Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck. (Submitted Photo/Sask. NDP)

By Susan McNeil

Year in Review

Taking seats in by-election top moment for Sask. NDP in 2023

Dec 30, 2023 | 12:00 PM

This past year was a busy one for Carla Beck as she completed her first full year as leader of the provincial NDP party and the Opposition.

Like most politicians, Beck spent a significant amount of time on the road talking to residents of Saskatchewan about their concerns but she points to this past summer’s by-election as a crowing achievement.

“A highlight definitely had to be the by-elections in late summer where we added two new MLAs making this the largest opposition in the province since 2011,” she said.

Despite sideline political issues such as the Saskatchewan Party recalling the legislature early to ban students under 16 from using their name of choice or gender of choice without parental consent, Beck said the NDP were told affordability was the top concern for most residents.

“It doesn’t really matter if we’re in a larger centre or smaller centre, in the north or the south, it’s affordability,” Beck said.

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They have heard that people are having a very hard time paying their bills and Saskatchewan has five times the national average of people with mortgages in arrears when compared to the rest of Canada.

Numbers of people using the food bank or needing hampers is also at a 40 year high.

The next top concern is health care, Beck said. That can be for seniors, youth, mental health, emergency care or staffing levels.

Since 2019, there have been 53 hospitals and health care centres that have had service disruptions, totalling over 900 days.

In southern Saskatchewan, some women have travelled to Alberta for mammograms and wait times for surgeries have increased.

An issue that remains unresolved is contract negotiations between teachers and the province. The union representing the teachers has begun to discuss job action.

Beck said the province needs to get back to the bargaining table.

Along with wages, class size and complexity are bargaining points.

That has been a trend over the last decade, Beck said.

“This is a deal that needs to be found at the table. The government needs to show some willingness to be at that table and to at least listen and try to address the issues the teachers are bringing forward,” she said.

As a hopeful future Premier, Beck also said that the current government has been in power too long and there needs to be change.

“This is a government that has been in power for 16 years and appears to be tired and out of touch and not listening to the concerns they hear in their community.”

The next general provincial election has been scheduled for Oct. 28, 2024.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com