“After 17 years of the same old Sask. Party boys club, people are ready for change,” said Opposition Leader Carla Beck. “We have so much potential when we work together. This can be Saskatchewan’s century. People rightly expect that their government is laser focused on getting the basics right, not on the concerns of political insiders and big-money donors.”
Last night, Speaker of the House Randy Weeks tore up his Sask. Party membership. The break with his party comes after Deputy Premier Donna Harpauer tried to strongarm him into blocking Opposition questions about government scandal and waste, including:
- Minister Cockrill’s side job selling windows to government agencies without an exemption from the Conflict of Interest Commissioner
- Minister Duncan skipping out on a work conference to tour Paris in a $3,500 Mercedes limo
- Scott Moe rewarding “true friends” and insiders with public board appointments
- Minister Makowsky’s Social Services Ministry paying inflated rates to MLA Grewal’s motels
- Exclusive contracts to a Sask. Party donor to perform surgeries in Calgary
- Minister Reiter spending $12,000 on catered meals and drinks over 3 days in Toronto
Nearly half of Sask. Party’s MLA who won seats in the 2020 election have or are planning to abandon ship next provincial election.
Beck and her team of Saskatchewan NDP MLAs are united and focused on real solutions to the failures of the Moe government. Every single day of the session, the Opposition called on Premier Scott Moe to cut his 15 cent/litre gas tax. Moe is the only Prairie premier not to cut the gas tax, and his party unanimously voted against it, after delivering a budget without a dime of new affordability measures.
Services like emergency rooms and operating theatres have closed at 53 different hospitals, two hundred thousand people in Saskatchewan do not have access to a family doctor, and Saskatchewan has the longest wait times for knee and hip surgeries in Canada. The Opposition is listening to healthcare workers and is ready to change the culture driving them out of our province, including by striking a healthcare task force, introducing a grow-your-own training strategy, and reforming the dated Ambulance Act. Nurses across the province have denounced the Sask. Party’s expanding use of private, out-of-province travel nurses costing taxpayers $70 million this year alone.
Beck also committed to putting Saskatchewan workers and companies first when it comes to public infrastructure projects and contracts. The announcement of her Hire Saskatchewan plan came after news broke that Premier Scott Moe “sandbagged” a local Saskatoon business by giving their tire recycling contract to a Newport Beach, California company. The number of small businesses operating in Saskatchewan decreased by 91 last year.
“This election will come down to one thing: have things improved under Scott Moe? Across the board, the answer is no,” said Beck. “People are living paycheque to paycheque while Scott Moe and his friends profit from successes built on the backs of Saskatchewan people. Our healthcare system is in crisis. Our kids are being forced to share desks and textbooks.”
“This fall, Saskatchewan people will have a choice – they’ll have the opportunity to vote for real change. We plan to work every day to earn their trust and show that we will deliver that change that Saskatchewan families so desperately need.”
The Opposition tabled five bills to make the government more transparent and get big money out of politics.
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