Throne Speech Debate (31 October 2022)

From Hansard (31 October 2022)

 

Throne Speech Debate

Mr. Jenson: — Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And it’s a pleasure to be on my feet this evening to provide some remarks in response to last week’s Throne Speech.

Before I get started, I do want to do the traditional thank yous and recognize some very special people in my life. First of all, my wife, Angela, who’s at home right now. She’s looking after the kids, looking after the business as she usually does. And she does it with great intelligence and great compassion. She’s also a very caring person holding down the fort.

My son Asher is turning 16 this weekend. And I see the Minister of CIC [Crown Investments Corporation of Saskatchewan] Responsible for SGI is sitting here. You don’t have to worry; he can’t go for his road test until January. So we bought ourselves a couple of months.

But that said, I have been driving with him quite a bit, and he is a fabulous driver. And I have all the confidence in the world he is not going to get a speeding ticket in the first two weeks of having his licence like his dad did.

And I should also mention Asher is playing hockey again. He’s a grade 11 student at BJM [Bishop James Mahoney], and I just want to throw a shout-out to some of the teachers at Bishop James Mahoney in Saskatoon. Last week, Angela and I had a chance to meet a few of them during parent-teacher interviews. And I’m going to say this, put it on the record: these teachers at BJM in Saskatoon are beyond awesome. They are some of the best teachers, I think, in the province.

I also want to say hi to my daughter Kolbie tonight. It’s Halloween night. She is out trick-or-treating. I’m getting pictures sent to me literally every five minutes. She is out with her friends. She’s having an absolute ball.

I’m hoping she is home by now watching this, but I kind of doubt it because Halloween treats will always trump a Throne Speech reply, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And I don’t blame her for that.

An Hon. Member: — Don’t forget the dad tax.

Mr. Jenson: — That’s right. I’ll be collecting a dad tax when I get home. That said, I am proud of my kids. I’m equally proud of my wife. And they mean the world to me, and they’re so supportive of the work we do here in this legislature on behalf of the people of the province.

Somebody else that I do want to take a couple of seconds to recognize is my constituency assistant, Whitney Friesen. Whitney serves our constituency so well, and he’s done it for 28 years. So if he is not the longest serving constituency assistant in the province, he’s got to be right up there.

We did add another member to our constituency office this year. Whitney and his wife Rebecca adopted . . . I’m not even sure what kind of breed it is, but his name is Linus, and he is the most excited four-legged creature you will ever meet when you walk into the constituency office. So I’m not sure Linus is watching this, but if he is, good on him.

I’d also like to say thank you to all my constituents of Martensville-Warman. We always have good discussions, wide ranges of issues. Our dialogue is always very respectful, and quite often we agree on more than we disagree about. And I really appreciate that from the constituents that I meet with. And it’s an honour to be able to serve them and serve the communities that I represent.

And finally I want to say thank you to my colleagues on the government side of the House. Yes, the member from CanoraPelly is jumping up and down saying, what about us? What about us? Well here you go. The teamwork on this side of the House is beyond measure. The friendships that have been made, it’s like having a second family. It really, truly is. And it makes coming to work really rewarding unless you run into the member from Kindersley. I’m kidding. I’m kidding. It is a wonderful group to work with, and I look forward to many more years in the future.

So what’s been happening in Martensville-Warman? Well just a quick overview as part of my remarks to the Throne Speech. And I’ll get to how this all works in, but back in June I had the privilege of visiting several schools in my constituency: Lake Vista in Martensville, École Warman Elementary, Osler School, and Valley Christian Academy.

Now those visits to those schools, it was myself, some trustees, division staff, as well as the principals. We had a good discussion as we walked up and down the hallways and we poked our heads into the odd classroom and had a chance to do some Q & A [question and answer], Mr. Deputy Speaker, with some of the classes. And it was the first time that I’d been able to do that as an MLA because we had COVID and we weren’t in the schools. So this was my very first time doing a Q & A with the students, and it was incredibly rewarding. I also had a chance to read a couple of books, and one of those books, you know, it was a French book. It was en français [Translation: in French]. I passed. The class gave me a passing grade. Now full disclosure, it was a grade 1 class. But I passed.

I also spent a lot of time with some municipal councils over the last few months talking infrastructure. As you know, in our area of the province we have growing communities so, Mr. Deputy Speaker, there’s lots of discussions happening at the municipal level. There are some health care challenges in our constituency. And I have to thank the Minister of Health and the Minister of Rural and Remote Health for taking the time to come out to meet with our stakeholders, meet with our city councils, to work forward and work to find some solutions to the issues that we’re seeing.

This year’s Throne Speech theme of “Growth That Works for Everyone” pretty much sums up what I think myself and all my colleagues on the government side of this House are working each and every day to achieve for each and every person in this province. My neighbours in Warman on one side of me are Tess and Robert. And when I think about growth that works for everyone, I look at Tess and Robert. They are a retired Filipino couple that relocated from living in Alberta for the past 30 years to Warman to be closer to their family. Their family actually live around the corner, their daughter. So I look at Robert and Tess, and the growth that works for everyone really does fit with them as retirees. You know, we have prescription drug plans that cater directly to their needs.

On the other side of me, on the other side of our house is Nathalie and Carl. And Nathalie and Carl are transplants that came from Quebec to Saskatchewan, and they both work on the University of Saskatchewan campus. Carl works in agriculture sciences, and Nathalie works at VIDO, the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. Together they’re raising their two kids, and they put down their roots in Saskatchewan. And Carl and I have discussions quite often. And this is home. This is where they want to be.

And part of it is is we’re building an economy. We’re building a way of life for people in this province so they can prosper. That’s what growth that works for everyone. So when I look at Robert and Tess and I look at Carl and Nathalie raising their young family, that’s what we’re here to do and we’re here to do that each and every day.

Some of the investments that we’ve made and continue to make in helping grow this province: better highways and roads; more new schools — 15 of them, three under construction already, 12 more in the procurement and design stage. We’re building urgent care centres in Regina and in Saskatoon. Putting $60 million towards recruitment, retention, training, and incentivization, and a comprehensive plan that goes with that for health care workers: getting foreign-trained health care workers already living here credentialed; recruiting new international physicians, nurses, lab techs, and other disciplines to work in communities across our province.

I’m very proud of that plan that’s been put forward by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Rural and Remote Health. No other province has that type of plan, that type of investment that goes along with it to make this a reality in the weeks and months ahead.

Our strategy is already showing success, Mr. Deputy Chair of Committees. The Saskatchewan Health Authority has already received over 3,500 applications so far, 3,500 applications so far from people in the Philippines looking to fill positions here in Saskatchewan in the health care field. Nearly 400 applications were received following a call that we made, that our government made through SHA [Saskatchewan Health Authority] for internationally educated health care professionals from Saskatchewan and Canada who may qualify for future training and employment right here in Saskatchewan.

Thirty new applications were received from Ukrainian newcomers, including three physician candidates. One of those candidates happens to be in Martensville. And he’s Suhyb and his wife Oksana. And I had the opportunity to meet them at the airport on April 8th as they landed in Canada for the first time. Suhyb is going to make a fantastic physician here in Saskatchewan.

So not only attracting international health care workers but also increasing training seats at the U of S [University of Saskatchewan], the U of R [University of Regina], and Sask Polytech and increasing the number of full-time positions available to those who currently work in our health care system.

And I’m just going to toss this in really quick, mister deputy committee of chairs. Just today the announcement was made that STARS [Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service], STARS won an international competition in Tampa, Florida this weekend. They competed against eight other similar emergency services, air services. And they won this championship. It’s the second time a Saskatchewan air crew has won this championship. This championship . . . [inaudible interjection] . . . Right.

This type of professionalism in our health care industry, as exemplified by STARS in Tampa last week, doesn’t just happen. It happens because we are growing and we can take and put that growth towards improving services for the residents of this province.

We’re putting $8 million from the different government Crowns . . . $10 million per year over the next five years between SaskTel, SaskPower, SGI, SaskEnergy, and CIC.

The province is funding STARS $11.88 million in 2022-23 because it’s a service that the people of this province rely on from border to border to border to border. That’s growth that works for everyone.

There’s other needs in our economy, Mr. Deputy Chair of Committees. It’s a familiar message that I’ve heard in my constituency, and no doubt my colleagues have heard the same thing. We need more people. We need more people in retail. We need more people in manufacturing. We need more people in service industries. It crosses all lines. We just need more people.

Well the member from Canora-Pelly was there; the member from Melville-Saltcoats was there; the Minister of Trade and Export Development was there last week at the Regina airport when we welcomed 236 displaced Ukrainian people. Those 236 Ukrainian people will be making Saskatchewan home.

But we need more than that, and that’s why it makes me very happy that we are introducing the Saskatchewan first Act and with that, the Saskatchewan-Canada immigration accord. We need more autonomy and flexibility over our province’s immigration to respond to the call that I’m hearing, and undoubtedly everybody else on this side of the House is hearing, that we need more people.

Quite frankly, our economy is outperforming every other economy in this country and dare I say probably in North America. But we need to open the borders to our province for the thousands of jobs that are waiting to be filled, and also the ones that will be created after those jobs are filled.

As a third-generation small-business owner in Saskatchewan for nearly 25 years prior to being elected, I know the entrepreneurial spirit in this province is strong, very strong. There were dark days under the NDP [New Democratic Party]. There was no population growth. That meant no new opportunities . . . Hey no, you know what? The best a young person could hope for when the NDP were in power is that the electrician retired so that the new guy coming up would take over the company. That was success measured by their standards. My grandparents lived through those times, my parents lived through those times, but my two sisters didn’t have to because they packed up and headed west. I don’t ever want to see my kids do what my sisters had to do.

We want to have a province that is economically diversified, strong, and resilient. And with that diversity, strength, and resiliency comes wealth. The wealth that is generated in our communities, by our people, supports the services — health care, education, social services, and other areas — that government provides for the people.

We’re building on a province that recognizes the importance of engaging and partnering economically and culturally with our Indigenous friends and neighbours in the spirit of continued reconciliation and healing. And, Mr. Deputy Chair of Committees, we’re building on successes in our manufacturing, natural resources, mining, forestry, agriculture, information technology, and other sectors to provide more jobs in communities across our province.

So when I mentioned earlier how proud I am of my children, I want them to be proud of the work my colleagues and I do on this side of the House on behalf of the people in Martensville-Warman, on behalf of every constituency across this province. We’re building a province that we can all be proud of. Our best days are still ahead.

This includes people like I mentioned before — Robert and Tess, Carl and Nathalie, Suhyb and Oksana — and all the others who have come to Saskatchewan and now call it home. The only way to achieve all this is through continued growth because that growth is growth that works for everyone.

So with that, I’ll be supporting the motion made by the member for Regina Walsh Acres and seconded by my colleague from Athabasca, and I will not, I cannot support the amendment put forward by the opposition. Thank you.

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