Budget Debate (28 March 2022)

From Hansard (28 March 2022)

Budget Debate

Mr. Keisig: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m excited to rise and debate the budget brought forward by our highly able Minister of Finance. It’s important to note, Mr. Speaker, that our Finance minister is the longest-serving female member of cabinet in all of Canada. She should be very proud of that, and I’m very proud to serve alongside her.

Before we debate the budget, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a minute and provide an update on my family. My youngest daughter, Sharlize, is doing very well at Lakeland College taking the veterinary technologist course. She genuinely enjoys her school, happy to be learning in person, and has secured work at a local veterinary clinic in Melville this summer.

Shannara, my oldest, is loving nursing school. She’s currently doing a clinical rotation at Wascana at the Rehabilitation Centre. But then again, Mr. Speaker, she hates the parking there too.

My wife, Sheila, is busy at work serving the ratepayers of Tullymet, and she’s also very busy organizing the Rural Municipal Administrators’ Association annual convention. It’s scheduled for May 2022 in the city here, Mr. Speaker, and it’ll be their 100-year anniversary. It’s quite an accomplishment for that organization, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank my constituency assistant, Tina, for all the hard work she does in handling everything in the office. She really had to step up, Mr. Speaker, and help me out on budget day. I was unable to attend, and she handled all my guests and everything else, so I really thank her for that.

An Hon. Member: — That’s a good woman, right there.

Mr. Keisig: — Very good, yes. And I also want to thank my constituents, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank them for their calls, their emails. You know, they want to ensure that I’m correctly representing them, and I love hearing about my constituents’ concerns and the things that they want this government to address.

I also want to congratulate my neighbour, the member from Athabasca, Mr. Speaker. His hard work, commitment to his communities, and the positive message from our Premier all helped to contribute to his victory. I know he will serve the constituents of Athabasca very well. And his maiden speech, Mr. Speaker, that was literally the best maiden speech I ever saw in this Chamber and far better than anything I could ever hope to do.

After the by-election, Mr. Speaker, I read a lot of newspaper articles about the Saskatchewan Party’s historic win in Athabasca. And I can’t remember who wrote it, but there was a newspaper article about the Athabasca constituency had not voted for a centre-right candidate since 1908. That’s a bit of really historic knowledge that drives the point home of how unprecedented and what a win it is for this government, Mr. Speaker.

I also want to thank Georgina Jolibois for putting her name forward. Democracy only works when there’s two choices on a ballot, Mr. Speaker. All of us in this Chamber understand how much work it is in an election, and I want to thank her for that.

Back on track, Mr. Speaker. What an excellent theme for a budget. After two years of COVID, we can see the light at the end of that tunnel. And this budget will surely put us back on track, spending almost $7 billion on health that’s critically needed and welcomed by the people of this province. We were shown that a bottleneck in our health care system was our lack of intensive care beds, and I’m happy to see twelve and a half million to add 11 new ICU [intensive care unit] beds this year which will bring the total up to 90. Right now it’s important to note, Mr. Speaker, that our ICU’s true strength is the excellent staff with the training and skill set to perform their duties.

Three and a half million for rural doctor recruitment is great to see, along with six and a half million for an additional 117 continuing care aides. We have a plan to address surgical wait times, Mr. Speaker, and 21.6 million will assist with that. It’s excellent to see the expansion to 150 seats for the training of nurses, with almost a $5 million price tag. I’m very excited about that.

It’s very good that we’re recruiting people from across the globe, Mr. Speaker, but we also have to train our youth. We are providing 114 million to support the development of our labour market. With over 13 billion of investment pouring into this province, we desperately need labour growth.

As a blue-collar worker all my life, Mr. Speaker, we’re entering into something of a perfect storm. When demand for labour is high, wages will rise accordingly. There’s some great times for all tradesmen across this province and a real opportunity for young people, Mr. Speaker. It takes around four years to go through the apprenticeship program for most trades, and there will be so much work that young people will have no problem logging their hours.

The Minister of Crown Investments Corporation always talks about the good of lawyers. And I want to make a pitch to all the young people across this province, Mr. Speaker: working with your hands is a great way to provide for yourself and your family. There are tons of room for advancement. It is an enriching and rewarding career path, and I enjoyed every minute of it. There’s going to be massive demand for all trades — electricians, welders, pipefitters, ironworkers, boilermakers. There’s going to be lots of demand for all those trades, Mr. Speaker. This will put us back on track.

Seven million dollars for school divisions to hire 200 educational assistants is a welcome addition, welcome news for parents and students.

It’s also exciting, Mr. Speaker, to see the funding for Creative Saskatchewan expanded to $10 million to assist our provincial film and television industry. With the rise of all the streaming services, they’re all looking for content, so this announcement is timely and pertinent, Mr. Speaker.

Right now, Mr. Speaker, something truly relevant is the over 3 million in the budget for our international trade and investment strategy. We are an exporting province, and I’ve always felt it is the duty of our elected representatives to sell the goods that we produce. It always helps if you have boots on the ground, Mr. Speaker, to make the contact, sell our products, and attract investment into our great province. This is another outlay putting us back on track.

And I want to thank the Premier, who’s currently in the United Kingdom and Germany, for personally spearheading a lot of this work. This is why I believe we must discuss the current war in Ukraine, Mr. Speaker. This unprovoked aggression from Putin is globally condemned and was unanimously condemned in this Chamber, which is great to see, Mr. Speaker. But it has to open everyone’s eyes to how critical policy decisions are in a decisionmaking process.

I previously spoke, Mr. Speaker, on how critical it is for us to get our energy products to port and allow the global community to purchase our ethically produced products. Purchasing Saskatchewan- and Canadian-produced products will stop the funding of the Putin war machine.

Closer to home, Mr. Speaker, we have to move cautiously on any government policies that will hinder our world-class agricultural producers. The federal government’s proposal of reducing nitrogen fertilizer rates is something that a lot of my constituents are very concerned about, and it has to be scrutinized very carefully because we can’t do anything to impede our farmers in this province.

Ukraine has a very similar climate to us and their spring planting is about to commence. Many of their regions are in a war zone and will not be able to plant this year, and areas that can are facing tremendous hurdles. There’s a massive problem with fuel, seed supplies, fertilizer shortages, and one of the most important shortages of all is labour. Most men and women are heavily involved in the war effort fighting on the front lines, leaving fewer people at home to get the seed in the ground. Many of us in this Chamber understand how critical timing is in a planting season. There’s an incredibly small window to get your work done.

Ukraine currently produces 16 per cent of global corn supply and 12 per cent of wheat stocks. They’ve always been one of our main competitors on the world stage, Mr. Speaker. These are huge numbers. And our world-class farmers will be able to produce enough to fill the shortage if mother nature complies.

But we have to be able to get our products to port. This is another example of why pipeline capacity is critical. All those tanker cars we see every day on the railroad could be transported safer, cheaper, and faster if we had capacity in our pipeline system. We need the railroad. It’s our lifeblood in this province for our food and fertilizer. And we need pipelines for our fuel. The need for this is not just for our province’s economic opportunity; this is for global security, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a minute and just touch on some of the things that this budget means to Last Mountain-Touchwood. We’ve seen our incredible health care team give Saskatchewan people their all for the past two years. When it seemed like they could not give any more, Mr. Speaker, they continued to push through and give more. Our health care team — second to none. I do not question for one moment that many of our doctors, nurses, and technicians are tired. But they continue to show up.

An increase of 4.9 million to expand nurse training by 150 seats is greatly appreciated by my constituents. There are so many young people who are looking to advance their education in the health care field. This helps students like my daughter. We need to give more incentives for people who wish to enter into health care.

I know many constituents speak very highly of our graduate retention program which allows up to 20,000 in tax credits for students. It’s imperative that we work with students to make Saskatchewan a province where they not only want to continue their education but also want to stay here after completing their education.

We want our students to work in Saskatchewan. We need our nurses who, I’d like to add, are the most sought-after nurses across the nation because of the fantastic nursing programs we have here. We need them to stay in Saskatchewan. We need them in our rural hospitals. We need to show our Saskatchewan-trained nurses that there’s no better option than staying in Saskatchewan.

I’d like to talk a bit about revenue sharing, Mr. Speaker. We’ve seen revenue sharing increase in this province by 106 per cent since 2007. In Last Mountain-Touchwood, many municipalities are seeing increases of as much as 117 per cent since 2007. These increases ensure that municipalities are supported and able to manage their affairs and communities.

Our municipalities know their communities the best. They know where money needs to go for their communities to grow. For our province to grow, we need to ensure that our municipalities have the funds they need to continue to be able to add to our economy. By increasing revenue sharing, we lay the foundation and ensure that our municipalities will work side by side with the provincial government to build Saskatchewan.

There’s something very relevant we should talk about while we’re debating budgets, Mr. Speaker. There’s a straightforward economic premise that governments of all stripes use — the idea of raising taxes to prohibit demand. We are employing this technique in the budget, Mr. Speaker, on the increase of tobacco tax. It’s an effective tool, and we must utilize it to discourage people from adopting unhealthy personal habits.

But there’s also an economic principle referred to as inelastic demand, and it relates to the idea that it doesn’t matter what an item costs, people will still purchase it. This principle applies to the carbon tax, Mr. Speaker. The carbon tax is rising 25 per cent on April 1st, and that’ll add up to over 11 cents a litre, Mr. Speaker, on our gasoline, never mind the increase on our heating bills.

When the price of carbon reaches $170 a tonne by 2030, that equates to 45 cents a litre on fuel purchases. We have no choice but to purchase these products, Mr. Speaker. Many people tout electric vehicles as a way around this. But the reality is, Mr. Speaker, they are not feasible for myself and many people across this province. I have to drive 32 miles round trip for a jug of milk. And I am not unique. There are many rural residents with similar commutes like mine.

This was a long and harsh winter, Mr. Speaker, and I think many of us saw the social media posts about people trapped in their vehicles during that blizzard. Fortunately, most people had full fuel tanks and were able to stay warm. Many of them were trapped for over eight hours, Mr. Speaker. Now just imagine being in an electric vehicle and having the heating system fail after a few hours. This is a huge safety issue, Mr. Speaker, and it is a serious one.

Technology will evolve and improve, but we have to realize there are inherent weaknesses in existing technology dealing with our incredibly harsh climate. I’ve said it before, Mr. Speaker, and I will say it again: taxing people to heat their homes is morally wrong.

For the members opposite who are in favour of carbon taxes, the Leader of the Opposition has publicly supported carbon taxes — my apologies, Mr. Speaker, the interim Leader of the Opposition — and talk about the rebate cheques they receive. The carbon tax touches every facet of our economy. They do not reduce emissions, and all costs are passed on to consumer. No rebate system will ever accurately tally the costs, and if you genuinely believe that you will get more back than you pay, Mr. Speaker, well I have some lakefront property for sale in the rural municipality of Tullymet for you.

This is not just mine and my colleagues’ opinions, Mr. Speaker. This has been reaffirmed by the parliamentary budget officer, Yves Giroux, a non-partisan civil servant. The carbon tax is a federal government policy, but policies can change. After listening to many of my constituents, I will never back down on demanding that this unfair form of taxation end.

Mr. Speaker, this budget is a budget that is good for the people of Saskatchewan. We see health care increases. We see improvements with education, increases to expand crime reduction, establishing Saskatchewan’s trafficking response team, and investing in our economy.

Two and a half million for the Re-Skill Saskatchewan training subsidy; 2 million for Skills for Success; $475,000 to create the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation. This offers $75 million, Mr. Speaker, in loan guarantees for private sector for the Indigenous communities to invest in natural resources and value-added agricultural projects.

Mr. Speaker, our government is on track to ensure that Saskatchewan people have every opportunity. We want this province to continue to grow and flourish. We want to ensure that when people hear “Saskatchewan,” they think of success, opportunity, and growth.

This is why we must support our Saskatchewan resources, unlike the members opposite who openly profess their dislike of our oil and gas sector, who do not support a pipeline to get our fuel to ports, who most recently decided they want to complain about taxes, but they sit here in this very Chamber and continue to support a federal carbon tax that is literally crushing every person in this province.

COVID was tough on every person across this country. However, we as a province will ensure that we all come out stronger and back on track, Mr. Speaker. It is because of this government’s forward thinking, planning for the future, and the resilient people that we as a province are able to get back on track.

I want to thank all the members of the treasury board, Mr. Speaker, and all the hard work that they do. This is why, Mr. Speaker, I will not be supporting the amendment put forward by the members opposite, but I will be supporting growth. I will continue to support investment in our economy. I will continue to support the prosperity of this province. And I will be supporting the budget put forward by our Minister of Finance, seconded by the member from Moose Jaw North. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

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