The new session of the Saskatchewan Legislature, as our Premier has already alluded to, will focus on meeting the challenges and opportunities of a growing province.

In this session, the government says it will be investing in infrastructure, addressing the skilled labour shortage and ensuring Saskatchewan remains competitive, while maintaining fiscal discipline and a balanced budget.

Brad Wall says the session will also focus on improving the health and education system, life for persons with disabilities and educational outcomes and employment opportunities for First Nations and Metis people.

Specifically, the plan is to create SaskBuilds and a new $150 million SaskBuilds fund to drive infrastructure financing, design and delivery, introduce a new Saskatchewan Employment Act, new measures to improve worker safety in highway construction zones including increasing speeding fines to triple the normal penalty and use photo radar in construction zones and introduce a new team based approach to provide primary and emergency care in rural and remote communities.

Also on the agenda is a plan to lower the business tax rate, with a goal of reducing it from 12 to 10 per cent by 2015 which will bring Saskatchewan in line with Alberta and B.C., continue efforts to add more low income housing units, develop more apprenticeship spaces, increasing efforts to retain Saskatchewan trained physicians and to attract more international medical graduates, provide student loan forgiveness for new doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners who practice in rural communities and introduce new legislation giving the Ministry of Justice the authority to oversee the seizure of criminal property.

The government is also planning to establish a Global Institute for Food Security.

The province has already committed $1 million in the 2012/2013 budget to establish the new Institute which would focus on two main questions, that are how can we sustainably expand the supply and quality of food now and for the next century and how can we ensure that food gets to those who need it most?