REGINA — As expected, the opposition New Democrats have introduced their proposed rent control legislation in the Legislature. But based on the government’s reactions so far on the topic, the bill is not likely to get very far.
First reading for Bill 608, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act to provide for Rent Control (The Rent Control Act), took place Monday afternoon. The legislation is being brought forward by NDP Housing critic April ChiefCalf as a private member’s bill.
Under the bill, maximum rent increases would be tied to increases in the Consumer Price Index, averaged over a 12-month period ending March 31 of the previous year.
The Sask Party government has said repeatedly throughout the fall that they are firmly opposed to introducing rent control. In a statement back in October, the government said rent control "has caused housing shortages and increased costs wherever it has been implemented and the data proves just that."
On Monday morning at an embargoed news conference at the Legislature, both ChiefCalf and Opposition Leader Carla Beck stood alongside a number of seniors, renters and community leaders in support of their rent control bill.
Beck said the rationale behind the bill is meant to make life more affordable and address Saskatchewan’s “worst in the country rent hikes.”
She pointed to 40 consecutive months of rent increases in the province, with rents rising by 24 per cent in the last two years — the highest increase in the country, she said.
“We want thousands of Saskatchewan renters to know that we have heard you. So many Saskatchewan people are working harder and harder, they’re often taking on multiple jobs, they’re doing everything right, and still too many are having to choose between rent and putting food on the table. I say to them it doesn’t have to be this way. This is not the future that we want, or the future we should accept for our kids, for our grandparents or for anyone in this province. Too often, we’re seeing big corporate landlords often from Alberta or Ontario buy up rentals, move to jack up the rent 20 per cent, sometimes 30 per cent a year, and it’s our kids and our grandparents who are left to deal with the fallout. Simply put, we need rent control and we need it now.”
In her remarks ChiefCalf again took the opportunity to repeat her criticism of out-of-province landlords, who she blamed primarily for the rent increases.
“Saskatchewan is like the Wild West of big corporate landlords,” said ChiefCalf.
She said during their consultations they heard from countless seniors and young people about double-digit rent increases from big corporate landlords, mainly based in Alberta and Ontario. “And that has to end.”
One tenant, Linda Andrews, was on hand to speak about the rent increase situation facing 12 residents at her building owned by a Calgary-based landlord. She said there is “no logical reason for the amount that is raised.”
“When the lease expires, sometimes rent goes up $70 a month, sometimes it’s $200 a month, and we don’t understand why that is happening.”
Andrews also read a statement from one of the residents saying that while rent, and medication bills are increasing, her income was not, and she was looking at having to sell her car or look for a part-time job in order to continue.
Andrews said this was a similar situation for the other seniors in her building.
“Our pension has not gone up, our old age has not increased more than five dollars a year or whatever, a minuscule amount,” she said.
Peter Gilmer of the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry said “rents have been out of control in Saskatchewan and tenants need protection. Saskatchewan is an outlier when it comes to rent control legislation. Eight out of 10 Canadians live in jurisdictions with rent control, but we do not."
Gilmer said difficulty covering the cost of rent has frequently presented to his office during the course of 2025. “We see so much avoidable human suffering that could be prevented by preventing excessive rents, and that is why we’ve been strong proponents of rent control legislation for many years,” he said.
“But it’s not just low-income on income security programs that we work with— people who have found themselves paying most of their incomes as many cases towards their rent, and sometimes finding themselves unhoused because they can’t keep up with the cost of rent. It is also… an issue for seniors income. It’s an issue for students who are trying to combine school costs with rising rent, and it’s a concern for working families. It would take a full-time wage of $22 an hour for an individual working person to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment in our largest cities, and still be able to cover all of their other basic needs, but this is a concern that we’re hearing about across the province.”
When asked what the point was of introducing the bill given that the Sask Party has said they would not support rent control, Beck said it is to "raise the voices of the 300,000 renters that we have in this province. and the concerns that they have."
"I know that the Sask Party have been very dismissive of those concerns. We are not. We understand that the cost of living, concerns about affordability, continue to top the number one concern of people right across this province. This is a measure we could take, that the government should take today to offer some relief to people that are struggling."
Government remains opposed to rent control
During Question Period Monday the NDP led off with the issue, but Finance Minister Jim Reiter reiterated in his answers that the government remained opposed to rent control.
Reiter pointed to CMHC numbers showing Saskatchewan year over year for housing starts having a 71 per cent increase, while "NDP BC with rent control" had a reduction of 21 per cent, he said.
"That clearly shows everywhere this is been tried, Mr. Speaker, rent controls end up doing the exact opposite, Mr. Speaker, because investment dries up. People, corporations, individual people that rent houses and rent houses out, don't want to be somewhere where there's rent control, Mr. Speaker. It dries up investment and the exact opposite of what they're trying to achieve happens."
