Sask. Premier discusses provincial autonomy during Town Hall in Davidson

Premier Scott Moe was joined by Arm River MLA Dana Skoropad where the two fielded any questions or concerns people in the Davidson area wanted to bring up at the Thursday night meeting. 

The discussion was diverse, with one person in the crowd asking:

“What is the government doing for the fact that every six days a baby is aborted? Why is the effort being put into saving the lives of COVID-19 lives as opposed to those lives?"

Other issues people brought forward were:

• Rural internet
• Inflation
• Handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Carbon Tax

“This is a dialogue. We want it to be a dialogue. There will be tough questions, fair questions,” Premier Moe said. “What we hear today will most certainly be conveyed to caucus.”

The Premier used the opportunity to push his agenda for the province to become more autonomous. He used the Carbon Tax as an example.

“We have a duty as a government of Saskatchewan to enhance and foster every opportunity to achieve what we can achieve in this province," Premier Moe said, "but we also have a responsibility to ensure where other entities, other levels of government are putting in place impediments or barriers in allowing us to achieve this provincial success, this community success.

"We're going to have to do what we can to stop that."

The Premier stated the government is not interested in separating from Canada. Moe said his government wants something similar to the Canada-Quebec Accord Immigration agreement the province has with the federal government.

“Quebec has a number of special parameters when it comes how they allocate the numbers and what trades are prioritized for immigration,” he said. “Many other provinces would like to have equal input into our immigration numbers.

“We are interested in ensuring that we are exercising our full provincial autonomy as per the constitution lays out. We’re actively looking at how exactly we’re going to achieve that in the months ahead.”

Senior Policy Fellow at the University of Regina's Johnson Shoyama Graduate School, Dale Eisler, wrote the book From Left to Right: Saskatchewan's Political and Economic Transformation.

He said the province wanting greater provincial autonomy is nothing new.

“It’s been a consistent kind of theme in Saskatchewan politics in terms of disagreements with the federal government,” he said.

Eisler says what is different is the tone and rhetoric of the government.

“It’s very aggressive,” he said. “It’s appealing to people who are very unhappy with the Trudeau government.”

He wants to know what are the grievances the province has with the federal government?

“We have the second-highest median income. We’re ahead of Ontario and Quebec in that regard,” said Eisler. “How is it that Saskatchewan is being held back by federal intrusions into provincial jurisdiction?”

According to Eisler, the province receives $3 billion a year from the federal government making up 18 per cent of its revenues. He believes the move is more political than economical.

“They’re trying to drive political sentiment here,” Eisler said. “I think in some ways they are tests driving thematic in terms of how strongly they focus on Ottawa as a target in terms of their campaign.”

The Town Hall was one of several happening this summer with the next one scheduled for July 22nd in Maple Creek.