REGINA – Third reading has passed for the Building Schools Faster Act, the government’s legislation to try and reduce some of the delays seen with the building of schools in the province.
Minister of Education Everett Hindley was happy to see the bill finally passed on Wednesday, with the legislation now set to receive Royal assent before the end of the spring sitting.
HIndley said it was an “important piece of legislation designed to address some of the complexities that we have these days when it comes to acquiring land for new schools, particularly in our largest centres in Saskatchewan, in Regina and Saskatoon, but not, you know, not limited to that.”
HIndley spoke about the desire to have “better collaboration and communication with our municipalities and our municipal partners” to make sure that as cities grow and new neighbourhoods are being developed, that “we're also as much as possible on the same page when it comes to making sure that we're also preparing for that growth and the impact that that is going to have on some of our systems, such as the education system, and making sure that we do everything we can to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of land for some of these schools that are bigger than schools that we've ever seen before.”
The bill had come about in the wake of some of the delays seen to new school projects such as for the new second joint-use school project for Harbour Landing. That was a project approved by the government in 2020 but which encountered delays in finding suitable land for the project. Shovels finally went in the ground in 2025.
When asked if this legislation will indeed build schools faster, Hindley said "yeah, absolutely.” He said the Act will help with the challenge of finding enough land particularly for those new school developments.
”And so that can pose some significant delays, because until you have the land and then, of course, have the necessary servicing that has to be done to be able to service that site, it's really hard to advance to the next step. So, that is one of several factors, but I think that we've identified, and we've heard it from school divisions and also from municipalities, that that is a challenge. So, certainly this will help with respect to that.”
While the bill has been passed, Hindley says consultation is still occurring on the regulations and will continue over the next number of months. He said that will get into “some of the finer details around some of the tools that are being provided for municipalities to help them with respect to this.”
Hindley said a number of schools are impacted by the legislation and that would include “specifically schools where land hasn't been identified or acquired yet.” This would included the newly announced schools for the Kensington area schools in Saskatoon, as well as for Martensville and Warman as well as Shellbrook.
But there have been concerns raised. Hindley was asked whether the new legislation downloads responsibility onto municipalities to get the land ready and serviced for school construction.
Hindley said part of what the government had been hearing from municipalities is they would “appreciate some clearer and more direct communication, earlier communication, as we've asked for that as well. It does contemplate and allows for certain tools to be provided to municipalities to be able to make sure that they are setting aside the appropriate amount of land required. It does provide them with tools such as levies, if required, to help with the funding that's necessary for that.”
Hindley was also asked about a letter from Regina Catholic Schools along with Regina Public Schools that the real issue is not with acquiring land, but in actually getting the schools approved and designed.
He said he was aware of the letter and has had conversations with the school divisions. He acknowledged “there are other areas as well that we're looking for efficiencies, I guess I would say.”
One idea is whether there could be an “opportunity, perhaps, to pursue some common design ideas,” Hindley said.
Hindley said that might “help speed up the time when it comes to being able to designing these schools, but also ultimately, I think, save the taxpayer money.”
NDP think the bill won’t achieve its objectives
The Opposition New Democrats made it known that they are not convinced the legislation would do much to speed up construction of schools in the province.
“Well, if you ask those who know, they say no, it won't,” said NDP Education critic Matt Love.
He pointed out that in committee “we learned that the Minister claimed that widespread consultation has taken place. We provided written evidence to the contrary. From Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, from President (Randy) Goulden, that says that engagement has been lacking, that there's been no transparency in this process.”
He said that raised “serious questions about this bill and what it will do, especially in terms of increasing costs for municipalities and eventually increasing costs for home buyers.”
Love also pointed to home builder associations in Saskatoon and Regina who said this bill “will increase costs by roughly $8,000 for every new home built.”
“This is a massive cost being passed down to families during an affordability crisis.”
Love also pointed to the letter from both school divisions in Regina, in “which they say that this bill will do nothing on its own to build schools faster.”
Love said that “given all of that information from the stakeholders that the Minister should have been listening to before presenting the bill, should have had their input included in a bill named building schools faster — he didn't do any of that work. We did that work. We brought their voices forward. And I can't in good conscience vote for a bill that so poorly delivers on what it's meant to deliver on.”
