REGINA – The NDP were firing back at the Saskatchewan Party again Thursday, this time on the issue of the RCMP.
The NDP’s Nicole Sarauer, candidate for re-election in Regina Douglas Park, accused Scott Moe of disrespecting RCMP officers in comments he made in Prince Albert Thursday.
The quote Sarauer pointed to was from Moe’s announcement on safer communities and neighbourhoods. Moe was quoted by the NDP as telling reporters that “the public sector union, the (National Police Federation), is going to advocate on behalf of what they feel will, you know, essentially make for more officers and more union dues. And let’s be really callous about it.”
The quote from Moe was likely referring to National Police Federation’s opposition to the Marshal’s service, which would be based out of Prince Albert with 70 police officers starting in 2026.
The quote from Moe drew the ire of Sarauer.
“Frankly, it was such a stupid and insulting thing to say, especially to all of those RCMP officers in Saskatchewan who put their lives on the line each and every day for Saskatchewan residents,” Sarauer said in Regina Friday.
“Scott Moe and the Sask Party have a history of masking their failures by attacking teachers, by attacking nurses, and now by attacking police. It’s disgusting. I wish I could say it was surprising, but it’s not.”
Sarauer reiterated the NDP would scrap the Marshal’s service and direct the money to hiring an additional 100 frontline police officers, in addition to 100 planned by the Saskatchewan Party. She said the NDP were “committed to fighting crime and fighting the causes of crime.
“We are going to invest in hiring 200 officers, to providing more supports for mental health and addiction treatment and deliver housing with wraparound supports. We are committed to showing the respect for the Saskatchewan RCMP that they deserve and they’re not getting from this government and they haven’t been getting for quite some time now.”
Sarauer made it known the NDP would put “boots on the ground faster” without “wasting money, frankly on infrastructure dollars, IT, and all of the various behind the scenes things you need to create a police force from scratch.”
Omitted from the NDP statement were Moe’s other comments from his Prince Albert availability Thursday, which had been in response to a question about the NPF saying there had been no plan and no consultation from the government about the Marshal’s service.
“Well, the Marshal service is not going to work with a public sector union like the NPF on what the plan is and how we’re policing moving forward. The Marshal’s service is going to work with the RCMP and (Assistant Commissioner) Rhonda Blackmore. So let’s be clear about that. The public sector union, the NPF, is going to advocate on behalf of what they feel will, you know, essentially make for more officers and more union dues, and let’s be that callous about it.”
Moe went on to point to the investment already put towards the RCMP by the Sask Party government. “And so the RCMP most certainly is one of the most, if not the most important law enforcement agency, we have in this province, and they are supported by this government to a level that is unprecedented across Canada, as are our municipal police forces, and the individuals that are keeping our larger centres safe. And they’re going to be further supported by 70 provincial Marshal’s police officers… we may respectfully disagree with the position of the public sector policing union, but I think we can agree on this. That this government has and will continue to commit to invest in the RCMP officers, and more RCMP officers, to a degree that no other province has matched.”
In response to the NDP media availability, the Saskatchewan Party issued this statement:
“The Government of Saskatchewan recently announced new funding for 100 new municipal police officers and 14 new SCAN officers. We have added 192 new RCMP officers since 2011 and are fully funding 180 new RCMP positions. This is in addition to 70 new officers through the Saskatchewan Marshals Service. That is over 500 new police officers in Saskatchewan.
“We want to strengthen our laws to make sure those officers have the tools they need so everyone in Saskatchewan feels safe in their communities and neighbourhoods.”