Report from the Legislature – November 10, 2016

Honouring Saskatchewan’s Veterans and Fallen Soldiers

Dignitaries and representatives of the public service came together this week to pay tribute to veterans and those who gave their lives in time of war and service of peace.  We paid tribute to Saskatchewan’s veterans, including members of the public service who answered the call to arms.

The Canadian Armed Forces presented the Government of Saskatchewan with the Afghanistan Book of the Fallen to memorialize the 158 Canadians soldiers who gave their lives during the war in Afghanistan.  The Afghanistan Book of the Fallen will be added to the Legislative Library.

The Afghanistan Poppy Memorial was also on display at the service.  The memorial was constructed from a burned-out Badger Armoured Fighting Vehicle and made with poppies from the Canadian Armed Forces’ last Remembrance ceremony in Kandahar in 2011.  Each poppy in the memorial represents a Canadian serviceman or servicewoman who died in Afghanistan.

Following the service, a wreath was laid at the Saskatchewan War Memorial, which is located on the Legislative grounds to the west of the Legislative Building.  The memorial lists the names of Saskatchewan’s fallen over the generations.

The Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial supplements the physical monument, and is an online commemoration of Saskatchewan’s war dead.  The online database features more than 11,000 war casualties, along with their stories.  You can learn more at http://svwm.ca/.

The Saskatchewan Scholarship of Honour has been awarded to 15 new recipients.  The scholarship, which provides a one-time award of $5,000 towards post-secondary education, honours returning soldiers as well as the spouses and children of injured or fallen members of Canada’s Armed Forces.

Our government is forever grateful to the many men and women serving in Canada’s Armed Forces.  This scholarship is a token of our gratitude and respect for their bravery and will help them pursue their post-secondary studies.  Because of them, Canada is a safe and peaceful nation.

Since the Scholarship was started in 2009, 162 scholarships have been awarded, totalling $810,000.  Thirteen of these recipients are family members of injured or fallen soldiers.

Agrocorp Processing Relocating Headquarters to Saskatchewan

Attracting head offices of companies to our province has been a priority of our government.  Building on the province’s agricultural strength, Agrocorp Processing announced this week its plans to move its Canadian headquarters from Vancouver to Saskatchewan.

Agrocorp’s Canadian headquarters will relocate from Vancouver to Moose Jaw, where the company operates a high-speed loading and cleaning facility.  Along with the move, the company expects to add an additional 20 new jobs over the next three years.

Since Agrocorp Processing’s inception in 2009, it has expanded to four processing plants and 50 employees Canada-wide.  Agrocorp’s state-of-the-art, $20 million Moose Jaw high-speed, gentle handling pulse facility opened in 2013.

NDP Refuses to Debate Ideas That Support Adding Jobs

Saskatchewan people across the province have felt the impact of low commodity prices, and the latest job numbers from Statistics Canada support that.

Many in our province need help right now.

After asking about job numbers in the legislature this week, the NDP refused to support a motion calling on the federal government to implement an oil wells completion program.

This program we’ve proposed could put 1,000 people in the energy sector back to work.  Not only have the NDP refused to support this, they have proposed zero ideas on helping our economy.

Meanwhile our government has been standing up and speaking out against a forced federal carbon tax that would drive prices up, competitiveness down and do serious harm to our economy.

Saskatchewan producers are among the majority in our province who understand the impact this carbon tax would have on their input costs and our competitiveness around the world.

93 per cent of delegates at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities meeting passed a resolution against the carbon tax.

This resolution comes a day after the announcement of more than 300 potash workers going back work at the Colonsay mine.  Sadly, the NDP refuse to stand up against a carbon tax that could send those workers right back out the door again.

The NDP need to consider the common-sense approach from SARM delegates, many of whom are farmers, potash miners and oil field workers.  They should listen to them, stand up for them and oppose the forced federal carbon tax instead of refusing to debate ideas that support adding jobs and helping the families who need it now.