Report from the Legislature – December 19, 2019

The holiday season is a time to celebrate and enjoy the company of family and friends. It’s a season of generosity, a time of giving and a time to give thanks.

Looking back on 2019, there have been a lot of highlights at the provincial level, including our government’s tabling of a balanced budget.

Despite harmful federal policies and economic headwinds, we were able to strike the right balance with careful spending and priority investments. This fulfilled our three-year fiscal plan and set Saskatchewan on a path to balanced budgets in the years ahead.

Major infrastructure projects such as Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford, Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital and the Regina Bypass were opened this year.

Our government stood side by side with farmers and ranchers, energy workers and all those negatively impacted by a costly and ineffective carbon tax.

We built upon and strengthened interprovincial relations when Premiers from coast-to-coast-to-coast met in Saskatoon for the Council of the Federation.

We advocated for Saskatchewan exports in Asian markets during a very successful 11-day trade mission to Japan and South Korea.

We made new commitments to develop Small Modular Reactors that rely heavily on Saskatchewan-mined uranium.

Together through partnerships with First Nations we worked toward building a more compassionate, respectful and understanding Saskatchewan.

Our government has also outlined steps Saskatchewan is taking to advance our economic future, and to assert provincial autonomy in areas such as taxation, immigration, trade and climate change policy.

Not only is the holiday season a time of reflection, but it’s also representative of renewal and optimism – maybe even more so now as we begin a new decade.

We need to ensure a strong economy that will support strong communities and families. That’s the essence of Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan for The Next Decade.

Growth supports quality of life and allows us to help and to protect the most vulnerable among us. Growth enables us to provide opportunity for young people so that they stay in Saskatchewan to build their careers and raise their families.

Saskatchewan’s new Growth Plan is an ambitious plan to do just that by expanding our economy and creating jobs and opportunity in communities and across our province.

Our plan for the next decade has two overarching goals: to grow the province’s population to 1.4 million people and create 100,000 more jobs.

The sectors that have driven our economy for the last decade – energy and mining, agriculture, manufacturing and forestry – will continue to drive our economy. These traditional industries will benefit as new, emerging industries like the tech sector, ag bio-tech and value-added processing, are all poised for significant growth.

Together we can build a growing, prosperous, confident and optimistic Saskatchewan for our children and their children.

As your representative, I will continue working as part of our provincial government to strengthen our economy, communities and families.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and best wishes for good health, happiness and prosperity in the new year!