Throne Speech Debate (26 November 2024)

From Hansard (26 November 2024)

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Throne Speech Debate

Hon. Travis Keisig: — Well thank you, Mr. Speaker. Always a pleasure to be on my feet and enter into debate on the Speech from the Throne. But before I get into that, Mr. Speaker, there’s a few words I want to put on the record. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I have to congratulate you on your success in your new role as the Speaker, my former seatmate. So I will go down as infamy as the former seatmate with our new Speaker. Congratulations on that. You’re going to do a fantastic job. I know you’re going to perform all of your duties with the utmost respect for this very storied institution. And I have faith that you will command respect from each and every member serving in this Chamber.

All of us in this Chamber just went through the electoral process, Mr. Speaker, and I just want to put a few thoughts on the record. First and most importantly, I want to thank the people of Last Mountain-Touchwood for trusting myself with their vote. And I will strive each and every day to be worthy of their trust. I have to thank the many volunteers who worked so hard to help me in my re-election campaign.

And the very first one, Mr. Speaker, is my campaign manager, Mr. Speaker, Tina Knowles. She kept our entire team organized, motivated, and on message. Her work ethic is remarkable, and she is a very, very critical part of my electoral success. Her husband, Daboo Alalibo, was one of my very best door knockers. And this, Mr. Speaker, was his very first election he was able to vote in. And I’m not 100 per cent sure, but I’m very confident I was able to earn his support in the election.

Loretta Young was my financial agent, Mr. Speaker, and she worked very hard and is still working away on finishing up the books. And it’s a very critical role for everyone’s election campaign, Mr. Speaker. I also want to thank some other people on the team. Arnold Tusa, former Speaker of the House, is literally my best door knocker, Mr. Speaker. He worked diligently. And actually we were walking in and he phoned me right when I was about to walk in. I said, sorry, Arnold, I can’t talk right now; a little busy. But he is a very remarkable individual.

Dale Campbell was another great door knocker, Mr. Speaker. Ed and Pat Ivey, Dennis Spilchak, they were the sign team. Did a fantastic job all through the constituency. I was out putting up signs early in the campaign election, Mr. Speaker, and I literally broke the post pounder. Had to stop in at a good constituent’s place. He welded it up. Had to stay for lunch, and it was very nice to visit with Richard and Ann Barnsley.

Leigh and Marlene Bishop did a fantastic job, Mr. Speaker, helping put out lawn signs and just always there when you needed somebody to help with anything.

And of course, Mr. Speaker, we have to always thank the family. My daughters Shannara and Sharlize were stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, knocking doors whenever they had a chance in between their busy work schedule. They were able to come to the Throne Speech, Mr. Speaker. I was very happy to host them here. My one daughter’s a nurse; my other daughter’s a vet tech. And you know, they’re both working in Saskatchewan and I’m incredibly proud of them. And I’m incredibly proud of their work ethic and everything that they’re able to do with their lives.

My sister Melanie is a nurse, and she is absolutely ruthless with advice on how to improve the health care system. She’s been over 30 years being a nurse — very knowledgeable, but a great supporter and a tremendous team member.

My niece Laine did a lot of work, helped out all the time. Family is a core, core part of everything that we do in this Chamber, Mr. Speaker.

I’m going to tell you a quick story, Mr. Speaker. One of the highlights of the election campaign was the grand opening of our campaign office in Southey. It was very early on in the election and it was that windy, miserable day. I think everybody remembers that. It was horrible outside. But I had rented a big shop as a campaign office. And there must have been 100 people there that day, and very nice and warm. And we had a very special guest pop in — the member from Rosthern-Shellbrook. And everyone was very excited to have the opportunity to visit with him.

So I know in this Chamber, we’re not allowed any props, Mr. Speaker. And I know you’re going to be ruthless in enforcing that rule. But once you leave this Chamber, things are a lot more lenient.

So in my campaign office . . . I had a neighbour of mine cut down a humongous tree, and I got him to cut me a nice two-foot-high stump. So I had this big stump in my campaign office. And there was so many young people at this campaign rally, Mr. Speaker. They really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But anyway, I educated them on what a political stump speech is. So I did my first stump speech during the campaign on this big old tree stump.

And it was a great speech, Mr. Speaker. I talked about the past, the present, and the future. You know, and I talked about the past, how previous governments weren’t focused on economic growth, and they weren’t focused on creating opportunities for young people in the province. And then I talked about the present, and how this government was able to bring in investment from all around the world. The BHP potash mine, our growth in our canola crush sector at Yorkton and Regina, many other investments we were able to attract.

And then I talked about the future, Mr. Speaker. I talked about, you know, NexGen Energy and their new uranium mine forthcoming. I talked about Foran Mining. I talked about the fantastic work being done by the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon in their critical mineral processing plant, Mr. Speaker.

And you know, all of these exciting things happening are all for one reason that I feel, Mr. Speaker. It’s to create opportunities for young people to stay in the province so people like my daughters, their friends, all of them, don’t have to leave for Alberta. They can stay right here in Saskatchewan, Mr. Speaker.

So I finished off my stump speech, and I asked the member from Rosthern-Shellbrook if he wanted to use it. He said no. And anyway he gave a great speech, talked to all of my supporters and everyone there. Everyone was excited to have the chance to visit with him, and it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

And it’s surprising how many young people came out to that event, Mr. Speaker, like that 20-something age group, and you know, very young families. Really exciting to see young people taking an interest in politics and how important policy is for their jobs, their careers, their ability to afford their houses, and everything like that. It was a really great day.

After that . . .

An Hon. Member: — Hard to beat that.

Hon. Travis Keisig: — Yeah, it is hard to beat that. So on election day, Mr. Speaker, you know, I mean, everyone focuses on getting out the vote and how important that is, and everything else. And actually, I mean, I probably shouldn’t say this, but sometimes I’m a very poor electorial campaigner. I spent the day of election day driving across the constituency. There’s over 40 polls in my constituency, like to go from east to west is over a three-hour drive. It’s huge.

And I spent the time that day driving across, thanking each and every person working in the polls. There was over 40 polls. I didn’t get to them all, but I got to many. And I just thanked the people working them, because it is absolutely critical that we have people working in these polls, doing the job. They’re not doing it for the money, Mr. Speaker. They’re doing it to keep our democracy alive and well. And it was very nice to visit with everyone. They were very surprised to see me.

I am very, very old-fashioned in so many things, and we cannot overstate the importance of paper ballots in our electorial process. I mean, all we had to do was see the previous BC [British Columbia] election, and see the challenges they were facing, Mr. Speaker, with their electronic tabulators, with poor vote count, and a slow election process, and everything else. And then you know magically they somehow find an extra box of ballots eight days after the election. Our election integrity has to be unimpeachable, and in Saskatchewan it is, and I’m very proud of that, Mr. Speaker.

So we were very pleased to see the results come in on election night, Mr. Speaker. I’m very disappointed some of my colleagues weren’t able to join us, but we were still . . . It was exciting to win my riding and to serve alongside so many of my colleagues.

On November 7th I had the privilege of being sworn in to cabinet as the Minister of Environment. A very incredible honour, Mr. Speaker, and Minister of Environment is a very diverse and exciting portfolio covering everything from agricultural plastics to zebra mussels — A to Z. And I’m very excited to work with the team: my chief of staff, Kenneth Cotterill; my senior administrative assistant, Mariia Mykolaichuk; ministerial assistant communications, Kielle Schmidt; and ministerial assistant casework, Kris Lowry.

I was humbled to be asked to serve as the new Minister of Environment by the Premier, and I look forward to embracing this new role and serving in this capacity. It is truly a privilege to take on this role. And one of the things, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about is, our government oversees the big game draw system through the online hunting, trapping, and angling licence system. That includes the application process, execution of draws, and issuance of licences.

You know, we’ve been listening to constituents all across the province, Mr. Speaker, and we recently piloted the big game management extended hunt program. This policy was brought forward in consultation with the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, SARM; the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, the SWF; the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation, SCIC; and hearing from many, many constituents all across the province dealing with excessive wildlife damage on property, on crop, on grain bags, everything else.

So in September the ministry was directed to implement an extended hunt for elk in five rural municipalities across the province. And there’s a review of the big game draw program. It’s done every five years to evaluate existing programs, Mr. Speaker, and the effectiveness of previous modifications to ensure they meet the values of all Saskatchewan hunters.

We are very proud to have listened to the concerns of rural Saskatchewan, and we will look carefully into the successes and challenges of this pilot program. But we expect, with some adjustments, extended hunts could be a useful tool to address damage caused by animals congregating on farm land, while also ensuring sustainable wildlife populations for rights-based harvest and harvest-by-sport hunters. Our government’s main goal is to ensure that enough of this finite resource exists for not only conservation reasons but also sustenance purposes, Mr. Speaker.

The Ministry of Environment also plays a key role in managing all of the health of Saskatchewan’s environment, but we know there’s a critical balance that needs to be struck between environmental stewardship and fostering economic growth. Our economy depends heavily on natural resource industries, and we want to work collaboratively with all of our stakeholders and rights holders by designing clear regulatory tools, engaging industry partners, and working with Indigenous communities in a respectful and responsible way to achieve our environmental outcomes. We have made-in-Saskatchewan solutions that ensure we keep fostering investment and protect the competitiveness of Saskatchewan’s business while always ensuring clean environment, clean water, and clean air, Mr. Speaker.

We have an absolutely great story to tell here in Saskatchewan. When we work together, Saskatchewan can continue to grow while still protecting and conserving our natural resources.

I’m just going to talk about the Throne Speech for a little bit here, Mr. Speaker. So I do like telling stories. So during the 2020 election campaign, Mr. Speaker, I had an event in a town in my constituency, in Southey. And that morning we announced that if we had the privilege of forming government, we would cover glucose monitoring devices for young people 18 years and younger.

And then that afternoon we had a campaign event, and the member from Rosthern-Shellbrook was able to attend too. And a parent came up to both of us and thanked us for this support. Like this was going to be a game changer for her family. Diabetes is a serious thing, but if handled properly it’s a treatable medical condition. And she stressed over and over again how important these glucose blood monitoring devices are to her and her family.

We were successful in the 2020 election, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had numerous, numerous constituents reach out to me in the previous four years and ask if that program can be expanded. And I bring those concerns forward to the Minister of Health along with many, many other of our colleagues, and he does his due diligence.

And in 2024 we ran on a campaign of expanded glucose monitoring devices. And you know, we look forward to bringing that policy forward. There was a gap. Eighteen-year-olds were leaving for university, and they still didn’t have any coverage. So we’re expanding that to 25 years old. That’s going to help that group of people. And a lot of senior citizens were working, but as they retired their medical benefits got reduced. And so we’re going to help those people out.

That diabetes support is critical, Mr. Speaker, and very happy to have this policy brought forward and very excited to talk about that in the Speech from the Throne.

Health care is always top of mind, Mr. Speaker, to every constituent you talk to on the door. Very proud to talk about the $300 million health human resources action plan that has resulted in recruitment of 253 physicians from outside Saskatchewan, hiring of over 1,400 nursing graduates, and bringing over 400 internationally educated nurses from the Philippines. This government will always look for ways to innovate and improve our strong health care record by reducing administrative positions and costs in regional health authorities by seven and a half million dollars, with savings allocated toward front-line health care and long-term care facilities, Mr. Speaker.

We will also help those caring for a family member in the final stages of life by extending palliative care leave from 8 weeks to 26 weeks. Here’s also a bit of a history lesson for all the new members. We’ve built or are expanding new hospitals like the Moose Jaw hospital, the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford, and of course children’s hospital that we’re all very proud of. We’ve added 15 new long-term care facilities across the province, Mr. Speaker, and we’ve also hired 650 new doctors and 3,000 new nurses. We all know there’s more work to do, Mr. Speaker, but we’re listening to constituents all across this province. These targeted goals for our government to meet the challenges we’re hearing in our health care sector.

You know, something else that we heard on the doorsteps too that’s addressed in the Throne Speech, Mr. Speaker, is affordability issues — one of the main concerns. That is why the party, we put in all these measures to help citizens across the province. We have support measures that will cut costs for Saskatchewan people. We announced income tax reductions, low-income tax credit, increase to the graduate retention program, and a freeze on the small-business tax rate. We will raise the personal tax exemption, spousal exemption, child exemption, and seniors’ supplement by $500 each year for the next four years.

We will make life more affordable for persons with disabilities and their caregivers by increasing the disability tax credit, the caregiver tax credit, and the income exemption limit under the Saskatchewan assured income for disability program. We will increase the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship by $750 per year to make post-secondary more affordable to all Saskatchewan students. The increase to this scholarship will benefit an estimated 8,000 Saskatchewan students per year.

This government will eliminate charges for inter-hospital ambulance calls for seniors and reduce the maximum cost of other seniors’ ambulance calls by over 50 per cent from a maximum of 275 per call to 135 per call. There are approximately 50,000 seniors’ ambulance calls in Saskatchewan each year.

Our most precious resource are the people of the province, Mr. Speaker, and by increasing this grant we ensure that all young people have a bright future here, everywhere in Saskatchewan. We are supporting everyone across the province — seniors, youth, and those with disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, coming from a small town — now proudly representing many small communities across the constituency — I know the importance of our community rink. I see how much of the impact it has in the vitality of the small towns. They are the place to come together and it creates a real community atmosphere, Mr. Speaker. It is at these places across our province where many memories have been created together whether . . . in times of celebration.

I’m proud that our government will increase financial support for recreational facilities in Saskatchewan communities by doubling the community rink affordability grant and introducing the new school playground equipment grant. This grant will support approximately 635 ice surfaces in 373 communities across Saskatchewan at a cost of about 1.7 million per year.

The school playground equipment fund will help fund 50 per cent of the cost of new school playground equipment to a maximum grant per playground project of $50,000. The grant is expected to fund 75 projects per year or 300 projects over the next four years. This investment will improve and enhance the quality of life all across Saskatchewan.

Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes that everyone deserves to feel safe in their business and in their neighbourhood. Our government will continue to fund more police officers and invest in support for victims of crime. This is why we’re making amendments to strengthen laws, giving the officers the tools they need to ensure safety all across our province.

Amendments to address The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act will provide officers with additional authority to address public nuisance and shut down nuisance properties, such as the power to address an abandoned building that has been repeatedly broken into or has trespassers squatting in it, and additional authority to address intoxication on public property, vandalism, and individuals behaving in a disruptive manner on public property and public spaces.

Our approach to rural crime is providing stronger laws in support for our police officers. These measures will allow business owners to designate police officers as authorized representatives, giving officers the power to remove people from businesses without needing permission on a case-by-case basis.

We know that drugs and addiction are the main driver for crime, and that’s why we’re increasing the number of addictions treatment spaces as part of this plan. Safer communities and neighbourhoods plan builds upon investment in the ’24-25 budget, which includes almost $720 million, Mr. Speaker, to keep Saskatchewan residents and communities safe. This is a comprehensive and compassionate approach to meeting all of those needs.

Saskatchewan’s strong and growing economy added 17,000 new jobs over the past year, according to the latest labour force report released by Statistics Canada. Mr. Speaker, we’re proud to say that there’s over 1.2 million people now calling Saskatchewan home. In making life more affordable, our government will increase the personal exemption, increase the disposable exemption, increase the child exemption, and increase the seniors’ supplement by $500 each year for the next four years. This amounts to a family of four in Saskatchewan saving $3,400 and a senior couple $3,100 in the next four years. The same family of four will not pay provincial income tax until their combined income reaches over $72,000.

I see my time’s almost up, Mr. Speaker, but I’m going to take a hint from you. I’m going to take a hint from you, and I’m going to take this opportunity as the light is on and I have the microphone. I’m going to thank my mother. She is a huge fan of mine. She watches all the time, every proceeding. It’s very interesting when we go to different functions because she feels like she knows each and every member in the Assembly, because she watches them on TV all the time. But nobody really knows who my mother is so . . . Anyway she is a great fan of this government and somebody that is very, very special to me.

And, Mr. Speaker, I would be absolutely remiss if I did not talk about the greatest supporter that I have in my personal career, in my personal life is . . . I mean, I think everyone knows here who I’m going to talk about but it’s my wife, Sheila Keisig. She works fanatically on my election campaign. We talk daily on different political subjects. She is definitely being groomed to potentially replace me in this position, Mr. Speaker. I would be terrified to run against her in a contested nomination and I’m hoping that it never comes to that.

But she is very busy in her own career. She’s the administrator at the RM [rural municipality] of Tullymet, and she’s the president of the Rural Municipal Administrators’ Association. And once you rise to the rank of president, you receive a seat on the SARM board. So she is incredibly busy with RMAA [Rural Municipal Administrators’ Association of Saskatchewan] meetings, SARM meetings, and also being my number one assistant, fan, I guess. I don’t know what you . . . But she is . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . Yeah, I know. I got that backwards. But she is a very remarkable woman, very passionate, very organized, very goaldriven, a wonderful mother to our two daughters, and a fantastic wife, Mr. Speaker. And I honestly would not be in this Chamber without her assistance. And I owe her so, so much.

I also want to thank the Premier. His work ethic throughout the campaign and through my four years has been absolutely remarkable. I have had the privilege of working with a lot of very good people, Mr. Speaker, but his work ethic, his stamina is really inspiring and it makes you want to work harder and do better for all the people of Saskatchewan.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the Throne Speech moved by the member from Kindersley-Biggar, seconded by the member from Saskatchewan Rivers. But I will not be supporting any amendments brought forward by the members opposite. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

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