REGINA – The full, and costed, Saskatchewan Party platform is now out, and already their opponents are taking aim at it.
Scott Moe made the announcement in Saskatoon, just one day after NDP leader Carla Beck released her party’s platform.
There were not a lot of surprises Saturday as the Sask Party platform included promises rolled out by Moe over the last couple of weeks on the campaign trail. But the NDP is already blasting away at the document accusing the Sask Party of cuts to health care and education.
Among the promises the Sask Party pointed to in their platform, according to their news release, are the following:
- Expanded income tax exemptions which the Sask Party says will a family of four $3400 and a senior couple $3100 over four years;
- A new Home Renovation Tax Credit;
- Increasing the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit;
- Increasing the Graduate Retention Program to $24,000;
- Doubling the Active Families Benefit;
- Increasing the Personal Care Home Benefit for seniors;
- Introducing a new self-screening program for HPV/cervical cancer;
- Assisting with the cost of fertility treatments;
- Increasing tax credits for those with disabilities and their caregivers;
- Strengthening laws and increasing police officers;
- Extension of glucose monitoring coverage for diabetes to seniors and young adults 25 and under;
- Keeping the small business tax at one per cent.
The Saskatchewan Party statement says their platform is fully costed, and will add about $1.2 billion of tax reductions and spending commitments over five years. They also said the provincial budget will be balanced by 2027-28, which means a delay in a return to balanced books after the spring budget had predicted the budget would be back in balance in 2025.
Earlier in the morning, Moe released a video on social media about the platform release, in which he said a copy of the platform would be mailed to voters across the province in the coming days.
During his remarks in Saskatoon, Moe took aim at recent remarks from NDP leader Beck about the Sask Party’s recent string of promises.
“What does the NDP leader call each and every one of these investments, investments in Saskatchewan families and people?” Moe said. “Well, she calls them trinkets. She said we’re doling out trinkets to Saskatchewan people.
“Well, I would say to the leader of the opposition or any NDP candidate, tell that to Curtis, who used the first-time homebuyers credit to help him and his fiancée buy their very first home in Regina, Saskatchewan. I would say to any NDP candidate, tell that to Molly, who is 22 years old and will qualify for free glucose monitoring supplies. Tell that to Jake and Luke, who will be accessing the expanded graduate retention program, and they are just some of the young people that are choosing to live and stay in Saskatchewan. Tell that to 54,000 people, 54,000 Saskatchewan residents that will no longer be paying any provincial tax whatsoever.”
Moe also took aim at the provincial NDP over that party saying they oppose the carbon tax, instead pointing to the federal NDP supporting what he characterized as the “NDP Trudeau” carbon tax. Moe pointed to federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh having pulled out of the supply and confidence deal to keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in power.
“Well, that lasted about two weeks, two weeks only, until the very first vote in the House of Commons,” said Moe. “The very first chance that he had to get rid of Trudeau and the carbon tax, what did we see the NDP do? Well, instead of voting to get rid of Trudeau… the NDP voted to save Trudeau. They voted to save the carbon tax and cost Canadians even more money into the future.
“Nothing more than an act. Just like the Saskatchewan NDP is putting on an act today when they say they don’t support that very NDP Trudeau carbon tax. Don’t believe it for a minute.”
Moe also ridiculed the NDP’s platform document, which he dismissed as “essentially a do-over” of the costing document the NDP released the week before.
Moe characterized the NDP as trying to “correct some of the errors and the omissions that were in that first costing document.” As for their platform document, “this time now they got the revenue line and the expense line mixed up. So the revenue line was in place of the expense line.”
“I don’t know what they’re going to do for version three or do-over number three. Maybe they’ll just come out with a picture of a of a money tree and show that to Saskatchewan people and you know it would be funny, except this is a party that is vying to be your government,” said Moe.
“The fact is they left a $3 billion uncosted and irresponsible hole in that very document that they have and they didn’t tell Saskatchewan people how they were going to pay for it. And I would suggest it’s because they don’t intend to pay for it. You will.”
NDP responds
Soon after the platform release, the NDP’s Trent Wotherspoon held a news conference with reporters at Tommy Douglas House in Regina and said the Sask Party platform would cut health and education.
“Well we’ve seen the SaskParty’s platform here today and it’s clear Scott Moe thinks everything is fine in healthcare and education,” Wotherspoon said.
“That’s what his platform says. In fact, his platform says that he wants to make more cuts. Cuts to schools, cuts to hospitals. Scott Moe might be the only person in Saskatchewan who thinks we can cut health care and our classrooms and emergency rooms further at this point. His message is everything is fine when we hear anything but.”
The NDP’s Ron Styles, former deputy minister, went over the numbers. He said that in 2025-26 the “SaskParty platform shows that they’ll only be an incremental $172 million dollars to fund a $20 billion dollar budget next year.”
“Everything in this document comes from, everything in this page comes from three documents,” said Styles. “First, it comes from the first quarter financial report that the government issued. It comes from the ’24-25 budget document that they had and then finally it comes from the platform document.
“What it shows is that projected expenditures will only be able to increase by $290 million dollars. However, we know from previous information provided by the government that interest interest costs are going to increase by a $118 million dollars next year due to all the borrowing that’s happened over the past few years. That leaves again a small amount of money, $172.2 million dollars, to fund all of the necessary pressures that go with the Ministries of Health, the Ministry of Social Services, the Ministry of Education, in fact they go with almost all of government.
“This will require massive reductions in actual service levels. To give you an example, drugs usually go up anywhere from three to five percent a year. If you’ve only got 0.8 percent to increase things with that means that you’re going to have to do something to reduce the use of drugs, to reduce the use of hospitals, to ration services.
“In education you’re probably looking at something much less than a one per cent increase. Again these are the numbers and the facts that are contained in the government’s documents and in the Sask Party’s platform materials. Every number here belongs to the Sask Party.”
Wotherspoon also had this response to Moe’s comments on the “$3 billion hole” in the NDP platform. He said Moe “has just no credibility whatsoever with respect to the finances.”
“He’s proven that time and time again. So he’s showing Saskatchewan people that he can’t be trusted on this front. He’s missed his own budgetary targets in the last four years by $9 billion. They’ve quadrupled the debt under their government. He’s doubled it during his time as Premier. They’ve been dishonest with Saskatchewan people during elections where they said that they were going to reduce taxes, only to then bring about, well, the biggest tax hike in Saskatchewan’s history. This is a tired government that’s out of steam, that seems to be more interested in political, divisive, self-interested arguments. We’re focused on the public’s interest and the future of Saskatchewan, and on front after front, including our public finances, Scott Moe can’t be trusted.”
In response to the NDP media availability the Sask Party sent out this statement:
“The Saskatchewan Party platform includes the record increases to health and education in the 2024-25 budget – a $726 million or 10 per cent increase in health funding and a $247 million or eight per cent lift in education funding. These investments, our record in health care and education and our new commitments like expanded glucose monitoring and self screening for HPV/cervical cancer are outlined on pages 50 through 58 of the Saskatchewan Party platform.
“Going forward, our platform costing is based on the Ministry of Finance’s four-year forecast, which includes funding increases to all areas of government, including health and education, every year.
“The Saskatchewan Party government has a strong record of funding health and education and will continue to do so in the years ahead.”