Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken is ready for the emergency debate to be held in the Legislature on the farm crisis, but also wants to address taxes and health care.

After the Throne Speech on Monday, Dec. 6, a one-day farm-crisis debate will follow on Tuesday, Dec. 7, with an emergency resolution expected to be passed that same day.

The debate will be unusual as farm leaders are expected to be allowed onto the floor of the Assembly to take part in the discussions on the crisis.

One day after the emergency debate, on Wednesday, Dec. 8, Agriculture Minister Dwain Lingenfelter will take the resolution to a meeting of federal and provincial ag ministers in Toronto.

During the recall announcement, Premier Roy Romanow said he will continue to press Prime Minister Jean Chretien for a meeting of the first ministers, noting this meeting was also asked for by Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard, the current chairman of the first ministers conferences.

MLA Bakken says she is glad the debate will be held on the farm crisis, noting her party has been pushing for the dialogue the last election.

"We need the money for farmers before Christmas and time is running out. Now it's the 11th hour and things are desperate for farmers, and we have no assurance from Ottawa that they will do anything. Quebec received their AIDA dollars to be distributed to their province, and we're asking why we don't have it. We're being treated differently," said Bakken.

The Sask. Party will also be calling on the NDP-Liberal coalition to pay the education taxes on farmland for this tax year, she said, adding, "That's falling on deaf ears as well. We're trying to come up with a solution to help farmers in the short term, and working on things that will help them in the long term."

Pre-empting the emergency debate was an announcement Monday that the province will ask for their remaining share of money in the AIDA program - between $110-$135 million - to be redistributed to Saskatchewan farmers as a top-up to the Net Income Stabilization Assistance (NISA) program. An agreement has to be signed with Ottawa to allow the province to make this move.

The NISA top-up will be based on eligible net sales for 1998 or the five-year average, whichever is higher.

Farmers who have already closed out their NISA accounts will be able to reopen them. It could mean an average of $2,000 in farmer's pockets before Christmas.

This plan - agreed upon by members of the coalition of politicians and farm groups that went to Ottawa requesting $1 billion in aid - doesn't replace the need for help from the feds, said Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Sinclair Harrison.

"We're certainly hoping for more than this. It's not enough to pay the big bills, but it will help with Christmas in some households," he said. "We will continue to put pressure on Ottawa."

Harrison will appear at the emergency debate of the legislature along with representatives from other farm groups. He says he'll tell the MLAs the same thing he told members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture during a trip to Ottawa last week.

"The situation hasn't improved even though the prime minister says there are different numbers out there. We're seeing tax arrears go up in the RMs which is always a sign of problems in rural communities.

"The World Trade Organization talks are starting but it's probably going to be five years before anything comes out of those talks. We shouldn't be looking to that for a solution for right now," he said.

Once the farm-crisis debate has been held, the Saskatchewan Party is hoping there will be debates on the recently released proposals to change the province's income-tax structure, as well as on health-care-related issues.

"We've reviewed the (income tax) report, and we will not endorse a broadening of the PST. People are already taxed to death in this province. Our question now is: Would the people of the province like to see deep cuts in income tax, or cuts to the PST, or a combination of both?" said Bakken.

The proposal from the Income Tax Review Committee would cut income taxes by 30 per cent, along with a one-point drop in the provincial sales tax, which would be broadened to include many other items that are currently not taxed provincially. The Sask. Party would rather see a 20-per-cent drop in income taxes along with a one-per-cent drop in the sales tax, but without broadening it.

Asked if the party wants to hold public forums on this issue, Bakken said, "I don't know if we need to have more public meetings. People want a reduction in taxes, that was evident by the way they voted."

The existing proposal does have its good points, said the MLA, such as taking 6,000 low-income people off the income tax rolls, and providing an exemption for stay-at-home moms.

Health care is another big issue, said Bakken, as nurses have still not seen any of the benefits agreed to in the recently concluded contract negotiations.

"Nurses tell me nothing has changed since they went on strike, and that has to be discussed," she said.