Legislative Report

(2 June 2010)

Your Saskatchewan Party government will continue to make building a strong and growing economy our top priority.  By growing the economy, we can continue to invest in services that are important to you and your family, such as education, health and social programming.  These are some of our government’s top priorities between now and the next election.  Premier Brad Wall further explained the priorities in mandate letters he recently gave to his Cabinet Ministers.
 
Important priorities outlined in the letters include:
 
      * Reducing wait times for surgery to no more than three months by 2014;
      * Improving educational outcomes for First Nations and Metis learners and expand First Nations and Metis participation in the workforce;
      * Working with industry and other governments to enhance international opportunities for Saskatchewan's crop and livestock sectors;
      * Reducing violent crime;
      * Improving housing availability and affordability by increasing the supply of rental housing and creating new affordable home ownership opportunities;
      * Establishing a provincial addictions agency;
      * Developing and implementing a province-wide multi-material recycling program;
      * Ensuring that schoolchildren engage in 30 minutes of physical activity a day; and
      * Attracting eight to 12 new corporate investments and at least two major head office expansions while increasing Saskatchewan’s presence in key international markets like China and India.
 
Since 2007, your Saskatchewan Party government has a proven record of debt reduction, fixed election dates and the largest-ever tax cuts in the province’s history.  However, there is still more to do, including further reductions to education property tax and fulfilling our commitment to Saskatchewan communities on revenue sharing.  Coming out of the Spring Session of the Legislature, our Premier felt it was an important time to refocus our priorities so that we can continue moving our province forward this summer. 
 
Our government also continues to make improvements to our agriculture programs.  In March, our government partnered with the Federal Government to announce $2.5 million in annual funding to compensate Saskatchewan producers for livestock killed and injured by predators.  Producers will now be compensated for 100 per cent of the market value of their livestock killed by predators and up to 80 per cent of the market value for injured livestock.  There have been nearly 1,500 claims to the new program since its inception on April 1.  For more information on predation programming, producers can contact their local Crop Insurance customer service office, www.saskcropinsurance.com or call 1-888-935-0000.