LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Transportation Safety

Mar 31: March 31^st is the deadline for Saskatchewan communities to apply for Provincial Traffic Safety Fund Grants for projects focusing on speeding, impaired, aggressive, or distracted driving, occupant protection, intersection safety, vulnerable road users and/or medically-at-risk drivers. Saskatchewan awarded over $2 million in grants for 80 projects across 78 communities in the most recent round.

New Laws

Jan 12: The Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF) and Agtech Growth Fund (AGF) are investing $2.197 million in 9 industry-led projects designed to help early-stage tech companies reduce risk and accelerate commercialization of game-changing technologies in agriculture, mining, energy, manufacturing and processing, and healthcare.

Action Point: Find out how far you can go in disciplining workers for distracted and dangerous driving.

New Laws

Dec 9: Saskatchewan expanded its Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive program to the towns of Edam, Battleford, and Hudson Bay. Now open to 73 communities across the province, the RRRI provides up to $50,000 for a 3-year return-in-service to new, permanent full-time employees in 9 high-priority health occupations in rural and remote communities experiencing or at risk of service disruptions due to staffing challenges.

Workers’ Compensation

Feb 28: That’s the final day for Saskatchewan employers to file their Employer’s Payroll Statement (EPS) listing their actual payroll expenses in 2025 and estimated payroll expenses for 2026. Remember that under new rules that took effect last year, corporate directors are no longer automatically covered by workers’ compenstion and shouldn’t be listed in the company’s workers’ assessable payroll totals.

Workers’ Compensation

Jan 1: The Saskatchewan WCB officially approved the 2026 average employer premium rate of $1.22 per $100 of assessable payroll, a 6-cent decrease from 2025. Workers’ comp premiums will either decrease or stay the same for 96% of employers, with only 4% seeing a rate increase in 2026.

Action Point: Find out how much each province and territory is charging for workers’ compensation premiums in 2026.

CASES

Transportation Safety: Mandatory Highways Act Surcharge Isn’t Cruel and Unusual Punishment

On his way to delivering fertilizer to a farm near Regina, a semi-truck driver took a wrong turn and ended up on a backroad. The mishap proved to be more than just a detour when the police cited him for violating the road’s weight restrictions under the Highways and Transportation Act. The result was a $15,985 fine and $6,394 mandatory surcharge. While okay with the fine, the driver claimed that the mandatory surcharge under the Act was cruel and unusual punishment that violated his Charter rights. The Justice of the Peace agreed that the surcharge was unconstitutional. But the Saskatchewan appeals court said the decision was wrong and reversed it based on case law finding that Section 12 Charter protections against cruel and unusual punishment don’t apply to mandatory surcharges imposed in addition to fines for provincial, non-Criminal Code offences [R v Ouellette, 2025 SKKB 212 (CanLII), December 17, 2025].

Action Point: Although the case involved the Highways and Transportation Act, the principals would also apply to other laws providing for fines for non-criminal violations, including the OHS and environmental laws.

Material Handling: Advertising Company Fined $40,000 for Glass Panel Removal Injury

A worker removing glass panels from a shipping crate got pinned to the ground by the panels and suffered serious injury. The employer pled guilty to failing to provide the worker required safety information, instruction, training and supervision and received a $40,000 fine, the fifth highest OHS fine reported in Saskatchewan this year [Sleek Advertising Ltd., Govt. Press Release, December 19, 2025].