NO MENTION OF PRONOUNS OR PARENT RIGHTS
Wednesday's throne speech read by Lieutenant Governor Russell Mirasty was tame compared with the last two weeks at the Legislature.© Provided by Leader Post
When Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre talked last week about Saskatchewan’s need to “right the imbalance,” she couldn’t have been more right … although perhaps not in the way she intended.
Imbalance , as articulated by the justice minister, is dog-whistle nonsense — a bone to the extreme right in this province to quietly inform them that this government was all about family values pushed by the modern-day U.S. Republicans and their ultra-conservative religious base.
It might have been dressed up in the more palatable catchphrase of “parental rights,” but make no mistake that this was a blatant attempt to curry favour with voters thinking of bolting to the Saskatchewan United Party, which has had Premier Scott Moe’s government spooked since the Aug. 10 Lumsden-Morse byelection.
Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
In that special emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Education Act to include the “parental right” to be informed when under-16 children’s preferred name or pronoun use changes at school, the Sask. Party government was absolutely lambasted by the courts, lawyers, teachers, child psychologists, the children’s advocate and the Human Rights Commission.
It was a three-blown-tire car wreck. Something more than a tire “rebalancing” was required. The government needed to find smoother road.
Enter this week’s throne speech, which — perhaps surprisingly — didn’t even so much as mention parental rights. Not in the press release. Not in the 19 pages read by Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty.
Moe’s explanation for this was something less than clear — almost as strange as his explanation of why the government has suddenly dropped its defence of its pronoun case in court after hiring private legal counsel to defend it. (The premier essentially said pronouns are now old news … although that hardly explains why they weren’t mentioned, given that “old news” might very well have been the theme of a throne speech that largely harped on past accomplishments like adding 180,000 people since 2007.)
The nature of Wedensday’s throne speech only heightens suspicion that the pronoun bill and emergency sitting was truly a spur-of-the-moment thing, decided after Justice Michael Megaw ruled the policy would cause “irreparable harm”.
So the better strategy was to curtail the politics and move back toward a more relatable agenda, which Wednesday’s throne speech largely did.
Sure, there were the usual shots at the federal Liberal government — specifically the need to apply last year’s Saskatchewan First Act to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations. But now, we’re pretty much numb to the gore of jousting with Ottawa.
There is pending legislation guarding people’s right to wear a poppy in the workplace on Nov. 11. (Again, Moe was less than specific when it came to which workplaces prohibited poppy wearing.)
Similarly bizarre is the announcement of sending a substantial Saskatchewan delegation to the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 Conference, which sounds like more questionable ministerial travel.
But most of the throne speech clearly fit with “building and protecting,” like the new provincial sales tax rebate for new homeowners, retroactive to last April.
There was nothing for renters, but the government claims its Secondary Suite Program to more easily build rental accommodation in single-family dwellings will alleviate shortages.
Other issues to address needs included presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters, hiking the smoking and vaping age to 19 years from 18, the new Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program to bolster low-income working families with dependent children, 500 new addiction treatment spaces under the Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces in Regina and Saskatoon.
Add in new or previously announced health facility projects in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Weyburn, La Ronge and Grenfell and new schools in Regina, Saskatoon, Lanigan, Moose Jaw and La Loche.
There was actually little new in this housekeeping throne speech — perhaps surprising giv en that an election i s just a year away.
But less surprising is the government’s desire to see things simmer down a bit. That’s pretty much what this throne speech tries to do.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Wednesday's throne speech read by Lieutenant Governor Russell Mirasty was tame compared with the last two weeks at the Legislature.© Provided by Leader Post
When Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre talked last week about Saskatchewan’s need to “right the imbalance,” she couldn’t have been more right … although perhaps not in the way she intended.
Imbalance , as articulated by the justice minister, is dog-whistle nonsense — a bone to the extreme right in this province to quietly inform them that this government was all about family values pushed by the modern-day U.S. Republicans and their ultra-conservative religious base.
It might have been dressed up in the more palatable catchphrase of “parental rights,” but make no mistake that this was a blatant attempt to curry favour with voters thinking of bolting to the Saskatchewan United Party, which has had Premier Scott Moe’s government spooked since the Aug. 10 Lumsden-Morse byelection.
Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.
In that special emergency sitting to pass amendments to the Education Act to include the “parental right” to be informed when under-16 children’s preferred name or pronoun use changes at school, the Sask. Party government was absolutely lambasted by the courts, lawyers, teachers, child psychologists, the children’s advocate and the Human Rights Commission.
It was a three-blown-tire car wreck. Something more than a tire “rebalancing” was required. The government needed to find smoother road.
Enter this week’s throne speech, which — perhaps surprisingly — didn’t even so much as mention parental rights. Not in the press release. Not in the 19 pages read by Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty.
Moe’s explanation for this was something less than clear — almost as strange as his explanation of why the government has suddenly dropped its defence of its pronoun case in court after hiring private legal counsel to defend it. (The premier essentially said pronouns are now old news … although that hardly explains why they weren’t mentioned, given that “old news” might very well have been the theme of a throne speech that largely harped on past accomplishments like adding 180,000 people since 2007.)
The nature of Wedensday’s throne speech only heightens suspicion that the pronoun bill and emergency sitting was truly a spur-of-the-moment thing, decided after Justice Michael Megaw ruled the policy would cause “irreparable harm”.
So the better strategy was to curtail the politics and move back toward a more relatable agenda, which Wednesday’s throne speech largely did.
Sure, there were the usual shots at the federal Liberal government — specifically the need to apply last year’s Saskatchewan First Act to the federal Clean Electricity Regulations. But now, we’re pretty much numb to the gore of jousting with Ottawa.
There is pending legislation guarding people’s right to wear a poppy in the workplace on Nov. 11. (Again, Moe was less than specific when it came to which workplaces prohibited poppy wearing.)
Similarly bizarre is the announcement of sending a substantial Saskatchewan delegation to the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 Conference, which sounds like more questionable ministerial travel.
But most of the throne speech clearly fit with “building and protecting,” like the new provincial sales tax rebate for new homeowners, retroactive to last April.
There was nothing for renters, but the government claims its Secondary Suite Program to more easily build rental accommodation in single-family dwellings will alleviate shortages.
Other issues to address needs included presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters, hiking the smoking and vaping age to 19 years from 18, the new Saskatchewan Employment Incentive program to bolster low-income working families with dependent children, 500 new addiction treatment spaces under the Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces in Regina and Saskatoon.
Add in new or previously announced health facility projects in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Weyburn, La Ronge and Grenfell and new schools in Regina, Saskatoon, Lanigan, Moose Jaw and La Loche.
There was actually little new in this housekeeping throne speech — perhaps surprising giv en that an election i s just a year away.
But less surprising is the government’s desire to see things simmer down a bit. That’s pretty much what this throne speech tries to do.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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