PAGE A10 • MOOSEJAWEXPRESS.COM • Wednesday, November 13, 2019
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MLA Report
Greg Lawrence
MLA Moose Jaw Wakamow The commute between Moose Jaw Greg Lawrence and Regina is a bit quicker than beMLA, fore, now that the Regina Bypass Moose Jaw is complete and officially open to Wakamow traffic. The newly-completed project includes: • 12 overpasses; • 40 kilometres of new four-lane highway; • 20 kilometres of resurfaced four-lane highway; • 55 kilometres of new service roads; and • Twinning of about five kilometres of Highway 6. Throughout construction, the Bypass project created thousands of jobs for Saskatchewan companies and contractors. It also had a nearly unblemished safety record during four years of construction. Crews worked nearly five million hours with just one lost-time incident. This truly was a project where safety was paramount and its resounding success is a testament to how big things can get done in Saskatchewan. Hundreds of patients waiting for surgery in Saskatchewan are going to get their procedure sooner thanks to $10 million in new funding to lower surgical wait times. Ap-
proximately 1,700 additional surgeries will be performed before the end of March 2020. To meet this target, the Saskatchewan Health Authority will increase surgical hours in hospitals and also increase contracted volumes with third-party facilities. While the majority of surgeries will occur in Regina and Saskatoon, where some of the longest wait times exist, they will be expanded to other centres, including Moose Jaw. Efforts to lower surgical wait times was a noteworthy investment in our government’s Throne Speech which kicked off the fall sitting of the legislature. Other measures the government will be taking during the upcoming legislative session include: • Creating a fund of up to $10 million to assist Estevan, Coronach and surrounding areas transition to new economic development opportunities for workers affected by the federally-mandated phase out of coal-fired electricity by 2030; • Introducing legislation for the regulation of vaping and vaping products; • Taking measures to improve the safety and well-being of First Nations children and reduce the number of children that need to come under the province’s care; • Introducing tougher penalties for cell phone usage while driving; • Continuing the constitutional challenge to the federal carbon tax in the Supreme Court; • Continuing to explore the potential for small modular reactors to produce emissions-free electricity using Saskatchewan uranium; • Implementing Clare’s Law, which allows police to dis-
close information that could help protect potential victims of interpersonal violence; • Introducing a new Fisheries Act to provide greater protection against invasive aquatic species; • Amending The Lobbyists Act to address recommendations made by the Registrar of Lobbyists in his recent annual reports; • Strengthening the enforcement of maintenance orders for child support payments; and • Amending The Saskatchewan Employment Act to increase parental leave by eight weeks to ensure that employees who are entitled to the new shared parental Employment Insurance benefit have job protection while using the new leave benefit and to extend employment leave to individuals who are running for election to a First Nations Band Council. Over the past 12 years, Saskatchewan has enjoyed a remarkable period of strong and sustained growth we hadn’t seen in a long time. As we prepare to enter the 2020s, our goal is to keep growing so all Saskatchewan people continue to benefit. This month we will release a new Growth Plan with specific targets and a roadmap of how we will achieve them. These targets include 1.4 million people living in Saskatchewan and 100,000 more people working in Saskatchewan by 2030. Our government will continue to plan for a growing province by keeping our economy strong, investing in important government services and ensuring everyone in Saskatchewan continues to enjoy the benefits of growth.
Law 30 students commandeer the courtroom with mock trial Larissa Kurz
It was a tense afternoon at the Court of Queen’s Bench, as a courtroom full of students listened intently to one of their own stand accused of two serious offences — fake offences, of course. Law 30 students from both Vanier Collegiate and Central Collegiate took part in the mock trial, taking the roles of the jury, defence council, Crown prosecution, and even then accused and called witnesses. The exercise played out exactly as a real trial would, with Justice Darren Chow presiding over the case and sheriff and registrar Warren Miller managing the courtroom process. Local lawyer Tim Hanson and Crown prosecutor Stephen Yusuff offered their expertise, guiding the students through the proceedings — although it was the students who crafted and handled the examination of witnesses, and delivered the closing remarks. It was also a jury of students who deliberated on the final verdict of the two charges on the table, with a secondary jury also deliberating just for the experience. Interestingly enough, the primary jury convicted the accused of only one of two charges, while the secondary jury acquitted the accused of both charges — a good lesson on the flexible nature of a trial by
Central and Vanier students following the jury’s verdict of not guilty, with teachers and volunteer courthouse staff who helped make the mock trial possible. jury. “They get to see all facets of it, right from the picking of the jury, to the questioning, right all the way to the end,” said Cal Carter, Central’s Law 30 teacher. “They’ve seen that it’s not the same as what they see on TV and in the movies.” For the most part, Central students usually handle the mock trial themselves. This year, however, Carter reached out to the Vanier Law 30 class to create a twist. Central students were tasked with the Crown prosecution, while Vanier students took the role of the defence. Both juries were made up of students from both schools.
“Vanier does Law 30 in the first semester as well, so we were able to do this [together],” said Carter. “Anytime you can go up against another class or another school or anything like that, it just kind of adds to the drama, if you will.” Carter organizes the mock trial for his class each year, to give the students a realistic courtroom experience. The purpose is to put into action the concepts the class is learning about in the classroom in a more visceral way. For some, Carter said, it’s even a moment that sparks an interest in law as a career. “I’ve had several students in the past that have now gone on to law, because of this
particular exercise,” said Carter. The chance to try a case in the Court of Queen’s Bench is a one-of-a-kind opportunity, and Carter feels that the experience only enhances his students’ understanding. “The students can now put some of the theory into practice and they can kind of see that, and that really helps them in their learning,” said Carter. “And I think anytime they can do that it’s really effective and it really stays with them.” The experience gave insight into the process of the Canadian justice system, said Carter, hopefully in a way that piques an interest in his students.
Prior to the trial beginning, lawyer Tim Hanson speaks with the assembled Vanier students taking the role of the defence.