Moe limits spring session, focuses on trade mission to U.S. ahead of tariffs

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The Saskatchewan Party’s 2025-26 provincial budget will address the looming U.S. tariff threats when it is tabled to kick off the spring sitting next month, the government says.

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Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck, however, questioned the Saskatchewan Party for scheduling the minimum requirement of 30 days for Saskatchewan’s elected officials to be in the Legislature.

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The Saskatchewan Party is “doing as little as possible at a time when Saskatchewan people rightly expect that we’re all working around the clock to protect our future,” Beck said to reporters in the Legislature on Wednesday.

Premier Scott Moe argued more could be done by focusing efforts elsewhere for now.

“We’ll have much time to talk to the leader of the opposition and the various critics that they have,” Moe said to reporters during a press conference this week in Saskatoon following a trade mission to Washington, D.C.

“I would suggest that they are not influential in the Trump administration, and we need to take the time that we have now to engage with those that are.”

Moe and other premiers were in Washington last week to convince American officials that imposing tariffs on Canadian goods is a bad idea. Moe on Wednesday said he plans to return to the U.S. before the start of spring period to continue spreading the message that tariffs will hurt both Canada and the U.S.

“We are engaging with folks that are in the room when those decisions are being made,” Moe said.

“Those decisions aren’t being made in our provincial Legislature.”

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This is the first budget the Saskatchewan Party government will deliver since the October provincial general election.

Since then, newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened — and then paused — a 25-per-cent import tax on all imports from Canada and Mexico.

The last time a budget day began the spring sitting was in 2021, the first session after the general provincial election. It is more common for a two-and-a-half week period to be held before a provincial budget is delivered.

The start of this spring period is also scheduled to occur after two potential rounds of U.S. tariffs come into effect.

“It’s not appropriate given the situation we’re in right now,” Saskatchewan NDP House Leader Nicole Sarauer said.

Trump signed an executive order for a 25-per-cent levy on Canadian steel and aluminum, scheduled to take effect on March 12. The import tax could be stacked at the end of the 30-day pause in early March, amounting to a 50-per-cent tariff on steel and aluminum.

Trump also plans to introduce tariffs on automobiles, semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, he said this week. It is unclear when that could be expected.

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Moe on Wednesday said Trump “may not be entirely accurate with perceived facts” but is someone Canada must work with.

Moe said the U.S. will remain Canada’s largest trading partner beyond Trump’s term and Canada needs to find a path where free trade between both countries can continue.

“We have to face the reality that this gentleman is the president for the United States and we have to deal with him,” Moe said.

He added that Canada will never join the U.S.

“Canada is never going to be the 51st state. It’s just not going to happen.”

He said Canadian leaders need to move beyond a policy to “stick it” to Trump because Canada’s economy would suffer in the long term.

The Saskatchewan NDP has renewed its calls for an emergency sitting before March 19, citing the uncertainty of the potential trade war with the U.S., along with the need to provide information to the public and act quickly to protect industry.

— With files from The Canadian Press, Reuters and Brody Langager, Saskatoon StarPhoenix

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