Sarah Mills: Saskatchewan's throne speech a blueprint for... what?
The Government of Saskatchewan has laid out its legislative plans for the year ahead, but Sarah Mills says families meas...
REGINA — Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s government is promising to continue cutting personal income taxes.
The Saskatchewan Party government, in its throne speech read out Tuesday in the chamber by Lt.-Gov. Bernadette McIntyre, says that a family of four already doesn’t pay tax on the first $65,000 of income.
McIntyre said the government will follow up on a pledge it made two years ago to lower personal income taxes this year.
“While the current (international) trade disputes are increasing the cost of living for everyone, Saskatchewan continues to be the most affordable place to live in Canada,” she said.
She said the province plans to continue making investments in health care, including hiring more staff and adding addiction treatment beds.
Earlier Tuesday, Moe told reporters his priority is health care.
“We need to see more (health-care staff),” Moe said. “It’s all about making the right investments to improve our health-care system and access to it.”
The premier said the province has connected 18,000 additional residents to primary health providers. It has added more acute care beds and is completing construction of a new urgent care centre in Saskatoon. It has also built a new hospital in Weyburn and is well on its way to finishing a new hospital in Prince Albert.
The province promised multiple bills this fall.
One bill proposes to expand the scope of practice for health-care workers so that they can provide more services and help more patients.
Moe’s government also wants to regulate medical assistance in dying through the Medical Assistance in Dying Additional Safeguards Act.
McIntyre said the province plans to prohibit MAID to anyone under 18 and to those whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness.
Current federal law already prevents MAID for those under 18, and Ottawa has introduced legislation to prevent MAID for those solely with mental health issues.
Asked why Saskatchewan needs its own legislation, Moe said a provincial law can still have a role.
The province also plans to introduce the protection of economic infrastructure act to ensure critical infrastructure isn’t occupied or blocked.
McIntyre said Bell Canada’s artificial intelligence megaproject southeast of Regina would boost jobs and the economy.
“There are some who would try to block this project and send those jobs, that investment and Canadians’ online data to another country, but Canadians understand the importance of home ice advantage,” she said.
On community safety and addictions, McIntyre said the province plans to hire more police officers and add 250 new addiction treatment beds. The province plans to have 500 addiction spaces operating by March.
There’s also the proposed protection from human trafficking act, which would require those in the hospitality industry and with ride-hailing platforms to report any suspicious human trafficking activity.
Another bill, the mandatory testing and disclosure act, would protect first responders and victims of crime. It would allow responders to seek mandatory testing on people they’ve come in contact with who are suspected of having hepatitis B or C, or HIV.
In education, Saskatchewan also plans to have new provincial literary screeners assess students.
The Opposition said the throne speech shows Moe’s government is tired and out of ideas.
NDP Leader Carla Beck said the speech fails to meet the moment and that New Democrats are planning to propose better ideas.
“You don’t have to settle for this anymore,” Beck said. “People in this province have some of the highest rates of economic and food insecurity.
“In the birthplace of medicare, we have the worst rates of access to family physicians.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2026.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
