Sask. NDP calls on province to fast-track bill that prioritizes local workers

Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina, on Monday, November 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

The Saskatchewan NDP wants the province to fast-track a bill that seeks to prioritize local workers for infrastructure projects.

Bill 621, The Public Works and Services (Prioritizing Local Jobs) Amendment Act, was introduced by NDP MLA Sally Housser and Nathaniel Teed in late April.

• Sask. NDP calls on province to ensure local workers benefit from infrastructure projects

It’s designed to promote the hiring of Saskatchewan residents, build trades-affiliated workers and apprentices, and ensure Indigenous people see the benefit of their lands.

“The government keeps saying, ‘We’re already doing this.’ Show us the list, we’d love to see it,” Housser told reporters after question period on Tuesday.

“What we know is that with the Regina Bypass, with Shercom, with the Great Plains Power Station outside of Moose Jaw – that that hasn’t always been the case.”

Housser said the NDP has heard similar things from workers it’s consulted with – including an iron worker who trained people to work on a new wind project only to lose the project to an out-of-province company that hired out-of-province workers.

During question period on Tuesday, SaskBuilds and Procurement Minister Sean Wilson said the province increased its local procurement from 90 per cent to 94 per cent.

“We will continue to stand up for the people of this province and for all of our world-class companies that do business here,” he said.

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Housser said she didn’t believe that number.

“I would, again, love to see the full thing so we could actually look into the list of how they determine what’s considered a Saskatchewan company, what do they determine is a Saskatchewan worker and also difference between 90 per cent of projects versus 90 per cent of the money spent, because those are two very different things,” she said.

Housser called Bill 621 a common-sense measure and expressed disappointment in the government for not fast-tracking it.

“We know that we’re always going to have a labour mobility and sometimes there’ll be projects where you have to bring people in from out of province,” she said.

“What we’re saying is, if people are trained up and people have the skills and we have the people here in Saskatchewan to do the job – they should go to the front of the line of the people who should get that contract.”