Notes from the Gallery: New seats in the legislature, delays vs. adjustments

It was a short week for most everyone else, but MLAs did their full four days of proceedings in the assembly ahead of the Easter holiday.

During the week, the government officially opened its new animal welfare office, the premier wants to take the temperature of the public on a social media ban for kids, Ken Cheveldayoff had to defend himself from allegations he broke the rules on his constituency office lease, and the province cancelled its funding contracts with Prairie Harm Reduction as the community hub deal with financial difficulties and the cancelling of its Health Canada exemption

What else happened this week

• After being singled out a number of times last week by the Speaker, NDP MLA Meara Conway has a new seat in the assembly. She’s been moved to the opposite end of the hall from the Speaker. It remains to be seen if, like in elementary school, her new seat-mate will be a good influence.
• The average fitness in the legislative assembly was raised quite a bit on Thursday when a group of Saskatchewan’s Paralympians and coaches attended proceedings in the gallery. Their skill and achievement were celebrated on both sides of the assembly.
• The education minister and premier continued to push their argument that no school projects are being delayed as a result of the budget. Instead, they say project timelines are being adjusted. That’s despite Education Minister Everett Hindley originally saying some projects “won’t be advancing as quickly as initially planned” and the head of Regina Public Schools saying three projects no longer have a completion date. There doesn’t seem to be any real clarity on the way — every time the NDP brings it up in question period, the premier and minister start talking about how many schools they’ve opened and how many schools the NDP closed.
• MLAs now won’t sit again until April 13 because they, like the kids of this province, get an Easter week off.