What to Expect
Saskatchewan & Manitoba
This week Premier Moe and Premier Stephanson will be preparing for the Council of the Federation (COF) summer meetings hosted by B.C. Premier Horgan in Victoria on July 11 and 12. This will be Premier Horgan’s last opportunity to Chair a COF meeting as he prepares to step down as Premier. Premier Stefanson will be hosting the next meeting.
There are a few topics that will likely dominate the two-day meetings, the first being federal health transfers. The premiers will be looking to find some consensus on an ask of the federal government for a substantial increase in these transfers. This topic has been a constant item of discussion at these meetings well before the pandemic and will continue to be until the issue is resolved.
Premiers are also likely to discuss the Liberal/NDP plan for pharma and dental care and how it will be funded. While premiers may disagree on the policy side of the programs, they will be looking to work together to ensure long-term funding such as these won’t be offloaded onto the provinces.
Air travel issues will also be a topic of concern, and it will be interesting to see if all premiers are able to reach the West Coast. Over the weekend, New Brunswick Education Minister Dominic Cardy took to social media to criticize Canada’s airline industry after his flight to a federal-provincial-territorial meeting in Regina was cancelled, leaving him and officials no way to get to Regina.
The Week That Was
Saskatchewan
A flight with approximately 230 Ukrainian citizens arrived in Regina yesterday, with provincial and local officials on standby to help ensure their seamless and straightforward arrival.
The provincial and federal governments will be investing more than $11 million in funding across 24 Saskatchewan-based infrastructure projects. The investment will be directed towards twelve communities to support landfill decomposition projects along with local bridge projects that will replace timber and concrete-over-timber bridges.
SaskTel will be making a $50,000 one-time donation to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress of Saskatchewan to help support Ukrainian refugees.
Manitoba
27 adult literacy and learning centre operators across the province will be receiving a combined $20 million increase in funding.
Manitoba is working to further wildlife conservation efforts through the commitment of $1 million in funding for 35 fish and wildlife improvement projects via the Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund.
