CONTENTS
Standing
Committee on Crown and Central Agencies
Bill No. 29 — The Tailgating
Act/Loi sur les
rassemblements d’avant-match
THIRTIETH
LEGISLATURE
of
the
Legislative Assembly of
Saskatchewan
STANDING
COMMITTEE ON
Hansard
Verbatim Report
No.
11 — Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Procedural
Clerk: —
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Standing Committee on Crown and
Central Agencies. My name is Jessica Start and I’m the committee Clerk.
The committee has received a
letter from MLA [Member of the Legislative Assembly] Steele resigning as Chair.
Since he has resigned as Chair, it is my duty as committee Clerk to preside
over the election of a new Chair. I’d like to remind members of the process. I
will first ask for nominations. Once there are no further nominations, I will
then ask a member to move a motion to have the committee member preside as
Chair.
I will now call for
nominations for that position of Chair. I recognize MLA Thorsteinson.
James
Thorsteinson: —
I nominate MLA Young for the position of Chair.
Procedural
Clerk: —
Okay. MLA Thorsteinson has nominated Colleen Young to the position of Chair.
Are there any further nominations? All right. Seeing none, I would now invite a
member to move that motion. And I recognize MLA Thorsteinson.
James
Thorsteinson: —
I move:
That
Colleen Young be elected to preside as the Chair of the Standing Committee on
Crown and Central Agencies.
Procedural
Clerk: —
Okay. It has been moved by MLA Thorsteinson:
That
Colleen Young be elected to preside as Chair of the Standing Committee on Crown
and Central Agencies.
All in favour of the motion?
Some
Hon. Members: — Agreed.
Procedural Clerk: — All those opposed?
I
declare the motion carried and invite Colleen Young to take the Chair.
Chair
C. Young: —
All right. Thank you, committee members. I’ll introduce everyone before we
proceed to the business of today. I’m Colleen Young and I will be chairing
today’s meeting. Joining us are members Kevin Kasun, Doug Steele, James
Thorsteinson, Brent Blakley, Erika Ritchie, and Don McBean.
Before we begin today’s
business, I would like to table the list of regulations and bylaws filed with
the Legislative Assembly between January 1st, 2025 and December 31st, 2025,
which have been committed to the committee for review pursuant to rule 147(1).
Those documents are CCA 13‑30, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2025
bylaws filed; CCA 14‑30, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel: 2025
regulations filed.
The Law Clerk and
Parliamentary Counsel will assist the committee in its review by submitting a
subsequent report at a later date identifying any regulations that are not in
order with the provisions of rule 147(2). However the committee may also decide
to review any of these regulations or bylaws for policy implications.
I will be tabling one
additional document today: CCA 15‑30, Crown Investments Corporation of
Saskatchewan: Report of public losses, October 1st, 2025 to December 31st,
2025.
Finally I would like to
advise the committee that pursuant to rule 145(3), the following Provincial
Auditor’s chapters have been committed to the committee as well: 2025 report
volume 2, chapter 4, Lotteries and Gaming Saskatchewan Corporation — Saskatchewan
Indian Gaming Authority Inc.; 2025 report volume 2, chapter 22, Saskatchewan
Gaming Corporation — Preventing Cyberattacks; 2025 report volume 2, chapter 23,
Saskatchewan Government Insurance — Licensing Commercial Drivers; and 2025
report volume 2, chapter 30, Standing Committee on Crown and Central Agencies.
Bill No. 29
— The Tailgating Act/Loi
sur les rassemblements d’avant-match
Clause 1
Chair
C. Young: — Okay. We will now begin
consideration of Bill 29, The Tailgating
Act, a bilingual bill, beginning with consideration of clause 1, short
title.
Minister
Kaeding is here with his officials. I would ask that officials please introduce
themselves before they speak the first time. And then please don’t touch the
microphones, anyone. The Hansard operator will turn them on whenever you
want to speak.
So,
Minister, you can begin by introducing the officials that have joined you here
today and make any of your opening remarks.
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Thank you, Madam Chair. The officials joining me here
today are Greg Tuer, our SLGA [Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority]
president and CEO [chief executive officer]; Lynnette Skaalrud, our
vice-president of regulatory services; and Ashley Mantei, our acting director
of policy and legislation; and of course Michelle Lang, our chief of staff with
Trade and Export.
As a
regulator of liquor, gaming, and cannabis as well as wholesale distributor of
liquor in the province, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, or SLGA,
is very committed to a safe, responsible, and modern regulatory framework for
liquor in the province that supports public safety, consumer choice, and
economic opportunity.
Bill 29,
The Tailgating Act proposes amendments to The Alcohol and Gaming
Regulation Act, 1997 that will provide a broad framework for implementing permitted
tailgating and direct-to-consumer alcohol sales along with various other
housekeeping amendments.
For tailgating, the Riders
have expressed interest in introducing tailgating at Mosaic Stadium to enhance
game day experience and to hopefully increase attendance. Currently a permit is
required for any event where alcohol is to be consumed in a public place.
Amendments to the Act will remove language that restricts permittees from
having alcohol on the permitted premises that were not purchased by the
permittee through the provincial distribution system.
Regulatory amendments will
also be required to establish a new special occasion permit that will allow
individuals to bring alcohol for personal consumption during tailgating events.
These will be unique liquor-permitted events in Saskatchewan, since participants
will be bringing their own alcohol rather than the permit holder supplying and
serving alcohol.
SLGA continues to engage with
the Riders and other stakeholders such as the city of Regina, SGI [Saskatchewan
Government Insurance], Regina police, Regina fire, REAL [Regina Exhibition
Association Ltd.], and the Ministry of Health to ensure that tailgating is
implemented safely and successfully.
Regarding direct-to-consumer
or DTC alcohol sales, on June 30th of 2025, Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of
understanding with nine other Canadian jurisdictions to enable
direct-to-consumer alcohol sales. The MOU [memorandum of understanding]
includes a commitment to implement operating agreements by May 2026. And
Saskatchewan is committed to meeting this deadline and is leading efforts,
along with Ontario, to implement the MOU.
Amendments to the Act will
remove prescriptive details related to interprovincial agreements to facilitate
DTC sales of alcohol among provinces and territories. Once DTC is implemented,
individual consumers who are of age will be able to order alcohol from
producers in another province. At the same time, DTC will open markets for
Saskatchewan alcohol producers, allowing them to interact directly with
consumers in other provinces. DTC will not allow permittees or businesses to
purchase alcohol from outside Saskatchewan for resale.
Work on the interprovincial
implementation committee continues and will influence Saskatchewan’s approach
to DTC sales in Saskatchewan. The size of the market, fiscal responsibility,
and administrative responsibilities for consumers, business, and government are
being considered as part of that assessment.
For other amendments, in
addition to the foregoing, a few housekeeping amendments have been included in
the bill to clarify: (1) that permittees prescribed in regulations may have
wine on premises that have been brought by a customer; (2) that permittees who
allow customers to bring their own wine to the premises have a responsibility
to prevent minors from possessing or consuming that wine; and (3) that special
occasion permittees are responsible to remove and prevent intoxicated
individuals to possess or consume beverage alcohol or remain at the permitted
event.
I’m happy to answer any
questions that the committee may have.
Chair
C. Young: — Thank you, Minister
Kaeding. And I’ll now open the floor to questions from committee members.
Brent
Blakley: —
Yeah, first of all I would like . . . Oh, I’m sorry.
Chair
C. Young: — I recognize MLA Blakley.
It’s okay.
Brent
Blakley: —
Thank you, Madam Chair. I first want to thank Minister Kaeding and his staff
for giving us that overview and for doing the work on this bill. And yeah, it
requires a lot of work to get that done and to go through everything with a
fine-tooth comb, so to speak.
I was just wondering if you
could give us, Minister, just an overview of the consultation process that was
done in preparation of this bill and kind of the parties that were consulted
going forward with this bill.
Lynnette Skaalrud:
— Lynnette Skaalrud. We’ve had ongoing discussions with the Riders, obviously.
We’ve had some joint meetings with all the parties Minister Kaeding had mentioned — the Riders,
SLGA, REAL, city of Regina, police, fire, Ministry of Health — bringing
everybody together into one room to see where the connections and synergies lie
and make sure that the appropriate connections were being made.
We’ve
also had continuing discussions with the city, Riders — you know, different
parties. SGI has also been at the table because we have an interest in making
sure that people aren’t drinking and driving after any event, including this
one.
So
we have been having ongoing discussions with all of those parties. And once the
connections were made at those larger group meetings, we know that there has
been discussions happening between the Riders and the other parties directly as
well.
Brent
Blakley: —
Was REAL District also in those consultations?
Lynnette Skaalrud:
— Yes.
Brent Blakley: — Okay, thank you. Just
another question on that: how does this proposed legislation compare . . .
You said you had some consultation with others. How does that compare to law,
for example, in other jurisdictions?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So this is somewhat unique,
I guess, in what we’re allowing and what we’re permitting. In other
jurisdictions, Ontario would probably be the closest one that, you know, we
would be looking at but still utilizes special occasion permits. And then the
other centres that we would be familiar with — would be Calgary, Edmonton,
Winnipeg — have special permits, but again the requirement that you have to buy
the alcohol directly from the permit holder or the organization that’s hosting
the event. So this is somewhat unique in its approach versus other
jurisdictions around the country.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. And who is the
permittee going to be? Is it REAL District? Is it the Saskatchewan Roughriders?
Is it the Government of Saskatchewan? Who is the permittee in this case?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So the permit itself is
issued to the Riders, and so they’ll be working with REAL because it’s on REAL
ground. It’s on REAL property. But the permit itself is issued to the Riders,
just very much like Party in the Park and some of the other activities that the
Riders host that have permits out for those as well. They will hold the permit
for this, and then it’s on REAL’s property, so I’m assuming they have their own
arrangements that they’ve worked out between them.
Brent Blakley: — Okay, but issuing the
permits themselves for the tailgaters, is that the REAL District or is that the
Saskatchewan Roughriders?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So ultimately the Riders are
managing, you know, how many spots are going to be available, you know, who is
going to access those spots. But they’re not issuing permits as probably you
and I are thinking of permits here. The Riders hold the permit overall, and
then they’re issuing opportunities for what we understand is their season’s
ticket holders is what the launch went out to. Yeah.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. Thank you. And you had
mentioned the number of licences or, sorry, I’m going to call them permits
again.
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Opportunities.
Brent Blakley: — Opportunities. Thank you. Do
you know the number of opportunities that are going to be offered? Or is that
up to the Saskatchewan Roughriders to determine that?
[16:15]
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So it’s been left up to the
Riders to determine what they’re going to be able to manage that first year. So
I believe we understood they could have up to 200 spots available, but it’s
going to be up to them to determine what they’re going to be able to manage in
that first year.
Brent Blakley: — And then I imagine going
forward they’ll evaluate it after the first year?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct.
Brent Blakley: — And see what provision there
might be for the following year?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct. Yes.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. Thank you. And the
price that was set, or the price that was reported, was $500 for the
opportunity per season or $50 per game. Was that set by the ministry or was
that again set by the Saskatchewan Roughriders?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Totally under the management
of the Riders. Yeah.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. So that’s their
decisions.
Hon. Warren Kaeding: —
Yeah.
Brent Blakley: — Things like that. The bill
that was developed, you said it came from a request from the Saskatchewan
Roughriders. Were there any other interested parties, or was that solely at a
request from the Roughriders?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So right now, just going to
be the Riders. You know, they’re certainly a big enough entity and have a very
responsible management team that believe that they have the abilities to be
able to manage this and make sure that it works successfully. I believe that we
could easily use this as a template, you know, once we’ve been able to work
some of the logistics — you know, concerns or issues that may show up — out,
and then perhaps offer it to other entities as well.
I
think pretty well anyone that’s offering a significant crowd, you know, or has
a fair attendance to a sporting event would certainly be interested if there
was an opportunity provided them. But right now, it’s just been the Riders that
have been the ones that have expressed the interest in handling this.
Brent Blakley: — Okay, so there was no other
interested parties that came forward besides the Riders?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct.
Brent Blakley: — In requesting this type of
bill for . . .
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. Thank you. Sorry, just
clarifying that.
What
kind of feedback has the ministry or the government received from other
stakeholders that might have an interest in this? For example, entities that
might be opposed to such a bill. What’s the kind of the feedback that you guys
have engaged with?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So we’ve had actually
incredible support for the initiation of this, so we haven’t had any letters or
anything come in, any correspondence or communication that’s come in saying
they were opposed to this. I would say what we’ve probably heard from stakeholders
is just concerns about responsible consumption and good behaviour. And I would
say, well we’ve got . . . you know, certainly by the group of
individuals and stakeholders that we’ve engaged with, have actually been very
proactive in wanting to make sure that this is the best possible experience and
a great outcome that everyone is going to be very, very happy with.
So
I think, you know, everyone has been thinking of the issues and concerns that
they want to . . . you know, that they’re anticipating could happen,
but we have not actually had any formal concerns or issues raised to us. So I’d
say we’re in a very, very good position where everybody wants to see this
succeed, and they’re going to do whatever possible they can to make sure that
happens.
Brent Blakley: — Okay, thank you. Thanks very
much. Just another question. What, if any, are the government costs or the
revenues anticipated through the government as a result of the proposed bill,
if any?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So really there is minimal
revenue, minimal expense. The entity that’s probably going to have the biggest
expense in this would be the Riders as the permit holder. But, yeah, for
revenue or expense side, it’s close to negligible. Yeah.
Brent Blakley: — That’s what I was asking. So
as far as the government side is concerned, so most of the cost and the
revenues will be on the Saskatchewan Roughriders?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct.
Brent Blakley: — Okay. I’m looking at cost or
responsibility of enforcement of the tailgating and making sure that that’s
done properly and everybody’s paying attention to the regulations while they’re
tailgating. Whose responsibility will that be?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — So the Riders as the permit
holder will ultimately be that entity that’s responsible. So they’re going to
certainly have fire come around. They will have . . . probably the
city, I’m assuming, would be there. We, certainly as SLGA, will be there to
make sure that, you know, any regulations that need to be adhered to are being
adhered to. But ultimately the Riders as the permit holder will have that
overall responsibility of enforcement there.
Brent Blakley: — Okay, thanks very much.
Minister Kaeding, when do you plan or when do you anticipate this bill being
brought into full force and actionable?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — I should know this better as
a Rider fan when season opener is, but June 13th is our target date. That’s the
date that we certainly want to have everything in place, in force. That’s the
go-forward date. But certainly don’t want to pre-empt the will of the
legislature, but the majority of the rules — everything that’s going to be
established — is going to be set up in the regulations, which ultimately will
be a separate piece from here. But I think you will find I think the majority of
them in place here now, and then there’s some to be added, yes, at a little
further here. But ready to go for game day.
Brent Blakley: — For game day. Great, thanks
very much. I know in your opening you highlighted a number of regulatory
changes that might be required to implement this, and I think our shadow
minister for SLGA, MLA McBean, has a question regarding that.
Chair C. Young: — I’ll recognize MLA
McBean.
Don McBean: — I think it was overshadowed
by, you know, the title “tailgating Act.” We only talk about this in terms of
the Roughriders. And now I’m reminded, the wine permit — and you outlined it
there, people being able to bring their own wine — can you expand on that? I
know what I understood at the time at the introduction of the bill, and
probably didn’t follow through with clarification on that. Can you describe
that for us please?
Lynnette
Skaalrud:
— So people can already bring wine to restaurants. What the amendment is doing
is it’s actually a very technical clarification in that when we introduced the
legislation to allow people to bring wine to restaurants, we missed a section
that precluded them from having alcohol in a permitted premise that wasn’t
purchased from the permittee.
So
we’re just cleaning that up to make it very clear that if you are bringing your
wine into a restaurant pursuant to the Act, you’re also at the same time not
contravening the Act. So just cleaning up a bit of a cycle of interpretation.
Don McBean: — Well that makes perfect
sense, and it educates me that we were allowed in Saskatchewan to bring wine
into restaurants. I don’t know if everybody knew that except me. I lived in
Quebec for a long time and it was very common that we all did that. And I was
not aware, so now I’m just curious. Since when is that permitted?
Lynnette
Skaalrud:
— About 2012. It was introduced in about 2012. There was a lot of changes
introduced at that time though, so it might not have risen to the top of what
we were doing.
Don McBean: — Or I just don’t go out to
restaurants often enough. If I may, I was curious in your introduction,
Minister Kaeding, about this MOU of nine provinces. And I don’t recall that
being part of discussion or part of this Act, but obviously it was important enough
for you to mention in your preamble or in your introduction. Could you
elaborate a bit on that?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Certainly. As my role of
interprovincial trade minister, these are some of the items that have actually
come to the forefront by first ministers just wanting to start loosening,
reducing, or eliminating some of the interprovincial trade barriers.
And
the one that certainly came to the forefront was direct-to-consumer alcohol
sales, where a producer of a spirit or a wine would like to sell that good
across the border to a customer directly without having to work it through a
wholesale distribution centre. And so every jurisdiction had a multitude of
rules and regulations that pretty well prevented, prohibited, or certainly made
it extremely difficult to go down that path.
So
as first ministers, or as interprovincial trade ministers have been meeting
over the last year, Saskatchewan and Ontario have taken the co-lead on trying
to get direct-to-consumer alcohol sales somewhat, I guess, notionalized across
the country.
And
I would say what we’re finding is each jurisdiction wants to maybe do it a
little differently. So you know, we did sign an overall MOU, with almost all
jurisdictions wanting to participate. Some are saying, look, we want to wait
and see how things turn out before we join. A couple have just said, you know
what, we’ve got some pretty serious alcohol abuse issues; we really want to get
that under control before we contemplate having, you know, direct sales come to
the home. So they wanted to not be part of this. But nine jurisdictions had
said, yes, absolutely, let’s try and reduce or eliminate these barriers to
allow this to happen.
Now
we’ve had some direct-to-consumer opportunities between BC [British Columbia]
and Saskatchewan, and have been for, oh yeah, since 2015. Again, one of those
things that isn’t known very well. It’s somewhat more of a one-way trade where
we could buy wine from BC outlets, but they weren’t necessarily reciprocating
the opportunities, say, for us to move spirits from, you know, a local
distillery into a consumer position there.
So
again, more of these things that we need to try and work through and work out
through the MOU that we did sign. Last summer?
[16:30]
A Member: — Yeah.
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Yeah, last summer. And now
have given ourselves really to the end of this month to try and get some of
these bilateral agreements or maybe trilateral agreements, or you know,
whatever. Finding willing partners, willing jurisdictions that want to go down
a path in certain ways.
And
what we’re finding is that each jurisdiction maybe wants to handle this a
little differently. And so you’re not going to have a very comprehensive,
all-in-one agreement. But what you’re going to find is a number of unique
agreements to try and facilitate this to happen in a more open way.
Don McBean: — Thank you, although you’re
just making more and more questions in my head. This is only DTC, and so the
idea of a brewery in Saskatchewan having access to the warehouse distribution
in another province, that’s not the same?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct, because this is
direct-to-consumer. So anybody that’s buying for resale would not have access
to this program. This would be you going to the Okanagan, finding a really nice
vintage of wine, and saying to the vintner there that, “we’d really like you to
ship us a, you know, a bottle, two, a case of wine to my house.”
A Member: — Yeah?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Yeah.
A Member: — Okay.
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — That the Amazon delivery guy
is going to drop on your doorstep and . . . [inaudible interjection] . . .
Not Amazon. Not Amazon. Sorry. See? Now I’ve got to stop talking and we’ll let
the experts talk about that. Absolutely. Can we strike that from the record?
Yes, yeah.
Don McBean: — And again, just my
curiosity. You said you’re trying to make this happen by the end of the month.
Is there something happening at year-end that makes it more of an imperative?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — End of May. Sorry, I’m
getting my Ms mixed up here. Yes, so . . .
Don McBean: — Okay, just because you want
to get it moving forward?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Correct, yes. First
Ministers have asked us to expedite this. And this is one of the priorities,
yeah.
Don McBean: — And then maybe my last one
and I’ll let it drop, but you say . . . When you started your
preamble and your introduction talking about the MOU, I wondered how this
aligned. Is it part of . . . Is it implicit or inherent in The
Tailgating Act that we’re meeting with? Just I’m very interested to know
about it.
Lynnette
Skaalrud:
— There’s an amendment to, I think it’s section 19 in the legislation that
removes a subsection that allows Saskatchewan to enter into agreements for
direct-to-consumer, but it’s very prescriptive on what needs to be in that
agreement. So in order for Saskatchewan to be able to enter into agreements
with multiple provinces, meet the needs for Saskatchewan and those provinces,
we’re just removing some of that prescriptiveness.
Don McBean: — Got you. Thank you. You’ve
done my homework for me that I might have done before I got here. Thank you.
Brent Blakley: — I’m good.
Chair C. Young: — Further questions from
committee members? Seeing no further questions, we can move to voting off the
clauses. All right. Clause 1, short title, is that agreed?
Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.
Chair C. Young: — Carried.
[Clause
1 agreed to.]
[Clauses
2 to 9 inclusive agreed to.]
Chair C. Young: — His Majesty, by and with
the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, enacts as
follows: The Tailgating Act, a bilingual bill.
I would ask a member to move that we report Bill No. 29,
The Tailgating Act, a bilingual bill, without amendment. So moved so by MLA Kasun. MLA so moves.
Is that agreed?
Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.
Chair C. Young: — Carried. Thank you,
Minister, and your officials for attending today. Do you have any closing
remarks you’d like to make?
Hon. Warren Kaeding: — Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks,
Hansard, for the work we’ve put into committee today. And thank you,
committee members, and thank you for the very interesting questions.
As
you can tell, I’m surrounded by very smart and intellectual people that I
believe have a very good handle on our SLGA files here. And I should probably
be letting them speak more than the minister right now. So anyway, thank you
all committee members for their attention today.
Chair C. Young: — Member Blakley, would you like to make some
closing remarks?
Brent Blakley: — Yeah. I would just add to
that, thank you to the Chair for overseeing this, and to my colleagues for
making the time of course to be here. And again thanks to the minister and your
staff and your officials for doing the legwork on this, and something that I
think everybody will certainly enjoy. Yeah. Thank you again.
Chair C. Young: — That concludes our
business for today. And I would ask a member to move a motion of adjournment.
Kevin Kasun: — I will.
Chair C. Young: — MLA Kasun has moved. All
agreed?
Some Hon. Members: — Agreed.
Chair C. Young: — Carried. This committee
stands adjourned to the call of the Chair. Thank you, everyone.
[The
committee adjourned at 16:36.]
Published
under the authority of the Hon. Todd Goudy, Speaker
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