Saskatchewan.

• Position: Legislative Reports

The Spring session of the Assembly opened on March 14th. The session was a resumption of the 1st session that began in 2004 and continued during a short Fall sitting. The 2005 sitting began with statements of condolence in remembrance of the four RCMP officers who were killed in the line of duty in Mayerthorpe, Alberta. The Assembly held a number of debates and ceremonies during the session marking significant events. These included:

* An emergency debate calling on the federal government to respect the principle of equity in the treatment of provincial energy revenues and immediately begin negotiations on a Saskatchewan Energy Accord that guarantees 100% protection from Equalization claw backs on energy revenues and on reforming the determination of entitlements and fiscal disparities under the national Equalization program. The motion was adopted.

* The Assembly hosted a ceremony in the Chamber awarding the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal to twelve exceptional individuals.

* On May 2nd, Saskatchewan Olympians and Paralympians were recognized by the Assembly.

Two Private Members achieved the distinction of piloting bills through the Assembly. Greg Brkich (Arm River--Watrous) introduced The Recognition of John George Diefienbaker Day Act that declared the September 18th anniversary of the birth of the first Prime Minister to hail from Saskatchewan as "John George Diefenbaker Day" in recognition his contributions to Canada. The Tommy Douglas Day Act was sponsored by Warren McCall (Regina Elphinstone--Centre). This Act similarly chose the anniversary of Mr. Douglas' birth of October 20th as the day on which to remember his work and contributions to the province.

Budget

On March 23rd, Finance Minister Harry Van Mulligen delivered the NDP government's twelfth consecutive balanced budget. The central theme of the Centennial budget was "Building for the next 100 years" by investing in priorities. These included record funding for health and education, enhanced social programs, measures to build the economy and an increased capital budget to build for future generations.

Ken Cheveldayoff (Saskatoon Silver Springs), the Opposition Finance critic, challenged the budget, claiming that it lacked vision. Noting that government revenues had increased over the previous year, the Opposition proposed an amendment to the Budget motion listing a number of alternatives areas in which investments could have been made.

At the conclusion of the debate, the amendment was defeated and the original motion adopted. Following the precedent set last...