AS FIRE WARNINGS ISSUED, CARLA BECK’S TEAM MAKES LAST-DITCH PLEA FOR PASSAGE OF WILDFIRE STRATEGY LAW

Scott Moe & The Sask. Party Spent Spring Sitting Ignoring Fire Preparations, Affordability Crisis In North
SASKATOON — Carla Beck’s team is calling out Scott Moe and the Sask. Party for failing to include local voices in wildfire preparations this year as extreme danger warnings emerge and the fallout from last year’s unprecedented disaster is still visible in many Northern communities.

The Spring Sitting is set to rise on Thursday — and, still, the Sask. Party has refused to pass Bill 609, The Saskatchewan Wildfire Strategy Act, which was introduced 162 days ago. The critical legislation would require the Ministry of Public Safety to create and regularly update a provincial wildfire management strategy, maintain ongoing consultation with experts and Indigenous and community partners, and provide clear, transparent public reporting.

“Scott Moe and the Sask. Party are really going to put anxious wildfire victims through another fire season without their voices being heard — that’s shameful and a complete failure of leadership given what happened last year,” Beck said.
Jordan McPhail, Northern Affairs Shadow Minister, said: “So much was lost last year and, still, there hasn’t been a shred of accountability. Scott Moe refused a public inquiry, launched an review where he calls the shots and then has been actively hiding the results of that review until the Legislature rises.

“At every turn, these guys have broken trust with people whose homes burned. Those people — my constituents — were ignored over and over, gaslit when they raised concerns and had to beg for supports to get by while evacuated. They deserve so much better — Saskatchewan deserves a better government.”

Over two hundred homes were destroyed in Denare Beach when fire ripped through last summer and more homes and cabins were lost in East Trout Lake and Sucker River.

Recently, extreme fire danger warnings were issued for west-central Saskatchewan. Temperatures have been high in recent days all over the province and there have been warnings for months that the wildfire risk is high.

McPhail noted that Moe was also ignoring the cost-of-living crisis in the North — his own riding saw an outbreak of scurvy in 2024 because people couldn’t afford the sky-high price of food.

Beck’s team introduced a series of bills to cut food costs this year, including one to cut the Sask. Party’s $25-million tax on groceries, another to crackdown on artificial intelligence-driven price gouging and a third to remove barriers that discourage competitiveness among grocery stores. At times, everyday essential items like a four-litre jug of milk or a package of grapes have cost $18 or more in the North.

Saskatchewan people report the highest financial anxiety in all of Canada.

“People are being forced to choose between eating and keeping a roof over their head,” McPhail said. “They’re working so hard and still just scraping by. We see record food bank use, record homelessness and a Sask. Party government that downplays the harsh reality people face each and every day.

“There has been nothing this Spring Session to help my constituents protect their homes or keep their costs down.

“Instead, Moe is drowning us in $26-billion worth of debt to run his catastrophic coal plan. Everyday people will pay the price for his failures for generations. This government must be stopped — it’s time for change.”

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