By Canadian Press

Provincial election

Saskatchewan NDP releases full election platform

Oct 11, 2024 | 8:57 AM

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck will get Saskatchewan out of last place on healthcare and education, while growing the economy and making communities safer.

Beck released her election campaign platform that includes commitments to staff hospitals and cut emergency room wait times.

“In Saskatchewan, we take care of each other, and we aren’t afraid to do the hard work to get big things done,” Beck said in a news release. “After all, we are the province that brought public health care to the rest of Canada.

“It’s time to get Saskatchewan out of last place. This election, we can do that. We can change the government.”

The platform also includes commitments to cut the gas tax on Day 1 and remove the PST on groceries and children’s clothing before Christmas.

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The platform also includes a plan to get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime by hiring frontline 200 officers, funding social supports and opening more affordable housing units. There’s also a commitment to invest an additional $2 billion in education over their first term if elected. That includes hiring hundreds of new teachers and educational assistants and building new schools in places like Buffalo Narrows and Sandy Bay.

“We’ll make sure that every child in this province can reach their full potential, with quality education, smaller classrooms and a safe community to grow up in,” Beck said.

Beck’s platform also laid out her Hire Saskatchewan economic plan to prioritize local businesses and workers, a program to revitalize downtown Main Streets and freeze the small business tax. She would also ‘crack down’ on illegal foreign farmland ownership.

Her platform release said, “We recognize that connectivity is a critical economic driver, especially for businesses and workers in rural Saskatchewan, so we’ll develop a Broadband Infrastructure Strategy that improves internet coverage and speed throughout the province.”

As for the environment, Beck said her party will better prevent wildfires and protect communities through the development of a wildfire strategy in collaboration with Northern Partners. There are also plans to develop a wetlands conservation policy.

The Saskatchewan NDP fiscal plan has a cumulative cost of $3.65 billion in spending over the next four years. They said the spending is within the anticipated growth in revenues and will result in a surplus budget in the fourth year of their term, if elected.

Sask Party leader Scott Moe has yet to provide costing of his platform, but the Sask Party did issue a statement Friday in reaction to Beck’s financial plans suggesting the Sask NDP tried to correct errors and omissions in their first costing document, but in doing so, ‘got revenue and expenses mixed up.’

“The NDP wants to be the government and they release a financial document with revenue and expenses reversed,” said Saskatchewan Party Campaign Co-Chair Donna Harpauer. “Seems like a pretty basic test of competence, and they failed.”

The NDP’s do-over costing document released today forecasts revenue of $23,091.3M and expenses of $23,148.4M in 2028-29, which the NDP says will result in a $57.1M surplus.

“I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain this to the NDP, but when expenses exceed revenue, that’s a deficit,” Harpauer said. “If the NDP don’t understand that, they should never be in charge of the province’s finances.”

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panews@pattisonmedia.com