Alec Salloum
Regina Leader-Post
Saskatchewan’s 61 MLAs will be back at work on Wednesday as the second session of the 30th legislature is set to get underway.
A lot happened during the political off-season, which began in late May. Wildfires blazed through the north and international trade wars lingered as a new federal government settled in at the nation’s capital, defining much of the interim period between provincial sessions.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as question period resumes:
Trade wars
Tariffs from the United States and China have both affected Saskatchewan. As Prime Minister Mark Carney went south to negotiate with U.S. President Donald Trump, Premier Scott Moe went east to try and set the groundwork for canola tariffs to be removed or relaxed.
Earlier this year, China imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian canola products. It’s seen as a response to Canada following the U.S.’s lead in its placement of a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles.
Upon his return to Canada on Sept. 15, Moe said the meetings were “a little more positive than I think I expected.”
However, tariffs remain in place on both sides while premiers continue to butt heads over preferred actions from Ottawa.
Regina and Ottawa
There has been a marked shift in tone from Moe regarding how he speaks about and interacts with Ottawa. For professor Jim Farney, director of the University of Regina’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, it comes down to both sides being closer in alignment.
“There’s clearly been, I think, a reset on relations with the federal government,” Farney said Monday.
Bill C-5 received royal assent on June 26, giving the federal government new powers to push through what it calls “nation-building projects.”
One of those projects to be considered is the McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project, located approximately 380 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
“I will be curious as to whether there’s language in the throne speech around working with Indigenous communities as a part,” said Farney, noting it has been a point of contention for several Indigenous stakeholders and groups in Canada.
As Farney sees it, there’s less daylight between Moe and Carney than there was between Moe and former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“I think we are back into something like the (Stephen) Harper years,” he said, “where there’s a federal government that puts a pretty high premium on respecting provincial jurisdiction as opposed to national-level social policy changes or environmental policy.”
Wildfire response
The province’s response to fires in central and northern Saskatchewan will be subject to an independent “after-action review on the 2025 wildfire season,” according to a news release issued last week by the provincial government.
The fires displaced thousands of residents, damaged communities and drew considerable criticism from the Saskatchewan NDP Opposition.
Opposition house leader Nicole Sarauer said the wildfires were front and centre for her party during the summer.
“We took our role very seriously,” she said Monday. “I think the wildfire situation is a perfect example of a government not showing up when they’re needed.”
The province announced on Oct. 14 that residents from the northern village of Denare Beach, which saw massive fire damage, would be able to move into temporary housing units as the community rebuilds.
Village councillor Karen Thomson told The Canadian Press during Moe’s visit to the community in late September: “We’re appreciative of him taking that step and coming to see us, (but) I’m not going to mince words: we would have liked to have seen it sooner.”
Education and health care
Farney said there is a “constant, slow, drip drip drip” of issues piling up for the governing Saskatchewan Party, which has been in power for 18 years. Among them are ongoing matters related to health care and education.
Classroom sizes and resources continue to be a focal point of the NDP, as does health care.
“I’m curious to see where the Opposition tries to land its critiques,” Farney noted.
Sarauer said one thing her party plans to do is bring forward a bill “making the government have to post in a public way what ERs are closed and when.”
In addition, Sarauer said, “lots of people are incredibly concerned still about affordability and the cost of living.”
The Regina Leader-Post reached out to the provincial government for comment about the upcoming session, but no response was provided.
This session runs from Oct. 22 to Dec. 8 and will recommence from March 2, 2026 until May 14.
The throne speech will be delivered by Lt.-Gov. Bernadette McIntyre on Wednesday afternoon.
— with files from The Canadian Press
