Throne Speech Debate (30 October 2023)

From Hansard (30 October 2023)

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Throne Speech Debate

Mr. Keisig: — Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Always a pleasure to get to my feet. At Last Mountain-Touchwood, we were very fortunate. We had not as good of crops as my colleague from Canora-Pelly, but it was quite good. And we’re very excited about the increase in cattle prices. Cattle farmers have really struggled the last few years, and the prices this fall are looking strong. So it’s always good news to talk about that, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Now I just want to tell a little story. Everyone that serves in this Chamber has a lot of opportunities that are presented to them, and Saskatchewan’s kind of one big small town. So through different connections or whatnot I had a phone call one day, and a teacher from E.D. Feehan school in Saskatoon reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to join a school group on a tour of the Legislative Building. So I went out and met this group of students, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

And these were all English-as-a-second-language students. So they were all immigrants, new immigrants to Saskatchewan, and it was a great experience. Very nice to meet the students. They asked some very tough questions. But they were so excited to be in the province and excited for all the opportunities that are out there for them. You know, and it was very important to educate the students on how things are funded in the province and how governments operate. They were very critical about the high cost of attending university, because many of them were in grade 12.

And I really encouraged a lot of these students to take a look at a career in the trades. We need more tradespeople. And I gave them some great example, like the member from Saskatoon Riversdale, a mechanic. And I also mentioned the member from Saskatoon Westview. He’s a truck driver. We need more skilled trades in this province and I really wanted to advocate for them to these students.

You know, it was really exciting to see the $200 million announcement for Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the new campus at Innovation Place in Saskatoon. And it was really nice to attend their meet-and-greet this evening and talk to the board and all of the members there. This school is truly critical for the growing enrolment and the skills that are needed across this province. You know, the member from Saskatoon Southeast is an absolutely fearless advocate for the legal profession. And I want to be a strong advocate for the trades, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

You know, I always look forward to Farm Progress Show. It’s always a big, exciting event, lots of things . . . Whoops, Mr. Deputy Speaker, it’s Canada’s Farm Show. I got in a lot of heck from different management on using the wrong name there. But I met an individual there from Netherlands. And we seen a lot of news this spring about what was going on in the Netherlands and you always take a lot of the stuff you see on TV and the interweb with a grain of salt.

So I really posed the question . . . and her name was Judith. She was from Holland. I said, how accurate have the agricultural protests and the challenges that they’re facing have been? And she said, it’s 100 per cent true, everything that was being reported. They were cutting nitrogen fertilizer emissions. They were using different environmental policies to really restrict these family farms in the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is truly the breadbasket of Europe. And it was very, very challenging for their family farm to keep functioning under this government overreach.

And I really want to assure the constituents of Last MountainTouchwood and the people of Saskatchewan that this government supports our agricultural producers, and we are ready to stand up for them any time we have to.

I want to talk about the Minister of Parks, Culture and Sport. We’re doing some great work in the film industry. And there’s many programs that are being published with our film tax credit, and there’s many more in the pipeline, but I really want to talk about the series Alone. It was on the History Channel. It’s their number one program. It was filmed in northern Saskatchewan.

And I had the opportunity, along with the member from Regina Northeast and the minister, to attend the premiere of the event. So we’re visiting with the producers of the show, we’re visiting with the directors and everything else. And that show has been running for 10 years on the History Channel. It’s the number one show. And the largest freshwater fish ever caught in that show’s history was caught in northern Saskatchewan . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . No, it was not the member from Carrot River.

Anyway, like people do not understand how big a deal this is. The amount of American tourists that this show is going to attract and bring into our province, how much dollars are going to be generated in our tourism industry. We have many people that enjoy their fishing and they watch that show, and when they see this massive fish caught, it really attracts a lot of tourism interest.

And you know, I honestly want to talk to the members opposite and encourage them that they should watch this program, you know, as well. And really not so much for entertainment, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but more kind of a how-to guide of how to survive if they ever had the opportunity to enact their policies of banning fossil fuel production like they had in their meetings in Hamilton a couple weeks ago. So I think that would be critical for them to watch this show and educate themselves on how to survive in the wilderness.

Peak oil is literally nowhere in sight, no matter how badly the members opposite want that. But on this side, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we will continue building our world-class energy industry and protect that resource from outside forces. It’s essential that we, as a province and a country, Mr. Deputy Speaker, become the preferred global supplier. You know, Russia has weaponized energy exports, and with the conflict going on in Israel, we cannot let Iran and other energy-exporting nations follow suit.

You know, I honestly do not believe the members opposite understand when they make their horrible statements like ending fossil fuel production, what that does to investor and corporate confidence in our world-class energy industry. We have to ensure that the members opposite are never in a position to enact their policies, and the importance of the Supreme Court ruling on Bill C-69 cannot be overstated.

There’s something else I want to talk about, Mr. Deputy Speaker: the federal clean electricity standards. In May our Premier clearly stated that these are unattainable and unaffordable, and he is 100 per cent right. Our diversified electrical portfolio is something the Saskatchewan people have built over generations, and it’s something that this government will protect, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The federal government is trying to cripple our ability to generate electricity, which is clearly in provincial purview, and provide this energy to all Saskatchewan people, communities, and businesses.

The members criticize the government incessantly about the cost of people’s power bills, but they never put forward any policies or any ideas on how they would lower them. You know, the member from Walsh Acres was talking about solar panels and renewable energy. It’s important to note, Germany has spent over a trillion dollars on renewables. A trillion. Like, it’s hard to get your head wrapped around that number. That’s over 50 years of our provincial budget with that many zeros, you know, and they’re currently paying anywhere between 25 and 70 cents a kilowatt hour. That is not affordable. That is not sustainable. California, they’re big on renewables. They’re paying over 33 cents — that’s what Google said just this morning — and they aim to be 100 per cent renewable by 2045. What will the prices do then?

This government, Mr. Deputy Speaker, will always focus on balanced, affordable, and reliable electrical generation. And I want to use an analogy here and just explain things. And the Leader of the Opposition would understand this. I don’t think anyone else would. But you know, I’m a farmer, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I’m very proud of that. And a lot of times as a farmer you get a new-to-you truck. And that truck, a new-to-you truck — not brand new, but it’s new to you — that becomes your town truck. So you take good care of it. You keep it clean. You change the oil. You park it inside. You’re very fussy. You would never even think of sitting in that seat with your farm coveralls.

But the years go by. You get a few miles, a little bit of salt, everything else. It gets demoted down to the farm truck. So farm trucks you use for pulling trailers and different things and work around the farm. And you know, eventually after a couple more dings and bang-ups and some more rust and different things, it becomes a field truck. So then that field truck gets loaded with a lot of extra tools, and you drive it out to the field and park it there and it stays there. And you use it around and it gets very little maintenance, and it becomes very much a tool for you to use.

And then after it’s done being a field truck, Mr. Deputy Speaker, it becomes a chore truck. Well that chore truck is hauling chop. It’s hauling salt blocks. It’s getting used to work with livestock and everything else. And just a word of caution, Mr. Deputy Speaker — do not ever buy a used chore truck from the member from Cannington.

But the point I’m trying to make, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that our coal-fired power plants are not brand new. But they’re definitely not chore trucks yet. There is still life in them, and to get full advantage out of them you will get the full return on investment that every Saskatchewan person has put into them. And we will run them until they are like a chore truck and ready for the bush.

So Sunday mornings, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I always have a kind of a routine. I get up, make a leisurely breakfast, and then I watch the political programs on television. Question Period I watch first, then I watch The West Block later. But I was watching Question Period and the federal Minister of Rural Economic Development, the Hon. Gudie Hutchings, you know, she was on there trying to justify the government’s choice to remove the carbon tax on home-heating fuel, which is diesel fuel, Mr. Deputy Speaker, which primarily affects Eastern Canadians. The majority of Saskatchewan people use the far cleaner option of natural gas to heat their homes, but we will still be paying a carbon tax on that. And I was so excited with the announcement that came out of this government this morning and so excited to support our Premier in all of his work that he’s trying to do.

I was in Kelliher on Saturday, and that was the number one issue that people wanted to talk about was how hypocritical the federal policy was that you would give a certain segment of the population a tax break and then charge us the full price. Like, that is not appropriate behaviour for a federal confederation of a government that’s supposed to govern all of Canada.

The carbon tax is the main inflationary driver in our economy and it disproportionately affects lower-income and fixed-income people more . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . You bet.

So at the end of August, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I was able to attend the grand opening of the partnership with the Suncrest College Emergency Response Institute firefighting training academy. It was very well attended by many of my colleagues and the Minister of Advanced Education. This school will train, you know, Saskatchewan people who want to pursue a career as a professional firefighter. It also educates our volunteer firefighters and our many, many industrial firefighters.

Volunteer firefighters are an absolute cornerstone in rural Saskatchewan, and we truly appreciate all the excellent work they do serving their communities.

Our government in the Throne Speech outlined that we will introduce changes in The Workers’ Compensation Act to include six additional types of cancer. Firefighters are important members of society. When typical people run away from harm, these guys are running into it. I’m proud to be an MLA who represents many volunteer firefighters, and I’m incredibly grateful for the work that they do.

As many members know, a couple of years ago in the springtime my daughter had a fire, and the volunteer firefighters saved her house and saved most of her farm. I was sitting in this Chamber at the time, and it was very tough to hear those messages coming in our family group chat and the challenges they face. So thank God for the volunteer firefighters and thank God for their great neighbours.

Well five minutes left? . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . Okay, you betcha. I’ve got time. You know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I know that this might seem like something that some of my colleagues have talked about before, but it is something that I need to get on the record . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . I will.

The closure of the Plains hospital is something that still resonates in rural Saskatchewan, people driving by and looking at that, now being used as a Sask Poly school, but it was under an NDP government that did that. That was a hospital that was easily accessible for all of rural residents. It was very accessible for ambulances, and it had a state-of-the-art building with all private rooms.

My mother was in there for heart medication in 1987, Mr. Deputy Speaker — and I was very young but I definitely remember it — and it is absolutely something that we as a government have to educate so many of our young people on what was happened before when the NDP had the chance to govern.

I am going to let another colleague of mine speak going forward, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but I do want to say that I am so proud to serve with this Premier. I am so proud to serve with this cabinet, and I’m so proud to serve with this caucus on the good work that we have going forward. And there is so many opportunities for young people in this province. And I look forward to many more throne speeches with this government. Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

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