honoured each and every day, not just on the days in November when we do wear a poppy,” said Moe.

Federal battle

Moe’s government has been in an ongoing battle with the feds, ranging from its constitutional challenge of the carbon tax to its refusal to meet the federal government’s emissions targets.

The throne speech said the federal government is “one of the biggest threats to Saskatchewan’s economy.” To address that, Saskatchewan plans to send a delegation to the COP28 Conference in the United Arab Emirates to promote Saskatchewan products.

Again calling the feds’ net-zero emissions targets and target date of 2030 “unrealistic and unaffordable,” the speech said Moe’s government will use The Saskatchewan First Act to refer the federal Clean Electricity Regulations, Clean Fuel Standard and oil and gas emissions cap to the Economic Impact Assessment Tribunal.

“The Tribunal will define, assess and report on the economic harm caused by these destructive federal policies,” the speech said.

Moe said he does hope use of the act and its tribunal will break the government’s resolve to move forward on climate change policies.

“What the Saskatchewan First Act will ascertain is the economic harm that these federal policies are imposing on a province like Saskatchewan and industries and people that potentially are working in that industry today, and potentially could be working in that industry tomorrow,” said Moe, whose province will continue aiming for its net-zero target of 2050.

Housing

The government plans to reinstate its PST rebate for new home construction.

The rebate, which ended April 1, will be extended retroactively to that date. The government said the move will return 42 per cent of PST paid on the construction of a new house to the homeowner.

The government also is introducing the Secondary Suite Program, which is to help homeowners cover the costs of building a rental suite in their home. The goal is to help homeowners with their mortgages while also increasing the number of rentals available.

“What we feel this program will do, associated with the opportunity to incentivize a rental suite in your home, is to give even more people that opportunity to have that ownership of a home here in Saskatchewan,” said Moe.

The PST rebate won’t help people who can’t afford a newly built home, but Moe does believe it will help people in other parts of the housing market when others move or upgrade into new homes. Moe also believes the secondary suite program will help the rental market.

“There’s always decisions that need to be made with respect to how much a government can do. But in no way would I discount the significance of this PST incentive on the opportunities that we have in Saskatchewan, when compared to the rest of Canada, already an affordable market,” he said.

Mental health and addictions

Moe’s government will be installing a new Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions in hopes of increasing the system’s capacity to get more people the help they need.

As well, the government is looking to add 500 new addictions treatment spaces across the province, create a central intake for mental health and addictions treatment, and increase patients’ access to addictions treatment.

Mental health services for children and youth will be expanded in 13 communities — Estevan, Weyburn, Carlyle, Oxbow, Regina, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Humboldt, Prince Albert, Kindersley, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moose Jaw.

As well, new residential homes for youth with complex mental health needs and addictions issues will be opened in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert.

The province will address homelessness with 155 new supportive housing units, 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces, and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces in Regina and Saskatoon.

Health care

The government plans to continue its efforts to expand its health-care workforce through the Health Human Resources Action Plan.

Since it was introduced in September of last year, the plan has resulted in the additions of 728 new nursing graduates from the province and across Canada, 34 registered nurses from the Philippines, and 19 former residents of Ukraine.

The Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive produced 166 hires, the speech noted.

The province also plans to add 12 physician assistants to community clinics.

According to the speech, the province will expand the eligibility for the Nursing Loan Forgiveness Program to nurses working in Prince Albert, Moose Jaw Swift Current, Yorkton and the Battlefords.

The government said it will create 2,500 new child-care spaces in the coming months and is continuing to support second stage housing and counselling services for women and their children leaving interpersonal violence and abuse.

The NDP responds

The Opposition NDP took the government to task for failing to provide any assistance for seniors whose care homes are closing.

The NDP noted the Parkview Villa and Princess Villa long-term care homes announced Tuesday they were closing and a third home, Precious Memories Villa, gave families 72 hours’ notice on Friday to move their loved ones.

The opposition also pointed out crises in the health-care sector, with long wait times for surgeries and overcapacity issues in emergency rooms across the province.

“There’s an emergency in our emergency rooms and Moe still hasn’t come forward with any game-changing solutions for health care,” NDP Leader Carla Beck said in a statement.

“Moe says he’s concerned about housing, yet his government sat on its hands as dozens of seniors were thrown out of their homes this last week. The rising cost of living and health-care crisis are clearly not priorities for this government.”