REGINA – The first day of 2026 renewed a long Saskatchewan tradition at Government House in Regina.
The annual New Year’s Day Levee, a tradition dating back to 1884, was held again Jan. 1 to welcome in 2026.
Lieutenant Governor Bernadette McIntyre and her husband Rich McIntyre were on hand to greet the many members of the public who came to Government House on Thursday afternoon. A receiving line was set up so that the public could personally meet the Lieutenant Governor.
“We're very, very excited to meet the people and welcome the New Year,” McIntyre said to reporters.
She said the New Year’s Levee is “a wonderful tradition and what a way to bring in the New Year. To open Government House and have the Lieutenant Governor here to welcome everyone that is able to and wants to come is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. And how nice for us all to get together and be together and in fellowship and happiness for the first day of the year.”
This is McIntyre's first New Year’s Levee since being installed as Lieutenant Governor this past year. She is also rapidly approaching her first anniversary as Lieutenant Governor, with that milestone happening at the end of the month.
She said of her first year that it is a “real thrill and privilege to be able to represent the people of Saskatchewan and to be able to honour the people of Saskatchewan. What I've learned is that we meet so many wonderful people and we give out medals and awards and recognitions throughout the province. We have wonderful people here and we get to highlight them as Lieutenant Governor.”
2025 had been a year of highlights for the new Lieutenant Governor. McIntyre said that “going to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III was certainly a highlight and then to meet him and Queen Camilla again in Ottawa for the Royal Visit was a real thrill of a lifetime.”
But she added that on a personal note, “having grown up in rural Saskatchewan, that burning the brand at Agribition was a real personal thrill as well.”
As for any personal New Year's resolutions for her role for 2026, she pointed to “being true to yourself and making sure you're always kind and respectful to everyone you meet. I think that's important. If we all do that, it works out well for everyone in the long run.”
New Year’s Day Levee has long history
There were also plenty of opportunities for the public to enjoy tea and refreshments, listen to musical performances, and be able to look at the items on display at Government House, including the Saskatchewan Black Rod.
People were able to see the Amédée Forget Museum and enjoy piano music and punch refreshments in the Henry Newlands Ballroom where the Lieutenant Governor had presided over the swearing-in of the new Cabinet just weeks earlier.
Carolyn Spiers, Executive Director of the Lieutenant Governor's Office and also Private Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, pointed to the long history of the event, noting there was a time when it wasn’t held.
“There was a period during the war years where it was shut down, and then back in the 80s, 1984, F.W. Johnson was the Lieutenant Governor and his wife, Joyce, and they brought it back.
“So when it started in 1884, this building wasn't even here. This building was completed in 1891, but the levy at that time was just for men. And then eventually, of course, by the 1980s, the women and the whole community were invited, and the Lieutenant Governors ever since then have maintained the tradition.”
As Government House has changed, so has the event. Spiers noted that the new wing of Government House was opened in 2005, the provincial centennial year, with Queen Elizabeth II on hand to open it.
“So before that wing was here, people would enter by the door, the old door. They'd go downstairs and line up to come through the house to meet the Lieutenant Governor. It was quite a different time,” Spiers said. “Nowadays, it's really an open house for people of all ages. We've added more activities for children, so that it's really a family-friendly event.”
Spiers spoke of how important it was to keep this tradition going.
“Traditions are so important, aren't they? They help to connect us to our past, and they connect us to what's important to us. And I think the levy is about community. It's about bringing people together,” Speirs said.
“And we've had such a divisive year, with so many challenges to our country, to our very sovereignty, and so more than ever, we need to feel like a community and to support each other, and that's what this event does. It's an opportunity for people to meet the Lieutenant Governor, to exchange New Year's greetings, and just to come together with the community.”
She also said that while the names change and the politicians come and go, the “tradition of the Crown, of the role of the Lieutenant Governor (and) the Governor General, remains the same.”
Government House has “stood the test of time,” she said. Spiers said that each Lieutenant Governor has “done very different things with their time in office. But tradition is really rooted here in Government House.“
