The newest session of the Legislative Assembly in Regina kicked off Wednesday with the Throne Speech from Lieutenant-Governor Russ Mirasty. For the Saskatchewan Party government, it highlighted what has gone well in recent months, and what the future for the provincial economy holds.  

“We saw a throne speech that does acknowledge the situation that we are in with COVID-19, and wanted to acknowledge all the hard work and all the sacrifices that people have been making,” said Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan, who is also the Minister of Education for the province. 

The speech highlighted many of the positives that may have been overshadowed by the pandemic as of late. 

“Just even in the last six months, we’ve seen over $10 billion in capital investment being announced in Saskatchewan, whether it’s a new potash mine, three new canola crush plants, a new fertilizer plant,” added Duncan. He went on to point out the investments also being made in the forestry sector as well, including the restart of the pulp mill in Prince Albert. 

One of the key parts of the throne speech was highlighting the goal of creating jobs in the province. With the investments coming into Saskatchewan, Duncan noted this will have a big impact in the goals the provincial government outlined earlier this year. 

“That’s going to have long term effects for the good, both in terms of attracting people to Saskatchewan – increasing our population, increasing our tax base in the province – and increasing our ability to meet the targets that we set out in the 2030 Growth Plan in terms of job creation,” Duncan said. “We want to create 100,000 new jobs.” 

The session of the Legislative Assembly will go until May 19th. There will be a winter break from December 10th until March 7th. The calendar, as it stands right now, will see the provincial budget delivered on March 23rd.