Premier Brad Wall says his party is brimming with ideas on how to move the province forward.
Wall spoke yesterday on the closing day of the Saskatchewan Party’s annual caucus retreat near Waskesiu.
Wall says one area he would like to focus on is creating more partnerships with individual tribal councils and First Nations:
“On these kinds of partnerships, we want to work with First Nations and tribal councils. We want results, just like they do. We can have sort of interminable agreements, and discussions and MOUs — yeah, I guess we could do that. We would rather focus on results, and we get those, I think, more, frankly, from direct partnering with tribal councils and First Nations.”
Wall points to the First Nations Power Authority as one example of that.
When asked if that meant he would be focusing more on partnerships with tribal councils and First Nations instead of the FSIN, the premier replied, “Yes”.
Meantime, Wall isn’t tipping his hand when it comes to the next gaming deal between the province and the FSIN.
First Nations held a special assembly in April to discuss the issue.
For years, they’ve been vocal that gaming revenue taken in by the province would be better spent helping residents at the grassroots level.
Wall says talks are ongoing:
“Their arrangement, in terms of licensing of gaming, has been pretty long-standing — and there’s been benefits then, as a result, on both sides. But, beyond that, I think I would leave our negotiations to the table.”
Under the terms of the current agreement, 50% of SIGA’s profits go to First Nations through the First Nations trust.
Another 25% goes to the Community Development Corporation, while the remainder goes to the province’s general revenue fund.