Sask. government, opposition trade shots over recall of legislature with no agreement in sight

Saskatchewan people can now get closer than two metres to people in their extended households, but the government and opposition can't come together on a return to work.

On Friday, the NDP and the Saskatchewan Party government traded shots as they headed into the long weekend without an agreement on when and how the legislative sitting will resume after a two-month suspension.

The sitting was suspended on March 18 by mutual agreement.

On Thursday, which would have been the final day of the sitting, government House leader Jeremy Harrison and his NDP counterpart Cathy Sproule met. How it went depends on who you ask.

NDP Leader Ryan Meili said Sproule presented the opposition's plan of a return to the assembly, with a budget introduction and Question Period, but did not receive a similar proposal from Harrison.

"There was no description from him on what they intend to do, what they want to do, even an answer of when we would have a plan."

Meili called it "frustrating."

He said the government has to recall the legislature, introduce a budget and have it debated for 28 days before voters head to the polls in October.

"That is the bare minimum of accountability that is expected from the Saskatchewan government, those are the rules of the assembly," Meili said.

He said that when the parties decided to suspend the sitting on March 18, Moe and Harrison "promised" to introduce a budget with full debate.

"[Moe] is hiding behind process, hiding behind the House leaders. He doesn't want to have these conversations, he doesn't want to have his decisions examined in any meaningful way."

The NDP is asking for:

• A full 2020-21 budget introduced in the legislature, including projected revenue, deficit, debt and economic indicators.
• Twenty-eight sitting days complete with Question Period.
• Seventy-five hours of study of the estimates.

CBC Saskatchewan's weekly political panel discussed the clash over resumption of the legislature Friday. Listen here:

Government calls meeting 'positive'

Neither Moe or Harrison were made available on Friday.

In a statement, the premier's press secretary Jim Billington called Thursday's meeting "positive."

"As the premier indicated on Wednesday, it is our government's preference to resume legislative business under an amenable agreement on a modified schedule. To that end, Minister Harrison will be responding to MLA Sproule's proposal next week," Billington said. 

"However, we do not intend to politicize these productive discussions by negotiating in public."

The NDP has sent two letters to the government this week concerning resuming the sitting, one from Meili to Moe and a second from Sproule to Harrison.

Meili asked Moe to meet to discuss recalling the legislature. Moe responded telling reporters he was "surprised" by the letter and that the matter would be handled at the House leader level.

On Wednesday, Moe said it was the government's "preference" to resume the sitting, introduce and ultimately pass a budget.

"If the House leaders were able to come to an amenable agreement on a modified schedule for a budget to not only be introduced in the House but to … go to a vote in the House, yeah, I would commit to doing that," Moe said Wednesday.

Any reconvened sitting "won't be what it looked like before," he said.

Sproule's letter disclosed the NDP's terms  regarding return to the assembly and a Tuesday deadline for Harrison to respond.

Sproule wrote that not receiving the government's position was "disappointing."

Billington's statement only indicated the reply will come "next week."

"While [Meili] seems fixated on returning to politics as usual, our government will remain focused on providing a comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including negotiating a reasonable resumption of legislative business in good faith," he said.