Throne Speech Debate (2 November 2021)

From Hansard (2 November 2021)

Throne Speech Debate

Mr. Keisig: — It is an honour to stand here once again and offer my reply and support to the Speech from the Throne. It is always an honour to be here, to work each and every day in this Chamber with all of my colleagues.

This year the Throne Speech spoke about a farm just southwest of Saskatoon, the Dery family. Like many farmers across the province, they were faced with a disappointing crop. Derek Dery was quoted saying, “As tough as it is, you just need to find things to be grateful for and get the land prepared for 2022.”

This statement had me thinking, Mr. Deputy Speaker. What a positive attitude to have. Farmers are always faced with both great and challenging seasons, yet they take a moment to stop, be grateful, and plan ahead for the next season. This year has been a difficult season for not only the farmers in this province, but also for every single citizen in this province. We’ve been dealt a challenge in many aspects, and it is up to each and every person in this province to decide how they are going to react, adapt, and deal with the current season we are in.

Each one of us in this Chamber has the ability to wake up in the morning and decide if we’re going to find things to be grateful for. We can choose to work together, remain positive, and use these values as a tool to push us to make our day, make our communities, and make our province better for the coming year. We can also choose to sit and dwell on those difficulties with blinders on and keep looking back at what could have been done differently instead of dealing with the right now.

Our current reality is that we are dealing with the pandemic, but there are also so many positives happening right now in our province. There’s a lesson to be learned in every difficulty, every hardship that we as individuals have to endure, in addition to society at large. We will work through this pandemic, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We will be wiser. We’ll be stronger as a province because of its aftermath. This will be a great season of growing a strong Saskatchewan.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, I choose to stand here today, to remain diligent and have a positive outlook not only for myself, my family, but also for the people of the province. The people of Last Mountain-Touchwood did not elect me to dwell on our lowest moments. Rather, I truly believe I was elected to be a positive voice. I know that the people of the province will push through as a stronger, safer, healthier, better-educated, and more independent Saskatchewan.

On that note, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I’d like to use this opportunity to express my gratefulness to the people in my life who continue to support, assist, and encourage me each and every day. My wife, Sheila, is always diligently serving the ratepayers of the rural municipality of Tullymet as their administrator. She also serves on the Rural Municipal Administrators’ Association as vice-president. The RMAA was started in 1920 and is an organization that brings together senior administration from Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities to meet the needs of its members and to help improve professional services it supplies to Saskatchewan citizens.

My older daughter, Shannara — who managed to come for lunch today, so that was nice — completed her continuing care aide course and has been working part-time at Strasbourg senior care home. She decided to increase her education and is currently enrolled at Sask Poly in the licensed practical nurse course. She really enjoys her schooling, but I have a message for the minister: she really hates the parking.

My younger daughter, Sharlize, was attending university in Saskatoon but unfortunately she’s become another statistic. Due to COVID and the university moving online, it just was not the educational experience she wanted. So she left school and found a job at a veterinary clinic, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and she absolutely fell in love with that line of work. She’s currently enrolled at Lakeland College at Vermilion. She’s taking the veterinary technologist program. She’s enjoying her school but she has full intention of returning back to Saskatchewan once she’s done her education.

My family’s amazing, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I’m thankful every day for their level of support. I would not be able to do what I do every day without their support and encouragement.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, I really . . . I need to get something off my chest. I was honestly shocked by the controversial statement that came out of the member from Arm River. I’ve met his constituency assistants, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and they are truly good people, very nice, very diligent. But for him to say that they are the best in all of Saskatchewan is very challenging, a very tough statement. My constituency assistant, Tina Knowles, has been helping me since the campaign trail. And her work ethic, her skill set and determination are second to none. I want to thank her for all her help, coaching, and organizing, and I want to proclaim her the best constituency assistant in the province.

Many of my colleagues in here have talked about the myriad industrial investments that are forthcoming in this province. They’ve talked about the new Jansen potash mine. They’ve talked about the three new canola crush plants. They’ve talked about the doubling of the Yorkton plant, the wheat straw plant. I mean, the list goes on and on, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Like, these jobs are going to create thousands of construction jobs for all trades involved. From apprentices to journeymen, there’s good times on the horizon for all people employed in the trades.

And it’s also really important to talk about. Like, these construction jobs are really going to be some good opportunities for entry-level positions for young people, first-year apprentices, and everything they’ll want to carry on their education in the trades. And after construction’s completed — oh, now we switch, Mr. Speaker — many people will be employed in long-term jobs at these plants.

A colleague of mine, the member from Moose Jaw North, we recently toured the Belle Plaine potash mine, and I really want to thank the staff at the mine for the great tour. Very informative, very educational, and you really learn what a fantastic employer those potash mines truly are. Belle Plaine employs about 500 full-time staff with a remarkably low turnover rate. Due to retirements, they had five new openings and they received over 600 applications for those five jobs. Like, that shows how badly people really want to work at these potash mines.

Another thing that I’m really excited about all these plants — and everyone’s talked about them; I don’t have to repeat it again — is that after construction and even after they’re staffed, every one of these plants will go through a shutdown or a turnaround on an annual basis. I have 25 years of experience in the trades, Mr. Speaker, and I know that once a facility is built, it has to be maintained. The Jansen mine is a 100-year facility. The canola plants are typically 50-year lifespan plants. And all of these plants, they have an annual shutdown creating short-term, high-paying jobs. I went years touring this province on the shutdown circuit, Mr. Speaker, and these are good jobs. They’re long hours. They’re physically challenging but they’re very financially rewarding. And due to these investments, there will be so much opportunity for the years to come.

I was really happy to hear the member from Arm River discussing about electrical generation with his children. The exciting renewable technology that’s advertising at being carbon-free and environmentally friendly is just what the next generation enjoys talking about. It’s crucial to temper these conversations with the realizations and knowledge of how our modern society operates.

We live in an on-demand society, and the critical weakness and unreliability of renewables has to be discussed. I’m genuinely excited about the ongoing research into small modular reactors and a future of safe, emission-free electrical generation that can come from nuclear power. It’s also essential to recognize that our coal-fired electrical generation will be part of our diverse network for years to come as we bridge into other forms of energy.

We have to talk about the widespread drought that ravaged many Saskatchewan agricultural producers this summer. The rain that came province-wide that fell in early June was a blessing, and then the taps turned off. Our area was fortunate to receive some spotty showers and yields were heavily reduced, but we still had a crop to combine. Many producers across the province were not that fortunate.

We have to make sure we understand this from a historical point of view. I remember very well the dry ’80s. We finished combining in August before school started in September. I was very happy to be done, and then my father said to me, we don’t have any grain. It was a very early lesson about weather and simple economics, and I want to thank my father for teaching me that. He often talked about the devastating drought of 1961 and how they had absolutely nothing.

I’m really hoping I get a chance this session, Mr. Speaker, and go for a coffee with the Minister of Crown Investments Corporation and get a little bit of insight from him about the drought of 1937, and just gain a little bit of knowledge and importance. In this province, we’ve seen drought. We’ve seen heat waves. We’ve seen frost. We’ve seen floods. These are all natural occurrences, Mr. Speaker, and I can guarantee they will all occur again in the future.

It’s important to note, Mr. Speaker, how this drought affects different agricultural producers differently. When it stops raining, grain producers stop spending money. They reduce fungicide, herbicide, fertilizer applications. But when it stops raining, that’s when cattle producers start spending money. They’re forced to secure more pasture, you know, start grazing hay land early, start buying expensive feed.

Cattle eat every day and require constant care, and nobody does a better job than Saskatchewan producers. That’s why we came out with the emergency support plan for Saskatchewan cattle producers of 119 million. This support was welcomed by all cattle producers and was delivered very efficiently by existing staff at Crop Insurance. I want to thank these civil servants for their hard work and diligence. By using existing staff, it allows our government to deliver these programs efficiently.

Earlier on this year, I’d been hearing from many parents throughout my constituency about their concerns that the pandemic was taking on their children. I had an overwhelming number of parents reach out to me wanting their children back in the classroom.

Our school divisions, teachers, and staff have done a phenomenal job working through this pandemic and keeping our youth on track. Teachers are valuable influences in our student lives, and not having the ability to work one on one with students was challenging. Each day has been a learning curve throughout this pandemic. I am in awe of the level of professionalism, commitment, and patience that I have witnessed throughout the province and especially in my constituency.

I recall a conversation I had with a teacher in the constituency. She stressed the challenges that many teachers faced with technological issues, that families with multiple children share one or two computers or tablets. It has been challenging, but our teachers have maintained a level of excellence, expertise, and resilience. They’ve been remarkable examples of hard work and determination to our students. This pandemic brought us challenges, but it also made us as a government think swiftly on ensuring students who need to use online learning . . . that students in this province will receive the best education, whether our students are online or in the classroom.

Our children are online now more than ever. They have so much technology at their fingertips, so many different avenues to learn different things. We also know that technology has a downside. Social media has given humans the ability to become more globally connected. However as many people in this Chamber are aware, it can become a toxic environment to get caught up in. Social media can be especially harmful to our youth. This is why Saskatchewan education will be launching a new campaign that will encourage our youth to use social media positively. The Minister of Education gave a really good talk about that last night and I really want to thank him for that.

We need to ensure that our kids are safe from the dangers that social media can bring, and I’m sure that this new campaign will assist our youth in using social media responsibly and be mindful of the dangers that come along with use of the internet. This will be a valuable tool to use in order to protect some of our most vulnerable population from being coerced or deceived by individuals on the internet.

Mr. Speaker, trafficking occurs all over the globe and entails various things such as drugs, weapons, humans. In Saskatchewan we are continuing to see a rise in trafficking of serious drugs such as fentanyl. Women and children across this province are more likely to be at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking. The creation of the Saskatchewan trafficking response team will target high-level offenders.

I understand the correlation between low-level crimes linked to mental health and addictions, but a segment of our population has chosen to be career criminals. The STRT [Saskatchewan trafficking response team] program will include 30 RCMP, 6 municipal, and 2 criminal analysts. These highly trained officers will focus on the head of the snake and work on removing it from our society.

I want to talk about our new Chief Firearms Officer, Robert Freberg, who has a very important position for all Saskatchewan law-abiding firearm owners. I’m one of those people, Mr. Speaker, and it is critical to bring a Saskatchewan perspective to the administration of the federal Firearms Act. I know we will serve all hunters, farmers, and target shooters across the province well.

As Remembrance Day approaches, I wear my poppy with pride. My great-uncle served in the Canadian Navy in World War II in the Italian campaign. Our government has distributed one and a half million to the veteran service club support program across this province. During a special time of year we must educate our youth on our veterans’ long and storied history of keeping us all safe.

These are challenging times, Mr. Speaker. COVID-19 is present and this government is dealing with it head-on. I’ve been doing an experiment of sorts, Mr. Speaker, for the last month. When I’m conversing with constituents, I never mention COVID. If they want to talk about it, I’ll join in. There’s a small group, Mr. Speaker, that’s all they want to talk about. But the majority have moved on. They want to talk about crops. They want to talk about rising fertilizer prices. They want to talk about their kids. They want to talk about hockey. They want to talk about volleyball. The world is always moving forward and so are we.

There are people in this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, that have gone above and beyond and I think they need a little bit of recommendation. Our Minister of Health, the member from Saskatoon Silverspring, and the Minister of Rural and Remote Health, the member from Swift Current, they’ve been inundated with phone calls from myself and my colleagues and constituents and people of Saskatchewan and they have always answered the phone. You know, a lot of times you don’t get the answer you want, but they will always answer you and guide you and help you and answer all the questions that you have. It’s really good to see.

I was attending a virtual meeting this fall and a quote popped up on the screen: “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” I’ve always felt anyone involved in agriculture has to be an optimist, and that’s really what I consider myself. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the Premier for adjusting the sails accordingly and showing us the leadership that this province needs in these trying times. We truly need that Saskatchewan spirit, that compassion, that optimism.

I had the opportunity to introduce a neighbour of mine. I just met him, you know, 10 months ago in our apartment building in the city, and we visit back and forth. And that’s what we truly need right now is just all of us — in this Chamber, city, province — to be neighbourly. Like that’s what we really want to see.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the motion from the member from Prince Albert Northcote, seconded by the member from Arm River, and I will not be supporting the amendment brought forward by the member from Saskatoon Eastview.

And please remember, donate to Movember. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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