The 28th Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly wrapped up for the spring last week, and both sides of the government represented in the legislature are pleased with things they accomplished and are left with things they wished they could have accomplished. 

Everett Hindley, MLA for Swift Current, said that overall he was happy with how the spring session went and that the biggest highlight for him was the government being able to balance the budget. 

"It's something that we've been focused on for the past three years when we saw the initial downturn in resource prices and the effect that had on royalties and revenues coming into the province," he said. "Our government charged a different path, that was one to get back to balance. We thought we could do that within a three-year plan and that required some tough and difficult decisions that were made. I think that was a highlight because that was the focal point for so many years." 

Hindley added that other highlights to him were some of the strategic decisions and investments they made into key areas such as classrooms, mental health, and highway safety. 

Ryan Meili, leader for the Saskatchewan NDP, said that despite the balanced budget, they still heard some concerns over it. 

"People were saying maybe on the bottom line it looks like a balance for this year but what this budget didn't do was balance the significant cuts and problems that were created in the earlier budget," he said. "It did nothing to deal with education in any significant way. We are zero dollars more than we were in 2016 despite having 7,000 more students in our classrooms and more complex and crowded classrooms than we had in the past. We didn't see the return of STC, we still have the PST on construction, restaurant meals, on kids' clothes, so in many ways this was the budget just baked in those bad changes from years ago, and did very little that was positive to make things better for Saskatchewan people which is what should be the focus." 

Hindley said some of the things they are going to be working on going forward will be the issue of the carbon tax as well as trade with countries. 

"That was something that has taken up a lot of time and we didn't get the decision we were hoping for on the carbon tax front at the court of appeals," he said. "That was something we are going to continue to press because at the end  the carbon tax affects the economy." 

"The trade challenges we are facing with China for example, and some of the bans on Canadian imports of canola, we are not being effectively represented at the federal level," Hindley said. "We don't have an ambassador in China, and this is a serious concern for canola producers in our province. We are still working on the issues with India. This spring and this will provide some clarity but we have to deal with respect to fumigation on pulse crops and pulse imports into India." 

Hindley added that another thing they are going to be working on going forward will be improving the oil and gas sectors. 

"We've been really pushing this issue of trying to be able to get our oil and gas resources to market. we are just facing so many challenges right now," he said. "We have some amazing producers here in southwest Saskatchewan, but without pipelines and the ability to get those resources to market, it really hamstrings local economy and if you don't have the agriculture sector clicking, if you don't have the oil and gas sector clicking, you start to notice that." 

Until October when the winter session will kick off, Hindley said he is looking forward to talking to the residents of Swift Current about some of their concerns and issues they have going on. 

"We are consulting with our constituents in our ridings," he said. "Talking to them one on one to hear what their concerns are and what their suggestions are and specifically the ideas they have. We are elected to represent the people of our ridings and some of the best ideas just come from simple chats over coffee and discussing some issues and that's what I am looking forward to. We attend community meetings and have meetings in our MLA offices and try to get around and talk to as many folks as possible, take the pulse of the constituency and then report back to our colleagues later on in the fall." 

For Meili, he said that they were focused on putting people first. 

"Making sure that when we are making decisions at the level of government, that our focus is on investing and people's lives," he said. "The best way to make sure we are doing our job taking care of Saskatchewan people and at the same time growing the economy. What we really focused a lot on was education, also on some of the challenges in the economy and we continued to focus on some of the accountability issues that have plagued this government in terms of the trust of the public." 

Meili said that they are proud of a couple of things, including seeing one piece of legislature passed.

Nicole Sarauer is our justice critic and she's been pushing for legislation to introduce paid leave for victims of domestic violence. That was something that the government had resisted along the way but eventually, a bill was introduced that allowed now five days of paid leave for someone who is leaving a violent situation."

Meili said another positive was seeing another reversed. 

"The government chose in their budget this year to shut down the Cornwall Alternative School or eliminate all of its funding," he said. "This is a school that helps kids who aren't doing well in the regular school system and helps keep kids out of gangs, out of trouble, and it was going to shut down and we worked with the community and raised a ruckus. We were very happy that the government actually changed their mind, and reversed their decision and returned their funding."

Meili said that another big issue that they will be focusing on will be emergency room waiting time as well as climate change. 

"We are hearing from a lot of people that have access to emergency care, anywhere in the province, that the time it takes to get help... is really dangerously long. That's something that we are going to continue to learn more about," he noted. "We also hear that climate change is on people's minds in a very significant way. They want to see us take action but they don't like the federal carbon tax, so we are going to talk to people about other options, what is it that we can do, including our idea of Renew Saskatchewan, which is a policy that helps remove the cost barrier that keeps people from investing in solar or wind, and saving money by doing so. We are going to continue to share that idea, and at the same time as well as collect ideas from people around the province." 

Meili and the NDP, as well as Hindley and the Sask Party, will be back in the legislature October 23.