SaskatchewanThe Saskatchewan NDP has introduced a long-promised bill that, if passed, would introduce rent control to the province, but the provincial government has maintained it will not vote for rent control.Opposition wants to tie maximum increase to consumer price indexAlexander Quon · CBC News · Posted: Nov 24, 2025 6:28 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck confirmed Monday that the NDP was introducing a rent control private members bill. The Opposition leader is surrounded by seniors, as well as NDP housing critic April CheifCalf and Peter Gilmer of the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry. (Alexander Quon/CBC News)The Saskatchewan NDP has introduced a long-promised bill that, if passed, would introduce rent control to the province, but the provincial government has maintained it will not vote for rent control.The NDP’s proposal would tie the maximum rent increase allowed to the consumer price index, or CPI, a tool commonly used to measure inflation.If passed, the private-members bill would make Saskatchewan the sixth province to have some form of rent control legislation.”Not only has the average rent in Saskatchewan risen for 40 consecutive months, it’s increased 24 per cent in just the last two years,” said NDP Leader Carla Beck, citing data from Rentals.ca.The official Opposition spent much of the summer campaigning throughout the province on the issue of rent control.The NDP produced its own website to solicit feedback and held multiple news conferences highlighting the punishing cost of high rent on seniors, low-income residents and students.NDP housing critic April ChiefCalf renewed the call Monday, pointing to large corporate landlords as the reason behind dramatic rent increases.”We heard from countless seniors and young people concerned about 20, sometimes 30 per cent rent increases from big corporate landlords, many of which are headquartered in Alberta and Ontario,” ChiefCalf said.”That has to end.”ChiefCalf has led the charge on the NDP’s efforts and introduced the private-members bill on Monday.Finance Minister Jim Reiter has repeatedly said that rent-control is not how the provincial government wants to address concerns around housing affordability.Reiter admitted Monday that he had not yet had the opportunity to read the full text of the legislation, but repeated his opposition to the proposal.”It dries up investment, so we’re not likely to support rent control,” he said.LISTEN | Does Saskatchewan need rent control?:Blue Sky47:12Does Saskatchewan need rent control?The NDP is pushing for rent control in Saskatchewan. The Provincial government says it will lead to rental shortages. Today we had a couple of housing advocates weigh in.Reiter said the province will make housing affordable by leveraging investment from private companies toward the construction of more units.The government controls a majority in the legislature, meaning it can easily vote down any NDP private-members bill.Beck said that even if the NDP’s efforts fail, they were not in vain.”The point is to raise the voices of the 300,000 renters that we have in this province and the concerns that they have,” Beck said.”I know that the Sask. Party’s been very dismissive of those concerns, and we are not.”ABOUT THE AUTHORAlexander Quon is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC Saskatchewan. He has been a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan since 2021 and is happy to be working in his hometown of Regina after half a decade in Atlantic Canada. He has previously worked with the CBC News investigative unit in Nova Scotia and Global News in Halifax. Alexander specializes in freedom of information requests and data reporting. He can be reached at: alexander.quon@cbc.ca. FacebookTwitter
Sask. NDP introduces rent control legislation, but government says it won’t happen
