REGINA - Here are some highlights from the legislative assembly this week.
Minimum wage increase announced
As had been hinted at by Premier Scott Moe on Monday, the provincial minimum wage is going up.
The hike takes place on Oct. 1 when the provincial minimum wage will increase from $11.81 to $13.00 per hour.
The government also announced it intends to raise the minimum wage in subsequent years. On Oct. 1, 2023, the minimum wage will increase up to $14 per hour and on Oct. 1, 2024, it will rise again to $15 per hour.
According to the province the increases reflect a market adjustment, rather than using the province’s traditional indexation formula that gives equal weight to changes to the Consumer Price Index and Average Hourly Wage for Saskatchewan.
This announcement was is in line with comments from Premier Scott Moe in Question Period on Monday, when he said the government was looking “at what opportunities we may have for a market-based adjustment to our minimum wage here in the province. That market-based adjustment would go above and beyond the formula that we have. This is under active consideration today.”
The premier’s remarks were part of his overall response to the NDP’s proposal to impose a windfall profit resource surcharge of an extra one percent on resource profits.
Meili tangles with Moe over GDP
In Question Period Tuesday, Opposition Leader Ryan Meili was again touting the NDP surcharge plan while he accused Moe of the “worst economic performance in the entire country,” pointed to a reduction in Saskatchewan’s Gross Domestic Product in 2021 of a quarter of a billion dollars according to StatsCan.
In response, Premier Moe pointed to the “unprecedented drought” last year, with the agricultural GDP being down 40 per cent, while also pointing to growth forecasts in future years.
That prompted Meili to accuse the Premier of “blaming farmers for economic troubles.” He pointed to the “worst COVID response in Canada, the worst population growth in Canada, the worst economic performance in Canada by far… all we see is shrinkage.”
When Meili once again pushed for the adoption of a windfall profit surcharge in his remarks, Premier Moe responded by ridiculing the NDP’s claims that the surcharge was a modest one, all the while being heavily heckled by opposition members.
“Mr. Speaker, a number of years ago there was a federal election campaign and there was one leader who stood up and when he stood up he said we are going to raise taxes we’re just going to raise them just a teeny, weeny little bit. And look what happened in this nation Mr. Speaker! We have carbon taxes, supported by the NDP!…
“…Don’t give them the opportunity at all, they’ll join with the federal Liberals, raise taxes, Mr. Speaker, raise the cost of living, Mr. Speaker, print money, loan money, do whatever they can to essentially destroy the Canadian economy. We aren’t going to have any of it on this side, Mr. Speaker, we are going to continue to work with industry to create jobs, creating opportunity for Saskatchewan people and we will always, always stand up for the people that we represent in this province.”
Abortion issue raised
The heated exchange between Meili and Moe wasn’t the only one in the Assembly on Tuesday.
In the wake of news of a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft ruling on abortion rights, Opposition critic Nicole Sarauer grilled the government on the abortion issue, demanding to know how many members of the SaskParty caucus supported a women’s right to abortion services.
In response, Minister of Parks, Culture and Sport Laura Ross said there was no place for “divisive partisan politics” on the issue and said “our government follows the law. The law is that women have the right to access reproductive health services in Saskatchewan and in Canada. Reproductive rights are important, and I will continue to be a strong voice for Saskatchewan women. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has no impact on women’s right in Canada.”
