REGINA - An NDP emergency motion that would have condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for his “51st State” talk looked very different by the time the Sask Party government was done with it Thursday.
The NDP had moved an emergency motion Thursday that had included language that the Assembly “condemns the Trump administration for proposing the annexation of Canada as the 51st state and imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.”
Unlike last fall when several proposed NDP emergency motions did not get government approval to get to the floor, this motion did proceed to debate. But that was the end of the good news for the NDP.
Instead of keeping the motion intact, the Sask Party majority quickly moved an amendment to take out pretty much all of the NDP wording, including all the language condemning Trump.
The amendment motion replaced it with language that stated the Assembly “confirms Canada will never be the 51st State and further that the Assembly supports the Government of Saskatchewan’s tariffs response plan as follows,” followed by a lengthy list of several measures the government was doing.
Those items included being aligned with other provinces in the need to take counter-action against unjustified tariffs, efforts to increase procurement from Saskatchewan based employers, support of targeted counter tariffs, and not supporting export tariffs, among others.
The Sask Party amendment motion passed 31 to 21, with decidedly glum-looking NDP MLAs voting against the government amendment. They did end up joining the government members in voting for the amended main motion when it was up for vote.
Following the final vote, the NDP issued a news release titled “Sask Party guts pro-Canada motion, sides with Trump instead of Saskatchewan,” and accused Premier Scott Moe of refusing to condemn Trump.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck made that same point in speaking to reporters after the vote.
“This is not a threat that's come out of nowhere. This is a threat that continues to be repeated by the President of the United States,” Beck said. “We should name who it is that is threatening our country, and it shouldn't be difficult to do that.
I honestly am at a loss as to why this government removed all references to Donald Trump from their motion. I think Saskatchewan people will be concerned and puzzled by that as well.”
There was another controversy associated with the day. Prior to the Assembly sitting, the NDP MLAs held a rally on the front steps of the Legislative Assembly building while wearing red Team Canada jerseys. But when they re-entered the Assembly the MLAs were asked to remove them.
The indication was that wearing the jerseys in the Assembly would contravene rules set out by the Speaker. What made the situation head-scratching was that MLAs have been allowed to wear jerseys in the Assembly in the past, such as Humboldt Broncos jerseys in the Assembly in recognition of that bus tragedy.
“You know, there's always some leeway for extraordinary times,” said Beck. “This is definitely an extraordinary time and it shouldn't be controversial to wear the colours, wear the flag in that Assembly. That is a concern.”
But Beck emphasized she thought the “bigger concern we saw today, again, from this government was their inability to actually name Donald Trump as the person who is threatening this country. I, in fact, find that even more troubling than being asked to take off the jersey before we went into the Assembly.”
When asked by reporters about whether there was an underlying question about his loyalty to Canada, Premier Moe said there was not.
“There's no underlying concern with respect to my love and loyalty to this province and my love and loyalty to this nation. There's no underlying concerns with respect to my commitment to representing the industries that are creating wealth in this province, in communities across this province, and ensuring that we are being smart about the engagement and being smart about the comments that the government of Saskatchewan is coming forward with.”
Moe made it known the amended motion was about implementing the plan the province had in place to fight the tariffs.
“As you saw today, words are words, and we most certainly agree with the Leader of the Opposition with respect to some of the rhetoric that is coming and the comments that are coming from the President himself as well as some of those around him, that, you know, we condemn those comments. There's no place for Canada to be the 51st state, as the President has indicated.
“That being said, we as a government of Saskatchewan have a very real plan that's been in action for literally years now — 18 of them — and a very real plan that we've been engaged on over the more recent time that we have seen in all this talk around tariffs.”
