REGINA – Premier Scott Moe made clear he is ready to get back to work earning back more votes following the Sask Party convention in Saskatoon this weekend.
“It’s a great weekend for the Saskatchewan Party,” said Moe. “I would also say it’s a good weekend for the province as well, as we build back towards the next election.”
The convention, which drew over a thousand delegates according to party officials, was widely touted within the party as a success. Party officials called it the largest convention attendance the Sask Party has had.
It also settled many questions both about Moe’s leadership and about how united the party is behind him.
Moe himself had made clear once and for all that he intended to lead the Sask Party into the next provincial election, and received over 80 per cent support of delegates in support of his leadership.
As well, a vote on the constitutional change to align membership voting with Elections Saskatchewan requirements of Canadian citizen and a minimum 18 years of age was also passed overwhelmingly, with little opposition from delegates.
For his part, Moe made clear to reporters he was focused on continuing on into another election.
“Listen, I’m here to help. For me, I talk a lot about the Saskatchewan party being a team, and I have a role on that team, and I want that team to be as strong as possible. We have some work to do as a team right now to earn back some of the support that we had in previous elections, and we’re entirely focused on that.”
Winning back more seats in the next election, in particular in Saskatoon and Regina where the party was almost completely wiped out in 2024, was a major focus of the Sask Party convention and Moe made clear that is the plan. The indication from him and from party officials is that the Sask Party plans to start earlier in nominating candidates to put in place for the next provincial election.
“Our real goal here is very much about the next election, and that’s what we’ve been working on for the last year,” Moe said. “I think today you’ve seen a lot of work and planning that is now going to transition into actual action on the ground over the course of the next year, as we build our candidate teams, build our volunteer teams, and really get ready for the next provincial election as a Saskatchewan party, and as I say, earn back some of that support and some of those seats that we so much want to.”
During his convention speech prior to the leadership review vote, Moe said he took responsibility for the losses in the cities in the last election. He indicated there would be a change in tone leading into the next election, one that has already started with relations with the federal government.
“You know, there’s a marked change with respect to the demeanour and the approach that we have with, albeit a new Prime Minister, but the same federal government,” Moe told reporters.
“I don’t think anyone can deny that we have changed our approach with Prime Minister Carney versus Prime Minister Trudeau. I think it’s also fair to acknowledge and respect that Prime Minister Carney brings a different approach as well, not just to the relationship with Saskatchewan, but to how he engages with provinces more generally.”
That was one example, but Moe also pledged a better job by the party and himself in communicating to people about the government’s initiatives and why those are being pursued.
“You’ll continue to see more of a party and a government that is not just talking about what we are doing with respect to policy and investments, but why it matters. And why it matters to people, families, and the communities where they live.
And that’s on us. We need to do better with some of how we interact with people, and a touch more humility isn’t a bad thing either.“
There was also recognition of the need to keep the party united — something that was an issue for the Sask Party last term with a number of highly-publicized defections including to the upstart Saskatchewan United Party.
During a bearpit question-and-answer session with MLAs on stage, Moe noted that when the eight founding members of the Sask Party had come together from the PC and Liberal parties years earlier, that they realized “in order for us to win, we’re going to have to bite our tongue just a little bit at times. Or we can go back to being opposition in as many parties as we want.”
Moe explained further what he meant in speaking to reporters.
“We don’t agree on everything. You and me, generally, probably don’t agree on everything. However, I’m sure there’s much we do. And for a political party, and this is really how the formation of the Saskatchewan Party started close to 30 years ago, we need to understand that if we want to come together and form a government, we need to understand and appreciate that we may agree on a good number of things, but there may always be one or two things that we don’t agree on. And we may have those discussions, like we did on the floor of the policy that we had here today. But then we move forward with what we think is a greater good. That’s true in family, it’s true with our friends’ circles, it’s true in the community, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that there’s differences like that within a provincial caucus of any stripe, but also a provincial party when you bring a thousand people together.
“So, you know, agree where we can, let’s move forward for the collective, for the greater good, from our perspectives, if we will, so that we can earn back voter support in this province to the degree that we lost some last election, and really move forward as a strong Saskatchewan Party in the future.”
