Sask. throne speech pledges constitutional changes to 'defend' natural resources

The Saskatchewan government's latest speech from the throne promises to amend and introduce legislation this fall to defend the province's jurisdiction over its natural resources.

Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty opened the fall sitting of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly on Wednesday with the speech.

The speech laid out the government's agenda and priorities for the session. The list was topped by legislative changes focused on federal government policies:

"These measures are about removing barriers to unlock Saskatchewan's incredible economic potential," Premier Scott Moe said Wednesday. "We just need to remove the barriers that are preventing us from sustainably developing our resources to their full potential and exporting them to markets around the world where they are needed."

The speech said amending The Saskatchewan Act will be "similar to how Quebec recently unilaterally amended the Constitution to declare that Quebec is a nation and its official language is French." Moe has spent the past few weeks strongly signaling that the government planned to head in this direction.

The throne speech said the government's legislation will be "within the Canadian Constitution." Moe did not get into what specifically will be in the legislation when asked Wednesday. 

The speech said, "to be clear this is not about abrogating or ignoring the Constitution. In fact, quite the contrary. It is the federal government that has been intruding on Saskatchewan's jurisdiction under the Constitution."

"Roadblocks imposed by our own federal government are also greater than they have ever been," it said.

The speech said the federal government has done "an end run around Saskatchewan's constitutional jurisdiction over natural resources under the guise of environmental regulation."

Moe said the constitutional changes will be meant to "provide certainty for the investment community and to ensure this province is doing all that we can to reassert our constitutional right."

The throne speech said, "investment is flowing into the province, as several major projects move ahead, creating thousands of new jobs."

Moe was asked how the province can be boasting about investment coming in, while also saying federal policies are preventing investment.

"We still are seeing record investment in our province. We want to see more and are working hard to attract additional investment, but at the same time, we had a challenge with a canola crush plant that didn't move forward down in the southeast," Moe said "There are challenges around some of the environmental costs of setting up here relative to other areas of the world."

The provincial government announced the Saskatchewan Immigration Accord in July. It said in the speech that it plans to send a signed accord to the federal government "for its ratification."