Teachers' strike marks opening day of spring legislative sitting in Saskatchewan

As Saskatchewan Party MLAs return to the legislature for the start of the spring sitting on Monday, they will have to pass crowds of striking teachers picketing up and down Albert Street.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) perhaps unsurprisingly chose the first day of the sitting to send Regina area teachers to the picket lines as talks between the government trustee bargaining committee and STF remain at a standstill.

The teachers' contract expired in Augustand the two sides disagree on whether a new deal should include class size and complexity within the collective agreement.

A few weeks ago, talks resumed briefly and ultimately broke down with each side blaming the other for "walking away" from the bargaining table. What followed were competing social media videos from STF president Samantha Becotte and Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill.

It has been a while since a strike involving government employees descended on the legislature during the sitting.

In October2019, government employees of six Crown corporations ended a 17-day strike, reaching a tentative contract agreement with the government three days before the fall sitting began.

The Opposition NDP has called on the government to address issues of class size and complexity within a new agreement and NDP MLAs have walked with striking teachers over the past few weeks, so expect the issue to be at the forefront of Opposition questions during debate.

Health care

Spending on health care has been arguably the top concern of the Opposition during the last several months. This week, NDPLeader Carla Beck held a news conference highlighting retention and recruitment issues fornurses and doctors in rural communities.

Data released in late 2023 showed Saskatchewan lost a net 35 doctors in 2022 to other provinces, the second worst in the country. The Opposition also flagged a drop in 474 registered nurses in rural Saskatchewan compared with six years ago.

The Opposition has spent many days in question period discussing its concerns over primary care access, emergency room conditions and wait times for diagnostics and surgery.

On the latter, the minister of health boasted a ramp-up in surgeries over the last year that cut a wait list of 36,000 patients in 2021 to 27,000 by the end of 2023.

In response to capacity issues in Regina and Saskatoon, the Saskatchewan Health Authority launched plans in both cities to add beds to help ease the pressure. Two weeks ago, the SHA said the plan was seeing results.

"We acknowledge that our health system continues to experience difficult and varied capacity challenges, but we also know these action plans are the right work to achieve our goals," said SHAchief operating officer Derek Miller on Feb. 15.

Budget coming March 20

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer will deliver her last budget on March20, as she has indicated she will not seek re-election in this year's provincial election. A year ago, the government was anticipating a healthy surplus.

However, Harpauer said the province's financial projections had taken a dramatic turn in November.

The mid-year financial update projected a $250-million deficit, an outcome that would be $1.3 billion worse than the $1-billion surplus predicted in the spring budget.

Thoughts of a tax cut in an election year likely evaporated at that point.

"It is not likely we could do any tax cuts in this budget, but we are very early in our budget deliberations and we will see where the economy goes," Harpauer said on Nov. 27.

Last week, the financial picture became muddier as the NDP flagged concerns over more than $750 million in spending by the province through special warrants.

The largest chunk is $450 million for the SHA and physician services.

"At the end of the day, taxpayers deserve nothing less than honesty, transparency, value for moneyand good management. They're not getting any of that right now," said NDP finance critic Trent Wotherspoon on Feb. 22.

The provincial government published 13 orders in council reporting that the finance minister was issuing a series of special warrants.

The money is spent in the current year and warrants are used to obtain money when the government is not sitting.

The spending will be reviewed during the sitting and the government defended the move in a statement.

"The government of Saskatchewan provided a mid-year update on Nov. 27, 2023, and will table third-quarter financials on budget day, as has been past practice," the statement read.

Carbon tax spat

The carbon tax debate was awoken last fall when the federal government exempted the tax on home heating oil, with the largest number of people affected living in Atlantic Canada. Premier Scott Moe called the policy unfair and followed up by vowing not to remit the tax collected on home heating in Saskatchewan to Ottawa.

On ThursdayDustin Duncan,the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, announced in a video on social media that the government would follow through on its threat made in the fall and not remit to Ottawa.

What followed was another threat, this one from federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who said if the province does not remit, then Ottawa will not provide Saskatchewan people with rebates.

Wilkinson said, "the rebate provides more money for most families in Saskatchewan."

In a response on social media Thursday, Moe wrote, "If Saskatchewan people stop getting the rebate entirely, Saskatchewan should stop paying the carbon tax entirely."

Moe said residents pay the carbon tax on things other than home heating, like gasoline.

During any typical question period, the Saskatchewan Party government may present a petition or read a member's statement that blasts the "Trudeau carbon tax."In addition, answers to Opposition questions can lead to carbon tax criticism. Political watchers should expect more of the same over the next 12 weeks of the sitting given recent events.

LISTEN | The Morning Edition's political panel discusses key issues heading into the start of the spring sitting:

The Morning Edition - Sask12:45Political Panel - Mar 1, 2024

40 years after the Prime Minister of the day decided to call it quits, a Saskatchewan politician was on Parliament Hill -- in a fight with another Prime Minister Trudeau. We'll get the latest on our political panel.