Question Period (27 October 2025)

From Hansard (27 October 2025)

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Government Response to Wildfires in the North

Jordan McPhail: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Premier for recognizing that it should have been a lot less than 116 days to go and visit those members of the community, and will reiterate that it’s a shame that they had to drive eight hours to this Legislative Building to get the ear of the Premier after two-thirds of their community was lost.

They didn’t drive to the legislature this week because everything was fine this summer. Half of the water bombers were grounded. And now there are allegations that they overspent $100 million too much on those water bombers. The contract for these bombers was never put out to a public tender. No one else was allowed to bid.

Why were so many of our water bombers grounded at such a critical time? And how much did we have to overpay for those planes?

Hon. Tim McLeod: — Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The SPSA [Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency] uses a combination of land-based and amphibious wildfire tankers to deliver the services that this province needs and deserves, Mr. Speaker.

Our province was a leader in the nation in acquiring four new water bombers to add to our fleet, one each year for the next four years, Mr. Speaker. Other provinces that are in the same position, looking for an addition to their air tanker fleet, will be waiting for three, five, seven years before they get their first water bomber. Our government is a leader in this respect, and we have a new Q400 tanker that’s providing service to the province of Saskatchewan, that was delivering services to the North this summer, Mr. Speaker. And we will have another plane every year for the next three years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

 

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