Saskatchewan politicians back to business with fall sitting of Legislative Assembly

The fall sitting of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly begins Tuesday.

The opposition will use the final session before April’s provincial election as a chance to continue to push for improvements on items such as healthcare and education. NDP house leader Warren McCall also indicated care for seniors will also once again be high on the party’s agenda.

“We’ve been bringing that forward session after session and still the situation remains far from satisfactory,” he said. “The government has had this amount of attention to an issue and continues to hit the snooze button or to coast on through a session without real action on the issue.”

The sitting will serve as a continuation of the 2014-2015 sitting because of the upcoming election. As a result, there will be no throne speech.

“We welcome the opportunity to have those 25 question periods to hold this government’s feet to the fire,” McCall said.

The NDP currently has four bills on the table regarding procurement, minimum care standards at seniors homes, public-private partnerships and gay-straight alliances in schools.

The Saskatchewan Party made its intentions known at the end of September regarding what it hopes to accomplish during the session.  At that time Premier Brad Wall said the party plans to pass a bill that would allow for private MRIs.

McCall anticipates to have vigorous debate around the issue.

“I think we’re going to provide opportunities for Saskatchewan people to come forward and talk about how this is going to provide the opportunity for people to queue jump,” he said.

Premier Wall, meantime, is inviting the NDP to come forward with options on how it would make things better for the province.

“Our government continues to put forward new ideas for Saskatchewan’s future.  I hope during this session, we start to hear some actual policy alternatives from the Opposition, instead of just criticism.”