Mandryk: Short spring sitting a nod to Saskatchewan Party’s problems

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After a 27-year run in which things have mostly been on the upswing, the Saskatchewan Party faces its third consecutive major event in the last six months that will be on the downswing.

We now have a legislative sitting and a budget date. And we have a Sask. Party government perhaps not exactly thrilled about having either.

Admittedly, most governments don’t look forward to sittings away from home and having to account for government actions in daily question period.

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Also, it seems doubtful the Sask. Party MLAs looked forward to the emergency sitting to pass the pronoun bill or last year’s spring sitting, where it ran the gauntlet of striking teachers and was rightly hammered by former speaker Randy Weekes for individual obnoxious behaviour.

Finally, let’s be clear, the Sask. Party government has been far from perfect.

It brought us the Global Transportation Hub (GTH) land scandal, the brutal 2017 budget and, frankly, a few other poorly constructed, deficit-ladened budgets. And, since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, there have been economic and societal problems

That said, this is a governing party that has lived off a decade’s worth of unprecedented good economic fortune. That often allowed it to waltz through its difficulties. Until the past 2024 campaign, it had never emerged from a general election with fewer seats than it had going in.

As such, sittings often became a bit of haven for governing Sask. Party MLAs. Evenings in Regina could be spent bonding at their favour city restaurants swapping war stories with liked-minded friends. But judging by more recent developments, the legislature has become a place the Sask. Party would prefer to avoid.

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The Sask. Party government announced a first-day-of-sitting March 19 budget that will kick off a spring sitting scheduled for the fewest days required to legally pass the budget.

“This morning we stand potentially just days away from job-killing tariffs — tariffs that threaten communities and jeopardize Saskatchewan’s economic future,” Opposition leader Carla Beck told reporters Wednesday morning.

“But it seems that the Sask. Party, despite all of this, can’t even be bothered to show up to the office and come in and punch the clock.”

The NDP has been demanding for weeks now an emergency sitting to deal with the trade war and potential 25 per cent tariffs. What — if anything — can be accomplished in the Saskatchewan legislature remains unclear.

Beck talked about “the absolute need for information” and “the anxiety and frustration people are feeling.” But she didn’t exactly offer a compelling case as to why we need the legislature to provide this.

Nor do her proposals for “motions to protect SLGA (Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority)” or “bringing in producer groups” seem like they would provide much comfort.

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The NDP’s real interest in sitting two extra weeks before the budget likely has more to do with getting two extra weeks of question periods to criticize government. Moreover, there’s probably a bit of a payback element involved in making government MLAs sit long hours.

Especially when it came to evening sittings, a government caucus about triple the size as the opposition used to take shifts and still maintain majority quorum.

The Sask. Party ruthlessly abused this luxury, forcing the small NDP Opposition caucus to sit long hours with most members present to ensure the government didn’t call quorum. Now, the shoe is on the other foot.

But, beyond the political gamesmanship, there is the more serious matter of a 2025-26 budget in which Premier Scott Moe faces the double-barrelled whammy of having those tariffs and already-existing budgetary problems made worse by over-promising in the campaign.

We already got a hint of that problem in the added $923 million special warrant spending. What this all adds up to is a government that already seems eager to get through the budget.

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It looks like an unpleasant spring sitting following a similarly short, unpleasant fall sitting after an unpleasant fall election campaign.

A new and unfortunate pattern seems to have emerged for the Sask. Party government.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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