Budget, private members’ bills, involuntary treatment in Sask. spring sitting

The Saskatchewan Assembly will be filled with men and women on either side of the aisle again on Monday.

The spring sitting starts in the afternoon, though without Premier Scott Moe who will be away on a trade mission to India for the first week.

Ahead of the sitting, Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck said her Opposition has a lot of plans for the spring, including holding the provincial government to account in the areas she said they’re failing.

“We’re talking about the cost of living, we’re talking about the cost of health care, we’re talking about education, community safety, all of those things,” she said.

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Beck said the party has a lot of people who’ve been waiting to come to the legislative building to say their piece.

“I think you’ll see a whole lot of people who’ve been waiting for some time now to come and hold this government to account, people wanting to come and talk about their experiences in this province where they’re being failed by this government,” said Beck.

She said there will also be a lot of private members’ bills from the NDP, including around health care. Beck also plans to introduce an emergency motion on Monday to introduce actions aimed at relieving child poverty in the province. She also talked about the report the NDP is working on about the energy future of Saskatchewan.

In the third week of the sitting, the provincial budget is expected to be introduced.

Premier Scott Moe has already been talking about the budget, letting the province know it will have a deficit.

Other provinces that have already released their budgets are also in the red, and Moe said everyone is dealing with pressures around needs in social services, health, addictions and policing.

“Are you going to cut services, increase taxes and run a tremendous deficit as they did in British Columbia, or are you going to make the focus to continue with the investments that you have, rely on the growth of your economy in the next few years and try to minimize that deficit and really protect the services people in this province expect their provincial government to be looking at,” said Moe.

The premier believes Saskatchewan has a more resilient economy than most of the other provinces.

A number of pieces of legislation introduced in the fall are expected to pass this spring. They include a bill to change who can change their name in Saskatchewan, a bill to deal with stranded mining assets, and a bill to allow tailgating at Saskatchewan Roughriders games.

The biggest piece of legislation likely to pass is the government’s bill to allow people to be forced into addictions treatment under specific circumstances. It was introduced on the last day of the fall sitting, and the minister said he wanted to make sure there were conversations about it during the session break.

The NDP also have a number of private members’ bills that were introduced in the fall that may get to a vote this spring.