REGINA - Just one day after Scott Moe said his government would immediately issue a directive on school change rooms if re-elected, the NDP questioned the Saskatchewan Party’s day-one priorities.
At an NDP media event in Regina, Nicole Sarauer said her party’s first day priorities would be to “cut the gas tax, and we’re going to fix health care.”
“We won’t waste a second because we know families need a break on the cost of living, and because our health care is in last place. It’s in crisis here in Regina, in Saskatoon, in Moose Jaw, Yorkton, and right across rural Saskatchewan.”
Sarauer, running for re-election in Regina Douglas Park, contrasted that priority to Moe’s pledge on Thursday at the Regina Wascana Plains campaign office. Moe told reporters the first order of business his re-elected government would do was issue a directive to ban biological males from female change rooms in schools. This was in response to an incident at a school that came to light this week involving biological boys in a change room with biological girls, he said.
“Scott Moe made his number one priority clear yesterday,” Sarauer said. “He has no plan to make your life more affordable this year or next year, no plan to get healthcare and education out of last place. In fact, he plans to cut funding for hospitals and schools.
“He’s focused on bathrooms, not classrooms. These are not the priorities of the Saskatchewan people I talk to every day.”
When asked by reporters for her reaction to Moe’s announcement, Sarauer said she was “surprised, because it’s not reflective of anything I’ve heard on the doorsteps.“
“They’re worried about how they’re going to pay for gas, how they’re going to get doctors for the kids, they’re worried about the size of the classrooms.”
While the gas tax would be suspended on day one, when asked when the NDP would remove the PST on children’s clothing and groceries, Sarauer said that would happen shortly after.
As for fixing health care, Sarauer said on day one the NDP would bring health care workers to the table. “We are going to hear from the front lines what their solutions are to the problems. They want to be at the table and they’ve been shut out by Scott Moe.”
On the change room issue, Sarauer called it a "divisive tactic that Scott Moe and the Sask Party are using." She called it "trying to distract" from the "visual that we had yesterday with three Sask Party leaders standing behind Carla Beck, showing their support," referring to the endorsements from former Sask Party MLAs Mark Docherty and Glen Hart and former advisor Ian Hanna.
When pressed for details about what the particular change room incident was, Sarauer responded "unlike others, I'm not going to be outing any children."
"Politics is a difficult job. When you sign up for the job, you know that your public life will be open to scrutiny. Your children don't sign up for that."
While Sarauer was outlining the NDP’s priorities on health care and affordability, Moe was in Yorkton highlighting the Saskatchewan Party's own promises on affordability.
During that campaign stop, and in a news release sent out by the Sask Party, Moe reiterated his party’s pledges to reduce the provincial income tax, increase the Graduate Retention Program benefit by 20 per cent up to $24,000 and increase the Low Income Tax Credit, the Active Families Benefit and Saskatchewan First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit among others.
In a news release, Moe said the Saskatchewan Party's affordability pledges are "permanent, includes everyone and is far more significant than the NDP measures which are smaller, temporary, and exclude many Saskatchewan people."
While Moe was in eastern Saskatchewan, NDP leader Carla Beck took her campaign to northern Saskatchewan with stops in La Loche, Buffalo Narrows and La Ronge. She was joined in those campaign appearances by NDP candidates Jordan McPhail running in Cumberland, and Leroy Laliberte running in Athabasca.
