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Saskatchewan

Last Updated:

September 2023

Population:

Population: 3.07% (1)

Area: 6.56% (2)


Current majority government:

Premier: Scott Moe, Saskatchewan Party 


Number of Members of Legislative Assembly in SK: 61 

  • Saskatchewan party: 45 

  • NDP: 12

  • Vacant: 3

  • Independent - Saskatchewan United Party: 1


Find your Member of Legislative Assembly here: (3)

Environmental stance of majority party:

The Saskatchewan Party’s Climate Plan aims to reduce GHG emissions by 40% by 2030, use 50% renewable energy by 2030, including flexible compliance options for large emitters (such as oil, gas, and mining industries). The Premier, Scott Moe, hopes to achieve these targets without a federally or provincially administered carbon tax (4).

Percentage of 2020/2021 budget estimated to be allocated to the environment:

Total 2023-2024 Estimated Budget: $18,660,200,000

Total 2022-2023 Estimate Spending: $19,114,700,000


Environment and natural resources:

  • Estimated Budget for 2023-2024: $254,400,000 (1.36% of the budget)

  • Estimated 202-2023 Spending: $358,800,000 (1.87% of the budget)

  • $104,400,000 projected funding decrease from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024 (5)

Main provincial-level legislation for environment protection:

The Management and Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Act: 

  • Proclaimed in 2018 to allow the government to monitor emission reduction target compliance.


The Management and Reduction of Greenhouse Gases (MRGG) Regulations:

  • General and Electricity producer: SK hoped that these regulations put in place in 2018 for coal-fired electricity would be a step closer to an equivalency agreement with the Federal Government. The equivalency agreement was established in 2020, where the regulations in MRGG were deemed equivalent to those in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (See CEPA). 

  • Reporting and General: The regulations require that any provincial facility that emits more than 10,000 tonnes of GHG per year report emissions to the government. 

  • Standards and Compliance: The regulations provide industry with parameters for the mandatory greenhouse gas reductions, such as performance standards and compliance options. 


The Oil and Gas Conservation Amendment Act:

  • Introduced in 2018 to facilitate emissions regulations in the oil and gas sector through preventing wasteful operations and regulating production of resources.


The Oil and Gas Emissions Management Regulations:

  • The set of regulations to lead the oil and gas industry through an emissions reduction of 40-45% by 2025.


You can learn more about all of these pieces of legislation here.

Specific government-based environmental programs:

SaskPower (6)

  • Saskatchewan’s principal electric utility has set a target to generate 50% of energy from renewable sources by 2030. 

  • See what the project has accomplished over the course of 2021-2022 in pursuit of this goal here. 


LEED Program (7)

  • 35 projects underway through LEED programming in Saskatchewan.


Prairie Resilience: A Made-in-Saskatchewan Climate Change Strategy (8)

  • Saskatchewan’s climate change action plan, in place since 2017, detailing over 40 government commitments to improve the province’s response and resiliency in the face of current and future climate change impacts


Methane Action Plan (9)

  • The province’s plan, published in 2019, to reduce methane emissions by 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year by 2025, leading to a planned decrease of at least 38.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent methane emissions reductions between 2020 and 2030

Next election date:

On or before October 28, 2024 (10)

Fun Facts:

  • The threat of raising temperatures is highest in the provinces near and including Saskatchewan. Increases in temperatures can lead to forest fires which both disrupt human and wildlife in the area. (9)

  • Climate change is expected to alter landscapes in Saskatchewan making them unconducive to regular agricultural practices. (10)

  • The temperature in the prairie pothole region, the area of the province containing majority of its natural water, is expected to increase by 1.8-4˚C. This increase is expected to result in increased flooding and extreme rainfall. (11)

  • Around 40 industrial facilities in Saskatchewan account for 11% (approximately 8.5 million tonnes) of the province's total emissions. As part of the ‘Prairie Resilience’ strategy, it is expected that total emissions from these facilities will drop by 10% by 2030 (12). 

  • Along with Manitoba and Ontario, Saskatchewan was one of the provinces challenging the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax (13).

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