Niceties quickly out the window

By the next question from Meili, about Moe’s plan to increase education funding by $30-million in the April 10 budget, the niceties were mostly out the window. Meili charged Moe was only putting in a portion of the money cut from education funding in the previous budget.

(This year, funding to school divisions dropped by roughly three per cent from the year prior — resulting in $54.2 million less money in classrooms over the course of the current school year.)

That prompted Education Minister Gord Wyant to say the government’s commitment to education has “got kudos” from nearly every school division in the province. It also prompted a government MLA to remark the cordial tone “lasted about five minutes.”

Despite a healthy dose of heckling throughout the remainder of Question Period, the overall mood of the room was significantly more subdued than it was during the final days of Wall’s tenure. The coming weeks will determine whether or not it will stay that way.

Monday also saw the swearing-in of three new MLAs, all of whom are sitting on the Sask. Party side of the Assembly.

Ken Francis (Kindersley), Todd Goudy (Melfort) and Everett Hindley (Swift Current) all saw their first day as MLAs after winning by-elections earlier this month.