Regina – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe kicked off the 2020 general election saying his party would be running on its 13-year record of growth, and the key ballot box question would be who the voters trust to guide Saskatchewan through an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Oct. 26 election will be the first for Moe as leader of the Saskatchewan Party, a position he won in January 2018, taking over from former Premier Brad Wall.
Moe said outside the Saskatchewan Party’s Regina campaign headquarters they would be putting forward “A plan for a strong economic recovery. It’s a plan to make life more affordable for families, and it’s a plan for growth. And it’s a plan for strong financial fiscal management, and a balanced budget by the year 2024.”
He said the ballot box question will be “Who do you trust to lead Saskatchewan ‘s economic recovery?”
Continuing, Moe said, “I know this for sure. It isn’t the NDP.”
“The last time the NDP were in office they drove people and jobs and opportunities out of this province. They had the worst job creation record in Canada. They believed that Saskatchewan could and would never grow. It could only decline. That’s why they closed 52 hospitals. That’s why they closed 176 schools. And that’s why they closed 1200 long term care beds in the province. They didn’t believe in Saskatchewan, or its people. But in 2007 Saskatchewan changed course. Voters elected a government that did believe in our province. They believed in Saskatchewan people, and they believed in Saskatchewan people’s potential. Since then, Saskatchewan has had the second-best job creation rate in the country, our province grew by over 170,000 people.
“We’re building new hospitals, we are building new schools, and we are building new long term care facilities for our seniors and for our family members.”
He pointed out the press conference took place near a school in Regina’s Harbour Landing, of which neither the school nor the development had existed before the Saskatchewan Party came to power.
To that end, Moe spoke of running on the Saskatchewan Party’s record in government, highlighting its successes in growth over the last 13 years in power, versus what he called the NDP’s “dismal record of decline.”
“Today, this is a vibrant thriving neighborhood full of young families, full of new businesses, a brand new school that just opened in 2017 and already. We’re building another school in Harbour Landing. All because of growth.”
Pandemic
Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Moe said, “Today we facing a challenging economy as we emerge from this global pandemic. But already Saskatchewan is coming back strong. More people in our province continued to work throughout this pandemic, more than any other province in Canada. And now we have reopened almost all of our economy and thousands more jobs have returned.
“Saskatchewan people have shown that we can control the spread of this virus, and we can bring back jobs at the very same time,” Moe said. He criticized the NDP’s stance on reopening the economy, saying, “NDP didn’t share that same confidence in Saskatchewan or its people. They wanted to slow down or even stop our reopening plan. They didn’t believe that we can reopen and bring back jobs. Well they were wrong. We can do both. We can do both safely. And we have.”
Moe said the NDP had “no plan of recovery whatsoever.”
In what is shaping up to be a battle of accusations of future budgetary cuts, Moe raised the history of NDP cuts to government programing in the 1990s, brought on by high deficits from the Progressive Conservative administration of the 1980s. He conversely brought up what the current NDP is now accusing the Saskatchewan Party of – a plan for austerity and cuts to programs.
Moe said Meili “wants to spend recklessly. He wants to spend with no plan of balance, no plan to grow the economy here in the province, which ultimately means that there will be cuts at some time in the future when this type of reckless spending is allowed to occur.”
When asked why he was talking so much about what happened prior to 2007, and if he was running against former NDP Leader Lorne Calvert or current Leader Ryan Meili, Moe replied, “We’re running with the people of this province on what we believe this province can be. We are the party that has a plan for growth. We have put forward our growth plan. It’s our second growth plan that this party has put forward ,to the year 2030, the targets in that growth plan of growing our population, growing our careers and growing our opportunity for our children and that next generation, that holds true.”
In order to achieve those targets, Moe noted, “We need to recover from this global pandemic.”
He said, “You look what Saskatchewan has to offer, the food, the fuel the fertilizer; our opportunity is great.”
With regards to “battleground ridings,” Moe emphasized his party’s team would be running in 61 ridings.
Despite its plans to eliminate a $2.1 billion annual deficit, Moe said there will still be room for new ideas. “You will see a plan that will increase the affordability for families, ensuring that we can not only have strong families but strong communities across this province,” he said, but would not release that plan on that day. The plan would be “very realistic, full of targets, but with the opportunity to grow.”
Asked about a “steady as she goes” strategy, Moe replied that steady as she goes has meant continued growth, investment into communities and industries, growing the population by 170,000, and providing “opportunity for our children to have a career right here at home.”
Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Estevan Mercury
