Highlights from the Saskatchewan Speech from the Throne 2024
The Speech is intended to appeal to the economic and provincial growth priorities of both those who voted to re-elect the current government as well as to those who voted for change.
An Overview
The Speech was presented to the 61 members of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Assembly, 31 of which who are new to the role. With the underlying themes of keeping the provincial economy strong, achieving the targets set in the Saskatchewan Plan for Growth, and addressing the prevalent affordability and growth challenges, the government will pursue the following promised initiatives:
Healthcare
- Continue to accelerate the hiring of health care professionals and expand urgent care centres to ensure more people have better access to a doctor, nurse practitioner and other health care professionals.
- Open additional urgent care centres in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Moose Jaw and Regina.
- Ensure that 450,000 surgeries will be performed over the next four years.
- Increase capacity to reduce surgical wait times to no more than three months.
- Invest more than $2.6 billion into health care infrastructure over the next four years.
- Continue to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals working in Saskatchewan through the Health Human Resources Action Plan.
- Build on the ambitious Health Human Resources Action Plan to further stabilize and strengthen important health care services for urban, rural and northern residents.
- Set a goal that every Saskatchewan person will have access to a primary health provider by the end of 2028.
- Work directly with primary care providers to ensure they have the support they need to deliver healthcare in the province.
- Provide women with the option to do cervix self-screening at home for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer.
- Make it more affordable for individuals and couples to access fertility treatments by introducing a new fertility treatment tax credit.
- Help with the cost of monitoring and treating diabetes by expanding no cost coverage for glucose monitoring systems and supplies to seniors and young adults ages 25 and under.
Education and Childcare
- Work with school divisions to expand the specialized support classroom pilot to 200 more schools throughout the province.
- Focus on improving reading levels in Kindergarten to Grade 3, giving students every opportunity for academic success throughout their time in school.
- Add more teachers and education support staff to deliver on these education commitments.
- Increase funding to school divisions to help them meet the pressures of a growing student enrollment and the challenges of classroom complexity.
- Further the initiated planning for the construction of nine new schools and two major renovations.
- Expand regulated childcare spaces with a target to provide funding for 12,000 additional new space developments by the end of the next fiscal year.
Affordability
- Introduce the largest personal income tax reduction in Saskatchewan since 2008 by raising the personal exemption, the spousal exemption, child exemption and the seniors supplement by $500 a year in each of the next four years, in addition to fully indexing income tax brackets.
- Increase the Saskatchewan Low-Income Tax Credit by 20 per cent over the next four years.
- Introduce legislation to extend the carbon tax exemption on natural gas through 2025, saving Saskatchewan households about $480 next year.
- Exempt home heating from the carbon tax until the carbon tax is eliminated completely.
- Increase the Saskatchewan First-Time Homebuyers Credit by 50 per cent, from $10,000 to $15,000.
- For seniors who reside in a personal care home, increase the Personal Care Home Benefit by $1,000 a month.
- Increase by $1,000 the annual amount that an individual, couple or family can earn from employment without having their SAID benefit reduced.
- Increase the Disability Tax Credit, the Disability Tax Credit supplement for children under 18, and the Caregiver Tax Credit by 25 per cent.
A Strong Economy and Vibrant Communities
- Ensure Saskatchewan is one of the best places in Canada to grow a small business by keeping the small business tax rate at one per cent.
- Create a young entrepreneur bursary – the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce will be provided with funding to work with local Chambers of Commerce to award a $5,000 bursary to a promising young entrepreneur in their community.
- Develop a new investment tax incentive based on a proposal from the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in Saskatchewan.
- Increase the Graduate Retention Program benefit by 20 per cent.
- Introduce a $5,000 Class 1 Driver Training rebate to help offset the cost of truck driver training.
- Double the Community Rink Affordability Grant from $2,500 to $5,000 per ice surface.
- Make it more affordable for school community councils and parents to construct or refurbish school playground equipment through a new School Playground Equipment Fund.
Safer Communities
- Continue efforts to add 500 more police officers and 500 more addictions recovery spaces.
- Introduce amendments to The Safer Communities and Neighborhoods Act to provide officers with additional authority to shut down nuisance properties.
- Create 500 recovery spaces to help individuals access treatment and leave a life of addiction.
A More Respectful Assembly
- Strive to improve the decorum and tone of the Assembly, to disagree without being disagreeable, and to remember that every Member shares the same desire to make Saskatchewan a better place.
Conclusion
With the voter priorities from Saskatchewan’s 2024 General Election still top of mind, this Speech from the Throne has not only opened the new legislative session, but has provided direction into how Premier Moe’s government will deliver on his commitments made during the election campaign and address the province’s key underlying concerns going forth.