What to Expect
Saskatchewan
In Saskatchewan, Canada’s Farm Show kicks off this week at REAL District in Regina. The three-day show will bring together exhibitors, producers, and international buyers to discuss agricultural sustainability, technology, and economics. The show provides an opportunity for farmers across Canada to learn from industry leaders and innovators as well as to connect with world-wide markets. For politicians, it gives them a forum to meet with constituents and industry players from around the province. This will be particularly important for the Saskatchewan Party as it represents every rural riding with the expectation of one in the northern part of the province. We also expect that NDP leadership candidates will attend the show looking to make inroads into rural Saskatchewan.
The NDP leadership race will wrap up on Sunday, with all roads pointing to a significant win for Carla Beck.
Manitoba
Manitoba continues to deal with extreme weather while farmers struggle to finish planting crops across the province. Heavy wind and rain are expected again this week, which will likely overtake much of the political commentary.
The Week That Was
Saskatchewan
On June 15, the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) and the Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation (KOMIR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation in the area of critical minerals. The MOU lays the framework for a collaborative and strategic approach to global cooperation. The provincial government invested $31 million in SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility in August 2020.
Manitoba
The Government of Manitoba is partnering with First Nations, Inuit, and Red River Métis Council on Residential Schools to allocate $2.5 million to various Indigenous governments and organizations working to identify, memorialize, and protect the burial sites of children who did not return home from residential schools.
The funding will be distributed as follows:
- $2 million shared equally among the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, and the Southern Chiefs’ Organization;
- $240,000 shared equally between the Manitoba Métis Federation and Manitoba Inuit Association;
- $60,000 to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation – an independent First Nation not represented by any other organization – that has worked over the last decade to find children who died attending Brandon Residential School; and
- $200,000 to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization to establish commemorative gathering places and monuments through an organizing subcommittee.
The Manitoba government is committing $16 million in new funding to expand staffing and training in personal care homes (PCHs).
This new funding will support the:
- recruitment and hiring of more than 350 health care aides to increase the amount of daily direct care provided to residents;
- addition of 72 new positions for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses combined;
- establishment of medical leads to provide leadership and guidance to PCH medical services and infection prevention and control enhancements; and
- investment of $1.5 million in tuition supports and direct care staff recruitment incentives to help build this workforce.
The Government of Manitoba has approved the province’s first potash development. The decision will allow the Potash and Agri-Development Corporation of Manitoba (PADCOM) to start extraction and production near the community of Russell, located in the western part of the province.
