New premier to fulfil education promise ‘very soon’

In a speech of many platitudes, newly minted Premier Scott Moe addressed for the first time the delegates of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention.

While spending much of his 30 minutes worth of remarks on the greatness of his predecessor Brad Wall and Saskatchewan’s overall beauty, Moe also told the crowd Monday in Regina that his inaugural budget would be delivered later than scheduled.

Instead of giving the people of the province a budget in March, as was originally planned, Moe will have his finance minister deliver it April 10. He chalked up the need for more transition time as one reason for the delay: He was sworn in as premier less than one week ago.

At Moe’s swearing in, Finance Minister Donna Harpauer had told reporters there was flexibility built into the budget to allow a new premier to implement certain promises. However, she had also signalled doing so on schedule may not be doable, and expressed hope of having the budget out by the end of March.

By planning to get the province’s books back to balance in two years, it is expected the coming budget will be another one of austerity.

But the speech was not all bad news: Moe said he would be fulfilling a promise he made to the education sector “very soon.”

It’s believed that announcement — likely the hiring of 400 educational assistants and other supports for classrooms, or $30 million in funding added to the sector — will be made Tuesday.

Moe told reporters Monday he wants to start bringing supports into classrooms, especially in primary grades, to assist teachers.

In speaking with reporters afterwards, Moe spoke about the Global Transportation Hub (GTH). Whether it should be owned and operated by the province was debated throughout the Saskatchewan Party leadership race.

Moe said he “wouldn’t preclude anything with respect to the ownership or the management of the Global Transportation Hub as we move forward.” He added the theory behind the GTH was to allow for the free flow of products in and out of the province, and a conversation needs to be had because “it’s important that it achieves what it was set out to be.”

NDP interim leader Nicole Sarauer called the speech “concerning.”

“To hear this budget this could be just as difficult (as last year’s), if not more difficult, was worrisome for many folks,” she said.